Samer el Debek
Charged: June 01, 2017
Affiliation
Hezbollah
State
New York
District
Southern District of New York
Sting
No
Involves Informant
No
Charges
- Material support
- Receiving terrorist training
- Funding terrorists
- Firearms violations
FISA Notification
No
Awaiting Trial
Details
Age
42Gender
MaleRace
Unknown
Samer el Debek, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was allegedly recruited by Hezbollah in late 2007 or early 2008. Based on information el Debek provided to the FBI, the government assessed that el Debek had received extensive training as a bomb maker. El Debek traveled to Thailand and Panama on missions for Hezbollah. In Panama, he analyzed security procedures at the Israeli Embassy and the Panama Canal. In Thailand, he cleaned up explosive precursors in an apartment that was under surveillance.
About this database
This database of terrorism prosecutions and sentencing information was created using public records including three lists of prosecutions from the U.S. Department of Justice (from 2010, 2014, and 2015), court files available through the federal judiciary’s case management system, DOJ press releases, and inmate data from the Bureau of Prisons. For each defendant in the database, U.S. criminal code data related to charges has been categorized according to this legend.
Trevor Aaronson created the first iteration of this database as part of a project funded by the Investigative Reporting Program at the University of California, Berkeley. Mother Jones magazine published that data in 2011, along with accompanying articles, in a package that is still available online.
Beginning in 2016, Aaronson and Margot Williams collaborated to update and expand the database, with a new emphasis to include Bureau of Prisons data because so many post-9/11 terrorism defendants had been released. The cases include any prosecutions after September 11, 2001, that the U.S. government labeled as international terrorism-related. The Intercept first published this database on April 20, 2017, and it was last updated on .
This database, which can be downloaded as a CSV file, is licensed under Creative Commons for noncommercial uses with appropriate attribution. If you publish this database, in part or whole, you must credit Trevor Aaronson and Margot Williams.
Trevor Aaronson created the first iteration of this database as part of a project funded by the Investigative Reporting Program at the University of California, Berkeley. Mother Jones magazine published that data in 2011, along with accompanying articles, in a package that is still available online.
Beginning in 2016, Aaronson and Margot Williams collaborated to update and expand the database, with a new emphasis to include Bureau of Prisons data because so many post-9/11 terrorism defendants had been released. The cases include any prosecutions after September 11, 2001, that the U.S. government labeled as international terrorism-related. The Intercept first published this database on April 20, 2017, and it was last updated on .
This database, which can be downloaded as a CSV file, is licensed under Creative Commons for noncommercial uses with appropriate attribution. If you publish this database, in part or whole, you must credit Trevor Aaronson and Margot Williams.
Credits
Database compiled by Trevor Aaronson and Margot Williams
Data Visualization: Moiz Syed
Developers: Akil Harris, Westley Hennigh-Palermo
Editors: Sharon Weinberger, Andrea Jones, Roger Hodge, Eseosa Olumhense
Additional Research: Alleen Brown, Malak Habbak, John Thomason
Art Direction: Philipp Hubert, Soohee Cho
Product Manager: LJ Ruell
Research Director: Lynn Dombek
Editor-in-Chief: Betsy Reed
Data Visualization: Moiz Syed
Developers: Akil Harris, Westley Hennigh-Palermo
Editors: Sharon Weinberger, Andrea Jones, Roger Hodge, Eseosa Olumhense
Additional Research: Alleen Brown, Malak Habbak, John Thomason
Art Direction: Philipp Hubert, Soohee Cho
Product Manager: LJ Ruell
Research Director: Lynn Dombek
Editor-in-Chief: Betsy Reed
