Former Mason Student Charged with Attempting to Join a Terrorist Group

This photo was originally published without caption or photo credit on the blog Jawa Report. Zachary Adam Chesser confirmed via e-mail this spring, however, that this picture was indeed of him. (Jawa Report) 

UPDATED 7/22 11:01 a.m.

A former George Mason University Student was arrested Wednesday as an alleged terrorist recruit on his way to join al Shabab, a Somali-based terrorist organization with ties to al Qaeda.

According to the Washington Post, Zachary Adam Chesser, 20, was stopped earlier this month after being placed on a no-fly list. He was barred from boarding a commercial flight from New York City to Uganda as part of multi-leg journey to Somalia, where Islamist insurgency al-Shabab wants to topple the country's weak central government, according to the FBI and papers filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria. He attended Mason as a freshman for one semester in 2008.

Chesser, who goes by the pseudonym Abu Tallah Al-Amrikee, made threats earlier this year against the creators of “South Park” for presenting a negative view of Islam and the prophet Muhammad.

In an e-mail interview with Connect2Mason in April, Chesser stated that members of Revolution Muslim, a group based out of New York City to which he has claimed association, did not plan to stay in the United States very long.

"We do not encourage Muslims to remain in the West and we do not plan on doing it either," he said. "If immigration laws were not such a pain, than I would not be here right now."

Connect2Mason continues to investigate this story.

Read the full Washington Post story here.