Stay Curious. Stay Connected.
MailNewsletters♡Donate Now
Sign up
*Password must be at least 8 characters and contain one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter, one number and one symbol.
Already have an account?
By submitting, you consent that you are at least 18 years of age and to receive information about MPR's or APMG entities' programs and offerings. The personally identifying information you provide will not be sold, shared, or used for purposes other than to communicate with you about MPR, APMG entities, and its sponsors. You may opt-out at any time clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any email communication. View our Privacy Policy.
Sign in to your profile
Forgot Password?
New to MPR News?
Welcome back
to news
for you
Reset Password

Enter the username on file and we'll send you a code to reset your password.

Still require assistance or not sure what your User Name is?
Welcome back
to news
for you
Email Verification

A verification code has been emailed to

Still awaiting the code?
Crime, Law and Justice
The Associated Press

Feds charge Minnesota man who they say trained with ISIS and threatened violence against New York

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Log inCreate a free Account

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!

A naturalized U.S. citizen who rapped about flying to “shoot New York up” after training with ISIS in his native Somalia has been charged with supporting a terrorist organization, federal prosecutors said Friday.

Harafa Hussein Abdi, 41, of Minneapolis was arrested recently in East Africa and taken to the United States this week, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York. He was ordered held following an initial appearance in federal court in Manhattan on Friday.

Abdi moved from Minnesota to Somalia in 2015 and joined a group of ISIS fighters at a training camp, prosecutors said in a newly unsealed criminal complaint. Over the next two years, in addition to receiving weapons training, Abdi worked in the group's media wing, making and appearing in a recruiting video distributed by a pro-ISIS outlet, the filing said.

The complaint quotes lyrics from a 2017 audio clip in which Abdi allegedly raps about inflicting violence in New York City while automatic gunfire and an explosion are heard in the background: “We going to carry on jihad; fly through America on our way to shoot New York up. They trying to shut this thing. We ain’t going. We going to come blow New York up.”

Abdi left the camp in 2017 after clashing with the ISIS group’s leadership, which had him jailed, the complaint said. He eventually escaped and traveled to Hargeisa, Somalia, where he was arrested.

“Mr. Abdi left his country to join ISIS, trained as a fighter, and actively aided the group’s propaganda efforts to spread its vile ideology,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen said in a news release.

It was unclear whether Abdi was represented by an attorney who could comment on his behalf.

Abdi was born in Somalia in 1982, entered the United States in 1999 and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2006, authorities said.

He is charged with conspiring to provide and providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and conspiring to receive and receiving military-type training from a terrorist organization. The most serious charges carry a potential prison term of 20 years.