Minnesota man pleads guilty to providing material support to Islamic State terrorist group

The Justice Department today announced the guilty plea of Abdelhamid Al-Madioum, 24, to one count of providing material support and resources, namely personnel and services, to ISIS, a designated foreign terrorist organization.

Al-Madioum, a native of Morocco and naturalized U.S. citizen, previously had been detained overseas by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and was subsequently transferred into FBI custody and returned to Minnesota. Al-Madioum entered his guilty plea today before Judge Ann D. Montgomery in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A sentencing date will be scheduled at a later time.

According to the defendant’s guilty plea and documents filed with the court, on June 23, 2015, Al-Madioum and his family traveled from St. Louis Park, Minnesota, to Casablanca, Morocco, to visit their extended family. On July 8, 2015, Al-Madioum left Morocco and traveled to Istanbul, Turkey. There, Al-Madioum met up with members of ISIS who aided his border-crossing into Syria. Once in Syria, the defendant joined other members of ISIS who brought him to Mosul, Iraq.

According to the defendant’s guilty plea, after Al-Madioum arrived in Mosul, he was administratively ISIS and received military training from its members. Al-Madioum was then assigned to the Tariq Bin-Ziyad Battalion of the Abu Mutaz al-Qurashi Division of ISIS, where he served as a solider for ISIS until 2016, when he was injured conducting military activities on behalf of ISIS.

Following Al-Madioum’s injury, he remained a member of ISIS and continued to receive a stipend until his surrender to the SDF in or near Baghouz, Syria, in March of 2019. In September of 2020, Al-Madioum was returned to Minnesota.

Source: Justice