By David Hanners
dhanners@pioneerpress.comtwincities.com
dhanners@pioneerpress.comtwincities.com
One was a former truck driver whose mental abilities are doubted by his own attorneys, and the other was a graduate of one of the state's best schools and had, by all accounts, a promising future.
But their brief flirtation with the Somali terrorist group al-Shabaab now means both men will spend the next several years in federal prison. In the case of former trucker Mahamud Said Omar, it means a 20-year sentence, while in the case of Wayzata High grad Kamal Said Hassan, it means a 10-year sentence.
In each case, the government sought heftier sentences. In each case, the defendants told Chief U.S. District Judge Michael Davis that they love their adopted homeland and would never do anything to harm America. Rather, each said in his own way -- Hassan in brief soliloquy and a letter in neat handwriting, Omar in a confusing, rambling speech lasting nearly an hour -- that they got embroiled in a matter of Somali nationalism that shouldn't have involved the United States.
Federal law defined their acts as terrorism, though. Hassan, 28, traveled to Somalia and trained at an al-Shabaab camp, even taking up arms for the group but claiming that he never fired a shot in anger, an assertion Davis scoffed at. Omar, 47, also went to Somalia and contributed money to some of the men who traveled there.
The two were the first of seven defendants Davis will sentence this week in the acme of the first phase of Operation Rhino. Rhino, so named because Somalia is in the Horn of Africa, is the FBI's massive investigation into the exodus of Twin Citians with ties to Somalia to return to their homeland to fight for al-Shabaab.
Four more will be sentenced Tuesday and another on Thursday. Also on Thursday, Davis will sentence two Rochester women who were convicted in 2011 of raising money for al-Shabaab; their case was not part of Rhino. Federal authorities have placed the number of "travelers" at more than 20, and some have lost their lives in Somalia, including in suicide bombings. To date, the Rhino probe has resulted in charges against 18 people. Seven pleaded guilty and Omar was convicted by a jury.
The other 10 are considered fugitives, but at least two of them have died abroad since being charged. Omar and Hassan were each wearing jail-issue clothing as they were sentenced, and each wound up before Davis in a different way. Hassan was the first Rhino defendant charged and the first to cut a deal with the government, in February 2009. He has been in jail since then.
Omar proclaimed his innocence. Last October, he went on trial in Davis' court in Minneapolis -- Hassan was one of the witnesses called by the prosecution -- and a jury found him guilty of three counts of conspiracy and one count each of providing material support to terrorists and providing material support to a Foreign Terrorist Organization, a designation the U.S. State Department gave al-Shabaab in February 2008. The charges stem from years of turmoil and political unrest in Somalia, an East African country of 9.5 million people. It fell into civil war in 1988 and attempts to re-establish a government were stymied by years of clan fighting, the rise of warlords and natural and man-made disasters.
Finally, in 2004, the U.N.-backed Transitional Federal Government was set up in neighboring Kenya in an attempt to restore order. When Ethiopian soldiers entered the country in 2006 -- some said the government had invited the 50,000 troops in, others called it an invasion -- various groups, including al-Shabaab, arose to oppose the foreign troops.
Those who viewed the troops' arrival as an invasion sought help from abroad. For example, in an April 2007 appearance at the Minneapolis Convention Center, former Somali Prime Minister Abdirizak Haji Hussein told Somalis they had "every right to free their country from the Ethiopian occupation."
Al-Shabaab, which has since merged with the terror group al-Qaida, wanted to rid the country of the troops from Ethiopia and the African Union, and it sought to set up a government based on a strict form of Islamic law.
At its zenith, Al-Shabaab would control the capital of Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia. Years of pressure by African Union troops, though, has greatly diminished its reach and its hold.
Each man told Davis his story, and the judge seemed to react differently to each. In the case of Hassan, the judge acknowledged that while the defendant had been an "extraordinary" help to investigators since his arrest, he didn't know if the words he was hearing were a performance.
"I can't take back what I did, but I can show you, the government, the Somali community, that I can do better," Hassan told the judge.
"I know what I did was wrong and illegal and I take full responsibility for my actions," he said. "I'm sorry to the ones I hurt."
He apologized to his family, his adopted homeland and his fellow Somali immigrants.
"I want the American people to know I am very sorry for what I did," he said. When he finished speaking, Davis paused for several moments.
Finally, he spoke. "I heard a lot of sorrys," the judge said. "And as you well know, I grilled you on the witness stand when you testified (against Omar). Your talk here has reared that ugly head, in my mind ... where we have people who are very, very bright and can be very, very dangerous."
The judge noted Hassan had been deceitful to his own family and had even not been fully truthful with the FBI when they questioned him; prosecutors even added a charge of making false statements to his two counts of providing material support to al-Shabaab.
The judge said he had to ask himself, "Why aren't you lying today? I have no indicia that you're not."
Federal prosecutors had asked for a sentence of 38 years, but also said Hassan should get credit for aiding the investigation. Davis said his sentence should be 10 years, and when he gets out he'll spend 20 years under court supervision.
He's already spent about 4 1/2 years in custody, so he'll get credit for that time. Prosecutors had asked for a 50-year sentence for Omar. Defense attorney Andrew Birrell argued that was too long.
"The government has not brought one single shred of evidence that Mr. Omar ever thought he was acting against the interests of the United States, because there is none," the lawyer told the judge. "He did not pick up a gun. He did not participate in the ambush or any other violent crime."
Omar's family says he has long reported health problems, including "pseudo-seizures," and those maladies have continued since his arrest; one of his previous attorneys has wondered if he was mentally ill.
In December 2008, Omar wound up in Amsterdam, seeking asylum. A federal grand jury indicted him in August 2009 and sought his return to the U.S.
Dutch officials eventually rejected his bid for asylum and he spent another year and a half in jail in that country, fighting extradition to the U.S. before being brought back to Minneapolis in August 2011.
Omar didn't testify at his own trial, so when Davis gave the defendant a chance to speak, the man launched into a rambling speech lasting nearly an hour. Speaking through an interpreter, he read from three different sets of notes -- some single-spaced typewritten, some longhand -- and had tried to be a law-abiding resident of the U.S. since coming here in 1993.
But he said he wasn't part of any conspiracy to raise money for al-Shabaab and didn't participate in any of the planning meetings.
"I never planned bloodshed for my brothers or the American people," he said. "I'm not a person who did bad things. I am a person who loves the United States of America."
David Hanners can be reached at 612-338-6516.
Source: TwinCitiesPioneerPress
But their brief flirtation with the Somali terrorist group al-Shabaab now means both men will spend the next several years in federal prison. In the case of former trucker Mahamud Said Omar, it means a 20-year sentence, while in the case of Wayzata High grad Kamal Said Hassan, it means a 10-year sentence.
In each case, the government sought heftier sentences. In each case, the defendants told Chief U.S. District Judge Michael Davis that they love their adopted homeland and would never do anything to harm America. Rather, each said in his own way -- Hassan in brief soliloquy and a letter in neat handwriting, Omar in a confusing, rambling speech lasting nearly an hour -- that they got embroiled in a matter of Somali nationalism that shouldn't have involved the United States.
Federal law defined their acts as terrorism, though. Hassan, 28, traveled to Somalia and trained at an al-Shabaab camp, even taking up arms for the group but claiming that he never fired a shot in anger, an assertion Davis scoffed at. Omar, 47, also went to Somalia and contributed money to some of the men who traveled there.
The two were the first of seven defendants Davis will sentence this week in the acme of the first phase of Operation Rhino. Rhino, so named because Somalia is in the Horn of Africa, is the FBI's massive investigation into the exodus of Twin Citians with ties to Somalia to return to their homeland to fight for al-Shabaab.
Four more will be sentenced Tuesday and another on Thursday. Also on Thursday, Davis will sentence two Rochester women who were convicted in 2011 of raising money for al-Shabaab; their case was not part of Rhino. Federal authorities have placed the number of "travelers" at more than 20, and some have lost their lives in Somalia, including in suicide bombings. To date, the Rhino probe has resulted in charges against 18 people. Seven pleaded guilty and Omar was convicted by a jury.
The other 10 are considered fugitives, but at least two of them have died abroad since being charged. Omar and Hassan were each wearing jail-issue clothing as they were sentenced, and each wound up before Davis in a different way. Hassan was the first Rhino defendant charged and the first to cut a deal with the government, in February 2009. He has been in jail since then.
Omar proclaimed his innocence. Last October, he went on trial in Davis' court in Minneapolis -- Hassan was one of the witnesses called by the prosecution -- and a jury found him guilty of three counts of conspiracy and one count each of providing material support to terrorists and providing material support to a Foreign Terrorist Organization, a designation the U.S. State Department gave al-Shabaab in February 2008. The charges stem from years of turmoil and political unrest in Somalia, an East African country of 9.5 million people. It fell into civil war in 1988 and attempts to re-establish a government were stymied by years of clan fighting, the rise of warlords and natural and man-made disasters.
Finally, in 2004, the U.N.-backed Transitional Federal Government was set up in neighboring Kenya in an attempt to restore order. When Ethiopian soldiers entered the country in 2006 -- some said the government had invited the 50,000 troops in, others called it an invasion -- various groups, including al-Shabaab, arose to oppose the foreign troops.
Those who viewed the troops' arrival as an invasion sought help from abroad. For example, in an April 2007 appearance at the Minneapolis Convention Center, former Somali Prime Minister Abdirizak Haji Hussein told Somalis they had "every right to free their country from the Ethiopian occupation."
Al-Shabaab, which has since merged with the terror group al-Qaida, wanted to rid the country of the troops from Ethiopia and the African Union, and it sought to set up a government based on a strict form of Islamic law.
At its zenith, Al-Shabaab would control the capital of Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia. Years of pressure by African Union troops, though, has greatly diminished its reach and its hold.
Each man told Davis his story, and the judge seemed to react differently to each. In the case of Hassan, the judge acknowledged that while the defendant had been an "extraordinary" help to investigators since his arrest, he didn't know if the words he was hearing were a performance.
"I can't take back what I did, but I can show you, the government, the Somali community, that I can do better," Hassan told the judge.
"I know what I did was wrong and illegal and I take full responsibility for my actions," he said. "I'm sorry to the ones I hurt."
He apologized to his family, his adopted homeland and his fellow Somali immigrants.
"I want the American people to know I am very sorry for what I did," he said. When he finished speaking, Davis paused for several moments.
Finally, he spoke. "I heard a lot of sorrys," the judge said. "And as you well know, I grilled you on the witness stand when you testified (against Omar). Your talk here has reared that ugly head, in my mind ... where we have people who are very, very bright and can be very, very dangerous."
The judge noted Hassan had been deceitful to his own family and had even not been fully truthful with the FBI when they questioned him; prosecutors even added a charge of making false statements to his two counts of providing material support to al-Shabaab.
The judge said he had to ask himself, "Why aren't you lying today? I have no indicia that you're not."
Federal prosecutors had asked for a sentence of 38 years, but also said Hassan should get credit for aiding the investigation. Davis said his sentence should be 10 years, and when he gets out he'll spend 20 years under court supervision.
He's already spent about 4 1/2 years in custody, so he'll get credit for that time. Prosecutors had asked for a 50-year sentence for Omar. Defense attorney Andrew Birrell argued that was too long.
"The government has not brought one single shred of evidence that Mr. Omar ever thought he was acting against the interests of the United States, because there is none," the lawyer told the judge. "He did not pick up a gun. He did not participate in the ambush or any other violent crime."
Omar's family says he has long reported health problems, including "pseudo-seizures," and those maladies have continued since his arrest; one of his previous attorneys has wondered if he was mentally ill.
In December 2008, Omar wound up in Amsterdam, seeking asylum. A federal grand jury indicted him in August 2009 and sought his return to the U.S.
Dutch officials eventually rejected his bid for asylum and he spent another year and a half in jail in that country, fighting extradition to the U.S. before being brought back to Minneapolis in August 2011.
Omar didn't testify at his own trial, so when Davis gave the defendant a chance to speak, the man launched into a rambling speech lasting nearly an hour. Speaking through an interpreter, he read from three different sets of notes -- some single-spaced typewritten, some longhand -- and had tried to be a law-abiding resident of the U.S. since coming here in 1993.
But he said he wasn't part of any conspiracy to raise money for al-Shabaab and didn't participate in any of the planning meetings.
"I never planned bloodshed for my brothers or the American people," he said. "I'm not a person who did bad things. I am a person who loves the United States of America."
David Hanners can be reached at 612-338-6516.
Source: TwinCitiesPioneerPress
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