KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The trail for a Knoxville man accused of trying to help ISIS has come to an end. After an eight-day trial, a jury on Thursday convicted Benjamin Carpenter, also known by the alias “Abu Hamza," for trying to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.
Seventy potential jurors were called to the U.S. District Court in Knoxville last week. Lawyers on both sides questioned them about their beliefs, and whether they would be able to render an impartial verdict.
Prosecutors asked potential jurors if they had any particular insight into ISIS and whether they had a problem with the way certain evidence was collected. Davies asked potential jurors if they were offended by Carpenter's Islamic faith and whether they would be offended by potentially violent material.
Investigators submitted social media messages to the court record. One of them shows Carpenter sending the U.S. Army Munitions Handbook to a messaging group. Carpenter sent the group a review of the book, which said, "This book contains more info than you would ever think would be legal to buy on Amazon."
Prosecutors said Carpenter helped translate ISIS videos into English and ran a weekly pro-ISIS publication called "From Dabiq to Rome" as the leader of Ahlut-Tawhid Publications. In an affidavit in support of a search warrant, investigators quoted ISIS teachings which considered media to be "no less important than engaging its battle," and "the power of words is sharper than atomic bombs."
Prosecutors argued the publications, among other things, celebrated the deaths of American soldiers, glorified suicide bombers, and called for open war against the United States.
"In 2020 and 2021, Carpenter contacted an individual he believed to be affiliated with ISIS’s central media bureau and provided translation services for a project intended to relaunch Al-Hayat Media Center, ISIS’s official foreign-language media arm. Unbeknownst to him, that individual was an FBI undercover employee who had infiltrated Carpenter’s group," the U.S. Department of Justice said.
Carpenter told 10News in 2021, he believed his conduct was protected by free speech.
Dr. Paul Kamolnick, an East Tennessee State University professor specializing in religion and terrorism, reviewed the weekly newsletters submitted to the court record.
"The words that are used are extraordinarily dehumanizing," Kamolnick said. "It gives you a clear conscience in destroying people who you believe to be the enemy of God."
Carpenter faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a lifetime term of supervised release.
U.S. District Court Judge Katherine A. Crytzer presided over the case. She will preside over his sentencing at a later date.