How Cases Are Counted
Coverage
The record holds 109 cases drawn from U.S. Department of Justice press releases dated January 1, 2023 through October 13, 2026. A case qualifies when the charged conduct is material support to, or acts on behalf of or inspired by, ISIS, al-Qaeda and its affiliates (including al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham), Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Houthis, al-Shabaab, the Taliban, or a plot directed by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) or Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS). Cases charged before 2023 appear when a DOJ release in the coverage period reports a plea, verdict or sentence.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Justice press releases, justice.gov/news, read through the DOJ press-release API (justice.gov/api/v1/press_releases.json), from the Office of Public Affairs, the National Security Division, and U.S. Attorneys' Offices.
- Federal court dockets via CourtListener and its RECAP archive (courtlistener.com) for docket numbers, filing dates and termination dates.
Selection Rule
A release is a candidate when its title contains one of these terms: ISIS, ISIL, Islamic State, Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, Hizballah, Islamic Jihad, Houthi, Ansarallah, Shabaab, Taliban, IRGC, Revolutionary Guard, Iran, Iranian, Material Support, Terrorism, Terrorist, Terror, Jihad, Foreign Terrorist. Each candidate is read and kept when it reports a specific federal criminal case within the coverage above. Follow-up releases (plea, verdict, sentencing) are linked to the case by defendant name and district.
Definitions
- Defendant
- Named as in the DOJ release. Age appears only when a DOJ release states it, with the date of that release. Juvenile defendants are listed without a name.
- Group
- The organization the DOJ release names in connection with the charged conduct.
- Status
- The latest procedural stage stated in a DOJ release for that defendant: Charged (complaint, indictment, information, arrest or extradition), Pleaded guilty, Convicted at trial, Sentenced, Acquitted, or Dismissed, with the date of that release.
- Key dates
- Dates of the DOJ releases that report the charge or arrest, the plea or verdict, and the sentencing.
- Year
- Year of the first DOJ release on the case within the coverage period.
- Docket
- Case number printed in a DOJ release or matched on CourtListener when the court matches the district and the case caption contains the defendant's surname.
Statutes Cited
| Statute | Subject | Cases |
|---|---|---|
| 18 U.S.C. § 2 | aiding and abetting | 1 |
| 18 U.S.C. § 842 | explosives offenses | 1 |
| 18 U.S.C. § 922 | unlawful firearm possession or transfer | 1 |
| 18 U.S.C. § 924 | firearms offenses | 1 |
| 18 U.S.C. § 1001 | false statements | 1 |
| 18 U.S.C. § 1203 | hostage taking | 1 |
| 18 U.S.C. § 1956 | money laundering | 1 |
| 18 U.S.C. § 1958 | murder for hire | 1 |
| 18 U.S.C. § 2332 | killing of U.S. nationals abroad | 1 |
| 18 U.S.C. § 2332b | acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries | 2 |
| 18 U.S.C. § 2339A | material support to terrorists | 2 |
| 18 U.S.C. § 2339B | material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization | 58 |
| 18 U.S.C. § 2339C | financing of terrorism | 1 |
| 18 U.S.C. § 2339D | military-type training from an FTO | 2 |
| 50 U.S.C. § 1705 | IEEPA violations | 1 |
Update Cadence
Checked daily. New DOJ releases are reviewed before they are added; docket dates for listed cases are refreshed from CourtListener.
Download
cases.csv: one row per defendant with case, district, docket, statutes, group, status, key dates, sentence and source links.
Related MEF Work
For the IRGC and MOIS cases, the Iran Ledger follows the regime networks behind the plots.
Citation
Middle East Forum, Islamist Terrorism Prosecutions, accessed October 13, 2026, https://cases.meforum.org/