We have already had several trials and several guilty verdicts for Somali refugees in America who conspired, or actually went to Africa to help the Somali jihadists. Key words ‘Somali terror trial’ brings up these past reports here at RRW.
Here is news about Canada’s first Somali terror trial. By the way, Al-Shabaab is often spelled Al-Shabab.
From the National Post:
A 28-year-old former security guard, Mr. Hersi is the first person to be charged with attempting to leave Canada to join a terrorist group. A second charge alleges he counselled an undercover Toronto police officer to take part in terrorist activity — namely joining Al-Shabab.
He has denied the allegations, saying he did not support Al-Shabab and had not planned on joining. When he was arrested at Toronto’s Pearson airport in March 2011, he was on his way to Cairo to study Arabic, he testified.
As the Crown got its first chance to grill Mr. Hersi on the witness stand Tuesday, he struggled to explain why, despite being trained to respond to security threats, he had failed to report the undercover police officer sent to befriend him.
Although the officer had confided that he was on his way to Somalia to join Al-Shabab, Mr. Hersi never turned him in or broke off their relationship. Instead, he gave the officer advice on how to travel to Somalia and buy guns, how much money to bring and how to avoid arousing suspicion.
He also told the officer to read an article by pro-Al-Qaeda ideologue Anwar Awlaki, and suggested he might return to Canada to “take care of” those who insulted the Muslim prophet Muhammad. “Don’t be scared,” Mr. Hersi told him.
There is more, read it all.