A Minneapolis man who tried to join ISIS after months of consuming propaganda and contacting operatives abroad was sentenced on Wednesday to eight years in federal prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota.
Abdisatar Ahmed Hassan, 23, who was born in Kenya to parents from Somalia, was sentenced to 102 months in prison, followed by 15 years of supervised release, after pleading guilty to attempting to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization.
According to the affidavit, Hassan attempted twice in December 2024 to travel from Minneapolis to Somalia on one-way tickets, with no return plans. During a later airport interview, he admitted to supporting ISIS and spreading its propaganda, stating, “What America thinks is terrorists is actually justice.”
A search of his devices revealed extensive ISIS-related materials, including files such as “The Life of a Mujahideen,” “The Month of Jihad,” and “The Return of the Caliphate,” along with manuals on weapons and tactics.
After he was turned away from travel, he continued posting pro-ISIS content online and praising terrorist attacks, including the New Orleans attack on Jan. 1, 2025, which resulted in the deaths of 14 people, according to the affidavit.
Hassan was arrested in February 2025.
“Abdisatar Hassan took active steps in an attempt to join and support ISIS, a brutal foreign terrorist organization responsible for the violent deaths of thousands of innocent people,” said Christopher D. Dotson of the FBI Minneapolis division. “The sentence handed down today takes a would-be terrorist off the streets.”
