American with suspected jihadist allegiance arrested in NY

An American who tweeted his allegiance to the leader of Islamic State
jihadists was arrested at New York's JFK airport last week, officials
said Monday.

Donald Ray Morgan was taken into custody on August 2 upon his arrival
from Frankfurt, according to documents filed in a federal court in
Brooklyn.

A spokesperson for prosecutors said the 44-year-old ex-convict was
arrested in connection with a North Carolina indictment and charged
with "being a felon in possession of firearms."

Authorities also discovered that Morgan had tweeted his loyalty to the
leader of the Islamic State using the alias Abu Omar al Amreeki.

"The defendant expressed his allegiance to the leader of ISIS on his
Twitter account: Abu Omar al Amreeki," the prosecutor's spokesperson
said, without providing more details.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, however, said Morgan has not been
charged with terrorism.

There is "no indication of anything with terrorism, the charges are
for fire arms violation," an FBI spokesperson said.

Morgan had spent eight months in Lebanon, where his wife lives, the
New York Daily News reported.

He is currently being transported to North Carolina, according to the
prosecutor's office.

In mid June, Sunni Arab militants, led by jihadists of the Islamic
State of Iraq and the Levant, which was later renamed the Islamic
State (IS) and is sometimes referred to as ISIS, seized Iraq's second
biggest city Mosul as government forces took flight.

Following advances, the jihadists declared an "Islamic caliphate" late
that month. Renaming itself the IS, it declared its chief Abu Bakr
al-Baghdadi "caliph" and "leader for Muslims everywhere."

AFP