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Providing material support for terrorism

In United States law, providing material support for terrorism is a crime prohibited by the USA PATRIOT Act and codified in title 18 of the United States Code, sections 2339A and 2339B. It applies primarily to groups designated as terrorists by the State Department. The four types of support described are "training," "expert advice or assistance," "service," and "personnel."

In June 2010, the United States Supreme Court upheld the law in an as-applied challenge in the case Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, but also left open the door for other as-applied challenges.[1] The defendants in the case had sought to help the Kurdistan Workers' Party in Turkey and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam learn means of peacefully resolving conflicts.[2][3]

a former Guantanamo detainee who pleaded guilty in 2007 and served a sentence of less than one year in Australia, before his case was thrown out as a court found the crime is not a war crime and cannot be tried by a military court.[9]

David Hicks

who pleaded guilty to communicating threats to Parker and Stone, soliciting violent jihadists to "desensitize" law enforcement, and attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. He threatened to kill South Park directors Trey Parker and Matt Stone. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Zachary Adam Chesser

who was captured fighting for the Taliban during the Battle of Qala-i-Jangi, one of the first battles in the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan. He was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison on various charges.

John Walker Lindh

a 70-year-old veteran civil rights lawyer who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for transmitting information from her imprisoned client Omar Abdel-Rahman to his accomplices.[10]

Lynne Stewart

a former Guantanamo detainee who was Osama bin Laden's former driver. He was convicted in 2008 and served a sentence of less than one year in Yemen.[11] See 8 U.S.C. § 2339B.

Salim Ahmed Hamdan

who attended the al Farouq training camp in 2000.[12][13]

Mohammed Abdullah Warsame

The following people have been charged or convicted of providing material support for terrorism under this law.


In September 2010, the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided activists in Minneapolis and Chicago, seizing computers, cell phones and files and issuing subpoenas to some targeted individuals to appear before a federal grand jury. The FBI agents were seeking evidence of ties to foreign terrorist organizations, including the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.[18][19] Attorneys linked the raids to the Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project decision.[20][21]


in January 2016, social networking service Twitter was sued by the widow of a U.S. man killed in the Amman shooting attack, claiming that allowing ISIL to use the platform constituted material support of a terrorist organization.[22] The lawsuit was dismissed under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which dictates that the operators of an interactive computer service are not liable for content published on the service by others.[23]


During the Syrian Civil War a naturalized U.S. citizen of Bosnian origin joined ISIL and died while fighting. In 2015, six Bosnian residents of the U.S. were charged with providing material support for terrorism.[24][25] The six sent funds ranging from $150 to $1,850, and also "U.S. military uniforms, tactical clothes and gear, combat boots, military surplus supplies and other items from businesses in St. Louis" in August 2013.[26][27]