Hanad Mustofe Musse, 19, pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiring with at least eight other people to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State, even withdrawing money from his federal, financial-aid college account to do so.
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Musse and Topaz face up to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization.
Musse admitted that he was aware of the Islamic State’s terrorist activities including beheadings, kidnappings and rapes perpetrated through the organization, but said they were not behind his motivation to join the group.
In court Wednesday, Musse admitted that he and his co-defendants were part of the conspiracy, along with two others: Abullahi Yusuf, who has already pleaded guilty in the case and is cooperating with the government, and Abdi Nur, who traveled to Syria in May 2014.
“At the time I thought it was a bunch of freedom fighters”, he said, “I felt the reason why I wanted to go to Syria was to protect the people of Syria and Iraq and form an Islamic State”.
“It seems like you’re very knowledgeable about what’s going on over there”, Davis said. Musse told Davis the group met more than 10 times.
All of them pleaded not guilty. Messages left with Musse’s attorney weren’t immediately returned. “Our efforts to cut off the flow of fighters and resources to known terrorist organisations will not stop with his guilty plea”, Fishman said in a separate statement. “Every word he says I have to honor him”. He added that he listens to his parents as he is supposed to, but then said: “I still wanted to go”.
The Minneapolis area – home to a large Somali immigrant community – has also been a target of recruiting by Somalia’s Al-Qaeda-affiliated Shebab rebels.
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Prosecutors accused Musse of trying to leave the United States twice to join the militants, first in November 2014 when he was turned back from John F. Kennedy global Airport and again in April when he was arrested.
