Minnesota Imam Interfering with Suspects in Islamic State Court Cases

Hassan Mohamud, a Saint Paul Imam at Dawah Institute, is becoming heavily involved in the legal case of a suspected IS supporter.  Mohamud, who is a law clerk for a defense attorney, convinced the father of one of the suspects to remove his council and allow him to take over.

Hassan “Jaamici” Mohamud was born in Somalia and holds a law degree from William Mitchell College in Minnesota, but is not licensed to practice. Investigative report Patrick Poole has reported that Mahmud gained the attention of the FBI and media after holding a sermon in 2009 called, “The Hell of Living in America.” In 2007, in an interview with Minnesota Law and Politics Magazine about the use of suicide bombings, Mohamud cited Islamic scholars as saying while suicide was generally prohibited suicide bombing were permissible against Israelis.

In an interview with Somalitalk-Minnesota expressed sympathies for Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, founder of Hamas who was killed on March 22, 2004 during an Israeli airstrike, and said Yassin will hopefully be martyred.

Has been openly critical of the Federal Government’s “Building Community Resiliency” program as it stereotypes Somali-Muslims.  Mahmoud has openly criticized Abdullahi Yusuf who last February for working with the government and pleading guilty for being an IS supporter.

Mohamud is clearly recognized as a potential security threat, given that he was barred by the Department of Homeland Security from taking part in a aviation passenger security screening tour with other Muslim leaders. Mohamud claimed was all about politics and that he did the same tour a year before.

Attorney P. Chinedu Nwaneri who was representing IS suspect Mohammad Farah left the case due to the Mohamud’s interference. With a just over a month to go before the five suspected IS supporters go on trial. Federal Prosecutors are concerned that Mohamud’s statements apparently in support of jihad may prejudice the jury and provide grounds of a mistrial. Mohamud has claimed that without him, his client will not have adequate representation in both American and Islamic law.

Mahmoud has been telling young men to plead not guilty to joining the IS and to allow him to take their case and go to trial.

John Hopeman, a defense attorney representing IS suspect Zacaria Abdurahman, noted how his client spent months in the Sheburne County jail with fellow IS suspects Hamza Ahmed and Adnan Farah. Ahmed and Farah adamant about pleading guilty and hopefully get a plea deal, but in the end only Abdurahman was the only one who pleaded guilty.

The night before the hearing Abdurahman’s father got a call from Mohaumd saying his son should not take the plea deal and should instead join Ahmed and Farah in being represented by him, and that all three defendants should go to trial together. Adburahman’s father refused the deal and his son pleaded guilty the following day.

Dan Scott, a lawyer who often represents suspected terrorists, noted that lawyers or members of a law team should not be influencing other defendants how to plead. He noted that Mahmoud’s intervention in this case is troubling and a potential violation of ethic rules that requires that each person receive legal advice from a person without a conflict of interest.