Jaelyn Delshaun Young is scheduled to plead guilty Tuesday to at least one federal charge related to her alleged attempt to travel from Mississippi to Syria to join the Islamic State.

U.S. District Court records show Young, about 20, will appear before Chief U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock in Aberdeen at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday and respond to one count of a federal indictment.

Details of the charge will not be available until then.

Young and her fiance’, Muhammad Dakhlalla, 23, a former Mississippi State student, were arrested in 2015 on suspicion of conspiring to provide material support or resources to ISIS, also called ISIL.

On March 11, Dakhlalla pleaded guilty to one count of seeking to provide “material support or resources” to the terrorist organization. He faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

In an Aug. 8, 2015, complaint filed by the FBI, Young was reported living in Starkville and had online contact about her plans to fly from Columbus to Amsterdam, Netherlands, and on to Istanbul, Turkey.

The FBI also said she and Dakhlalla admitted they were trying to join ISIL.


We want to hear from you!

Central to our mission at Mississippi Today is inspiring civic engagement. We think critically about how we can foster healthy dialogue between people who think differently about government and politics. We believe that conversation — raw, earnest talking and listening to better understand each other — is vital to the future of Mississippi. We encourage you to engage with us and each other on our social media accounts, email our reporters directly or leave a comment for our editor by clicking the button below.


Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.