Buffalo woman accused of supporting ISIS admits to threatening Twitter posts

A Buffalo woman accused of sympathizing with the Islamic State pleaded guilty Wednesday to two federal charges.

Safya Yassin, 40, pleaded guilty to two counts of transmitting interstate threatening communication at a hearing in the federal courthouse in Springfield.

Federal investigators say Yassin used her Twitter account to provide information she believed was from the Islamic State — an Islamist militant group also known as ISIS — including threats and solicitations of violence against law enforcement or military personnel.

After Yassin was initially charged, the Program on Extremism at George Washington University's Center for Cyber and Homeland Security referred to her as "a well-known person in the ISIS Twitter scene."

Neighbors told the News-Leader they rarely saw the mother of two.

Yassin appeared in court Wednesday in handcuffs. She did not speak much other than answering "yes" or "no" to the judge's questions during the 20-minute hearing.

Federal prosecutors say in August 2015, Yassin shared another person's post on Twitter that read "Wanted to kill" followed by the name and personal information of an FBI employee.

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Sharing someone else's post on Twitter is called retweeting.

A few months later, Yassin retweeted another Twitter post that read "to eventually hunt him down & kill him" with a link to the personal information of two former United States service members.

Court documents say the case started in January 2015 when a person called the FBI to report that Yassin was trying to rally support for the Islamic State and saying that the Islamic State was going to save the world.

Federal investigators then began monitoring Yassin's posts on social media, and they found the incriminating retweets as well as other posts believed to be supportive of the Islamic State.

Yassin's attorney tried to get the case dismissed in 2016, arguing the posts did not constitute "true threats."

As part of Wednesday's plea agreement, an additional conspiracy charge will be dismissed at sentencing and no additional charges can be filed in this case.

Each of Yassin's convictions carries a possible five-year sentence. She will be sentenced at a future hearing.

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