MINNEAPOLIS – Prosecutors say a judge overseeing terrorism cases in Minnesota is among those who were threatened over Twitter last year, according to a court filing Wednesday.
Khaalid Adam Abdulkadir, 20, is accused of tweeting threats against the judge and FBI agents after one of his friends was arrested on terrorism charges. Abdulkadir was indicted on one count of threatening to murder a federal judge, one count of threatening to murder a federal law enforcement officer, and one count of interstate transmission of a threat to injure another person.
Abdulkadir has pleaded not guilty and faces a March 8 trial.
After a request from the defense, prosecutors were ordered last week to get specific about who Abdulkadir allegedly targeted.
In Wednesday's filing, prosecutors said Abdulkadir threatened U.S. District Judge Michael Davis, who's been overseeing Minnesota's terrorism cases. They said Abdulkadir also threatened the FBI agents and task force officers who are investigating the travel of young men from Minnesota to Syria to join the Islamic State group.
U.S. District Judge Karen Schreier from South Dakota is overseeing the case because of the nature of the charges.
Abdulkadir is accused of posting the tweets after his friend, Abdirizak Mohamed Warsame, was arrested in December. Warsame pleaded guilty to a terrorism count earlier this month.
Court documents show that one tweet included the words "kill them FBI" and the other said, "I'm kill them FEDS for take my brothers."
Also Wednesday, Schreier ruled that prosecutors don't have to reveal the name of the informant who provided the government with a screenshot of the tweets. The judge said there's no allegation the informant saw Abdulkadir send the tweets, so the informant acted as more of a tipster than a witness.
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