Virginia man sentenced to 20 years in prison for joining ISIS

A 27-year-old American citizen from Virginia has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after he was convicted of successfully joining the Islamic State terror group.

Mohamad Khweis, who left the U.S. in 2015 to join ISIS in northern Syria, was the first American citizen to be convicted of joining the terror group.

More than 100 people in the U.S. have been charged for attempting to join or help ISIS, but Khweis stood out because he succeeded.

Prosecutors noted that he became the "consummate utility player" for ISIS after he joined the group.

"When ISIS needed his blood, he allowed them to draw it. When ISIS needed him to cook and clean for wounded soldiers, Mohamad Khweis multitasked and filled that role as well," said prosecutor Raj Parekh.

Khweis only spent two-and-a-half months as a member of ISIS, and he never got the chance to take up arms on behalf of the terror group, according to his lawyers. In 2016, he surrendered to Kurdish forces, who turned him over to U.S. authorities.

"While he was there, he did not fight. He did not do harm to another human being," defense attorney John Zwerling said, according to New York Post.

Prosecutor Dennis Fitzpatrick, who argued for 35 years in prison, contended that the unique nature of the crime merited a strong sentence.

However, Zwerling contended that his client deserves some credit for voluntarily leaving the group and cooperating with authorities by providing them intelligence on the group's inner workings. Khweis also identified four Westerners who had left ISIS with the intention of doing harm in their own countries.

The defense lawyer further argued that it was counterproductive to hand down a lengthy prison sentence on his client because it sends the message to other Americans who might consider leaving ISIS that they have nothing to look forward to in the U.S. but a prison cell.

Khweis, who worked as a bus driver for the elderly and disabled before joining ISIS, did not speak at the sentencing hearing in the U.S. District Court in Alexandria on Friday, but he wrote a letter to the court apologizing for his actions.

"When I arrived in Syria reality hit me. I couldn't believe what I had done and where I was at. I hated myself for making the worst decision I ever made in my life," the letter stated.

Khweis had previously testified that he was curious about what life was like in the territories controlled by ISIS, but even his attorneys had admitted that his testimony was riddled with lies.

The judge had acknowledged that Khweis' motivation for joining the terror group remains a mystery. "There is no event, no instigator, no friend ... no suicidal ideation that radicalized you, but there is no question you did radicalize," Judge Liam O'Grady said before imposing his sentence.