The U.S. government on Thursday announced 14 people have been indicted on charges they provided support to the Somali terrorist group Shabab, shedding light on "a deadly pipeline" that has routed funding and fighters to the group from cities across the United States, Atty. Gen. Eric Holder said.
Most of those charged were U.S. citizens of Somali descent. It has long been known that young, disaffected Somali immigrants were leaving their homes in Minnesota and other states to fight for Shabab, a Somali Islamist army whose several thousand fighters are battling Somalia's weak transitional government. Today's indictments represent the U.S. government's most significant public response to that problem.
Shabab, which routinely beheads its enemies, has been branded a terrorist group by the U.S. and other nations, and in turn has declared war on the United Nations and humanitarian organizations in Somalia. The group claimed responsibility for a bombing last month that killed scores of fans who were watching a World Cup soccer match in Uganda's capital. It is not known to be responsible for any attack on U.S. soil.
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Some of those charged were already in custody, but earlier Thursday, FBI agents arrested Amina Farah Ali, 33, and Hawo Mohamed Hassan, 63, both naturalized U.S. citizens from Somalia and residents of Rochester, Minn. Each is charged with one count of conspiracy to provide material support to Shabab from Sept. 17, 2008 through July 19, 2010. Ali is also charged in the indictment with 12 counts of providing material support to Shabab. Hassan is also charged with three counts of making false statements.
"As demonstrated by the charges unsealed today, we are seeing an increasing number of individuals —including U.S. citizens — who have become captivated by extremist ideology and have taken steps to carry out terrorist objectives, either at home or abroad," Holder told reporters.
The indictment accuses the two women of raising money to support Shabab through door-to-door solicitations and teleconferences in Somali communities in Minneapolis, Rochester, and elsewhere, in some cases "under the false pretense that they would be used to aid the poor and the needy."
Ali made 12 money transfers to Shabab in 2008 and 2009 totaling $8,608, the indictment said.
The U.S. government designated Shabab a foreign terrorist organization in March 2008, and said it has ties to al-Qaida.
The indictments allege illegal conduct in Minnesota, Alabama and California.
The Minnesota investigation has been unfolding for some time. Roughly 20 men — all but one of Somali descent — left Minnesota from December 2007 through October 2009 to join Shabab, which seeks to establish an Islamic state in Somalia with an ideology akin to the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Two indictments unsealed in Minnesota added five new names to a list of people charged in the investigation in that state, bringing the total charged there to 19. Nine have been arrested in the U.S. or overseas, five of whom pleaded guilty, Holder said. Ten are at large, believed to be overseas.
Shabab members began pledging allegiance to al-Qaida last year. One of its most famous members is known as Abu Mansour al-Amriki, or "the American." He appeared in a jihadist video in May 2009.
In another unrelated to case, a 26-year-old Chicago man was charged Wednesday with plotting to go to Somalia to become a suicide bomber for al-Qaida and Shabab.
Prosecutors told a judge that the Chicago man, Shaker Masri, attempted to provide support through the use of a weapon of mass destruction outside the United States.
Source:tribune.com
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