American who helped Islamic State asks for leniency

An American woman who admitted to participating in the online recruitment of Islamic State fighters is seeking leniency in her terrorism case over the objections of prosecutors who say she double-crossed them.

Defense attorneys for Sinmyah Amera Caesar, who once used the nom de guerre "Umm Nutella," argued at a sentencing hearing Tuesday in federal court in Brooklyn that she's a lost soul worthy of redemption.

They want her sentenced to time served about two years and a lifetime of supervision that would include participating in a rehab program.

Prosecutors, burned by Caesar's efforts to secretly get back in touch with her Islamic State contacts after signing up as a cooperater, told U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein that she's still a terror threat who deserves a severe punishment of at least 30 years behind bars.

Caesar, 24, "was a committed recruiter and self-described 'assistant' to the terrorist group, connecting ISIS supporters in the United States to ISIS facilitators and operatives abroad," the government wrote in court papers.

At the hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Josh Hafetz said the defendant's interactions involved "two confirmed ISIS operatives" in the Middle East who were ultimately killed in air strikes.

Defense attorney Deirdre Von Dornum insisted the communications were a misguided attempt to find comfort from a community of fellow Muslims.

"Yes, she messed up," Von Dornum said about her client's violation of her cooperation agreement. "We just need to give her a lot more help this time."
She soon began advocating violent jihad Facebook posts, prosecutors said, including one written in Arabic from February 2016 that read, "Let's go . . . let's go like the soldiers."