Attorneys For 2 Convicted Of Trying To Join Terrorists Ask For Rehabilitation

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Attorneys for two men facing a possible life prison sentence for plotting to go to Syria to join the Islamic State group are asking a judge to consider allowing them to participate in a de-radicalization program.

The rehabilitation program was offered to six other men who pleaded guilty to conspiring to support a foreign terrorist organization. Abdirahman Daud and Guled Omar, along with a third defendant, pleaded not guilty and were convicted by a jury in May.

Minnesota Public Radio News reports that U.S. District Judge Michael Davis pioneered the de-radicalization program that was developed by a German expert who works with neo-Nazis and other extremists. Davis has said it's not necessarily an alternative to incarceration.

The judge hasn't set a sentencing date for the three defendants.