United States v. Amin

85 F.4th 727

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Ali Shukri AMIN, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 23-4283

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit

Argued: September 22, 2023

Decided: October 30, 2023

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at Alexandria. Claude M. Hilton, Senior District Judge. (1:15-cr-00164-CMH-1)

ARGUED: Jessica Nicole Carmichael, CARMICHAEL ELLIS & BROCK, PLLC, Alexandria, Virginia, for Appellant. Thomas W. Traxler, Jr., OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Alexandria, Virginia, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Jessica D. Aber, United States Attorney, Richmond, Virginia, Gavin R. Tisdale, Assistant United States Attorney, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Alexandria, Virginia, for Appellee.

Before WILKINSON, KING, and RUSHING, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed by published opinion. Judge Wilkinson wrote the opinion, in which Judge King and Judge Rushing joined.

WILKINSON, Circuit Judge:

Ali Amin served five years in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to provide material support to ISIS. He was released in 2020 subject to a lifetime of supervised release. Three years later, the district court found that Amin had violated numerous conditions of his supervised release. The court sentenced him to a year's imprisonment and reimposed a lifetime of supervised release. Amin brings several challenges to this sentence. For the reasons discussed, we reject them all.

I.

A.

In 2015, 17-year-old Amin pleaded guilty to conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization—namely, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)—in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2339B.

Amin cultivated a robust virtual network to reach and assist ISIS supporters. Operating from his home in Virginia, he created pro-ISIS content and distributed it globally using anonymous social media accounts. Amin rapidly became a prolific proselytizer of jihadist ideology. His Twitter account gained more than 4,000 followers and featured over 7,000 tweets, many of which promoted ISIS's violent practices.

Amin also authored several technical articles that taught ISIS sympathizers how to conceal their illicit online activity. In one article, he explained how they could use encryption and anonymity software to evade law enforcement detection. In another, he detailed how to donate to jihadists anonymously using the then-nascent cryptocurrency Bitcoin.

Amin's extremist activities extended into the physical world. Amin radicalized R.N., an 18-year-old Virginia resident, and connected him with ISIS supporters abroad. He then facilitated R.N.'s travel to Syria to join ISIS, even accompanying him to Washington Dulles Airport for his departing flight. Once R.N. reached Syria, Amin delivered a letter to R.N.'s family that indicated R.N. would not see them again. The government reported that R.N. was likely killed near the Syria-Turkey border a year after he arrived. This was not an isolated incident. Amin also helped two ISIS recruits from outside the United States travel into Syria. Both are now believed to be dead.

B.

The district court sentenced Amin to 136 months' imprisonment and a lifetime of supervised release. The court later reduced Amin's prison term to 72 months upon the government's motion to reduce his sentence for providing substantial assistance. See Fed. R. Crim. P. 35(b). The terms of supervised release included three conditions relevant to this appeal:

Standard Condition 3, which required Amin to "follow the instructions of the probation officer."

Standard Condition 9, which required Amin to "not associate with any person convicted of a felony, unless granted permission to do so by the probation officer."

Special Condition 2, which required Amin to "be subject to any screening or monitoring of internet use, as directed by the probation officer."

J.A. 60-61.

Amin's period of supervised release started when he left prison on May 4, 2020. His probation officer issued instructions to effectuate the conditions imposed by the district court at sentencing. The instructions required Amin to (1) submit to computer monitoring; (2) obtain permission before using a language other than English in online communications; (3) not view, possess, access, or use material that reflects extremist or terrorist views or is deemed inappropriate by the U.S. Probation Office; and (4) have "no contact with any known Extremist or anyone suspect in any known Extremist activity." J.A. 122.

Pursuant to the probation officer's instructions, Amin enrolled in a computer monitoring program on May 6, 2020. He successfully sought authorization to use two computers; one operating system, Windows 10; and three social media applications, Skype, Microsoft Messaging, and Zoom. Amin installed RemoteCOM software on his computers so that the government could monitor his online activity. He signed the computer monitoring program's agreement that he would not use unauthorized systems or otherwise circumvent monitoring.

Representing himself, Amin challenged the probation officer's instructions as unconstitutional and requested counsel. In response, the government moved to have the instructions added as four new conditions of Amin's supervised release. To "avoid any claim of undue vagueness," the government also proposed to modify the fourth instruction to read, "You shall have no contact with any individual you have reason to believe supports the use of illegal violence to coerce or intimidate people or governments." J.A. 122.

The district court declined to formalize the probation officer's instructions as new conditions. It found that the proposed conditions did not add anything new to the already-approved conditions, but merely clarified them. The court stated that the probation officer had discretion to "determine what these reasonable conditions are to monitor somebody's computer" without the court's approval. J.A. 150. It clarified that it was "just plain common sense that once you're on supervised release, that part of your computer monitoring is that you don't talk with those people again, you don't possess that material, and you don't deal in those things." J.A. 147-48. Amin did not appeal this ruling or further challenge the probation officer's instructions until the government initiated revocation proceedings.

C.

Amin seemed to make progress during the three years following his release from prison. He graduated summa cum laude from Northern Virginia Community College, earning nineteen technical certificates along the way. He was a semester away from obtaining a master's degree in information technology management. Amin's technical studies enabled him to obtain stable employment as a digital solutions architect. He also supported his community by volunteering at a local mosque.

Despite pursuing these positive initiatives, Amin began violating the conditions of his supervised release in May 2020—the very same month he was released.

Amin violated Standard Condition 9 by associating with known felons without his probation officer's approval. He had multiple meetings and engaged in encrypted online conversations with John Walker Lindh—a person Amin knew was a felon and referred to as the "American Taliban." J.A. 250; see also United States v. Lindh, 227 F. Supp. 2d 565 (E.D. Va. 2002). Amin was also aware that at least two of the seven other convicted felons that he associated with had committed terrorism-related offenses.

Amin additionally committed numerous violations of the probation officer's instructions pertaining to his internet use. He used the operating system Linux, which had not been approved by his probation officer and could not be monitored by RemoteCOM. He deleted online chat messages and used a virtual private network to evade monitoring. He sent and received encrypted communications on the unauthorized social media applications Signal, Telegram, and WhatsApp. In one of these messages, he communicated his desire to "exterminate" all people who did not share his radical Islamic beliefs. J.A. 248. He frequently used Arabic in online communications without approval. And he followed the teachings of several figures who were known by the government to express extremist views encouraging terrorist activities.

The government highlighted this conduct in its petition for revocation. In a subsequent addendum, the government stated that a lawful search of Amin's residence had uncovered a hard drive containing ISIS propaganda videos that depict ISIS members beheading prisoners and instructing individuals to conduct lone wolf attacks. The government also discovered that Amin had prepared a "go bag" that contained "survival equipment, clothes, food, unused cellphones, and a knife." J.A. 169-70.

Prior to the revocation hearing, the government informed the district court that it would not pursue violations of the probation officer's instructions that prohibited Amin from using extremist material or having contact with known extremists.

Amin did not dispute the government's factual allegations. Amin claimed, however, that they did not constitute violations of his conditions of supervised release. He argued that the probation officer's instructions were void because they were not properly promulgated, and posited that even if they were valid, they were impermissibly broad and vague. He requested that, if found in violation of the conditions of his supervised release, he be sentenced to no more than sixty days' incarceration and have the term of his supervised release adjusted downward from life.

The district court found Amin "in violation of the terms and conditions of [his] supervised release." J.A. 294. The court reasoned that the computer monitoring program instituted by the probation officer was in furtherance of the internet monitoring special condition as it was used to "check what Internet use [Amin] had." J.A. 265. The court issued a within-Guidelines sentence of twelve months' imprisonment and...