Jamaican-born Muslim cleric Sheikh Abdullah el-Faisal, who is accused of recruiting support for the Islamic State group was sentenced on Thursday to 18 years in prison in the United States.

Abdullah el-Faisal was convicted in January in state Supreme Court in Manhattan on counts including soliciting or providing support for an act of terrorism.

 

The state law he was prosecuted under was put in place after the September 11, 2001 attacks, and prosecutors said his case was the first state-level trial on terrorism charges.

 

El-Faisal was extradited to New York City in 2020 after being arrested in Jamaica in 2017.

 

Beginning in 2016, authorities said an undercover officer in New York City posed as a would-be jihadist and started communicating with the cleric.

 

The cleric was accused of giving out information to help the officer ultimately connect with the Islamic State group, as well as trying to act as a conduit for a marriage between the officer and a member of the militant group.