Both sides in the trial of two Minnesota women accused of raising money for terrorists painted their Somali homeland as the hellish, lawless domain of madmen in their opening statements Tuesday.
But events the night before, miles from the federal courtroom in Minneapolis, seemed to overshadow the start of the trial.
Defendant Amina Farah Ali, who so far has been cited 10 times for contempt of court for refusing to stand when court convenes or adjourns, complained to Chief U.S. District Judge Michael Davis that jailers in Sherburne County had abused her, forcefully stripped her with men present and violated her religious rights.
Speaking through an interpreter, Ali, 35, a Muslim, told the judge that she was injured and that the jailers took her clothes, including her hijab, the head scarf worn by many Muslim Somali women because their faith requires them to cover their heads.
"Because of my religion, I feel like I'm being persecuted," she told the judge.
Defense attorney Dan Scott told Davis the woman's privations were "very close to the kind of violations we think of as rape."
But Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Paulsen countered that the version offered by jailers in Sherburne County - where Ali was jailed Monday night after she was found in contempt - differed significantly.
"I understand Ms. Ali was not compliant with reasonable requests," he said. He said the woman was disrobed and placed into jail-issue clothing, but no men were present.
U.S. Marshal Thomas Volk later said that Ali refused to change into jail clothing as she was being booked into the jail in Elk River, 32 miles northwest of Minneapolis.
"Female deputies basically informed her that she would have to do it per jail policy and regulation, and without any force or physical coercion, eventually she agreed to change into jail clothing," said Volk, who added that the marshal's service was satisfied with Sherburne County's version of events.
In court, Ali wore a black hijab, as well as a black direh, the flowing floor-length dress common among Somali women. They were the same clothes she wore Monday when Davis ordered her jailed.
The judge said he would talk to the marshal's service but that he wouldn't intercede "in the security issues of the jail unless those security issues are in violation of the Constitution."
Ali is standing trial with co-defendant Hawo Mohamed Hassan, 64, both of Rochester. The two naturalized U.S. citizens are charged with raising money for al-Shabaab, a group fighting for control of parts of Somalia.
In February 2008, the State Department designated al-Shabaab as a foreign terrorist group, making it illegal for any U.S. resident to give it aid or support.
Ali and Hassan were indicted in July 2010, charged with conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist organization. Ali faces 12 additional counts of providing the material support, stemming from $8,608 she allegedly sent to members of al-Shabaab between September 2008 and July 2009.
In addition to conspiracy, Hassan faces three counts of lying to the FBI.
The opening statements came after lawyers picked 12 women and three men to serve as the jury and three alternates. During a day and a half of jury selection, 26 of the 81 prospective jurors questioned were excused after they said they couldn't be fair and impartial.
The jury includes a registered nurse, an employee of Xcel Energy, a college student, a paralegal, a woman who works at a financial planning firm who is pregnant with her first child and a retired personal care attendant.
It became clear from opening statements that jurors will get a crash history course on Somalia, an East African nation that has become the province of warlords and warring factions after years of coups, civil war, failed governments, drought, famine and other deprivations.
In his 36-minute opening statement, Paulsen said the government's evidence left no doubt Ali and Hassan knew that al-Shabaab had been designated a terrorist group and that it had carried out violence, including suicide bombings.
"Those two defendants formed a conspiracy to violate federal law," the prosecutor told jurors. "They did it knowingly, they did it willfully, and they didn't just do it once or twice."
He said Ali worked to raise money for al-Shabaab and had connections with several of the group's leaders. Hassan kept the books, he said.
Paulsen's history included the rise of al-Shabaab and its guerrilla war against the U.N.-backed Transitional Federal Government. He told jurors that the transitional government "is so busy defending itself against terrorist attacks that the government really can't deliver the government services you and I take for granted."
Earlier in the day, Hassan's attorney, Thomas Kelly, asked prospective jurors if they remembered the chaos in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Paulsen picked up on that theme, saying the "comparison is apt, but the point is, al-Shabaab is the hurricane."
The prosecutor said that when the FBI heard allegations that Ali was raising money for al-Shabaab, they obtained a court order to tap her cellphone and home phone. Over 10 months, agents listened in to 30,000 of the woman's calls - and collected her garbage twice a week.
Paulsen said the fundraising involved things as simple as going door-to-door and as sophisticated as hosting teleconferences that included guest lecturers who were leaders of al-Shabaab.
While the teleconferences were usually explicit solicitations for al-Shabaab, the neighborhood efforts usually involved telling people the money was intended for the poor and needy in Somalia.
Scott also spent 36 minutes in his opening statement. He told jurors that the law the women are charged under is complex and that "there are a large number of elements that have to be proved" by the government to win convictions.
Among those elements was the women's alleged knowledge that al-Shabaab was a terrorist group.
"The government said, 'Everybody knew,' " Scott told jurors. "I don't think you're going to hear that in the evidence. Al-Shabaab knew, but al-Shabaab is not on trial."
He said Ali didn't know about the terrorist designation "until the government told her."
Scott said the deprivations of Somalia left women in the culture with a "built-in cultural imperative to help," and that is what Ali did, raising money and collecting two large ocean-going shipping containers full of clothes to be sent to her homeland.
"That's the kind of fundraiser that she was," he said. "She raised money for the poor. She raised money for the needy. But she's not Sister Teresa."
Kelly reserved his opening remarks until the government is finished with his case. Testimony in the trial was expected to begin today.
John Brewer contributed to this report. David Hanners can be reached at 612-338-6516.
Source: The TwinCities.com
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