Attorneys: ISIS prosecutions violate free speech

Attorneys representing seven Twin Cities defendants accused of trying to enlist with the terror group ISIS in Syria are arguing that a federal terrorism statute is too broad and violates their right to free speech and religion.

Federal prosecutors have alleged that the men planned and attempted to travel to Syria to join ISIS, which they contend is a clear violation of laws against supporting terrorists.

But mere membership in an organization, the defense attorneys argue, is not punishable under the statute. The law prohibits attempting to join a terror group when a person is vying to work under that terrorist organization's "direction or control."

Among the dozens of documents filed late this week in the case, a key question emerges in the defendants' argument: how to distinguish protected speech and religious association from criminal conduct.

"For every bit of evidence you can say yes, it's free speech; you can say, too, it's all a conspiracy," the attorneys said. "You can say the handshake and nod and trip to the basketball court at a local mosque was an embrace of ISIS dysphoria, a jump shot taken by an amateur."

None of defendants have had training or special skills, such as shooting a gun. Nor did they send money or have ever fought here or abroad, according to one court document.

The men believed the Bashar al-Assad government in Syria was committing genocide against Muslims in Syria, and they clung to the notion that they had "a religious obligation to assist Muslims in need," the lawyers wrote.

A spokesman for Minnesota U.S. Attorney Andy Luger declined to comment on the flurry of motions filed late this week and said the government's response will be filed in court.

So far, prosecutors have characterized the defendants as young men who would stop at nothing to join a terrorist group of "uncompromising violence." Criminal charges allege the men were determined to leave Minnesota by bus, car, and plane.

But the defense lawyers stressed the appeal of ISIS among impressionable, disaffected Muslim youth all over the world.

While it's true ISIS has engaged in an internationally condemned breed of brutality through beheadings, burnings, and drownings, it has "also embarked on a systematic process of civilian governance over the eight to ten million people within the territory it controls," wrote the attorneys in another joint memo.

The documents also offer more details on the role of two friends who began cooperating for the government early this year.

Abdullahi Yusuf, identified only as a "cooperating defendant," pled guilty to conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization in February. He was a childhood friend of another defendant, Abdirahman Daud, going back to their days growing up in north Minneapolis. The two started hanging out together more in March 2014.

Yusuf told authorities he couldn't recall Daud ever indicating he wanted to travel to Syria, his attorney Bruce Nestor said in a motion. Nor did Daud watch videos produced by ISIS describing life within the group, as the other young men had done.

"Daud was not big on technology and did not view the videos," Yusuf is quoted as saying.

Another friend, an unnamed FBI informant, recorded a conversation involving Daud and others in February. Daud stated, "When I said I would never help the caliphate, you don't remember that?"

The FBI informant responded, "What's wrong with your brain?"

Prosecutors say months later, in April, Daud drove with other members of the alleged conspiracy to San Diego, intending to buy fake passports that would help them leave the country. He was recorded by the informant saying, that he would "spit on America at the border crossing."