U.S. citizen Hamza Naj Ahmed has pled guilty to charges of financial aid fraud and conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization after he had allegedly sought to use a student loan of $2,700 in order to travel to Syria and join ISIS abroad. Ahmed, due to be sentenced in November of 2016, faces up to 15 years’ imprisonment and a lifetime of supervised release.
Court papers reveal that Ahmed was among three others—co-conspirators Mohamed Abdihamid Farah, Zacharia Yusuf Abdurahim, and Hanad Mustafe Musse—scheduled to depart on international flights from John F. Kennedy International (JFK) Airport on November 8, 2014. Ahmed allegedly expected to reach Syria via Turkey, but was removed from the airplane by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents after boarding.
On October 21, 2015, Ahmed was charged with a new count of conspiracy to commit murder outside the United States. He is scheduled to go to trial in February 2016.
In February of 2015, Ahmed was charged with conspiring to provide material support to ISIS. Ahmed was denied bail on July 8, 2015 due to his designation as a flight risk. Ahmed was charged alongside a group of eight other Minnesotan-based ISIS recruits: Farah, Abdurahim, and Musse, as well as Abdullahi Yusuf, Abdirizak Warsame, Guled Ali Omar, Abdirahman Yasin Daud, and Mohamed Abdihamid Farah. One of the defendants’ associates, Abdiwali Nur, is believed to have successfully joined ISIS in Syria in May 2014.
Ahmed was sentenced to 15 years in prison on November 15, 2016. Ahmed told the court he was thankful to U.S. authorities who removed him from the airplane in November of 2014—admitting that they most likely saved his life. Ahmed told U.S. District Judge Michael Davis, “I want you to understand I am not completely changed. I’m in the process, but nobody changes overnight.”
Type[s] of Organization
Insurgent, territory-controlling, terrorist, violent
Type[s] of Ideology
Islamist, jihadist, Pan-Islamist, Salafist, takfiri
Place of Residence
St. Paul, Minnesota, United States
Arrested
02/05/2015: material support, false statement
Extremist use of social media
Instagram, Twitter
History Timeline
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GqL8J4jL7c6vSrKkFwWWunYjjla8BTo-ZWikNmzyptA/pubhtml
Show on Extremists & Online Propaganda report
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Type of extremist
Attempted foreign fighter
Description
Part of a group of Somali-American youth in Minnesota who conspired to join ISIS abroad in 2014. Boarded a plane at New York’s JFK airport in November 2014 in an attempt to join ISIS abroad, but was removed from the plane by authorities before its departure. Pled guilty in April 2016 to conspiring to provide material support to the group.
Propaganda details
Came to believe that ISIS was “helping the innocent people, similar to government organizations” while watching online ISIS propaganda videos, some of which depicted mass executions of prisoners.
Accessed violent propaganda?
Yes
Accessed propaganda providing instructions on how to prepare or execute violent acts?
Not determined
Disseminated?
Not determined
Viewed/Discussed with others?
Yes
Extremist Entity Association
Threat Link
Extremist Entity Name
ISIS
Leader