Judge releases man charged with trying to support Islamic State

Posted at 6 p.m.|Updated at 6:51 p.m.

A federal judge in Minneapolis on Wednesday ordered the release of an 18-year-old man who is accused of conspiring to join the self-described Islamic State in Syria.

Magistrate Judge Janie Mayeron ordered Abdullahi Yusuf to be placed in his parents' custody.

It was a blow to prosecutors, who argued there was probable cause Yusuf wanted to aid terrorists when he tried to board a plane to Turkey last spring.

Yusuf's attorney, Jean Brandl was astonished that the judge let her client go.

"I was very hopeful, and I certainly gave it everything I had, but I was surprised they released him," Brandl said. "I'm thrilled and I hope the next judge keeps him out of custody, because the U.S. attorney is appealing."

Mayeron said she based her decision on Yusuf's good conduct since he was detained at the Twin Cities airport by FBI agents while trying to catch a plane to Turkey. Yusuf, who is attending college and working, has not tried to flee over the six months since the initial questioning.

Federal prosecutors say Yusuf had ties to Minnesota men who are believed to be fighting in Syria.

Brandl said government officials likely hoped to squeeze more information out of Yusuf as part of a broader investigation into ISIS recruitment in Minnesota.

"I think that's possible, and I think that's why they want to keep him in custody, so he's forced to help them out in some way. I don't know if he has any intention [to], or what their goal is, but that's what I would suspect."

Brandl said her client seems only tenuously involved in the government's case. She also argued that when Yusuf obtained his passport in May, the State Department had not yet designated ISIS as a terrorist group.

According to the complaint, a passport specialist noticed Yusuf didn't have a specific itinerary, the name of a hotel or details about a person he claimed he was going to see in Istanbul. The specialist also noticed Yusuf became nervous. He alerted his supervisor, who went to the FBI.

Yusuf, of Inver Grove Heights, was arrested May 28 as he was on his way to school at Inver Hills Community College.

He and another defendant, Abdi Nur, 20, of Minneapolis, are charged with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. Nur also is charged with providing material support to a foreign terror group.

U.S. Attorney Andy Luger said both young men conspired to join the Islamic State "to engage in a campaign of terror in support of a violent ideology."

Yusuf, a lanky man wearing a maroon and gold University of Minnesota sweatshirt and a pair of Nike Air sneakers in court, agreed to a number of conditions, including location monitoring and the surrender of his passport. He also agreed to continue attending school at Inver Hills Community College and working part time at Best Buy.

His friend of about a year, Zakariya Hussein, 18, said he knew Yusuf from their time studying together at the Al-Farooq Youth and Family Center in Bloomington.

"It's great for him to go home," Hussein. "But they should go after the big guys in this situation instead of going after the little fish."

Retired law professor Peter Erlinder, who has represented Yusuf and other terror suspects in the past, said the judge's decision to release Yusuf was rare.

"The judge understood this was a different kind of terrorism case," Erlinder said. "It's really a case about a state of mind -- it's a conspiracy case. In this case, it was about, 'What was an 18-year-old thinking?' This isn't a dangerous guy, and I think the judge saw that."

Prosecutors say Yusuf and Nur applied for expedited passports and purchased plane tickets to Istanbul despite both being out of work.

Nur left the country in late May and is believed to be in Syria. The government also alleged Yusuf had communicated with someone identified in a court document only as "H.M." -- a person who authorities believe is fighting in Syria.

Authorities say a handful of Minnesota residents have traveled to Syria, which borders Turkey, to fight with militants within the last year. A total of 15 people across the United States have been charged with offenses related to the foreign-fighter threat in Syria, according to the federal government.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.