The head of a San Diego relief agency that accepted more than $350,000 from a charity suspecting of funneling money to al-Qaida also personally received thousands of dollars from the Saudi government, a prosecutor said Tuesday. Omar Abdi Mohammed, the president of the Western Somali Relief Agency, was paid monthly by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Islamic Affairs and traveled frequently to both Saudi Arabia and Australia, Assistant U.S. Attorney John Parmley said in court. The prosecutor made the allegations during a lengthy hearing in U.S. District Court to determine whether bail should be set for Mohammed. Magistrate Judge Louisa Porter said she was not prepared to make a ruling and continued the hearing until Feb 3.
Mohammed, 41, a Somali refugee who is a permanent legal U.S. resident, pleaded innocent Friday to two counts of lying to an U.S. immigration officer about receiving $351,036 from the Global Relief Foundation. President Bush has designated the Bridgeview, Ill.-based foundation, as a suspected fund-raiser for terrorists, including Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network. Defense attorney Joan Bader did not address the Global Relief money. She said the money from Saudi Arabia was intended to support her client’s work in the community, where he has taught the Quran and educated children about the dangers of gangs and drugs. Saudi Arabia also paid for what she called his family visits overseas. Mohammed earns $800 a month as a part-time teacher’s aide at a San Diego elementary school. He has no criminal record. "There are hints and allegations of al-Qaida here, which would suggest violence, but we don’t have any link," Bader told the judge.
| "Y'see, y'r honor, there's a big diff'rence between paying for violence and violence..." |
For three hours, more that 100 members of the tight-knit Somali community, including Mohammed’s six children,
| ... the ones he supports on $800 a month... |
packed the small courtroom and waited in the hallway until late afternoon when the case was called last. Five community members offered money for bail, Bader said. Parmley asked the judge to detain Mohammed without bond, saying his frequent travel and access to vast sums of money raised concerns that he was a flight risk. Mohammed is being held in a segregation unit at a federal jail in San Diego. "Unless there is something to hold the defendant here, he’s not going to be here," he said.
Parmley said more than $300,000 sent to the Western Somali Relief Agency between 1998 and 2001 by Global Relief was relayed overseas by Dahab Shil, part of an informal, international system of money transfers known as hawala "never to be seen again." The rest of the Global Relief money, about $40,000, wound up in Mohammed’s pocket, the prosecutor said. Mohammed also received $1,750 a month from the Saudi government plus an annual $5,000 housing stipend, Bader said. Payments from the Saudi government have totaled more than $100,000, according to Parmley. Over the past three years, Mohammed has traveled once to Africa, twice to Saudi Arabia and made four trips to Australia, where he has a second wife, Parmley said.
| Say! That's a grand idea! I used to know this really cute Australian blonde, who had the most lovely, round... ummm... eyes. Perhaps I could look her up again, propose, and we could set up housekeeping. I'm sure the Soddy gummint would be happy to fund it, since they seem to be into domestic bliss... |
The prosecutor also said that Mohammed’s past contacts with the U.S. government have been "rife with fraud." He entered the United States in 1995 as a religious worker with a job teaching Arabic at a local mosque, Parmley said. But Mohammed showed up for work only one day and was never seen again.
| That was nine years ago... |
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