SOMALI CHARGED IN US COURT WITH AIDING AL QAEDA
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-07-06/somali-charged-by-u-s-with-aiding-al-qaeda-on-arabian-peninsula.html
Somali Charged by U.S. With Aiding Al-Qaeda on Arabian Peninsula
By Patricia Hurtado
July 6 (Bloomberg) — A Somali man captured by the U.S. military in the Arabian Peninsula region in April was indicted in the U.S. on charges that he provided material support to terrorist groups.
Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame is accused of conspiring from 2007 until his arrest to provide money, training, communications equipment and personnel to al-Qaeda and al Shabaab, both of which have been designated by the U.S. as foreign terrorist organizations, according to an indictment unsealed yesterday by Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.
Warsame, identified by prosecutors as an al Shabaab leader, allegedly worked to broker a weapons deal with al-Qaeda and was involved in teaching and demonstrating how to make explosives, destructive devices and weapons of mass destruction starting in 2009.
“Ahmed Warsame was a conduit between al Shabaab and al- Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula — two deadly terrorist organizations — providing material support and resources to them both,” Bharara said in a statement.
Warsame entered a not guilty plea yesterday at his arraignment before U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon in New York in a proceeding sealed from public view, said Ellen Davis, a spokeswoman for Bharara.
Priya Chaudhry, a lawyer for Warsame, didn’t return a voice-mail message left after regular business hours yesterday.
Life in Prison
The defendant faces a mandatory term of life in prison if convicted of conspiring to provide material support to a terror group, according to Bharara’s statement.
Warsame was questioned for intelligence purposes for more than two months after his capture and later spoke to federal law enforcement officials “for several days” after he was apprised of his legal rights under U.S. law, according to the statement.
While Warsame was in Yemen in 2010 through this year, he received military weapons training, including explosives, according to Bharara’s statement. The U.S. said he also possessed and used grenades and an AK-47 semi-automatic assault weapon while in Yemen to commit crimes of violence.
Al Shabaab was labeled a foreign terrorist group by the U.S. Department of State in February 2008 while al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was designated in January.
The case is U.S. v. Warsame, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
–Editors: Peter Blumberg, Michael Hytha
To contact the reporter on this story: Patricia Hurtado in New York at pathurtado@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net
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