As jurors deliberate the fate of three men charged with conspiring to support the terrorist group ISIL, Twin Cities Somali community members are bracing for the verdict in a trial that already has created divisions in the community and disturbances in the courtroom.
Abdirahman Daud, 22; Mohamed Farah, 22, and Guled Omar, 21, are charged with conspiring to follow other Minnesotans to Syria between 2014 and 2015 in an effort to join the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. The jury completed its first full day of deliberations Thursday afternoon and is expected to resume Friday morning.
At a recent community meeting Daud's mother, Farhiyo Mohamed, and Farah's mother, Ayan, said they have felt isolated from friends because people fear they will come under government scrutiny if they lend the families support.
"Since our kids are on trial, many are scared of us," Mohamed said.
"Some relatives don't call us anymore," said Farah, who has two sons in jail. Adnan Abdihamid Farah pleaded guilty in the case before the trial began.
Many young Somali-Americans said the ISIL case has affected their studies and even the atmosphere at their work, but only a few agreed to be interviewed.
Mustafa Mohamed, a student at Normandale Community College and security guard for the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority, and Ali Saleh, a Minneapolis Community and Technical College student, were close friends of the young men charged with conspiring to join ISIL.
"After they got locked up, the world looks at us different," Mohamed said. "People say: 'You people are attracted to weapons. You people are terrorists.' "