Screenshots from the exchange the undercover agent (UC) and Abu-Rayyan

DETROIT — The attorney of Khalil Abu-Rayyan, a Dearborn Heights man accused of supporting ISIS, is demanding the court release all correspondence between his client and an FBI undercover agent.

Abu-Rayyan is charged with illegal firearm and marijuana possession, but a legal complaint against him claims he supported ISIS and told an FBI informant that he wanted to “shoot up” a church in Detroit. He is not facing any terrorism-related charges. 

Todd Shanker, the defense attorney, argues that the FBI used “extraordinary tactics” to manipulate Abu-Rayyan. An FBI agent who posed as a young woman called Jannah Bride seduced and encouraged 21-year-old Abu-Rayyan to pursue violent extremism, the defense says.

To properly defend Abu-Rayyan, the FBI evidence needs to be made public, Shanker wrote in a court filing Tuesday. 

“Despite publicly portraying Mr. Rayyan as a mentally ill terrorist, the government now seeks for his defense to be conducted in secret,” Shanker wrote. “In particular, the government refuses to provide Mr. Rayyan’s counsel with the un-redacted communications between the undercover employee and Mr. Rayyan without a protective order requiring that all pleadings, including sensitive information, be filed under seal in their entirety.”

The attorney accused the prosecution of omitting text messages that would favor the defense’s argument. Shanker described the missing texts as a “disturbing integrity problem” with the evidence provided by the government.

For example, after Bride asked Abu-Rayyan if he wanted anything that they had discussed, apparently in reference to Jihad and martyrdom, the defendant answers negatively.

Abu-Rayyan then explicitly tells the undercover agent not to do anything reckless.

“Don’t do anything That will hurt u Yourself or other people,” the defendant wrote to Bride, according to screenshots provided by the defense.

These messages did not appear in the prosecution’s screenshots from the same exchange, which took place late last year. 

According to the defense, Abu-Rayyan was lying to impress Bride when he said he had plans to shoot up a church. Shanker backs this argument by the fact that the government did not find the rifle, bullets and mask that Abu-Rayyan told the agent he purchased to use in the attack. 

Instead, the authorities found marijuana and a small handgun in Abu-Rayyan’s car. Abu-Rayyan alleges that he purchased the gun for personal protection during his night shifts at his father’s pizza shop.

The FBI started investigating the defendant after he shared ISIS execution videos on social media.

Screenshots in the defense’s briefing show that the agent tried to steer the conversation toward religion, while Abu-Rayyan repeatedly hinted about marriage.

When asked what he wants from Dunya (earthly life), Abu-Rayyan told Bride, “Honestly to get married. I think if I get married I will be happy. I’m just lonely sometimes. I want to start a family.”

She responded by saying she felt depressed and had no desire to live.

“And now uqsem Be Allah (I swear to God) if dawlah (ISIS) asks for my life I would give it up in a heart beat,” Bride told Abu-Rayyan on Jan. 25.

“Your (you’re) young and confused,” he responded.

According to the transcripts, Bride also said jihad is her dream and she wants to die for Allah.

“Throughout the conversations, the undercover employee promotes jihad and made efforts to get Mr. Rayyan to agree with her plans,” the defense lawyer wrote.

Abu-Rayyan is being held without bond pending trial.