Day One: Three Twin Cities Men Sentenced For Supporting ISIS

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — The first three of nine defendants expected to be sentenced this week for conspiring to provide material support to ISIS were sentenced Monday in three separate hearings in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis. Abdullahi Yusuf, 20, was sentenced to time already served. Abdirizak Warsame, 21, was sentenced to 30 months in prison. Zacharia Abdurahman, 21, was sentenced to 10 years in prison, according to a news release.

“The hard work of rehabilitating those who seek to engage in ideological violence must continue,” said
United States Attorney Andrew M. Luger in a statement. “Judge Davis recognized that fact today in his considered sentences for those defendants who cooperated with the government and have begun to disengage from ISIL’s violent ideology.”

According to his guilty plea, in April 2014, Yusuf applied for an expedited U.S. Passport at the
Minneapolis Passport Office. The following month, Yusuf attempted to travel from Minneapolis/St.
Paul International Airport to Istanbul, Turkey, to join ISIS. He was stopped at the airport by federal
agents. Yusuf pleaded guilty on Feb. 26, 2015. Yusuf cooperated with the United States and testified at the trial of three of his co-conspirators, according to authorities.

According to his guilty plea, Warsame participated in the conspiracy throughout 2014 and early
2015 in various capacities, including serving briefly as “emir” of the co-conspirators, and helping
unindicted co-conspirator, Yusuf Jama, obtain contact information to aid his joining ISIS in Syria.

Warsame pleaded guilty on Feb. 11, 2016. Warsame cooperated with the United States and testified at the trial of three of his co-conspirators.

According to his guilty plea, in November 2014, Abdurahman and three co-conspirators traveled
by bus from Minneapolis to New York City’s JFK airport, where they attempted to fly overseas to join
ISIS in Syria. They were stopped from flying and questioned by federal agents before returning to
Minnesota.

Despite being stopped from traveling in November 2014, Abdurahman and the coconspirators
continued to discuss and plan another attempt to travel to Syria to join ISIS.

Abdurahman pleaded guilty on Sept. 17, 2015. This case is the result of an investigation conducted by members of the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), according to authorities.

Image via Sherburne County Jail