Abdisatar Ahmed Hassan, a 23-year-old from Minneapolis, was sentenced on May 7 to eight and a half years in prison and fifteen years of supervised release for attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), according to U.S. Attorney Daniel N. Rosen.
The case highlights ongoing efforts by federal authorities to prevent individuals from supporting designated foreign terrorist organizations such as ISIS, which has been listed as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. Secretary of State since 2014.
Court documents show that Hassan began consuming and sharing ISIS propaganda online in at least 2024, including reposting violent materials on social media, downloading files related to jihadist activities, and obtaining manuals on making explosives and ammunition. He also communicated extensively with ISIS recruiters operating in Somalia, expressed his intent for jihad publicly online, quit his job, liquidated savings, purchased a one-way ticket from Minneapolis to Somalia in December 2024 with plans to join ISIS fighters there, but was stopped twice—first at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport due to missing documents and later in Chicago after an interview with Customs and Border Protection agents revealed his intentions.
After returning home, Hassan continued researching attacks linked with ISIS and praised perpetrators of violence online before being arrested by the FBI on February 27, 2025. A grand jury indicted him for attempting to provide material support under federal law; he pleaded guilty before Judge Donovan W. Frank in September that year.
“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 FBI Minneapolis Division Special Agent in Charge Christopher D. Dotson. “Hassan celebrated the 2025 murder of 14 innocent Americans in New Orleans—a senseless attack on American soil… The sentence handed down today takes a would-be terrorist off the streets and sends a clear message that the FBI and our partners will unremittingly pursue anyone seeking to join or support a foreign terrorist organization.” The investigation involved the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force along with Customs and Border Protection and New York Police Department.
The U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota prosecutes federal crimes—including terrorism cases—handles civil litigation for the government, protects community safety through public initiatives across its offices statewide since its founding in 1849 according to the official website.
