10 year sentence for ISIS recruit
MINNEAPOLIS -- A federal judge has sentenced a Minnesota man who was part of a conspiracy to join ISIS in Syria to 10 years in prison.
Zacharia Abdurahman drew the harshest sentence of the three defendants who appeared before US District Judge Michael Davis in Minneapolis on Monday. While Abdurahman pleaded guilty, he did not cooperate with the government against the other members of what Davis called a "terrorist cell."
Asked why he chose not to cooperate, Abdurahman said he wasn't willing to testify against his former friends. He said he's a man of principal.
Prosecutors had sought a 15-year sentence. Davis told the defendant he was giving him less partly because his parents have become active in the campaign against terrorist recruiting in Minnesota's large Somali community.
