Four
men have been given prison sentences in the US state of Minnesota in
connection with the recruitment of fighters for a Somali militant group.
Abdifatah Isse, Salah Ahmed and Ahmed Mahamud were jailed for
three years by a federal judge after pleading guilty to providing
material support to al-Shabab, a designated terrorist group.Omer Mohamed was given 12 years for conspiracy to provide material support.
Prosecutors had recommended reduced sentences because the men co-operated.
Isse and Ahmed admitted travelling to Somalia in December 2007 and attending a training camp. They left the East African state in the spring of 2008 after having second thoughts.
Mahamud said he had helped raise money so that others could travel to Somalia.
He was characterised by prosecutors as a local leader, and witnesses at the trial of another defendant said he had used his knowledge of the Koran to convince young men to fight.
Mohamed's lawyer denied that he played any role in recruitment.
"These defendants, by providing material support to a designated terrorist organisation, broke both the law and the hearts of family members across the Twin Cities," the US Attorney for Minnesota, Todd Jones, said in a statement.
Al-Shabab means The Youth in Arabic. It emerged as the radical youth wing of Somalia's now-defunct Union of Islamic Courts in 2006, as it fought Ethiopian forces who had entered Somalia to back the weak interim government.
Although it has been removed from several key towns and cities by government forces, backed by troops from the African Union, al-Shabab still controls much of the country.
Somalia is widely regarded as a failed state, hit by numerous conflicts since the overthrow of long-serving ruler Siad Barre in 1991.
A new UN-backed government is the first one in more than two decades to be recognised by the US and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
SOURCE BBC
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