MINNEAPOLIS: One man convicted of plotting to fight for the Daesh group in Syria got 35 years in prison. Another got off easy with only time served plus probation.
It fell to US District Judge Michael Davis to mete out justice in the long-running case, which targeted a group of young male friends in Minnesota’s large Somali community who prosecutors say helped radicalize each other, watching hours of violent propaganda videos, including beheadings and burnings.
Some friends made it to Syria. These nine, whom Davis considered to be nothing less than a “terrorist cell” that needed to be stopped, were caught.
Davis’ spectrum of sentences is expected to set the pattern for other Daesh-related terrorism cases across the country — only about half of 110 have been resolved, according to Karen Greenberg, director of the Center on National Security at Fordham University School of Law.
He provided some “much needed” rationale behind his decisions, too, Greenberg said. He partly followed a standard legal pattern in which defendants who cooperate get less time and those who don’t get the harshest sentences, she said. But Davis made it clear early on that he wanted to take a nuanced approach due to the age range — 19 to 22 — treating defendants individually and looking for alternatives to incarceration when appropriate. He even traveled to Germany to meet with a noted deradicalization expert.
“The message he’s sending is we can do intervention and here’s how to do it. We’ve been waiting for it for a long time. ... This is really taking the lead nationally,” she said.
The defendant Davis considered most amenable to rehabilitation, Abdullahi Yusuf, 20, was sentenced to time served, 21 months. Abdirizak Warsame, 21, got 2½ years with credit for 11 months served. Both men cooperated with the investigation and testified against the group despite strong pressure from within their community. Davis said he’ll personally keep close watch over their 20 years’ supervised release.
Yusuf and Warsame were among the six defendants Davis had evaluated by the German deradicalization expert, Daniel Koehler, who also trained local parole officers in his methods. A local civic engagement group also has been working with Yusuf.
Davis, who has overseen all of Minnesota’s terrorism cases, including several cases earlier involving the Somalia-based terror group Al-Shabab, expressed dismay several times in court that no deradicalization programs exist within the federal prison system. So, getting the men programming to keep them from returning to the path of violent jihad meant keeping them out of prison.
“I hope I’m not wrong,” Davis told Yusuf at his sentencing Monday.
Davis appeared to be less pained sentencing those who refused to cooperate, particularly the three who went to trial instead of pleading guilty. Two received 30 years apiece. Guled Omar, 22, a leader of the group, got 35. Three of the four who pleaded guilty but did not cooperate got 10 years; the fourth got 15. Some have already filed appeal notices.
All nine expressed deep regrets. But Davis, the state’s first black federal judge, has seen a lot in his 33 years on the bench, including 22 as a federal judge. He wasn’t moved by Omar’s tearful contrition.
“Everything you have said here, I don’t believe,” Davis told him Wednesday.
Despite Davis’ explanations, the wide range of sentences was confusing to many people, especially the longer prison terms, said Mohamud Noor, executive director of the Confederation of Somali Community in Minnesota.
“It’s something many people are still processing,” Noor said.
Building trust between law enforcement and the Somali community has been a priority for US Attorney Andrew Luger, who oversaw the prosecutions and launched an initiative to counter terrorist recruiting.
But there’s a long road ahead, Noor said, and the heightened anti-Islamic sentiment in today’s political climate isn’t helping. Still, he said, the work must continue.
“We want to move beyond. We want to move to the healing process. We want to move to closure,” Noor said.
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US terror sentences expected to set national pattern
US terror sentences expected to set national pattern
Britain’s Starmer ends China trip aimed at reset despite Trump warning
- Keir Starmer’s visit was the first to China by a British prime minister in eight years
- Leaders from France, Canada and Finland have flocked to Beijing in recent weeks
SHANGHAI: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer wrapped up a four-day trip to China on Saturday, after his bid to forge closer ties prompted warnings from US President Donald Trump.
Starmer’s visit was the first to China by a British prime minister in eight years, following in the footsteps of other Western leaders looking to counter an increasingly volatile United States.
Leaders from France, Canada and Finland have flocked to Beijing in recent weeks, recoiling from Trump’s bid to seize Greenland and tariff threats against NATO allies.
Trump warned on Thursday it was “very dangerous” for Britain to be dealing with China.
Starmer brushed off those comments on Friday, noting that Trump was also expected to visit China in the months ahead.
“The US and the UK are very close allies, and that’s why we discussed the visit with his team before we came,” Starmer said in an interview with UK television.
“I don’t think it is wise for the UK to stick its head in the sand. China is the second-largest economy in the world,” he said.
Asked about Trump’s comments on Friday, Beijing’s foreign ministry said “China is willing to strengthen cooperation with all countries in the spirit of mutual benefit and win-win results.”
Starmer met top Chinese leaders, including President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang, on Thursday, with both sides highlighting the need for closer ties.
He told business representatives from Britain and China on Friday that both sides had “warmly engaged” and “made some real progress.”
“The UK has got a huge amount to offer,” he said in a short speech at the UK-China Business Forum at the Bank of China.
He signed a series of agreements on Thursday, with Downing Street announcing Beijing had agreed to visa-free travel for British citizens visiting China for under 30 days, although Starmer acknowledged there was no start date for the arrangement yet.
The Chinese foreign ministry said only that it was “actively considering” the visa deal and would “make it public at an appropriate time upon completing the necessary procedures.”
He also said Beijing had lifted sanctions on UK lawmakers targeted since 2021 for their criticism of alleged human rights abuses against China’s Muslim Uyghur minority.
“President Xi said to me that that means all parliamentarians are welcome,” Starmer said in an interview with UK television.
He traveled from Beijing to economic powerhouse Shanghai, where he spoke with Chinese students at the Shanghai International College of Fashion and Innovation, a joint institute between Donghua University and the University of Edinburgh.
On Saturday, Starmer visited a design institute and met with performing arts students alongside British actress Rosamund Pike, who spoke of her children’s experience learning Mandarin.
Later on Saturday, Starmer will arrive in Tokyo for a meeting with Japanese counterpart Sanae Takaichi.
Visas and whisky
The visa deal could bring Britain in line with about 50 other countries granted visa-free travel, including France, Germany, Australia and Japan, and follows a similar agreement made between China and Canada this month.
The agreements signed included cooperation on targeting supply chains used by migrant smugglers, as well as on British exports to China, health and strengthening a bilateral trade commission.
China also agreed to halve tariffs on British whisky to five percent, according to Downing Street.
British companies sealed £2.2 billion ($3 billion) in export deals and around £2.3 billion in “market access wins” over five years, and “hundreds of millions worth of investments,” Starmer’s government said in a statement.
Xi told Starmer on Thursday that their countries should strengthen dialogue and cooperation in the context of a “complex and intertwined” international situation.
Relations between China and Britain deteriorated from 2020 when Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong and cracked down on pro-democracy activists in the former British colony.
However, China remains Britain’s third-largest trading partner, and Starmer is hoping deals with Beijing will help fulfil his primary goal of boosting UK economic growth.
British pharmaceutical group AstraZeneca said on Thursday it would invest $15 billion in China through 2030 to expand its medicines manufacturing and research.
And China’s Pop Mart, makers of the wildly popular Labubu dolls, said it would set up a regional hub in London and open 27 stores across Europe in the coming year, including up to seven in Britain.
Starmer’s visit was the first to China by a British prime minister in eight years, following in the footsteps of other Western leaders looking to counter an increasingly volatile United States.
Leaders from France, Canada and Finland have flocked to Beijing in recent weeks, recoiling from Trump’s bid to seize Greenland and tariff threats against NATO allies.
Trump warned on Thursday it was “very dangerous” for Britain to be dealing with China.
Starmer brushed off those comments on Friday, noting that Trump was also expected to visit China in the months ahead.
“The US and the UK are very close allies, and that’s why we discussed the visit with his team before we came,” Starmer said in an interview with UK television.
“I don’t think it is wise for the UK to stick its head in the sand. China is the second-largest economy in the world,” he said.
Asked about Trump’s comments on Friday, Beijing’s foreign ministry said “China is willing to strengthen cooperation with all countries in the spirit of mutual benefit and win-win results.”
Starmer met top Chinese leaders, including President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang, on Thursday, with both sides highlighting the need for closer ties.
He told business representatives from Britain and China on Friday that both sides had “warmly engaged” and “made some real progress.”
“The UK has got a huge amount to offer,” he said in a short speech at the UK-China Business Forum at the Bank of China.
He signed a series of agreements on Thursday, with Downing Street announcing Beijing had agreed to visa-free travel for British citizens visiting China for under 30 days, although Starmer acknowledged there was no start date for the arrangement yet.
The Chinese foreign ministry said only that it was “actively considering” the visa deal and would “make it public at an appropriate time upon completing the necessary procedures.”
He also said Beijing had lifted sanctions on UK lawmakers targeted since 2021 for their criticism of alleged human rights abuses against China’s Muslim Uyghur minority.
“President Xi said to me that that means all parliamentarians are welcome,” Starmer said in an interview with UK television.
He traveled from Beijing to economic powerhouse Shanghai, where he spoke with Chinese students at the Shanghai International College of Fashion and Innovation, a joint institute between Donghua University and the University of Edinburgh.
On Saturday, Starmer visited a design institute and met with performing arts students alongside British actress Rosamund Pike, who spoke of her children’s experience learning Mandarin.
Later on Saturday, Starmer will arrive in Tokyo for a meeting with Japanese counterpart Sanae Takaichi.
Visas and whisky
The visa deal could bring Britain in line with about 50 other countries granted visa-free travel, including France, Germany, Australia and Japan, and follows a similar agreement made between China and Canada this month.
The agreements signed included cooperation on targeting supply chains used by migrant smugglers, as well as on British exports to China, health and strengthening a bilateral trade commission.
China also agreed to halve tariffs on British whisky to five percent, according to Downing Street.
British companies sealed £2.2 billion ($3 billion) in export deals and around £2.3 billion in “market access wins” over five years, and “hundreds of millions worth of investments,” Starmer’s government said in a statement.
Xi told Starmer on Thursday that their countries should strengthen dialogue and cooperation in the context of a “complex and intertwined” international situation.
Relations between China and Britain deteriorated from 2020 when Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong and cracked down on pro-democracy activists in the former British colony.
However, China remains Britain’s third-largest trading partner, and Starmer is hoping deals with Beijing will help fulfil his primary goal of boosting UK economic growth.
British pharmaceutical group AstraZeneca said on Thursday it would invest $15 billion in China through 2030 to expand its medicines manufacturing and research.
And China’s Pop Mart, makers of the wildly popular Labubu dolls, said it would set up a regional hub in London and open 27 stores across Europe in the coming year, including up to seven in Britain.
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