MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - The case of three Somali-American men charged with attempting to join Islamic State militants in Syria and conspiring to help the group is now in the hands of a jury in Minnesota federal court, court officials said on Wednesday.
Mohamed Farah, 22, Abdirahman Daud, 22, and Guled Omar, 21, are charged with conspiring to provide material support to Islamic State and commit murder outside the United States. If convicted, each could receive a life sentence.
Assistant U.S. Attorney John Docherty told jurors on Tuesday in closing arguments that the defendants made persistent efforts to join Islamic State in Syria and participated wholeheartedly in a conspiracy from early 2014 through April 2015. The case was sent to the jury on Wednesday, according to the chambers of District Judge Michael Davis.
Attorneys for Farah and Daud had questioned the credibility of three men accused of being part of the group that testified for the government at the trial, accusing one of them, a paid informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, of pressuring the defendants.
Farah planned to go to Syria and was willing to die fighting with anti-government forces, but had no plans to join Islamic State, attorney Murad Mohammad said on Tuesday, referring to the defendants as "kids."
Daud's attorney, Bruce Nestor, said his client was trying to act tough and lacked the intent, commitment, plan or capability to commit murder for ISIS.
In all, prosecutors brought similar charges against 10 men they said were part of a group of friends and extended family who planned to go overseas to fight for Islamic State, which has been designated by the United States as a terror group.
Six have pleaded guilty to providing material support to Islamic State and a seventh man is believed to be in Syria. Omar, Daud and Farah chose a trial.
The trial has exposed tensions in Minnesota's Somali community, where some believe the men were entrapped.
In rejecting defense assertions of entrapment, Docherty said a conspiracy was well underway and defendants were "itching" to go overseas before the group member-turned-informant said he could get fake passports to aid the process.
Prosecutors presented two dozen witnesses, plus audiotaped conversations to support the charges and played Islamic State videos witnesses said the men watched.
All three men also were charged with attempting to provide support to Islamic State. Farah and Daud were also charged with perjury, and Farah with making a false statement to FBI agents. Omar is also charged with attempting to use $5,000 in federal student aid to fund travel to Syria.
(Reporting by David Bailey in Minneapolis; Editing by Toni Reinhold)
