A Minneapolis resident, Abdisatar Ahmed Hassan, 22, faces federal charges for allegedly attempting to join the Islamic State group. Authorities revealed on Friday that Hassan admired the tragic truck attack in New Orleans that resulted in 14 fatalities, and this admiration was expressed publicly through social media. Hassan appeared in court on charges related to providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization. He will remain in custody without bail until his detention hearing set for March 5.
Katherian Roe, the chief federal defender for Minnesota, has confirmed that her office will handle Hassan’s defense, though she refrained from commenting further on the case. Hassan, a naturalized U.S. citizen, is accused of twice attempting to travel from Minnesota to Somalia in December, ostensibly to join the Islamic State group, despite having no relatives in the region.
The FBI’s investigation into Hassan’s activities found multiple social media posts expressing his support for the group. Among these was praise for Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who orchestrated the New Orleans attack on New Year’s Day, where he drove a truck through a crowd, leading to his death in a subsequent police shootout. Hassan is also reported to have posted a video of himself driving with an Islamic State group flag.
Additional charges have come from Hassan’s support for the Somali group al-Shabab, as identified by police in New York City. Evidence suggests that Hassan had various propaganda videos connected to both groups on his TikTok and Facebook, and he is believed to have corresponded with a Facebook account that encourages Somali speakers to join the Islamic State.
In December, Hassan attempted twice to travel to Somalia. On December 13, after being stopped at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport due to inadequate travel documents, he failed to board his intended flight. A second attempt on December 29 saw him reach Chicago. Although subject to extensive questioning by Customs and Border Protection officers, Hassan was not detained, leading him to miss his subsequent flight and return to Minneapolis.
Hassan is one of many individuals from Minnesota implicated in efforts to join the Islamic State group. This includes several cases in recent years involving Minnesota residents being charged, and in some instances, sentenced for attempting to align themselves with the extremist organization. In 2016, nine individuals from Minnesota were convicted on such charges, and one who actively fought in Iraq was sentenced to a decade in prison last June.
