Mississippi man thanks FBI for stopping him from joining Islamic State

OXFORD, Miss., Aug. 25 (UPI) -- A 23-year-old Mississippi man who was sentenced to eight years in federal prison for conspiring to join the Islamic State thanked the FBI for stopping him from becoming a terrorist.

Muhammad Oda Dakhlalla, 23, of Starkville, Miss., told the court Wednesday he was sheltered as a child and never heard anything negative about the IS. Early on, he thought, "No. They couldn't have killed innocent people like this," he told the court. He said his views of the group have changed since his arrest. Dakhlalla, son of a Muslim cleric, was also ordered to serve a 15-year term of supervised release.

"If I did go, I would be dead by now," he said.

Dakhlalla, and his fiance Jaelyn Delshaun Young, 20, were arrested earlier this year at Golden Triangle Regional Airport in Mississippi, where they planned to board a flight to Atlanta and eventually travel to Syria. Young was sentenced in early August to 12 years in federal prison and 15 years of supervised release..