MISSISSIPPI- A U.S. judge on Thursday sentenced a Mississippi woman to 12 years in
prison for providing material support to Islamic State after she and her
husband conspired with an undercover FBI employee to travel to Syria and aid
the group’s media campaign.

Jaelyn Delshaun Young, 20, had pleaded guilty to one count in March as
did her co-defendant and husband, Muhammad Oda Dakhlalla, 23.

Judge Sharion
Aycock of the Northern District of Mississippi imposed a 12-year sentence and
ordered Young to serve 15 years of supervised release once she is released from
prison, the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement.

Dakhlalla is
due to be sentenced on Aug. 24.

Theirs are two
of dozens of criminal cases against U.S. citizens related to their support of
Islamic State, which is also known as ISIS or ISIL or Daesh and is listed as a
foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department.

Young and
Dakhlalla were arrested at a Mississippi airport in August 2015 while
attempting to board a flight to Turkey.

Young
acknowledged her role as the “planner of the expedition” in an
incriminating farewell letter, according to court documents filed by U.S.
prosecutors.

Young’s
Twitter posts about her desire to join the militant group caught the attention
of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in May 2015, and an agent posing as an
Islamic State recruiter began corresponding with her and Dakhlalla. 

Young and
Dakhlalla told the purported recruiter they would help Islamic State
“correct the falsehoods” about it in U.S. news media, such as reports
that the group trades young girls as sex slaves, according to court records.

They also asked
the recruiter whether Islamic State would offer Koran classes in English, how
they would be required to prove they were Sunni Muslims, and what kind of
military training Dakhlalla would receive.