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Prosecutors expected to argue that men accused of supporting IS group should be detained

Associated Press
Published | Updated

This photo provided April 21, 2015 by the Sherburne County, Minnesota, Sheriff’s Office shows Zacharia Yusuf Abdurahman, 19. Abdurahman is among six Minnesota men of Somali descent that have been charged in a criminal complaint with traveling or attempting to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State group, which has carried out a host of attacks including beheading Americans. (Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office via AP) (The Associated Press)

This photo provided April 21, 2015 by the Sherburne County, Minnesota, Sheriff’s Office shows Hanad Mustafe Musse, 19. Musse is among six Minnesota men of Somali descent that have been charged in a criminal complaint with traveling or attempting to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State group, which has carried out a host of attacks including beheading Americans. (Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office via AP) (The Associated Press)

Members of Minnesota's Somali community cover their faces as they arrive Thursday, April 23, 2015, for a detention hearing in federal court in St. Paul, Minn. for four of the six Minnesotans who are accused of plotting to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State group. Prosecutors have said they plan to ask a judge to keep the men in custody pending trial, saying they are a flight risk. (AP Photo/Jim Mone) (The Associated Press)

A detention hearing is set to be held in federal court in St. Paul for four of the six Minnesotans who are accused of plotting to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State group.

The hearing starts at 9 a.m. Thursday. The remaining two defendants will appear in a San Diego courtroom Friday.

Prosecutors have said they plan to ask a judge to keep the men in custody pending trial, saying they are a flight risk. Defense attorneys disagree.

Since 2007, more than 22 young Somali men have traveled from Minnesota to Somalia to join the militant group al-Shabab. Authorities have said a handful of Minnesota residents have also traveled to Syria to fight with militants in the past year, and at least one has died.