In November 2016, Ms. Omar, then a state legislator, wrote one of thirteen letters to Judge Michael Davis, seeking “compassion” and a “restorative approach to justice” in the case of nine Minnesota men charged with planning to join the terrorist group ISIS.
Convicted following what is still considered the nation’s largest probe of terror recruitment, Mohamed Abdihamid Farah, Abdirahman Yasin Daud and Guled Ali Omar were the only three of nine defendants in the case to stand trial. Several others successfully made it abroad to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria between 2014 and 2015, at least three of whom are presumed dead.
Omar’s request wasn’t based on their innocence, but it was based on her perception that it was wasn’t really their fault, it was their youth and their environment.
According to local news station Fox 9:
The 13 letters sent to Judge Davis on behalf of Daud include similar pleas for leniency from Minneapolis City Council member Abdi Warsame, a Minneapolis Public Schools dean of students, several youth program coordinators and Daud’s own mother and brother. Warsame’s brief letter said Daud “is a young man who has a future ahead of him.”
If he were successful at making it to ISIS and committing terrorism the people he killed would have included people with a future ahead of them.
In her letter to the judge, The future Congresswomen Ilhan Omar wrote:
As you undoubtedly deliberate with great caution the sentencing of nine recently convicted Somali-American men, I bring to your attention the ramifications of sentencing young men who made a consequential mistake to decades in federal prison. Incarcerating 20-year-old men for 30 or 40 years is essentially a life sentence. … Such punitive measures not only lack efficacy, they inevitably create an environment in which extremism can flourish, aligning with the presupposition of terrorist recruitment. …
Hey, Ilhan if they are off the streets for 30 years they won’t be able to commit acts of terror. I would have been okay with a real-life sentence, but that isn’t allowed under the sentencing guidelines.
The best deterrent to fanaticism is a system of compassion. We must alter our attitude and approach; if we truly want to affect change, we should refocus our efforts on inclusion and rehabilitation. A long-term prison sentence for one who chose violence to combat direct marginalization is a statement that our justice system misunderstands the guilty. A restorative approach to justice assesses the lure of criminality and addresses it.
Our justice system misunderstands the guilty? They wanted to become part of ISIS and learn how to be terrorists the Justice System and much of America understands it very well. The trial judge understands it much better than you do! During the sentencing hearing, ‘Judge Davis said he must protect the safety of his country, and delivering a long sentence would help incapacitate a Minneapolis “terror cell. I’d be shirking my duty if I did not take that into consideration,” Davis said.’
The desire to commit violence is not inherent to people — it is the consequences of systematic alienation; people seek violent solutions when the process established for enacting change is inaccessible to them. Fueled by disaffection turned to malice if the guilty were willing to kill and be killed fighting perceived injustice, imagine the consequence of the hearing, “I believe you can be rehabilitated. I want you to become part of my community, and together we will thrive.” We use this form of distributive justice for patients with chemical dependencies; treatment and societal reintegration. The most effective penance is making these men ambassadors of reform.
It’s society’s fault. The excuse of ultra liberals. Ilhan Omar cared more about terrorists than she cares for the people of Minnesota. She wants those terrorist wannabes back on the street yet, she was elected to Congress anyway.
Of the three terrorists who stood trial Guled Omar received the harshest penalty of 35 years. His friends, Abdirahman Daud and Mohamed Farah, will serve 30 years in prison.
Rep. Omar’s letter reflects ignorance of terrorism’s threat to America, no understanding of our justice system, and a failure to put the lives of law-abiding Americans first.
Here’s the full text of Ilhan Omar’dletter to Judge Davis
Honorable Judge Davis,
As you undoubtedly deliberate with great caution the sentencing of nine recently convicted Somali-American men, I bring to your attention the ramifications of sentencing young men who made a consequential mistake to decades in federal prison. Incarcerating 20-year-old men for 30 or 40 years is essentially a life sentence. Society will have no expectations of the to be 50 or 60-year-old released prisoners; it will view them with distrust and revulsion. Such punitive measures not only lack efficacy, they inevitably create an environment in which extremism can flourish, aligning with the presupposition of terrorist recruitment: “Americans do not accept you and continue to trivialize your value. Instead of being a nobody, be a martyr.”
The best deterrent to fanaticism is a system of compassion. We must alter our attitude and approach; if we truly want to affect change, we should refocus our efforts on inclusion and rehabilitation. A long-term prison sentence for one who chose violence to combat direct marginalization is a statement that our justice system misunderstands the guilty. A restorative approach to justice assesses the lure of criminality and addresses it.
The desire to commit violence is not inherent to people — it is the consequences of systematic alienation; people seek violent solutions when the process established for enacting change is inaccessible to them. Fueled by disaffection turned to malice, if the guilty were willing to kill and be killed fighting perceived injustice, imagine the consequence of them hearing, “I believe you can be rehabilitated. I want you to become part of my community, and together we will thrive.” We use this form of distributive justice for patients with chemical dependencies; treatment and societal reintegration. The most effective penance is making these men ambassadors of reform.
The restorative approach provides a long-term solution – though the self-declared Islamic State may soon suffer defeat, their radical approach to change-making will continue as it has throughout history – by criminalizing the undergirding construct rather than its predisposed victims. Therein, this ruling can set a precedent and has the potential to be a landmark case in addressing extremism.
Thank you for your careful attention,
Ilhan Omar
State Representative-Elect – MN 60B
Below is the video news report of Ms. Omar’s plea to the Judge.
