Third Lansing man sentenced to prison for conspiring to help terrorism group
Ken PalmerGRAND RAPIDS – The last of three Lansing men charged with conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State group has been sentenced to federal prison.
Mohamed Salat Haji, 28, received 130 months from Chief U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker on Wednesday for his role in the conspiracy, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Jonker also ordered that Haji serve 12 years on supervised release after leaving prison.
Haji is the cousin of brothers Mohamud Muse and Muse Muse, who were sentenced to prison last month following their own convictions in the case.
All three men are naturalized U.S. citizens who were born in Kenya and had lived in Lansing since at last late 2016. The government said they conspired for two years to provide support and resources, including personnel, to the Islamic State.
They were arrested in January 2019 at the Grand Rapids airport, where the government said Muse Muse was beginning a series of flights to Somalia to join the IS.
The government said the trio worked to raise money for Muse Muse's journey to join the IS and that all three pledged their allegiance to the IS in recorded videos.
During the sentencing phase, prosecutors submitted records showing the men had "numerous conversations" dating to early 2017 about traveling overseas to join terrorists, even adopting aliases they would use, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
Haji drew a longer prison sentence than his co-defendants, receiving nearly 11 years.
Last month, Jonker sentenced Mohamud Muse, 25, to 98 months in prison and Muse Muse, 22, to 78 months in federal prison.
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The government sought a 20-year sentence for Hadi.
Michigan State Police, Eaton County Sheriff's Office, Lansing police, Michigan State University police, Kent County Sheriff's Office and Grand Rapids police assisted in the investigation,
Contact Ken Palmer at kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @KBPalm_lsj.