A Twin Cities ISIS defendant whose placement in a halfway house was recently thrown into question over the revelation that he viewed a CNN documentary about terrorism will not be sent to prison for a probation violation, a federal judge said Tuesday.
Abdullahi Yusuf, 21, was reported last month by federal probation officials for watching the documentary, an apparent violation of his sentencing terms, and failing a related polygraph test.
But speaking in court Tuesday, Yusuf said he only briefly watched the documentary, which was playing in the commons area of his halfway house, and that he walked away in disgust. He said he would have not watched any part of the film — or a separate broadcast on a December attack in Germany — if he thought that would be considered a violation of his release conditions, which prohibit possessing any material reflecting extremist views.
Senior U.S. Judge Michael Davis, who presided over last summer's ISIS recruitment trial and had sentenced Yusuf after he pleaded guilty, warned the young man that he "doesn't have to have you back every six months" to explain the remarkable circumstances of the case and his sentence.
"I told you I don't have a program," to formally rehabilitate terrorism defendants, Davis said, referring to Yusuf's November 2016 sentencing hearing.
"So we are working together to make you well, and if there is a misstep, my only alternative is to send you to prison."
Under questioning from Davis, Yusuf told the judge that he "understood the gravity of what I'm involved in."
"It's life or death — or life in prison," Yusuf said.
