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| Home Front: WoT |
| Feds To Announce Terror Charges |
| 2010-08-05 |
| Marking the latest in a growing number of terrorism cases involving an Al Qaeda-linked group in Somalia, several Somali-Americans have been arrested in at least two U.S. cities for allegedly supporting and in some cases fund-raising for the group. Many others, believed to be overseas, were also charged. In addition, federal authorities unsealed a years-old indictment against one the group's most prominent figures, Alabama-born Omar Hamammi, who has become a star of propaganda and recruitment videos produced by Al Shabab. In the United States, arrests were made overnight near Minneapolis and Los Angeles. Two of those arrested were Amina Farah Ali and Hawo Mohamed Hassan of Rochester, Minn., naturalized U.S. citizens now indicted by a grand jury on charges of providing material support to a terrorist group. Prosecutors allege they raised funds "by soliciting door-to-door" in Minnesota's Somali communities, telling potential donors that "the funds were for the poor and needy." Some of that money, prosecutors say, would then be funneled to the group Al Shabab, which has been designated a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. government. In an indictment unsealed Thursday morning, prosecutors also allege that seven others, including unidentified individuals in Minneapolis and Columbus, Ohio, helped Ali and Hallan "collect and forward funds to Al Shabab." Some of the alleged aides appear to be in Somalia, including one individual described as "the al-Shabab administrative governor" in parts of the war-torn country. For more than two years, the FBI has been investigating how dozens of Americans from Minneapolis and elswhere were recruited to train and fight alongside the Somalia-based group, known as Al Shabab. Most recently, Al Shabab claimed responsibility for the deadly attacks in Uganda and pledged its allegiance to Usama bin Laden. Federal authorities have long worried that Al Shabab could try to launch attacks inside the United States. In fact, in a May 21 intelligence bulletin, federal authorities noted that "Hammami has appeared in [Al Shabab] media productions urging individuals to travel to Somalia to take part in terrorist training." "We cannot exclude the possibility that U.S. persons aligned with [Al Shabab] in the Horn of Africa may return to the U.S., possibly to carry out acts of violence," the bulletin said. Fox News was the first news organization to uncover Hammami's identity and report that a grand jury had indicted him on charges of providing material support to a terrorist group. In a motion to unseal the case against him, prosecutors said Thursday that "widespread public and press discussion of the case and indictment" helped diminish a need to keep the case sealed. The Justice Department is expected to provide more details about the cases unsealed Thursday during an afternoon press conference in Washington. |
| Posted by:tipper |