Minnesota man pleads guilty to providing material support to IS

A 24-year-old Minnesota man has pleaded guilty to a charge consisting of providing material support to the Islamic State group, according to the United States Attorney’s Office.

Abdelhamid Al-Madioum pleaded guilty to one count of providing and attempting to provide material support and resources, namely personnel and services, to IS, a designated foreign terrorist organization. He entered the plea on Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis.

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

Al-Madioum’s guilty plea states after he arrived in Mosul, he enrolled into IS 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 IS, where he served as a soldier for IS until 2016, when he was injured conducting military activities on behalf of IS. Following his injury, he remained a member of IS and continued to receive a stipend until his surrender to Syrian Democratic Forces in or near Baghouz, Syria, in March 2019.

In September 2020, Al-Madioum returned to Minnesota.

Al-Madioum will be sentenced on May 26.