San Diegan accused of hiding ISIS links
Rancho Bernardo resident accused of lying about role in strife in Syria, on Sharia court
San Diego
— A San Diego man who returned from Syria a few weeks ago was arrested
in Rancho Bernardo Wednesday, accused of hiding from the FBI his
participation in gunbattles alongside al-Qaeda-backed fighters, his role
on a Sharia court and several other alleged connections to terrorist
activity during his time overseas, according to a complaint filed
Thursday.
Mohamad Saeed
Kodaimati, 24, was arrested by the FBI and Joint Terrorism Task Force
officers at his home near Caminito de la Gallarda and Pomerado Road and
charged with making false statements involving international terrorism.
He pleaded not guilty in a brief hearing in San Diego federal court
Thursday afternoon and is set to appear again Tuesday, when the prospect
of bail will be discussed.
The
arrest adds to a growing number of San Diegans accused of connecting
with radical Islamic groups overseas. Prosecutors said the case is
unrelated to a pair of arrests here Sunday that involved Somali-American
men from Minnesota accused of preparing to cross into Mexico from San
Diego and join the Islamic State.
Saeed,
born in Syria, came to the U.S. around 2001 and became a U.S. citizen
through his father’s naturalization, according to court records. He
lived in Charlotte, N.C., as a teenager and came to San Diego, where he
has extended family, about six years ago.
Saeed
left San Diego in 2012 for Istanbul, Turkey — apparently in an
unsuccessful attempt to fetch his mother and bring her to the United
States. He was later deported from Turkey, where his family opened a
sandwich shop, to Syria, a friend said outside court.
Saeed
tried to fly back to San Diego on March 5 but was turned away and told
to visit the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, the complaint states. Five
days later, Saeed spoke with an FBI agent and Diplomatic Security
Services special agent there.
Authorities
allege Saeed lied when he was asked several questions about his
activities in Syria, denying that he was a member of the Sharia court or
had any affiliation with the Islamic State or al-Nusra — both terrorist
organizations fighting the Syrian regime.
He
claimed that while he owned an AK-47, he was never involved in any
fighting and had only shot it in the air a few times, the complaint
states.
Federal court
documents say an investigation into Saeed’s Facebook communications, as
well as statements he eventually made to FBI agents, revealed there was
much more to the time spent in his war-torn homeland.
In
a September 2013 Facebook email to a friend, he wrote he was working
for the Sharia Authority at Hanano, describing the official body as “a
government in the liberated area — being set up upon the Islamic
religion — and governed by the Quran,” according to the complaint.
He
told another friend he was the “media person” for the Sharia Authority,
a job which apparently included posting news memos about court
business, according to postings on his Facebook cited in the complaint
In
another message, he told a friend that he played a reconciliatory role
between the Islamic State and al-Nusra, if disputes arise.
He
said in the message: “If there is a problem in the area, like if they
will do anything bad to ... one of the persons in the area, and we know
he is a good person, we try and go explain ... that there’s no problem
with that person. Like I do kind of fix problems to whoever have
problems” with ISIS.
He
said he never swore allegiance to ISIS, but “they know me, who I am, and
I don’t have any problems with them,” according to the complaint.
A
photo on his Facebook page shows him at the court wearing headphones,
which he later admitted to using to communicate online with others.
Other pictures show him displaying rifles that he claimed he borrowed
from armed guards at the court, the complaint says.
In
another online exchange, he described his job this way: “I work with
the brothers trying to help people to live Kind of Jihad.” He said he
worked with al-Nusra, who he referred to as “the big guys.” (Al-Nusra is
a branch of al-Qaeda fighting Syria’s Assad regime.)
Later
in the conversation, he responded to a question of whether he feels
closer to Allah since he’s been back in Syria. “Oh yeah Everytime I get
out of the house I feel like im not going back so u be ready for that.”
The
FBI said Saeed also admitted, in later interviews, to fighting at times
for al-Nusra when backup was needed, including a diversionary attack on
a Syrian political prison. He said he fought in the area every few days
for two or three weeks, and when al-Nusra fighters needed a break from
the front lines, they’d ask for assistance from people like him, the
complaint states.
“He admitted to the government participating in an attack against the Syrian regime,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney John Parmley.
He
also referred to his father and possibly younger brother as fighting in
Syria, the complaint states. In a later interview with the FBI, he said
his father was wounded by shrapnel when a rocket hit a car.
After
two interviews at the U.S. Embassy in Turkey, Saeed was eventually
allowed to travel to the U.S. and was questioned further by the FBI
during a stopover in Charlotte on March 25 and in San Diego on March 31.
In
the interviews, he denied many activities and links to terrorist
groups, then later recanted and admitted to certain activities but
downplayed his role, the FBI said. Other times he offered specific
details, the court records show.
Outside San Diego federal court Thursday, friend Abed Keddo said the charges are a “set up” by the U.S. government.
“We
deny any charges. They just want to make a sacrificial lamb,” said
Keddo, president of the Syrian American Council’s San Diego chapter.
“They chose their sacrificial lamb.”
Keddo said Saeed had spoken to authorities several times since his arrival in the U.S. because he had “nothing to hide.”
All the sudden they decide to arrest him,” Keddo said.
He
said a meeting is set for Friday evening between local council
representatives and U.S. Homeland Security to discuss the case, “so
things like this don’t happen.”
San Diego has captured the spotlight this week when it comes to homegrown terrorism allegations.
On
Sunday, two Somali men were arrested here and four others in
Minneapolis in what federal officials billed as the Islamic State’s
biggest recruitment plot yet. Abdirahman Yasin Daud and Mohamed
Abdihamid Farah, both 21, are accused of traveling to San Diego to get
fake passports, then cross into Mexico and travel to Syria from there,
according to the complaint. Court proceedings are set for next week to
return them to Minnesota for prosecution.
Last
year, former City College student Douglas McAuthur McCain of Spring
Valley joined the Islamic State and became the first American believed
to have died in combat in the conflict in Syria. The 33-year-old had
converted to Islam and his ideology became radicalized, his social media
postings showed.
Another
San Diegan, Jehad Mostafa, is on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list
because he is believed to be working in Somalia for al-Shabab, another
radical Islamic terrorist group
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