Minnesota Student Pleaded Guilty for Attempting to Join the Islamic State Terror Group

Another man from Minnesota entered a guilty plea in federal court over charges of conspiring to support the Islamic State terror group on Monday. 

Hamza Naj Ahmed, 21-years old pleaded guilty in Minneapolis district court to conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State group, Fox News reported. Ahmed initially pleaded not guilty over the said charge. He is set to appear in another trial along with three other men in May.

Another defendant, Adnan Abdihamid Farah also agreed to a plea deal, eleven days before Ahmed's plea. Aside from the conspiracy and providing material support, he is also guilty of financial fraud. Ahmed, who was studying for college was also charged for using $2,700 of federal student loan money in an attempt to fly to Syria and join the Islamic State group.

He is the sixth juvenile terror suspect to plead guilty over the terror case. According to CBS Minnesota, Ahmed was offered a plea deal due to "impermissible interference" which deprived him of the opportunity to review the first plea deal offer. He was later given another chance.

Ahmed, along with other ten defendants, planned to travel to Syria and join ISIS group. During the trial on Monday, he told the jury that he spent his tuition money, his federal student loan money to purchase a bus ticket to John F. Kennedy International Airport in 2014. Ahmed is a student from Minneapolis Community and Technical College.

According to 5 Eyewitness News, with this plea deal, Ahmed faces a maximum of 20 years in prison. He originally pleaded not guilty in order to appease his mother. Ahmed also stated that his mother influenced him to go on with the court trial.

The defendant and his other co-conspirators were arrested ant an airport in New York, trying to fly to Syria. He was then indicted to the charges after he lied to the FBI regardig his case investigation.

Tags

Minnesota man, Guilty Plea, ISIS, Fraud, Terrorism

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