ISIS supporter Nasir Tawhedi pleads guilty for planning Election Day terror attack
An Afghan national who had ties to the CIA has pleaded guilty to two federal crimes over his thwarted plot to carry out a terrorism attack last November on Election Day in support of ISIS.
Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, made the plea through a translator on Friday, June 13, in Oklahoma City federal court. A jury trial had been set for next year but Tawhedi waived that right during the hearing.
U.S. District Judge Scott Palk will decide his punishment later. The maximum possible prison sentence for the two crimes is 35 years.
Tawhedi and his brother-in-law, Abdullah Haji Zada, were arrested Oct. 7, 2024 at a rural Oklahoma location after purchasing two AK-47 rifles and 500 rounds of ammunition, the FBI reported in a court affidavit.
The purchase came during a meeting with an undercover FBI employee and two FBI sources.
Tawhedi admitted after his arrest that the two bought the guns to commit an attack on Election Day "targeting large gatherings of people," according to the affidavit. Tawhedi said they expected to die in the Nov. 5 attack and be martyrs.
Earlier in 2024, Tawhedi used his Google account to access webcams for the White House and Washington Monument, according to the affidavit.
Under a deal, Tawhedi pleaded guilty to a felony conspiracy count for his attempt to provide support to a foreign terrorism organization.
He also pleaded guilty to a felony count of receipt of guns and ammunition to commit terrorism.
Before agreeing to a plea deal, Tawhedi had faced three felony counts with a maximum punishment of 55 years.
At the time of the arrest, Tawhedi was living with his wife and daughter in an Oklahoma City apartment. He arrived in the United States in 2021 from Afghanistan and moved to Oklahoma in December 2023. He had been working as an auto mechanic.
He had worked for the CIA in Afghanistan as a security guard, NBC News reported last year.His wife filed for divorce in Cleveland County District Court in January, one day after their second child was born. The case is pending.
Zada, now 18, pleaded guilty in April to a felony count of receipt of guns and ammunition to commit terrorism. He is awaiting sentencing.
He is the brother of Tawhedi's wife and also is an Afghan national. He has been in the United States since 2018.
At the time of his arrest, Zada was living in Moore with his parents and siblings. He was a virtual student at Southmoore High School.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond pointed to the plot to carry out a mass shooting in support of ISIS when he called for the expulsion of all Afghan refugees from Oklahoma.
ISIS was largely defeated in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019 by a U.S.-led military campaign. The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, however, continues to attract people from across the world to join its ranks.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: ISIS supporter who played Election Day attack pleads guilty in OKC
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