2 Somalian men living in Tucson sentenced to prison for ISIS conspiracy
Two Somalian men living in Tucson named Ahmed Mahad Mohamed, 26, and Abdi Yemeni Hussein, 25, wanted to fight for ISIS, prosecutors said.
PHOENIX — Two Somalian men living in Tucson have been sentenced to conspiring to travel overseas to fight for an Islamic terrorist group, authorities said.
Ahmed Mahad Mohamed, 26, and Abdi Yemeni Hussein, 25, pleaded guilty to conspiring to support the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) in August 2024.
A U.S. district judge sentenced Mohamed and Hussein last week, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of Arizona.
Mohamed was sentenced to 11 years in prison, while Hussein was sentenced to eight years in prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release, prosecutors said.
Both men will be expelled from the U.S. to Somalia after their prison sentences, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors say Somalian men living in Tucson wanted to fight for ISIS
Mohamed looked for other ISIS supporters on the internet since at least August 2018, prosecutors said. He also said he wanted to behead others and martyr himself.
Mohamed’s only dream was to go to Syria, join ISIS and “fight Jihad,” prosecutors said.
He and Hussein met in 2019 to discuss their plans. During this time, ISIS Hussein they should attack the White House if American authorities prevented them from traveling abroad for the purpose of committing terrorism, prosecutors said.
The two began preparing their journey to join ISIS in June 2019, selling their cars and buying plane tickets from Tucson to Cairo. They planned to smuggle themselves into the part of the Sinau Peninsula that was controlled by ISIS.
However, the FBI arrested them at Tucson International Airport before they could board their flight. Mohammed had around $10,000 the two men planned to use to pay for travel and firearms, prosecutors said.
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