The New Yorker who joined ISIS nicknamed “Umm Nutella” received a 19-year prison sentence on Wednesday after an appeals court threw out her original 48-month punishment for being “shockingly low.”
Sinmyah Ceasar, 30, was sentenced by Brooklyn Federal Court Judge Kiyo Matsumoto. The new ruling replaced her previous four-year sentence handed down in 2019 by the late Judge Jack Weinstein.
“With today’s sentence, Sinmyah Amera Ceasar, an unrepentant ISIS recruiter, will be incarcerated for a significant period of time to protect Americans here and abroad from her violent extremism,” said U.S. Attorney John Durham.
Ceasar had faced charges in 2016 for providing material support to ISIS, a crime punishable by up to life in prison. She struck a plea deal in 2017 and was released under supervision.
Judge Weinstein had believed that education and mental health care could help “save her as a human being,” but prosecutors said Ceasar quickly reconnected with ISIS during her supervised release starting July 2020.
She had pleaded guilty to both providing support to ISIS and obstruction of justice.
Ceasar, who adopted the war name “Umm Nutella” — meaning “Mother of Nutella” — remained free for 13 months before the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned her sentence in August 2021. The court called the original ruling a “shockingly low” penalty and ordered a re-sentencing.
Following that decision, Ceasar tried to escape justice by skipping a court appearance on Aug. 25, 2021. She removed her ankle monitor and attempted to flee to Russia. Authorities found her days later hiding in an auto body shop in New Mexico.
Federal prosecutors said Ceasar wanted to join ISIS and “die as a martyr.” She even tried to marry Fareed Mumuni, an ISIS recruit serving a 25-year sentence for attack an FBI agent.
Prosecutors pushed for a sentence of 30 to 70 years.
Her attorney, Deirdre von Dornum of the Federal Defenders of New York, criticized the new sentence.
“Ms. Ceasar’s sentence demonstrates the utter failure of the federal criminal justice system,” she said. “Lacking the mental health and de-radicalization resources everyone – from the FBI to mental health experts – agrees she needs, the court resorted to ‘incapacitating’ a traumatized young woman who has never hurt anyone but herself.”
Ceasar’s legal team said she was raped as a child and suffers from PTSD.
“This sentence is a fitting and meaningful outcome for a woman who assisted ISIS in recruiting, squandered the chance for redemption by exposing herself as cooperating with the U.S. government, and persisted in promoting extremist ideologies to potential new recruits online,” said NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
