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Judge To Consider Releasing Terror Suspects To Halfway Houses

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The judge overseeing the case of seven men who are accused of trying to join ISIS is considering their proposals to be released into halfway houses or be put under home supervision.

Earlier this year, Chief U.S. District Judge Michael Davis allowed Abdullahi Yusuf of Inver Grove Heights to be released into a halfway house. He has since been placed back into custody.

Now, the seven Minnesota men who are currently facing charges that they were co-conspirators answering the call to join the foreign terror group will have the opportunity to put forth bail proposals that would potentially allow them to be released from jail while they await trial.

Defense attorneys for some of the suspects have argued that, due to their clean criminal records up to this point, if they had faced any other charges, they would have been released from custody. The lawyer for Mohamed Abdihamid Farah said that beyond the lack of a criminal record, he also has no history of violence and belongs to a functional family.

Farah was one of the two suspects who court documents say drove out to California with an informant and can be heard on tape threatening FBI agents.

A bail proposal filed on behalf of Hamza Naj Ahmed proposed he be allowed to live with his father, to attend religious services and activities at the Dar Al-Hijrah Mosque, continue his matriculation as a nursing student at the Minneapolis Community and Technical College, volunteer, and engage in team sport, all under electronic monitoring.

A proposal has also been filed on behalf of Zacharia Yusuf Abdurahman. It stipulates that he would surrender his passport, not travel outside Minnesota, submit to random DNA samples and drug tests, and would retain no firearms.

The options for halfway housing or home supervision are thought to be an attempt to de-radicalize the suspects.

The government will have until July 7 to respond. On July 8, a judge's hearing would be scheduled.

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