| The Daily Crucible | Tuesday, October 18, 2022
A Canadian national and former resident of San Diego, California, Abdullahi Ahmed Abdullahi, 37, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison, followed by 36 months of supervised release, for conspiring with others to provide material support to terrorists engaged in violent activities such as murder, kidnapping and maiming of persons in Syria.
Abdullahi Ahmed Abdullahi, 37, of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada was convicted and sentenced on Monday by a federal court sitting in San Diego, California.
According to United States Department of Justice, Abdullahi was found to have provided both money and personnel to support the violent jihadist activities of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a foreign terrorist organization dating back from November 2013 through March 2014.
The court record says Abdullahi encouraged, aided and financially assisted six North American nationals in traveling to Syria, where they joined ISIS and engaged in armed battles to gain control of the territories and civilian populations within Syria. These six individuals included his three cousins from Edmonton, Canada, an 18-year-old cousin from Minneapolis, as well as San Diego resident Douglas McAuthur McCain.
The Daily Crucible reports that on September 15, 2017, pursuant to an extradition request by the United States, Canadian authorities arrested Abdullahi and detained in Canadian custody without bail, pending extradition. On October 24, 2019, Canada extradited Abdullahi to San Diego to face the material support charges in the indictment. Abdullahi pleaded guilty to all charges on December 17, 2021.
Abdullah admitted that following the departure of those foreign fighters, he also caused money to be wired to third-party ISIS intermediaries in Gaziantep, Turkey, located approximately 40 miles from the Syrian border, for the purpose of continuing to support his coconspirators in violent jihadist activities on the battlefield. All six individuals were subsequently reportedly killed fighting for ISIS.
Abdullahi also admitted that to finance the travel of others to Syria, members of the conspiracy encouraged Abdullahi and others to steal and commit fraud against the “kuffar,” a pejorative term used to describe non-Muslims, claiming that such criminal activity was permissible under Islamic law. Abdullahi admitted that in order to raise funds to support the violent terrorist activities in Syria, he personally committed a violent crime – the Jan. 9, 2014, armed robbery of an Edmonton, Canada, jewelry store. Within weeks after committing that robbery, Abdullahi wired monies to San Diego, totaling approximately $3,100, for the purpose of financing the travel of Douglas and the 18-year old Minneapolis cousin’s travel to Syria to join and fight for ISIS.
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