Minneapolis man charged with trying to join the Islamic State group
A Minneapolis man who allegedly expressed admiration for the truck attack in New Orleans that killed 14 people has been accused of trying to join the Islamic State group, federal prosecutors announced Friday.
Abdisatar Ahmed Hassan, 22, made his first court appearance on a charge of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. He was ordered held without bail until a detention hearing March 5.
The chief federal defender for Minnesota, Katherian Roe, said her office will represent him but declined to comment on the case.
The criminal complaint against Hassan, a naturalized U.S. citizen, alleges that he tried twice in December to travel from Minnesota to Somalia to join the group but did not succeed. It says he claimed he was going to visit family but had none there.
Prosecutors said the FBI's investigation established that Hassan expressed public support for the group in multiple posts on social media and also praised Shamsud-Din Jabbar on TikTok over the New Orleans attack.
Investigators say Jabbar, a 42-year-old Texas native and U.S. Army veteran, posted videos professing allegiance to the Islamic State group and an intent to harm others before he plowed a pickup through a crowd of New Year's revelers on Bourbon Street on Jan. 1. Police fatally shot him during an exchange of gunfire at the scene.
Hassan also allegedly posted a video last week, of himself driving while holding an Islamic State group flag inside his vehicle. The FBI said it also observed him driving with the flag Wednesday. He was arrested on Thursday.
The charging documents also say police in New York notified the FBI last May that Hassan had made social media posts in support of the Somali group al-Shabab. An affidavit from an agent says investigators spotted al-Shabab and Islamic State group propaganda videos on his TikTok and Facebook accounts. It also alleges that he exchanged messages with a Facebook account that encourages Somali-speaking individuals to travel and fight on behalf of the Islamic State group.
FBI agents were watching when Hassan went to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Dec. 13, authorities say. He allegedly tried to check in for a flight to Somalia but left after an airline employee told him he lacked required travel documents.
He allegedly tried again Dec. 29. Agents saw him board a flight to Chicago, where Customs and Border Protection officers interviewed him extensively before his scheduled flight to Ethiopia but did not detain him. He missed the flight and returned to Minneapolis, the affidavit says.
Hassan is the latest of several Minnesotans suspected of leaving or trying to leave the U.S. to join the Islamic State group in recent years, along with thousands of fighters from other countries. In 2016 nine Minnesota men were sentenced on federal charges of conspiring to join the group, and a Minnesotan who actually fought for the group in Iraq was sentenced last June to 10 years in prison.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
Minnesota's election safeguards stopped a voter fraud scheme in its tracks, secretary of state says
Two people have been charged with conspiracy to commit voter registration fraud in a case that shows Minnesota 's election safeguards work and prevented anyone from voting illegally, Secretary of State Steve Simon said Friday. The charges announced by the U.S. Attorney's Office allege that Ronnie Williams and Lorraine Lee Combs generated fictitious names and other data they used to fill out Minnesota voter registration forms in 2021 and 2022. The charging documents, filed in federal court on Tuesday, say Williams provided the completed forms to an entity that sought to register voters in Minnesota that is identified only as 'Foundation 1,' which paid him, and that he then split the proceeds with Combs. The documents also indicate that others were involved in the alleged conspiracy, serving as intermediaries between Williams and 'Foundation 1,' which would submit the false registration forms to election offices across the state 'through its agents,' but charges against them have not been announced. Williams and Combs were longtime romantic partners, according to the documents, which don't say how much they were paid. The charges are the result of a two-year investigation by the FBI and the Secretary of State's Office and are punishable by up to five years in prison. 'The extensive checks in Minnesota's voter registration process ensured that the fraudulent applications were immediately flagged, and no ineligible votes were cast,' Simon said in a statement. While voter fraud does happen occasionally, the country's processes provide many safeguards that generally keep it detectable and rare. When it happens, it tends to get caught and prosecuted. 'Election fraud strikes at the heart of our democracy,' Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said in a separate statement. 'Thankfully, the FBI stopped this fraud in its tracks, before anyone successfully cast a fraudulent ballot. But we will stay vigilant.' Court documents suggest that the two defendants plan to plead guilty. They were charged by complaints instead of grand jury indictments, which are normally needed to take a case to trial in federal court. And the case dockets show that Williams has a plea agreement hearing set for July 8, while Combs has a change of plea hearing on June 24. Attorneys for Williams and Combs declined to comment on the charges. The announcement from prosecutors said the two are Nevada residents who formerly lived in Minnesota. Neither has a listed phone number in either state. But Combs told the Minnesota Star Tribune that she filled out roughly 500 forms as part of the operation and turned them over to Williams. She told the newspaper that she didn't know the name of the foundation, and she didn't know how many applications Williams completed illegally. Simon's office said local officials used verification tools that are built into the state's voter registration system to identify inconsistencies on the forms, then immediately reported them to law enforcement and his office. The office then worked with every county election office to confirm that all fraudulent registration attempts would be detected and confirm that no ballots were wrongly requested or cast. 'Our message to would-be fraudsters is clear: If you try to trick or scheme your way into registering voters in Minnesota, you will be caught and prosecuted,' Simon said.
NBC News
2 hours ago
- NBC News
Afghan man accused of planning an Election Day attack in the U.S. pleads guilty
An Afghan man in Oklahoma accused of planning an Election Day attack in the U.S. on behalf of the Islamic State group pleaded guilty Friday to terrorism-related charges in federal court. Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, pleaded guilty to two offenses: conspiring and providing support to the Islamic State group, and attempting to receive firearms to commit a federal crime of terrorism. The Islamic State is designated by the U.S. as a foreign terrorist organization. Tawhedi faces up to 35 years in prison. 'The defendant admits he planned and obtained firearms to carry out a violent terror attack on Election Day in 2024, a plot that was detected and disrupted through the good work of the FBI and our partners,' FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement. A phone message was left seeking comment from Craig Hoehns, an attorney for Tawhedi. Tawhedi was living in Oklahoma City last year when he acquired two AK-47-style rifles and 500 rounds of ammunition to target large crowds, according to court documents. Authorities said he had conspired with multiple people, including his brother-in-law, Abdullah Haji Zada, for several months to plot out the attack. Zada, who was 17 at the time, was charged as an adult and pleaded guilty in April. He faces up to 15 years in prison. Tawhedi arrived in the U.S. in September 2021 on a special immigration visa shortly after the capital city of Afghanistan, Kabul, was captured by the Taliban. At the time of his arrest on Oct. 7, Tawhedi was on parole while his immigration status was pending, according to the Justice Department. His parole status has since been revoked. FBI agents had testified earlier that Tawhedi, who worked as a rideshare driver and at auto shops, was under surveillance for more than a month before his arrest.
The Independent
3 hours ago
- The Independent
An Afghan man accused of planning an Election Day attack in the US pleads guilty
An Afghan man in Oklahoma accused of planning an Election Day attack in the U.S. on behalf of the Islamic State group pleaded guilty Friday to terrorism-related charges in federal court. Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, pleaded guilty to two offenses: conspiring and providing support to the Islamic State group, and attempting to receive firearms to commit a federal crime of terrorism. The Islamic State is designated by the U.S. as a foreign terrorist organization. Tawhedi faces up to 35 years in prison. 'The defendant admits he planned and obtained firearms to carry out a violent terror attack on Election Day in 2024, a plot that was detected and disrupted through the good work of the FBI and our partners,' FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement. A phone message was left seeking comment from Craig Hoehns, an attorney for Tawhedi. Tawhedi was living in Oklahoma City last year when he acquired two AK-47-style rifles and 500 rounds of ammunition to target large crowds, according to court documents. Authorities said he had conspired with multiple people, including his brother-in-law, Abdullah Haji Zada, for several months to plot out the attack. Zada, who was 17 at the time, was charged as an adult and pleaded guilty in April. He faces up to 15 years in prison. Tawhedi arrived in the U.S. in September 2021 on a special immigration visa shortly after the capital city of Afghanistan, Kabul, was captured by the Taliban. At the time of his arrest on Oct. 7, Tawhedi was on parole while his immigration status was pending, according to the Justice Department. His parole status has since been revoked. FBI agents had testified earlier that Tawhedi, who worked as a rideshare driver and at auto shops, was under surveillance for more than a month before his arrest. ___
