Trial for Minneapolis terrorism suspect scheduled for October

Salah Osman Ahmed
Salah Osman Ahmed of New Brighton, Minn. has been charged with providing material support to terrorism, and conspiracy to kill people outside of the U.S. He is in custody in the Anoka County Jail.
Photo courtesy of Anoka County

The trial of a Minnesota man indicted on terrorism charges has been scheduled to begin in October, a federal judge in Minneapolis said Friday.

Salah Osman Ahmed, 26, of New Brighton, Minn., was indicted on charges of supporting terrorism and lying to authorities, who believe he conspired to kill people outside of the U.S.

The indictments say Ahmed and Abdifatah Yusuf Isse, 25, of Seattle, Wash., conspired over the course of more than a year, from September 2007 to December 2008. Authorities think the men joined al-Shabaab, an extremist Islamic group in Somalia with ties to al-Qaida.

Ahmed was scheduled to appear in federal court Thursday afternoon. But his attorney, James Ostgard, filed documents Thursday morning waiving the hearing.

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Ostgard says Ahmed agrees to his current conditions of confinement.

Ahmed's trial has been scheduled to begin on October 5 before Judge James M. Rosenbaum at the federal courthouse in Minneapolis.

Other key dates include:

July 27: Federal prosecutors will disclose all evidence on or before this date;

Aug. 12: Ahmed's attorney must file all pretrial motions;

Aug. 28: Prosecutors will response to Ahmed's pretrial motions;

Sept. 4: Oral arguments on the motions will be heard before United States Magistrate Judge Susan Richard Nelson at the federal courthouse in Minneapolis.

Ahmed, a former student at North Hennepin Community College, worked as a security guard and lived in New Brighton before his arrest on Saturday. He's being held at the Anoka County jail.

The FBI office in Minneapolis confirmed that the indictments were part of a broad investigation into the disappearances of Somali-American men believed to be fighting in their homeland.