Such cases will grow increasingly common in the U.S. in the coming years. “Judge gives Somali men 10- and 20-year sentences in terror case,” by Randy Furst for the Star Tribune, May 13 (thanks to Kenneth):
Kamal Said Hassan will serve 10 years in prison for his role in the “Minnesota pipeline” that carried young men to Somali to fight in that country”s civil war.
U.S. Chief Judge Michael Davis issued the sentence Monday afternoon in federal court in Minneapolis. Hassan was facing up to 38 years in prison but federal prosecutors recommended that he serve no more than 10 to 12 years because of “extraordinary cooperation” with the investigation.
Hassan was one of the key witnesses who testified against Mahamud Said Omar last October. Omar was sentenced to 20 years.
Of the nine people to be sentenced this week, federal prosecutors have sought the longest prison terms for Omar, who helped arrange travel for Hassan and other young men.
Four people will be sentenced Tuesday and three more on Thursday.
Kamal Said Hassan: “I was a foot soldier”
Hassan pleaded guilty Aug. 12, 2009, to two terror-related counts, and in 2012 he testified against Mahamud Said Omar in hopes of receiving a shorter sentence.
In Omar’s trial Hassan testified that he left Minneapolis for Somalia in 2007. He went to a training camp where he learned to fight and was featured in a promotional video encouraging other Americans to join the fight.
In 2008 he said he and other Minnesotans were involved in an ambush of Ethiopian soldiers. After that, he said he fled Al-Shabab with the help of his family and the FBI.
In a memorandum filed last month, prosecutors said the long sentence was necessary to both deter Hassan from using violence “to bring about change in the governments of foreign countries” and to “send a message to the community at large that the United States does not tolerate such abhorrent criminal conduct.”
They noted that while Hassan cooperated with the FBI, he lied to agents about some of his activities in initial interviews….