(CN) - A Mississippi man sentenced to eight years in prison Wednesday for attempting to join the Islamic State group thanked the FBI agents who arrested him, saying he believes they saved his life.
Muhammad Dakhlalla, 22, told U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock that he had been misled into supporting the terrorist organization by videos he watched with his former fiancee Jaelyn Young.
The videos show Islamic State members in positive roles, providing aid to suffering people in Syria and Iraq.
Dakhlalla pleaded guilty in March to one count of conspiring to provide material support to a terrorist organization.
He said he changed his mind about the group after watching news coverage of terrorist attacks in Europe while in jail.
"I was completely wrong about what ISIS was," Dakhlalla told Aycock on Wednesday.
"They twist Islam for their own agenda. I denounce them. I condemn them," he said.
In addition to the eight years in jail, Aycock also sentenced Dakhlalla to 15 years of probation.
Earlier this month Aycock sentenced Jaelyn Young to 12 years in prison and 15 years of probation after prosecutors argued she's prodded Dakhklalla into supporting in Islamic State and planned their attempt to travel to Turkey to join the group.
The couple had planned to claim the trip was their honeymoon.
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