A jury convicted two Minnesota women on Thursday in a trial that focused on terror funding case.
Amina Farah Ali and Hawo Mohamed Hassan were each charged that they fundraised for Somali jihadist Alshabab. In a month long trial, and 20 hours of deliberation, the jury delivered its verdict after going back and forth, since Monday. Both were found guilty of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. Ali faced 12 counts of providing such support, for allegedly sending more than $8,600 to the group from September 2008 through July 2009, while Hassan faced two counts of lying to the FBI. According to the AP, Ali stood before the judge and stated through an interpreter: “I am very happy.” She added that she knew she was going to heaven — but first she’ll be stopping off in prison. The women, both U.S. citizens of Somali descent, were among 20 people charged in Minnesota's long-running federal investigations into recruiting and financing for al-Shabab, which the U.S. considers a terrorist group with ties to al-Qaida. Investigators believe at least 21 men left Minnesota - home to the country's largest Somali community - to join al-Shabab.
Prosecutors say the two women went door-to-door in the name of charity and held religious teleconferences to solicit donations, which they then routed to the fighters, who many Somalis believed were protecting their homeland from the Ethiopian army, which many saw as invaders.
The case against the women at trial was based to a key extent on intercepted communications in which devotion to the jihad was a featured item. Members of the local Somali community have gathered at the federal courthouse in Minneapolis to support the women at trial. One of them was Fahmo farah "People came here scared," she said. "We still love this country. We defend this country. If there's anything again in this country, we'll be the first people to fight for it. So, that's why we're so disappointed (by the verdicts)."
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