Waleed Idrus al-Maneesey is a radical imam who heads up the Al-Farooq mosque in Bloomington, Minnesota, attended by at least six known terrorists and terrorist supporters.
Waleed Idris al-Maneesey is a radical imam who heads up the Al-Farooq mosque in Bloomington, Minnesota, attended by at least six known terrorists and terrorist supporters.
A Minnesota man who pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State attended a radical mosque in Bloomington known for producing jihadists.
Adnan Abdihamid Farah, 20, faces up to 15 years in prison but avoided a possible life sentence when three other counts were dropped.
Adnan Farah, 20, was born in the U.S. to Somali refugee parents and could now spend up to 15 years in behind bars.
Adnan Farah, 20, was born in the U.S. to Somali refugee parents and could now spend up to 15 years in behind bars.
Farah is one of five men in a group of Somali Americans – all either refugees or sons of refugees – who the government charged in the case.
Farah was the only one of the five who was not accused of trying to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State, also called ISIS, but admitted he was communicating with an ISIS operative in Syria and intended to do so.
Adnan Farah’s older brother, Mohamed Abdihamid Farah, 22, is among the other four defendants who are scheduled to go on trial May 9.
Mohamed Farah, 22, is the older brother of Adnan Farah. He is also charged with providing material support to an overseas terrorist organization.
Mohamed Farah, 22, is the older brother of Adnan Farah. He is also charged with providing material support to an overseas terrorist organization.
A total of 10 Somalis from Minnesota have been charged with conspiracy to provide material support to ISIS. Five have now pleaded guilty, one has fled and his whereabouts unknown. Another dozen or so Minnesota Muslims, almost all of them of Somali origin, have traveled to Syria to join Sunni rebel groups since 2012.
Adnan Farah said his parents confiscated his passport when it came in the mail. He then put a $100 down payment on a fake passport and also tried to help a co-defendant get one.
Another 22 young Somali men have left Minnesota since 2007 to join al-Shabab, an al-Qaida-linked terrorist group seeking to take over Somalia.
Adnan Farah, who was born in the U.S. to Somali refugee parents, told the court he took no interest in al-Shabab but had watched “at least 100” ISIS propaganda videos on Youtube. Some of the videos depicted atrocities committed by Syrian government forces on Sunni Muslims.