A U.S. citizen from Brooklyn who admitted to supporting the Islamic State was resentenced Wednesday to 19 years in prison — a far cry from the 30 to 70 years prosecutors wanted, but nearly five times longer than her original sentence.

Sinmyah Amera Ceasar was sentenced to prison by U.S. district judge Kiyo Matsumoto for providing material support and funds to ISIS, an international terrorist group, obstructing justice while on bail pending her sentencing, and failing to show up in court when she tried to flee from the U.S.

In a news release, Sue J. Bai of the DOJ’s National Security Division said that the resentencing marked the “end of a journey of righteousness which began more than a decade ago.”

Bai stated, “Terrorist groups like ISIS depend on recruiters such as Ceasar to attract, educate, and recruit new followers. The Department is dedicated to holding accountable those who follow a similar course. Our prosecutors, our staff, and the members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force made today possible. We are grateful for the tireless pursuit of justice by their team in this case.”

Ceasar pleaded guilty to the material support charge in February 2017, to the obstruction of justice charge in March 2019, and to the failure to appear charge in October 2022. She had faced up to life in prison in 2019 on the providing material support to ISIS and obstruction of justice. But U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein, who died in 2021, sentenced her in 2019 to four years in prison.

Weinstein, citing the testimony of her psychologist, argued that Ceasar “was well on her way to rehabilitation” and that “this will save her as a person.” Ceasar, however, reconnected with ISIS in July 2020 after she was released on supervised probation.

The 2nd U.S. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Weinstein’s sentence on August 20, 2021. It called it “shockingly lenient and unsupportable in a legal sense” — and ordered Ceasar to be resentenced. She failed to show up in court on August 20, 2021, and removed her ankle monitor bracelet. She was caught a few days later in New Mexico, hiding.

DOJ stated that Ceasar was trying to escape to Russia and used a messaging application to contact someone in Afghanistan for assistance. She contacted this person on Aug. 26, 2021. This was the day that an ISIS affiliate carried out a suicide attack at Kabul International Airport, Afghanistan, which killed hundreds of people, including 13 U.S. military personnel.

DOJ stated that even after Ceasar returned to custody in the U.S. Bureau of Prisons Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn, to await sentencing, “she continued to violate Bureau of Prisons institution rules, circumvented phone and email monitoring, and used restrictions on use and communication, and communicated and associated with other ISIS supporter.”

Deirdre Von Dornum, Ceasar’s lawyer, of the Federal Defenders of New York, told the New York Post that she was disappointed by Ceasar’s punishment and acknowledged that her client has mental health issues.

Dornum stated, “Lacking mental health resources and deradicalization experts everyone agrees on- from the FBI mental health experts- the court resorted in incapacitating a traumatized woman who has only ever hurt herself.”