Somali Terror Suspect Appears in US Court

Posted August 15th, 2011 at 5:45 pm (UTC-5)
Leave a comment

A Somali man extradited from the Netherlands this week appeared in U.S. federal court Monday on charges of supporting al-Shabab terrorists.

The court in Minneapolis, Minnesota indicted Mahamud Said Omar in 2009 for allegedly backing a foreign terrorist group and conspiring to kill, kidnap and injure people overseas. The indictment alleges that Omar gave money to young men in Minneapolis to travel to Somalia to fight for al-Shabab.

He also is believed to have traveled to a town near Mogadishu to give the men money to buy weapons and receive terrorist training.

Omar did not issue a plea during his Monday court appearance.

Federal officials were alerted to Omar when they began investigating the disappearances of young Somali men from Minneapolis starting in 2007.

Al-Shabab, which has ties to al-Qaida, controls large parts of Somalia. It is trying to turn the East African nation into a strict Islamist state.