FD Editor’s Note: I have serious doubts about the veracity of any case having anything to do with “al-Shabab.”  This group is apparently brand new, I’m not sure whether the name came before the group or vice versa.  In any case, these young people are fighting for Islamic rule in Somolia.  They are fighting against oppression.  This does not make them terrorists.  I fail to understand how a young man wanting to help a group who is fighting oppression can be arrested in the USA for “terrorism related charges.”  He was not planning to attack any American or anything inside the USA.  When did the USA become the Police of the planet?

Mahamud Said Omar is accused of assisting al-Shabab, a U.S.-designated terror group at the center of much of the violence in Somalia.

MINNEAPOLIS — A jury of 10 women and six men has been chosen to hear the case of a Minnesota man accused of helping to send U.S. men to fight for a terror group in Somalia.

Mahamud (mah-hah-MOOD’) Said (sy-EED’) Omar faces five terror-related counts at his federal trial in Minneapolis. Prosecutors say he encouraged young men to fight for al-Shabab which has been linked to al-Qaida. They also say he helped some men get airline tickets and helped pay for weapons.

Omar has said he’s innocent. His attorney says he’s never lifted a hand against the U.S.

Minneapolis has the United States’ largest population of Somali immigrants.

Opening statements are planned for Tuesday.

Source

Send to Kindle