The US Justice Department announced the sentencing of Ahmad Umar Agha, known online as "Th3Pr0", to 42 months in prison over his role in the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) — a hacking conspiracy organised by advisers to former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Agha was sentenced in federal court in Virginia after hacking about 47 Western media outlets, non-profit groups and other US-aligned entities since at least 2011. In one notable 2013 incident the group hijacked the Associated Press's Twitter account and posted a false report of an explosion at the White House, briefly wiping an estimated US$136 billion from markets. In another, Agha redirected visitors to the US Marine Corps recruiting website to propaganda urging service members to disobey orders. Charged in 2014, indicted with fellow member Firas Dardar in 2018, and taken into US custody last year, Agha is the first senior SEA member sentenced by US courts; Dardar remains a fugitive.

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