'We came to this country looking for peace': Families of Minnesota ISIS suspects accuse FBI of setting them up

Home Top

Child star of Everybody Loves Raymond commits suicide at 19: Actor who played Ray Romano's twin son shoots himself dead
Was Baltimore suspect killed by deadly paddy wagon 'nickel ride'? Freddie Gray was NOT wearing a seatbelt and may have been tossed to death in abusive practice that's killed before
Apple smartwatch on sale from today... but not in stores: Customers will have to wait until June to get delivery after ordering online
Mystery of the passing out passengers remains unsolved: Investigation finds NOTHING wrong with plane which was forced to dive 30,000ft as people on board lost consciousness
The IKEA relationship curse! Experts warn trips to the store can spell doom for couples and say loved-up patrons must avoid hard-to-build item known as the 'Divorcemaker'
Woman who shot her lawyer boyfriend dead as he tried to split up with her before his date with beauty queen is guilty of murder
Our climate models are WRONG: Global warming has slowed - and recent changes are down to 'natural variability', says study
Why Lenin's corpse looks better with age: Scientists reveal experimental embalming methods used on the Soviet leader
Back to work! Disgraced ESPN sports reporter Britt McHenry returns to the sideline this weekend just a week after furore over vicious verbal attack on tow clerk
Judge who stunned the nation by saying a 14-year-old was partly responsible for her own RAPE receives a lifetime achievement award
Two extra bodies on drone cam were first sign that strike had gone terribly wrong: CIA officials tell of shocking realization that they might have killed innocent hostages
Wife of American in drone strike condemns the White House for treating her husband as an 'annoyance'
American jihadist killed in drone strike was former Little Leaguer who grew up to become Osama Bin Laden's spokesman
A hug from the executioner... then two gay men are stoned to death: ISIS murderers stage show of kindness for the cameras before brutal killing
'ISIS militant' from San Diego who was caught out by his AK-47 Facebook photos is charged with lying to the FBI
'We came to this country looking for peace': Families of Minnesota ISIS suspects accuse FBI of setting them up
Dzohokar Tsarnev's family - but not his mother - arrive in the US ahead of his defense testimony
Trial hears how Boston victim Martin Richard, 8, suffered 'visceral pain' before he died as jury decides if Dzohkar Tsarnaev should be executed
Male student sues Columbia over backlash he suffered after classmate carried a mattress around campus and accused him of raping her
EXCLUSIVE: Bill Cosby confidential: Disgraced comic files papers to prevent release of his sealed deposition in 2005 sexual assault lawsuit settled out of court
Three new women accuse Bill Cosby of sexual assault: Alleged victims say they were drugged by star in claims that bring total number of accusations to 38
WNBA star Brittney Griner, 6'8", arrested after argument with her 6'3" fiancee turned physical and relatives were unable to break them up
Dr. Oz comes out fighting! 'America's physician' says he's being hounded for speaking out against GM foods
'I was a survivor and I LOVED my life': Young mother, 44, writes heartbreaking obituary for herself before she passes away after long battle with cancer

FBI revealed it has paid $13,000 to a man who once tried to flee to Syria but was caught and agreed to cooperate
He has been protected from charges, six of his former allies are charged
Families screamed as lawyers questioned the mole's reliability
Judge overruled the appeals, ordered for 4 Minnesota men to stay in jail
The other two suspects were arrested in San Diego, remain in custody

Published: 19:48 EST, 23 April 2015 | Updated: 01:19 EST, 24 April 2015

View
comments

The families of four Minnesota men charged with trying to join the Islamic State have accused the FBI of paying an informant to set them up.

The suspects, all of Somali descent, were detained after months of being monitored by the government agency through one of their former allies.

On Thursday, there were audible gasps in the court room as a government official revealed the informant, who once planned to travel to Syria himself, has been paid at least $13,000 for providing tip-offs.

The suspects' families screamed from the packed public gallery as their lawyers questioned the reliability of the mole.

However, U.S. Magistrate Judge Becky Thorson maintained there was probable cause to believe a crime was committed, and ordered the four men to remain in custody while the case proceeds.

'They came here for peace': Halima Yusuf, a friend of the family of one of the suspects Hanad Mustafe Musse, cries for the boys outside the United States Courthouse in St Paul, Minnesota

Charged: Hanad Mustafe Musse, 19, (left) and Adnan Abdihamid Farah, 19, (right) are among six Minnesota men of Somali descent that have been charged with traveling or attempting to travel to Syria to join ISIS

Families of the boys, including 19-year-old Zacharia Yusuf Abdurahman (pictured) claim they came to the country for peace and they were set up by their former friend, insisting he devised much of the alleged plot

They are among six men of Somali descent who were charged over the weekend with conspiracy to support a foreign terrorist organization and with attempting to support a foreign terrorist organization.

Authorities allege some of the men made repeated attempts to get to Syria, and had developed a plot to get fake passports and travel overseas through Mexico.

Slamming the allegations, local imam Hassan Mohamud told CBS: 'The majority of the community was expecting those young people would be released because they did not show any threat to the public safety while they were here.'

Weeping, the grandmother of two of the suspects - who are brothers - told the station: 'We ran away from Somalia's problems. We come here and again we get a problem. We need peace.'

According to an FBI affidavit, the government's months-long investigation was aided by recordings made by a man who once planned to travel to Syria himself, but then decided to cooperate.

More than 200 people tried to get into the court room for Thursday's hearing which escalated into shouts

Emotional: Mohamed Jama, 19, (left) and Abdirahman Shiekh, 19, (right) - both friends of the suspects - wept outside court after hearing that the boys would all remain on jail suspected of trying to join the Islamic State

More than 200 people tried to get into the court room for Thursday's hearing, which was for Guled Omar, 20; Adnan Abdihamid Farah, 19; Zacharia Yusuf Abdurahman, 19; and Hanad Mustafe Musse, 19.

Two other men, Mohamed Abdihamid Farah, 21, and Abdurahman Daud, 21, faced hearings in San Diego, where they were arrested.

Daud's mother, Farhiyo Mohamed, told the Wall Street Journal: 'My son is a good kid.'

She explains they moved over to the U.S. from Somalia in 2003, adding: 'We came to this country for peace.'

In ordering the four men detained, Thorson said she was looking at the weight of the evidence and other factors.

Her ruling prompted one community member in the courtroom to shout: 'You cannot weight anything but evidence, ma'am. We are the community! You should ask us!' He was led from the courtroom.

The hearing was tense for Somali community members. Afterward, Imam Hassan Mohamud said the community is angry, and some blame the informant. He criticized a Department of Justice pilot program designed to stop recruiting for terror groups before it starts, saying it will cause division.

'Some members of the community are looking @ other members of the community (as) spying to each other and sending them, their kids, to jail,' Mohamud said. 'That's why they are all angry. These four, all of them, are innocent until proven guilty.'

The U.S. attorney's office said the pilot program is an outreach effort that 'is and always has been completely separate from the investigative and prosecutorial responsibilities of this office.'

Members of Minnesota's Somali community cover their faces as they arrive at the St Paul court on Thursday

Tensions were high among the community in the court as defense attorneys also questioned how the FBI could take the informant's word when he previously lied about his own involvement

In court, defense attorneys questioned FBI Special Agent Harry Samit about the government's payments to the informant. Musse's attorney, Andy Birrell, asked whether his compensation was related to the number of people charged.

Defense attorneys also questioned how the FBI could take the informant's word when he previously lied about his own involvement. They also asked why only some of his conversations were recorded, and whether it was the informant's idea to pursue fake passports to get to Syria.

Samit testified the informant was paid nearly $13,000 for expenses and 'services' and the amount wasn't related to the number of people charged. Samit said the informant was being asked to gather evidence against people involved in 'the most violent terrorist group in the world.'

'He's exposing himself to a certain element of danger,' Samit said.

Samit also said the investigation was broader than just the informant's evidence, and agents verified some details through their own surveillance.

As for why not all conversations were recorded, Samit said some early conversations happened before the informant was given recording equipment. He also said some conversations weren't recorded because of equipment failure or poor sound quality.

The fake passports were initially Abdurahman's idea, Samit testified, but when that fell through, the FBI suggested the informant come up with his own way to get fake passports.

Support: Hordes of people flocked through the doors including friends, families and local imams

High security: Agents were seen patrolling the area with sniffer dogs during the controversial proceedings

When Assistant U.S. Attorney John Docherty asked Samit how the defendants responded to that idea, Samit said: 'Very enthusiastically.'

Monday's announcement of charges threw Minnesota's Somali community, the largest in the U.S., into familiar turmoil. Since 2007, more than 22 young Somali men have traveled from Minnesota to Somalia to join the militant group al-Shabab. Authorities have also said a handful of Minnesota residents have traveled to Syria to fight with militants in the past year.

About 200 people from the Somali community packed the courtroom Thursday, plus an overflow room and spilled into the hallway.

As the hearing began, Docherty told the court that several attempts had been made to contact the informant or members of his family, and there had been 'ugly behavior' on social media. Docherty warned that such activities could lead to prosecution.

Omar Jamal, a longtime activist, said the community has a hard time accepting that a Somali informant was involved, but he said local Somalis shouldn't create an adversarial situation.

He said it was good the government stopped young men from potentially joining a terrorist group, then added: 'but that doesn't mean we can't ask the government questions.'

Samit testified that the informant has been relocated at FBI expense, but isn't in custody or under constant watch. He also said the government has made no promises that the informant would not be prosecuted in the future.