Sinmyah Amera Ceasar, also known as “Umm Nutella,” Initially Cooperated with Law Enforcement, but then Secretly Contacted ISIS Supporters, Deleted Evidence, Lied to Investigators, and Tried to Flee the Country Rather than Face Prison
Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, Sinmyah Amera Ceasar, a U.S. citizen, was sentenced to a total term of 230 months’ imprisonment by United States District Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto for three separately charged crimes: conspiring to provide material support and resources to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a foreign terrorist organization; obstructing justice while released on bail pending sentencing; and failing to appear before the court as required when she attempted to flee the United States. Ceasar pleaded guilty to the material support charge in February 2017, to the obstruction charge in March 2019, and to the failure to appear charge in October 2022.
John J. Durham, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Sue Bai, head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, Christopher G. Raia, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), and Jessica S. Tisch, Commissioner, New York City Police Department (NYPD), announced the sentence.
“With today’s sentence, Sinmyah Amera Ceasar, an unrepentant ISIS recruiter, will be incarcerated for a significant period of time to protect Americans here and abroad from her violent extremism,” stated United States Attorney Durham. “Even after pleading guilty to providing material support to ISIS, the defendant continued to support terrorists, obstructed justice and fled from prosecution. This Office, together with the FBI, the NYPD, and all the members of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, work tirelessly to pursue and hold accountable all those who support terrorism.”
“Today’s re-sentencing marks the end of a righteous journey that began a decade ago,” stated Sue J. Bai, head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “Terrorist organizations like ISIS rely on recruiters like Ceasar to attract, indoctrinate, and enlist new followers. The Department is committed to holding accountable those who seek to follow a similar path. Today was made possible by our prosecutors, staff, and members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force. We are grateful for their tireless pursuit of justice in this case.”
“Sinmyah Amera Ceasar flagrantly ignored conditions of her prior arrest by rekindling former relationships with ISIS members and implementing a plan to personally abscond the country to join their cause,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Raia. “Her actions demonstrate little remorse for radicalizing other United States citizens and promoting ISIS’s heinous ideologies. May today’s sentencing reflect the FBI JTTF’s relentless pursuit of any individual conspiring to participate in terrorist organizations.”
“This sentence is a fitting and meaningful outcome for a woman who assisted ISIS in recruiting, squandered the chance for redemption by exposing herself as cooperating with the U.S. government, and persisted in promoting extremist ideologies to potential new recruits online,” stated NYPD Commissioner Tisch. “I commend our diligent NYPD investigators and all members of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force for their unwavering commitment to public safety. The level of teamwork they demonstrate each day is crucial in ensuring the security of New York City and our nation.”
Between January 2016 and November 2016, Ceasar used numerous social media accounts to praise, promote, and support ISIS and violent jihad and to disseminate ISIS propaganda. Ceasar posted under a variety of names, including her nom de guerre, or war name, “Umm Nutella,” which translates to “Mother of Nutella.” Ceasar developed contacts with ISIS members overseas, recruited individuals in the United States to travel overseas to join and fight for ISIS, and used her contacts with ISIS facilitators to attempt to help at least five people from the United States join ISIS abroad. Ceasar also expressed her own desire to travel to ISIS-controlled territory to join the group and die as a martyr.
In November 2016, Ceasar was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport as she prepared to board an international flight, which was to be the first leg of her journey to join ISIS. Ceasar pleaded guilty in February 2017 to conspiring to provide material support and resources to ISIS, and agreed to cooperate with the government’s investigations of ISIS members and supporters.
In April 2018, Ceasar was released on bail, subject to court-ordered conditions of release. However, she violated those conditions, and her cooperation agreement with the government, by reconnecting with individuals she had identified to the government as supporters of ISIS. Ceasar attempted to conceal these communications from the government and from the court, attempted to delete more than 1,000 of her electronic communications, and lied to the government about her conduct. The court revoked Ceasar’s bail in July 2018. Ceasar pleaded guilty to obstructing an official proceeding in March 2019.
In June 2019, the late United States District Judge Jack B. Weinstein sentenced Ceasar to 48 months’ imprisonment for the material support and obstruction offenses, and the government appealed. In August 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated the sentence imposed by Judge Weinstein, calling it “shockingly low, and unsupportable as a matter of law,” and sent the case back to the district court for resentencing.
While the appeal was pending, however, Ceasar completed serving the 48-month sentence in July 2020, and began serving an eight-year term of supervised release. Almost immediately after her release, Ceasar began to repeatedly violate the conditions of her supervision by downloading and using phone apps that she failed to report to the Probation Department, recontacting and communicating with ISIS supporters, soliciting funds from ISIS supporters, communicating with convicted felons, using extremist language, and deleting the evidence of her violations of these conditions of supervision.
In August 2021, after the Second Circuit issued its decision remanding her case for resentencing, Ceasar fled. On the day she was scheduled to appear before the Court, Ceasar removed her ankle bracelet location monitoring device, and fled New York City on a cross-country bus trip to New Mexico, setting off a nationwide fugitive investigation that led to her arrest in New Mexico two days later. The evidence established that Ceasar intended to escape the United States and travel to Russia, and that while fleeing, she used an Internet-based messaging application to contact an individual in Afghanistan to seek assistance to travel there. She sought assistance from the individual in Afghanistan in the hours after ISIS Khorasan carried out a bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul that killed hundreds, including 13 members of the U.S. Armed Forces. In connection with her flight from prosecution, Ceasar ultimately pleaded guilty to her third separate felony offense, a charge of failing to appear before the Court as required, in October 2022.
After being returned to custody at the U.S. Bureau of Prisons’ Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn to await sentencing, Ceasar routinely violated Bureau of Prisons institutional rules, circumvented telephone and email monitoring and use restrictions, and continued to communicate and associate with other ISIS supporters.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s National Security and Cybercrime Section. Special Assistant United States Attorney Ian C. Richardson and Assistant United States Attorney Andrew Reich are in charge of the prosecution.
The Defendant:
SINMYAH AMERA CEASAR (also known as “Rita Daoudii,” “Qeuz,” “Umm Nutella,” “Amera Dawah Shakir,” “Bint Dawah Muslimah,” and “Qulli Allahu Akbar”)
Age: 30
Brooklyn, New York
E.D.N.Y. Docket Nos. 17-CR-48 (KAM), 19-CR-117 (KAM), and 22-CR-459 (KAM)