Third ISIS suspect pleads guilty; informant's name surfaces in court

Zacharia Abdurahman stood Thursday afternoon in federal court ready to admit that he conspired with his friends to travel to Syria and join the terror group ISIS.

He listed the names of all the alleged co-conspirators who were part of a plot to travel to Syria, and in the process, revealed for the first time the name of an additional friend who wasn't charged with any crime. That friend, Abdurahman Bashir, was the FBI informant who secretly taped his friend's conversations.

The case against the alleged ISIS recruits, who were friends with one another, is largely based on recordings that Bashir provided to prosecutors. While his name has never been a secret to the defendants and their family members, Thursday marked the first time Bashir's name surfaced in court. Numerous attempts to contact him since the arrests in April have been unsuccessful.

Abdurahman, 20, became the third Minnesota man to plead guilty in the federal investigation into eight Minnesota men arrested since last year on charges of trying to enlist with the brutal terrorist group. He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to provide material support to ISIS.

"Are you in fact guilty of that?" Senior U.S. District Judge Michael Davis asked.

"Yes, your honor," Abdurahman responded.

Abdurahman could face a prison sentence of up to 15 years.

His father, Yusuf Abdurahman, who was sitting in court a few feet away along with other family members, put his hands over his head and looked down when he heard his son admit to joining ISIS. Zacharia's mother, Ayan Abdurahman, held back tears as she spoke to reporters after the court hearing.

"I'm feeling very sad," she said. "I'm a mother."

Ridwan Abdurahman, Zacharia's 19-year-old brother who was in the courtroom, confirmed Bashir was the informant and faulted him for "sett[ing] up" his brother.

Prosecutors have said they will officially disclose the identity of the informant in January. The government identifies him in documents as CHS, which stands for confidential human source.

But Abdurahman admitted in court that the idea of "joining ISIS and going to Syria was there before even the CHS came along" and started cooperating with the government.

Abdurahman said he watched ISIS propaganda videos and believed that by joining the group, he would help the "oppressed" Muslims in Syria and that "it's a worse sin not to listen to their cries."

"I've seen videos of elderly parents and kids," he said, "calling out, not to their fellow countrymen, but saying, 'Where are the Muslims?'"

He told the court he and the others seeking to join ISIS met about 10 times in parks, restaurants and mosques to discuss plans.

In November last year, Abdurahman said he bought a plane ticket to Athens and told FBI agents he was going to vacation in Greece, and then go to Turkey and cross the border to Syria. Abdurahman said he and some of the group's members took buses to New York, where they were arrested before flying overseas.

"You understand that material support means more than taking a vacation to Syria?" the judge asked Abdurahman.

In a soft-spoken tone, Abdurahman responded, "Yes, your honor."

Davis also asked Abdurahman if he watched any videos of al-Shabab, an al-Qaeda affiliated terror group in Somalia. Abdurahman said he did not because he "wasn't interested" in joining al-Shabab.

"Tell me why," Davis asked.

"With al-Shabab, it was mostly targeted to Somali people," said Abdurahman, a Somali-American who was born in Minneapolis and was studying computer science at Minneapolis Community and Technical College.

He added that ISIS targets Muslim youth in the West.

He said he found ISIS videos online and they "were in English and show things that western youth do."