Two of three convicted in ISIS trial ask U.S. Supreme Court to hear appeal

Convicted men take their request to Supreme Court.

February 6, 2019 at 4:50AM
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Two of three Minneapolis men convicted in 2016 of attempting to join the terror group ISIS are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear challenges to their decadeslong prison sentences.

An appeals court has already upheld the sentences handed down against Mohamed Abdihamid Farah, Abdirahman Yasin Daud and Guled Ali Omar after federal juries convicted them of trying to murder in the name of ISIS. Six other defendants pleaded guilty to lesser charges.

Farah and Daud, both 25, are serving 30-year prison terms. Farah's attorney, Jordan Kushner, argues that the jury for his client was given an improper instruction on one of the charges.

Omar's attorney, Glenn Bruder, said the deadline for his client to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court has passed. Omar, 24, was sentenced to 35 years in prison.

"There are other legal options and we are exploring those options," Bruder said.

After a three-week trial before Senior U.S. District Judge Michael Davis in Minneapolis in 2016, jurors convicted all three on charges that included conspiring to murder abroad and conspiracy to provide material support to ISIS.

In August, a federal appeals court held that there was "overwhelming evidence" that the three intended to follow others to the battlefield to fight, and kill, for ISIS.

Brandon Stahl • 612-673-4626

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