Ex-Irvine man gets 32 months in prison for aiding Syrian militants
A Syrian-born former Irvine resident has been sentenced to 32 months in prison for smuggling rifle scopes, night-vision goggles and other gear to Syrian militant groups.
Amin al-Baroudi, a 50-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen, was sentenced June 10 in federal court in Alexandria, Va.
He pleaded guilty in January to violating U.S. sanctions in Syria by supplying an insurgent group called Ahrar el-Sham, which frequently fights alongside the al-Qaida affiliate in Syria.
Al-Baroudi apologized in court. His defense sought probation, arguing that al-Baroudi is a survivor of then-Syrian President Hafez al-Assad’s 1982 massacre of civilians in Hama and was motivated by a heartfelt desire to help Syrians shake off the regime of current President Bashar al-Assad.
Prosecutors said al-Baroudi may have wanted to help but that sending weapons into a war zone was the wrong method.
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