Thread: 14 U.S. citizens charged in Somali terror plot

14 U.S. citizens charged in Somali terror plot

11:09 AM

Fourteen U.S. citizens were charged with trying to join a Somalia-based terror group linked to al-Qaeda, MSNBC is reporting.

Citing law-enforcement sources, NBC News says the suspects include 12 from Minnesota and one from California.

A noon news conference is planned at the Justice Department, MSNBC says. The terror group, Al-Shabab, is described as the lawless nation's most-feared terror group.

We'll have more as it develops.

Update at 12:12 pm ET: Attorney General Eric Holder is now providing more clarification at a news conference in Washington; says funds were raised under the ruse of supporting impoverished people. Holder warned others against "choosing this group."

The number of those charged has been revised to 19 in Minnesota alone. Holder says of the 19, five already have pleaded guilty. Ten of those charged are not in custody and some are believed to be fighting in Somalia, he said.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities ... suspects/1

Yeah
So lets keep bringing more of them in here.

Either we clean up this mess or its going to make this country just as bad as any terror hell hole anywhere

We are getting there

Originally Posted by Justthefacts

Yeah
So lets keep bringing more of them in here.

Either we clean up this mess or its going to make this country just as bad as any terror hell hole anywhere

We are getting there

Maybe worse...because we will be forced to spend millions on prosecuting this trash. What would Saudi Arabia, Iran or Somalia spend on any criminal justice action?

Press Release
For Immediate Release
August 5, 2010

U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
(202) 514-2007/TDD (202) 514-1888


Fourteen Charged with Providing Material Support to Somalia-Based Terrorist Organization al Shabaab

Two Arrested in Minnesota in Connection with the Charges

WASHINGTON—The Justice Department announced that four separate indictments were unsealed today in the District of Minnesota, the Southern District of Alabama, and the Southern District of California charging 14 individuals with terrorism violations for providing money, personnel, and services to the foreign terrorist organization al Shabaab.

In the Southern District of Alabama, prosecutors unsealed a superseding indictment charging Omar Shafik Hammami, a U.S. citizen and former resident of Alabama, with providing material support to al Shabaab. Separately, prosecutors in the Southern District of California unsealed an indictment charging Jehad Serwan Mostafa, a U.S. citizen and former resident of California, with providing material support to al Shabaab. In the District of Minnesota, prosecutors unsealed two indictments. One indictment charges Amina Farah Ali and Hawo Mohamed Hassan with providing funds to al Shabaab. These two defendants, who are naturalized U.S. citizens and residents of Minnesota, were arrested today. Separately, prosecutors unsealed a third superseding indictment charging 10 men with terrorism offenses for leaving the United States to join al Shabaab. Seven of these defendants had been previously charged by either indictment or criminal complaint. The remaining three defendants had not been charged before.

The arrests and charges were announced by Attorney General Eric Holder and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller, III, as well as David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; B. Todd Jones, U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota; Kenyen R. Brown, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama; and Laura E. Duffy, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California.

“The indictments unsealed today shed further light on a deadly pipeline that has routed funding and fighters to the al Shabaab terror organization from cities across the United States,â€

2 Minn. Women Among 14 Charged in Terror Probe
Friday, 06 Aug 2010 07:19 AM

Amina Farah Ali had become the go-to person for Somalis in the southern Michigan city of Rochester wanting to donate items to refugees displaced by violence in their homeland.

But she and another woman, Hawo Mohamed Hassan, were actually using the pretense of charity to send money to a violent terrorist group in the African country, prosecutors allege. They also claim the women made direct pleas in teleconference calls for others "to support violent jihad in Somalia."

The two women, both U.S. citizens living in Rochester, are among 14 people named in indictments unsealed Thursday in Minneapolis, San Diego, and Mobile, Ala. — accused of being part of what the government called "a deadly pipeline" that routed money and fighters from the U.S. to al-Shabab. The Somali insurgent faction embraces a radical form of Islam similar to the harsh, conservative brand practiced by Afghanistan's former Taliban regime.

Both women said they are innocent. "We are not terrorists," Ali said after she and Hassan made their first appearances Thursday in U.S. District Court in St. Paul.

The indicted also include Omar Hammami, an Alabama man now known as Abu Mansour al-Amriki, or "the American" — who has become one of al-Shabab's most high-profile members and appeared in a jihadist video in May 2009. The group's fighters, numbering several thousand strong, are battling Somalia's weakened government and have been branded a terrorist group with ties to al-Qaida by the U.S. and other Western countries.

Attorney General Eric Holder said the indictments reflect a disturbing trend of recruitment efforts targeting U.S. residents to become terrorists. He credited Muslim community leaders in the United States for helping combat radicalization.

Of the 14 people named in indictments Thursday, at least half are U.S. citizens and 12 of them are out of the country, including 10 men from Minnesota who allegedly left to join al-Shabab. Seven of those 10 Minnesota men named had been charged in earlier indictments or criminal complaints.

Ali, 33, and Hassan, 63, are the only two people indicted Thursday who remain in the U.S. They are both charged with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. Ali faces multiple counts of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, and Hassan faces three counts of lying to the FBI.

Abdifatah Abdinur, a Somali community leader in Rochester, said many knew Ali as a religious speaker who preached to women, and as a person who would collect clothes for refugees, telling many people to drop off donations at her garage.

"I know a lot of people might send money or goods, without knowing the consequences of what they were doing," said Abdinur said.

"If you have clothes, you give them to her," said Abdinur. "If you have shoes, give them to her." Abdinur said. "I was surprised, as almost everybody was (to learn) that she was sending clothes to al-Shabab."

The women and others allegedly went door to door in Minneapolis; Rochester, Minn., and elsewhere in the U.S. and Canada to raise funds for al-Shabab's operations in Somalia. The indictment says they claimed the money would go to the poor and needy and used phony names for recipients to conceal that it was going to al-Shabab.

They also allegedly made direct appeals to people in teleconferences. During one teleconference, the indictment says, Ali told others "to forget about the other charities" and focus on "the jihad."

The indictment says Ali and others sent the funds through various hawalas, money transfer businesses that are a common source of financial transactions in the Islamic world. Ali is accused of sending $8,608 to al-Shabab on 12 occasions from September 2008 through July 2009.

The fundraising operation in Minnesota reached into Ohio, where a Columbus resident helped collect donations for al-Shabab, according to the indictment. The document also says that after the FBI searched Ali's home in 2009, she contacted an al-Shabab leader in southern Somalia and said: "I was questioned by the enemy here. ... They took all my stuff and are investigating it ... Do not accept calls from anyone."

Prosecutors didn't seek detention for Ali or Hassan, but a federal magistrate set several conditions for their release, including barring travel outside Minnesota without permission.

When asked whether she understood why she was in court, Ali said through an interpreter: "I do not know — however, I think maybe because of my faith."

Ali, who works in home health care and has lived in Rochester for 11 years, also said: "Allah is my attorney."

Hassan said she was self-employed, running a day care.

Minneapolis has been the hub of the federal investigation into al-Shabab recruitment over the last two years, after a U.S. citizen from Minneapolis carried out a suicide bombing in Somalia in October 2008. Roughly 20 young men — all but one of Somali descent — have left Minnesota for that country since late 2007.

In Mobile, Ala., on Thursday prosecutors unsealed a September 2009 indictment against Hammami. Holder said Hammami has appeared in several propaganda videos for al-Shabab and "has assumed an operational role in that organization."

Hammami, 26, grew up in the middle-class town of Daphne, Ala., and attended the University of South Alabama in Mobile, where he was president of the Muslim Student Association nine years ago. School officials said they have been unaware of his whereabouts since he left the university in 2002.

Hammami's father, Shafik, is an engineer with the state highway department who also has served as president of the Islamic Society of Mobile. Shafik Hammami confirmed his relationship to Omar Hammami in e-mail exchanges with The Associated Press earlier this year but declined further comment.

In San Diego, prosecutors unsealed an indictment charging Jehad Serwan Mostafa, 28, with conspiring to provide material support to al-Shabab. Mostafa is believed to be in Somalia.

——

Yost reported from Washington. Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Jay Reeves in Birmingham, Ala.; Jason Straziuso in Nairobi, Kenya; Lolita C. Baldor in Washington; and Andrew Welsh-Huggins in Columbus, Ohio.

(This version CORRECTS Corrects spelling of "Somalis" in first paragraph.)

http://www.newsmax.com/US/US-Terrorism- ... /id/366771

Source: The Associated Press

Judge Reinstates Contempt Charges For Somali Woman

September 18, 2012



MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A federal judge in Minnesota has reinstated the contempt charges for a Somali woman who refused to stand for the court during the first two days of her trial on terror charges.

Amina Farah Ali was convicted last year of funneling money to the terror group al-Shabab in Somalia.

During the first two days of her trial, she refused to stand 20 times. Chief U.S. District Judge Michael Davis found her in contempt each time and sentenced her to a total of 100 days. But a federal appeals court vacated 19 contempt charges and sent the issue back to Davis to reconsider.

Davis ruled Tuesday that Ali was in contempt, but purged her 100-day sentence.

She’s currently in a halfway house awaiting sentencing on 13 terror-related counts.

Judge Reinstates Contempt Charges For Somali Woman « CBS Minnesota

MARKELL 'TIRED' OF COURTS PANDERING TO MUSLIMS

Chad Groening (OneNewsNow.com)
Friday, September 21, 2012
The leader of a Messianic Jewish ministry believes many Americans are growing tired of the way U.S. courts continue to accommodate the "twisted" demands of radical Muslims.

Amina Farah Ali of Rochester, Minnesota, is a Muslim immigrant from Somalia who was convicted last fall of funneling money to the Somalia-based terrorist group al-Shabab, which has ties to al-Qaeda. She currently awaits her sentencing on 13 terror-related counts.

A federal court recently reinstated 19 criminal contempt charges against Ali, who had cited Islamic religious beliefs when she refused to stand when a federal judge entered the courtroom 20 times during the high-profile proceedings last year.

But during that trial, authorities went out of their way to accommodate Ali and the large contingent of Somali spectators in the courtroom by providing signs in their language and a special room for them to pray.

Jan Markell, founder and director of the Minnesota-based Olive Tree Ministries, believes cases like this one make local residents uncomfortable with the Somali community.

"We don't know which ones to trust and which ones are literally supporting terrorists because they channel funds into one prominent terror group," she contends.

The behavior of this defendant reminds Markell of the case of the Fort Hood shooter, Nidal Hasan, who was able to delay the proceedings of his court-martial case because of his unwillingness to shave his beard.

"They were bending over backwards to cave into some of the demands of a man who had deliberately shot some Americans," the Olive Tree Ministries founder recalls. "We're tired of this caving to these twisted people."
Markell 'tired' of courts pandering to Muslims

Also from 2010. It seems that Obama is not only putting people out of jobs and onto welfare, he is importing people for it.

SOMALI MUSLIM IMMIGRANTS turning American small towns into Islamic welfare enclaves

Newly arrived Somali immigrants flock to small towns and cities such as Lewiston, Maine; Shelbyville, Tennessee, St. Cloud, Minnesota, Clarkston, Georgia, and Jamestown, North Dakota, where they head straight for the local welfare office.

PAUL L. WILLIAMS, PH.D.

The Jamestown Sun reports that 400 Somalis have applied for public housing in the past four months. The Somali immigrants in Garden City, Kansas and nearby small towns have created the Somali Community Center of Southwest Kansas in order to tap into public welfare programs. Within this section of the heartland, white Christians have become the minority.



In East San Diego, the newly arrived Somalis have created a Little Mogadishu. The streets are lined with Somali stores, shops, and mosques. In the midst of this ethnic enclave stands the Iftin Charter School, where K-8 students are introduced to Arabic. 99% of the student population is Somali; Arabs constitute the remaining 1%.

The American Somalis now display the highest unemployment and poverty rates in the country. They also remain the least educated. According to Andrew Liepman, the deputy director of intelligence at the National Counterterrorism Center, Somali-Americans face “greater insularity compared to other, more integrated Muslim immigrant communities, [which] has aggravated the challenge of assimilation for their children.”



This problem is crystallized by the present situation is Lewiston, Maine, where African Muslims, many from the Bantu tribe, began arriving in 2001 at the rate of 100 a month.



Mohammed Maye, the president of the African Community and Refugee Center in Clarkston, Georgia posted a map of Lewiston on the wall of his office. “Go to Maine,” he advised the Somali immigrants. Abdullahi Abdullahi, the president of the Somali Community Development Organization in Clarkston, upheld this advice by telling his fellow countrymen that, unlike Georgia, Maine has terribly cold winters, but “the welfare system is better.”



Lewiston, indeed, was better. The small town in Maine with a population of 30,000 provided welfare to anyone in need, with the state picking up half the tab. Recipients, including the Muslim refugees, were allowed a generous five years of assistance before their benefits became terminated, and extensions for several additional years on the public dole were not difficult to obtain. Single parents could stay on welfare and go to college.

Public housing was also available, although, with the influx of Somalis, the housing projects became packed to capacity. Many of the new project dwellers were single Somali mothers with large broods of children.Those who are unable to obtain public housing were handed Section 8 vouchers, which the federal government provided to subsidize their rent in private apartments. The northern city with its frigid climate became welfare heaven for the arrivals from the vast desert areas of northern Africa.



The newcomers have shown scant interest in securing employment. When Renee Bernier, the president of the Lewiston city council, offered to hire 30 Somalis at the rate of $8 to $10 an hour to hold warning signs at construction sites, few displayed interest. The handful, who did apply, said that they were only willing to work between the hours of 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

The Somali population of Lewiston now exceeds 40,000. H/T MICHAEL

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SOMALI MUSLIM IMMIGRANTS turning American small towns into Islamic welfare enclaves | BARE NAKED ISLAM

Obama authorizes additional 80,000 “refugees” to entry country

Dr. Paul L. Williams (Bio and Archives) Friday, October 22, 2010

- Dr. Paul L. Williams Friday, October 22, 2010

---

President Barack Hussein Obama, in a determination letter to Congress, has announced that he will allow an additional 80,000 immigrants – - mostly from Islamic countries – - to resettle in the United States during fiscal year 2011.

Mr. Obama says that the increase in Muslim immigrants “is justified by humanitarian concerns or is otherwise in the national interest.”

The following “goals” for new immigrants has been set as follows:

Africa ........................................15,000
East Asia ..................................19,000
Europe and Central Asia ............2,000
Latin America/Caribbean…..........5,500
Near East/South Asia….............35,500
Unallocated Reserve…................3,000


Refugee Resettlement Watch and other organizations have expressed grave concern that Mr. Obama is allowing some many immigrants into the country while so many Americans remain out of work and living in poverty.


According to the US Department of Labor, 14.8 million Americans remain unemployed. 6.1 million have been out of work for 27 weeks or over.

Obama authorizes additional 80,000 “refugees” to entry country

SSI for non-citizens extended under OBama. But, Social Security is going broke.....

From the Social Security.gov website.

Temporary Extension Of SSI Benefits For Some Noncitizens


TWO YEAR EXTENTENSION FOR ELDERLY AND DISABLE REFUGEES.

The Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Extension for Elderly and Disabled Refugees Act (P.L. 110-32 8 became law on September 30, 2008. The seven-year SSI eligibility period for refugees, asylees, and certain other humanitarian immigrants (including victims of human trafficking) was extended an additional two years for certain individuals during the period of October 1, 2008 through September 30, 2011.

If all SSI eligibility requirements are met, the two-year extension may apply retroactively to noncitizens whose SSI previously ceased due to the expiration of the seven-year period, but not earlier than October 1, 2008 even if all eligibility factors are met before that date.

To qualify, eligible noncitizens are required to sign a declaration indicating that they made a good faith effort to pursue U.S. citizenship, unless they are under age 18.

The law also exempts certain noncitizens from the time-limited SSI eligibility period (during the three-year window of October 1, 2008 through September 30, 2011) if they have naturalization applications pending, or if they have been approved and they are awaiting the citizenship swearing-in ceremony, as verified by the U. S. Citizen and Immigration Service (USCIS). This exemption also applies to individuals with applications pending who were previously rendered ineligible due to expiration of the seven-year period.

The benefit extension is effective from October 1, 2008 through September 30, 2011. After this date, noncitizen eligibility reverts to seven years.

WHICH NON CITIZENS ARE ELIGIBLE FOR THE EXTENSION?

• Noncitizens who have been lawful permanent residents for less than six years, and status has not been abandoned, as verified by the U. S. Citizen and Immigration Service; or
• Noncitizens who have applied to become lawful permanent residents within four years from the date they began to receive SSI and such application is still pending, as verified by the Department of Homeland Security; or
• Cuban and Haitian entrants, as defined in section 501(e) of the Refugee Education Assistance Act of 1980; or
• Noncitizens who have had their deportation withheld by the Secretary of Homeland Security under section 243(h) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (as in effect on December 31, 1996) or whose removal is withheld under section 241(b)(3) of such Act; or
• Noncitizens who are younger than age 18, or age 70 or older.

KAPLAN V CHERTOFF APPLIES TO SOME NON CITIZENS

Individuals who qualify for the extension may also be eligible for new provisions provided by the Kaplan settlement.
If you have a pending application for naturalization (Form N-400) or adjustment of status (Form I-485), you (or your representative) may request expedited processing from USCIS. Be sure to tell them that you receive SSI. You may apply for a waiver of the application fee by contacting USCIS. If you are eligible for naturalization or adjustment of status but have not filed an application with USCIS, we encourage you to do so.
If you have difficulty getting your immigration case expedited, you may contact Community Legal Services, Inc. of Philadelphia at 1-800-889-4369.

WHERE TO FIND MORE INFORMATION?
To request expedited processing of your application for naturalization or adjustment of status or to request a fee waiver, call USCIS at 1-800-375-5283 (TTY 1-800 767-1833). Otherwise, contact your local USCIS office in person or in writing. If you have not yet filed an application for naturalization or adjustment of status, and you are eligible for SSI benefits, you may apply for a fee waiver when you file the application. To learn more about fee waivers, visit the website at www.uscis.gov/feewaiver. To learn more about how to become a U.S. citizen, visit the USCIS website at www.uscis.gov/citizenship andwww.uscis.gov/naturalization. To learn more about applying for adjustment of status and becoming a lawful permanent resident, visit www.uscis.gov/greencard
To learn more about SSI benefits for noncitizens, call us at 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778), visit your local Social Security office, or visit us online at www.socialsecurity.gov.


Legal Notices And Documents Relating To Kaplan, Et Al. v. Chertoff, Et Al.,

Notice of proposed settlement agreement and hearing in class action for non-citizens who have received or are receiving Supplemental Security Income
Stipulation and agreement of settlement and release

Link is here:
Document Title