A U.S. citizen from Minneapolis allegedly traveled to Somalia in 2015 to join the terrorist organization ISIS, according to federal charges unsealed by the Department of Justice Friday.
The DOJ said 41-year-old Harafa Hussein Abdi was recently taken into custody overseas and transported back to the United States on Thursday. He was scheduled to appear before a federal judge Friday afternoon on charges of providing material support to and receiving military-style training from a designated terrorist organization.
“As alleged, Harafa Hussein Abdi, a citizen of this country, traveled from Minnesota to join a group of ISIS fighters in Somalia,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York.
“While training with ISIS fighters in Somalia, Abdi allegedly carried an AK-47, threatened to attack civilians in New York City, and encouraged others to carry out such attacks. Our law enforcement partners have relentlessly pursued this investigation to ensure the disruption of Abdi’s alleged plans to wage terror on our shores and bring Abdi to an American court to face justice. No matter how long it takes, this office is steadfast in its commitment to investigate, disrupt and prosecute terrorist threats against Americans.”
According to the charges:
Abdi left Minnesota in 2015 for an ISIS training camp in the Puntland region of Somalia. While there, he was trained on how to use an AK-47, which he regularly carried, and worked for the terrorist group’s propaganda arm.
He described in social media messages how he left the U.S. to join the “Islamic state” and confessed to making “hijra,” which is “an Arabic term used by ISIS supporters to refer to traveling overseas to join ISIS and engage in jihad,” according to the DOJ.
In 2017, he apparently recorded rap lyrics in which he described the acts of violence he planned to commit, stating:
“Hollow tips put a hole in your Catholic vest, and chop his head off, let it rest on his Catholic chest. We going to carry on jihad. Fly through America on our way to shoot New York up. They trying to shut this thing. We ain’t going. We going to come blow New York up.”
Abdi distributed the recording to others along with a message of, “Fighting back the kuffar who’s at war with Muslims if [that] is not islam then I don’t know wats Islam.”
He then had a falling out with ISIS leadership and was jailed by his former companions. However, he escaped from jail and traveled to a different location in East Africa where he was arrested by law enforcement.
In an interview with FBI officials, Abdi admitted to joining the ISIS training camp and identified himself in an ISIS propaganda video he helped create. The video shows Abdi donning an AK-47 while encouraging others to join and fight for ISIS.
“We thank almighty God for making us His soldiers and chose us to be among the Khilafa troops,” he says in the video. “So do not stay behind, brother, and get on this caravan … Those who believe fight in the cause of Allah, and those who reject Faith fight in the cause of Evil.”
Abdi faces a combined maximum of up to 55 years in prison if convicted.
Anthony Gockowski
Anthony Gockowski is Editor-in-Chief of Alpha News. He previously worked as an editor for The Minnesota Sun and Campus Reform, and wrote for the Daily Caller.
