Mayo Clinic former researcher pleaded guilty to terrorism charges, sentenced to 18 years prison.

• Author: Schuster, Steve
• Position: Muhammad Masood

Byline: Steve Schuster, sschuster@wislawjournal.com

A former Mayo Clinic researcher pleaded guilty to terrorism charges and was sentenced Friday to 18 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release for attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

According to court documents, Muhammad Masood, 31, a licensed medical doctor in Pakistan, was formerly employed as a research coordinator at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, under an H-1B visa.

Between January 2020 and March 2020, Masood used an encrypted messaging application to facilitate his travel overseas to join a terrorist organization. Masood made multiple statements about his desire to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS), and he pledged his allegiance to the designated terrorist organization and its leader.

Masood also expressed his desire to conduct "lone wolf" terrorist attacks in the United States. On Feb. 21, 2020, Masood purchased a plane ticket from Chicago, Ill., to Amman, Jordan, and from there planned to travel to Syria. On March 16, 2020, Masood's travel plans changed because Jordan closed its borders to incoming travel due to the coronavirus pandemic. Masood then agreed to fly from Minneapolis to Los...