American teenager pleads guilty to helping Islamic State
WASHINGTON - A 17-year-old from Virginia pleaded guilty in court on Thursday to charges of conspiring to help Islamic State militants, the first time the United States has prosecuted a minor as an adult in such a case.
Ali Amin, of Manassas, Virginia, used Twitter and his blog to provide instructions on how to use the virtual currency Bitcoin to send funds to the militants, according to court documents.
Prosecutors said Amin also helped another Virginia resident, Reza Niknejad, to travel to Syria to join the group that has taken control of areas of Iraq and Syria over the past year in a campaign marked by mass killings and beheadings.
The SITE monitoring service, which follows social media postings by Jihadist militants, said Amin had some 4,000 Twitter followers and was in communication with well-known Islamic State fighters and recruiters.
