Washington -- Abdullahi Yusuf, a Somali-American who pleaded guilty to conspiring to support terrorists in the Middle East, has been taken into custody for allegedly violating conditions while living in a St. Paul halfway house, according to court documents filed Monday.
Yusef, a student at Inver Grove Community College, drew national attention after a federal judge decided to place him in a halfway house and provide counseling for him rather than hold him in custody while awaiting sentencing. Yusuf’s alleged violations were not detailed in court records.
| Judge came to his senses? | After Yusuf pleaded guilty earlier this year to conspiracy charges, Chief U.S. District Judge Michael Davis agreed to a proposal by his attorneys to enroll the 18-year-old man in Heartland Democracy’s program designed to reshape the attitudes of troubled youth, with special emphasis on Somali-American teens who feel disenfranchised. The move was hailed by counterterrorism experts as a novel idea and was viewed as a test case on whether such persons could be rehabilitated.
| The answer to which is 'no'... | In May 2014, Yusuf was stopped from boarding a flight by FBI agents at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. He’d bought a ticket for Istanbul, Turkey, records showed. Agents had been tipped to Yusuf because of his suspicious behavior when he applied weeks earlier for a passport.
A day later, Yusuf’s colleague, Abdi Nur, successfully flew from the airport and made his way to Syria where he is fighting for the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL).
| PJMedia provides background: | Minneapolis Terror ‘Deradicalization’ Program Fails After Just Months, ‘Test Case’ Back in Jail
The same federal judge who released Abdullahi Yusuf now considers releasing six more terror suspects. |