Posted on 05/14/2013 2:20:13 AM PDT by markomalley
Two men were sent to prison Monday for their key roles in what prosecutors said was a terrorist “pipeline” to send young men to fight in the Somali civil war.
Muhamud Said Omar, 46, a janitor at a Minneapolis mosque, who was convicted in 2012 of aiding foreign terrorism, was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Prosecutors had asked for 50 years.
Kamal Said Hassan, 28, also of Minneapolis, who pleaded guilty in 2009 to aiding terrorism and lying to the FBI, was sentenced to 10 years.
He could have received up to 38 years, but prosecutors cited his extensive cooperation which helped them win other convictions.
The sentences cap a federal investigation lasting more than four years. Authorities sought to shut down a recruiting effort that lured more than 20 young men to Somalia, several of whom died fighting or in suicide bombings.
Seven more individuals will be sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Michael Davis this week for similar crimes of aiding terrorism in a foreign country; four on Tuesday, and three on Thursday.
In a statement Monday, John Carlin, acting assistant U.S. Attorney General for national security, hailed the “successful prosecutions” of “two individuals who played crucial roles in raising funds and recruiting fighters from the United States to assist Al-Shabab.”
Davis made it clear he was unsympathetic to the defense’s contention that the two men supported the insurgency in opposition to the 2006 invasion of Somalia by Ethiopian troops.
More than 20 people from the Somali community attended the sentencing. Afterward, Hassan Mohamud, a St. Paul imam, spoke to reporters and stressed that the public was in no way endangered by the local Somali community.
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
Diversity is our strength!
Why are we bringing these savages to our country, again?
None of them should be in this country!
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