Somali-American Indicted On Terror Charges

Abdirahman Sheik Mohamud, a 23 year old man from Columbus, Ohio, was indicted by a federal jury on three counts of terrorism yesterday. Mohamud, a Somali immigrant, is accused of going to Syria last year to train with Jabhat al-Nusra before returning to the US, where it is suspected that he planned to launch an attack on US military facilities or a prison.

According to the indictment, Mohamud is charged with aiding terrorists, aiding terrorist organizations and lying to federal investigators. For these crimes, Mohamud faces 38 years in prison. The aid was in the form of a computer tablet and other materials, as well as conducting money laundering in order to cover his tracks. While in Syria, Mohamud allegedly received training in weapons, explosives, hand-to-hand combat, and breaking into houses. Mohamud was then instructed by a cleric to return to the United States and commit terrorist acts. At this time the FBI has not released information on what Mohamud was planning to target specifically, though the indictment notes Mohamud’s desire to go to a US military base in Texas and kill several US soldiers there.

Mohamud was arrested back in February because he posed a a flight risk. His attorney, Sam Shamansky, stated that Mohamud was no risk to anyone and had been under surveillance for well over a year before his arrest; Mohamud pled not guilty to the charges.

The FBI has been tracking around 200 Americans who have gone to Syria since the beginning of the civil war in 2011. Americans of Somali origin consist of the largest group, examples include Abdi Nur and Abdullahi Yusuf, charged with attempting to join Islamic State. Adullahi Yusuf was arrested at the Minneapolis airport as he tried to board an aircraft to Turkey. Mohamud immigrated to the US as an infant with his family back in 1998, where he had a relatively uneventful life before he started supporting Islamic State openly on Facebook. Mohamud’s half-brother, Abdifatah Aden, also from Columbus, was killed while fighting in Syria. Aden had joined the Nusra Front back in summer 2013. According to the indictment, Mohamud initially tried to join Islamic State but Justice Department officials refuse to release information on exactly what terrorist group Mohamud ended up joining. However, sources indicate that Mohamud did join up with al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria Jabhat al-Nusra. Of note is that according to Mohamud’s (now inactive) Facebook page, Mohamud married a Somali woman living in Istanbul named Zamzam Hashi back in December 2013. Mohamud did fly to Istanbul to begin his trip to Syria.