A man whom prosecutors described as the "emir," or leader, of a local group of suspected would-be jihadists pleaded guilty Thursday to charges that he and his alleged co-conspirators planned to travel overseas to fight on behalf of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.
Abdirizak Warsame, 20, told U.S. District Judge Michael Davis that he and the others had been radicalized by watching online propaganda videos and listening to lectures by Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S.-born radical cleric who was killed in a 2011 drone strike. Warsame also admitted that he hadn't told anyone else of the group's plans, which entailed illegally obtaining passports to travel to Turkey, where they would link up with ISIL sympathizers and eventually cross over into Syria.
"At the time I felt like it was a duty to go and help the innocent people of Iraq and Syria at the time because of the oppression," Warsame said during the hearing at the federal courthouse in Minneapolis. "At the time I was attracted to going to war and fighting and bringing back the caliphate."
Three of Warsame's co-defendants have already pleaded guilty to terrorism-related charges. Five others are scheduled to start trial in May, while other members of the conspiracy made it to Syria.
After his hourlong hearing, Warsame was taken back to Anoka County jail, where he has been since his arrest in late December. A sentencing date has not been set.
In accepting the government's plea agreement, Warsame pleaded guilty to a single count of providing material support to a designated terrorist organization. The charge carries a 15-year maximum sentence.
His testimony at the packed hearing Thursday provided the most revealing look yet into group's motives during the spring of 2014.
Had things gone according to plan, Warsame would have gone to Syria two years ago to join the jihad against President Bashar Assad to end the "oppression" of Sunni Muslims in the region, he said.
