Yusuf said: “ISIL’s ideology is flawed. There is nothing Islamic about their so-called state.”
And so U.S. District Judge Michael Davis sentenced him only to the 21 months he’s already served in jail.
“I hope I’m not wrong,” the judge said.
Don’t we all, Judge. Don’t we all.
“Judge offers second chance to Minnesotans in Islamic State conspiracy,” by Steve Karnowski, Associated Press, November 14, 2016:
Two men who cooperated with authorities investigating a Minnesota-based conspiracy to join the Islamic State group in Syria were rewarded with light sentences Monday, but a third who chose not to help prosecutors got a 10-year sentence from a federal judge who still cut him a break partly because his parents have become active in the campaign against terrorist recruiting within the state’s large Somali community.
U.S. District Judge Michael Davis sentenced Abdullahi Mohamed Yusuf, 20, to the 21 months he’s already served in jail. Abdirizak Warsame, 21, didn’t fare as well, but his sentence of 2½ years in prison was two years less than prosecutors sought. While all three pleaded guilty, Zacharia Abdurahman, 21, got 10 years in prison because he didn’t cooperate with the government and refused to testify against against the other members of what Davis called a “terrorist cell.”
Davis point-blank asked Abdurahman why he didn’t.
“As a man, I made a decision not to do that to my former friends. Your honor, I’m a man of principle. … Our religion teaches you not to harm another brother,” he replied, sniffing and wiping away tears as he stood before the court in Minneapolis….
U.S. Attorney Andy Luger took the rare step of appearing in court to praise Yusuf and Warsame for cooperating.
The sentencings cap a long case that shined a light on terrorism recruitment in Minnesota, the state with the largest concentration of Somali immigrants in the U.S. The FBI has said about a dozen people have left Minnesota to join militant groups in Syria in recent years. Before that, more than 22 men were recruited to al-Shabab in Somalia since 2007.
Prosecutors said this conspiracy began in spring 2014, when a group of friends began inspiring and recruiting each other to join the Islamic State group. Some of their friends made it to Syria, but the nine didn’t.
At the day’s first hearing, Davis said it didn’t make sense to send Yusuf to prison, where no deradicalization programs are available.
“I hope I’m not wrong,” the judge said.
“I will not let you down, your honor,” Yusuf promised.
Earlier, Yusuf said he was “not the same naive 17-year-old” who was drawn into the conspiracy.
“ISIL’s ideology is flawed,” Yusuf said. “There is nothing Islamic about their so-called state.”
But the judge said he didn’t buy Warsame’s claims that he’s no longer a radical, suggesting he cooperated only because he could have faced 15 years in prison. Davis characterized Warsame’s contention that he’d abandoned his jihadist ideology as merely “another chess move” by a skilled player.
“The problem I have with you is everything has seemed so smooth,” the judge said. “… Extremist ideology based on religion doesn’t disappear overnight, and you can’t convince me otherwise. And that’s what you’re trying to do.”