Somali refugee women keeping the Minnesota courts busy

08/30/2013 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

They were just so excited about voting they did it more than once!

In our previous post we reported the latest conviction in the Somali missing youths case. And, now (hat tip: Cathy) we learn of another criminal case involving Somali women in Minnesota—this time for voter fraud.

Rice County, MN courtroom. Photo: REBECCA KURIE

From Faribault Daily News:

About 50 men and women packed a Rice County courtroom Tuesday afternoon as two Somali women pleaded not guilty to charges of voter fraud stemming from the general election last November.

Farhiya Abdi Dool, 38, and Amina A Hassan, 31, each face one felony charge of unlawful voting for voting once by absentee ballot and once at a polling place during the 2012 general election. Each woman faces five years in prison and a $10,000 fine for the offense.

The women, both naturalized U.S. citizens, were charged June 21.

With Minneapolis-based defense attorney Julie Nelson at their side, Dool and Hassan each entered a plea of not guilty on Tuesday afternoon. As was the case with their first court appearances, the women were backed by family members, friends, neighbors and advocates all listening closely to the proceedings.

Supporters of the women say that their actions were an honest mistake that should not be punished with a felony charge. Nelson took the defense a step further during an interview after the hearing.

Somehow because they came to this country as refugees they should get a pass??? Americans are offended!

“I find it offensive that these women have been criminally charged,” Nelson said. “These women came to this country, they are naturalized citizens, and they wanted to vote.”

Nelson said she expected the outcome of the cases to have a “chilling effect” on the Somali community.

We sure hope it “chills” the voter fraud in the “community.” This isn’t the first time we have reported on fraud in the “Somali community” going back to Al Franken’s victory in that 2008 contested Senate race. There was also a case of alleged Somali voter fraud in Kansas that actually may have swung the outcome of a race, here. Then there is the Ohio case. See a pattern?

Don’t you wonder how refugees become citizens when they can’t understand English. How did they pass the test?

We have a couple of posts referencing Faribault. This is one about Somalis moving into small town Minnesota and opening businesses with your tax dollars. And, here is another about CAIR suing a dessert maker somewhere nearby about the Somali workers and the dress code.

Minnesota Somali woman found guilty in Somali jihad recruitment case

08/30/2013 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

She lied when asked if she or others helped raise the money that sent at least 22 Somali refugees back to Africa to fight with al-Shabaab in 2007-2008.

Here is one more in a long line of reports on the story we followed from the beginning (here is one of our initial posts).

The remains of Shirwa Ahmed were flown “home” to Minnesota by the FBI for a proper burial after he detonated a bomb strapped to his body and killed 29 innocent people in Somalia in 2008.

From AP at the St. Cloud Times:

MINNEAPOLIS — A 23-year-old woman admitted Thursday that she lied to a grand jury investigating the long-running case of young men who left Minnesota to join a terrorist group in Somalia.

Saynab Hussein pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Minnesota to one count of perjury. She admitted that in June 2009 she lied when she told a grand jury she did not know anyone who raised money for the travelers, when she actually helped raise money herself.

Hussein, who is pregnant and studying nursing at college, faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison. A sentencing date has not been set.

Hussein was charged on Wednesday, making her the 21st person to be charged in the government’s investigation into efforts to recruit fighters and raise money for al-Shabab, an al-Qaida-linked group at the heart of much of the violence in Somalia in recent years.

Since late 2007, at least 22 young men have left Minnesota to join the terrorist group, which at the time was fighting Ethiopians who were assisting Somalia’s former government.

Some of these Minnesota men have died, some remain at large, and others were among those prosecuted in what the FBI has said is one of the largest efforts to recruit U.S. fighters to a foreign terrorist organization.

The investigation began in the fall of 2008. That October, Shirwa Ahmed of Minneapolis detonated a suicide bomb in Somalia. Authorities said he was the first known U.S. citizen to carry out a suicide bombing, and they believed he was radicalized in Minnesota.

The following month, the case became public when families of some of the travelers came forward to say their sons were missing.

Her lawyer said lying was “out of character” for her. She was just young and naive. She could get five years, but in my mind she should have been charged with being an accessory to murder.

If you type ‘Somali missing youths’ into our search function, I bet we have 50-100 posts on the subject. In 2009, we attended a disappointing Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing on the Somali former refugees (aka Jihadists).

Four Israelis arrested in Tel Aviv for beating African migrants

08/28/2013 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The African “asylum-seekers” have been sleeping in a park in Tel Aviv.

African migrants sleep in Tel Aviv park.
Photo: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters

Regular readers know we have been following the on-going tension in Israel as thousands of mostly Africans came across the Egyptian border in recent years and asked for asylum. The flow was slowed when Israel built a substantial border fence, but the political battles are on-going as to what to do with the thousands already there.

See our entire category on Israel and refugees for more.

Here is the story from the Jerusalem Post:

Four men driven by a hatred of foreigners beat and robbed African migrants in south Tel Aviv in recent months, before they were arrested Monday by Tel Aviv police.

Tel Aviv police said Tuesday that the four men operated in the neighborhoods of Hatikva, Shapira, and the area around the Central Bus Station. They would single out foreigners walking around these neighborhoods and then would attack them “using great cruelty” – police said – using bottles and sticks to beat them into submission.

Police said the robberies were of secondary interest to the men, who were driven by a hatred of foreigners and were looking to beat and terrorize them, robbing them as a sort of afterthought.

The men, all aged 22 and 21, are themselves residents of south Tel Aviv, and will be brought for a remand extension at the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.

In April, Tel Aviv police arrested five Israeli males, including two minors, for carrying out a series of attacks on Africans in south Tel Aviv.

Of course we don’t condone what these men have done, but frankly it is human nature to protect one’s territory so it’s not unexpected. I think it has a name—Ethnic nationalism. It is something the multiculturalists would like to stamp out permanently.

How long before we in the US have migrant camps like this one, and the ones in Germany, France, and Holland?

Addendum: Here is an earlier story where an Israeli cabinet member says the migrants must be dispersed.

Berlin: protesters clash over asylum-seeker residence; media spin over the top

08/25/2013 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Anyone opposing housing asylum-seekers from the Middle East in their middle-income neighborhood is a racist, neo-nazi, fascist, anti-foreigner, right-wing xenophobe according to media reports of a demonstration that got violent in Berlin last week.

I considered not even posting this story from AFP (French Press) because it’s laced with so much bias that it is almost laughable. Are these journalists writing this, or the European Left Wing itself? But, I decided to post it because I want you to know things are reaching such levels in Germany and to see the spin the media puts on events like this one.

The Berlin high school that has been converted to house asylum seekers who are arriving in Germany by the thousands.

From AFP:

AFP – German neo-Nazis have protested against a new political refugee centre in Berlin, seeking to stoke anti-foreigner sentiment a month before elections and sparking large counter-demonstrations.

The far-right National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) tried to drum up anti-foreigner feelings at a rally near the asylum seekers’ centre, a former school set amid drab tower blocks in the city’s east.

In angry scenes overnight, more than 500 anti-fascist protesters confronted the about 40 anti-immigration activists, who eventually left in a street tram under police protection.

Hundreds of riot police separated the groups. One officer was injured by a bottle thrown in his face. In total 25 people were arrested, one for making an illegal straight-armed Hitler salute.

I would bet a million bucks (if I had a million!) that the person arrested for the Hitler-salute was a Lefty! But, you see how this is done, no mention of who did the offensive salute, instead readers are left to assume it’s one of those rightwingers reporters have dubbed “neo-Nazis.” And, on what side were the 25 who were arrested—from that peace-loving Left?

Read it all.

For more on German immigration problems, click here.

Idaho: Uzbek refugee facing terror charges will not be in court this week due to security concerns

08/25/2013 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

What the heck?

Here (below) is the AP story on the latest on the legal situation facing Uzbek Muslim Fazliddin Kurbanov. The story starts with the provocative phrase “for security reasons” but never tells us what the security threat is!

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — For security reasons, an Uzbek national charged in Idaho with terrorism-related crimes won’t be in court early next week when his lawyers discuss progress of the case with prosecutors and a judge.

U.S. District Court Judge Edward Lodge said Fazliddin Kurbanov can skip attendance at Tuesday afternoon’s hearing.

Kurbanov, a refugee living in Boise who has pleaded not guilty to all charges including helping teach people to build bombs, faces a trial set to start July 1, 2014.

The 30-year-old Kurbanov arrived in the United States in 2009, a refugee from violence in his home country.

Since then, he’s been living in Idaho’s capital and working as, among other things, a truck driver.

But prosecutors say he also was working secretly to facilitate attacks, including on public transportation systems.

So what is the security concern? Other Uzbeks would show-up and blow away the courtroom? Shoot Kurbanov so he can’t talk? What? Back in June we learned his public defenders wanted out of the case citing budget constraints, or were they afraid of something?

See our previous coverage of this case as well as all of our ‘Uzbeks refugee’ posts here.

We are still bringing Uzbeks to the US—51 so far this year, click here.

And, I wonder if Jan Reeves, Idaho refugee director, pictured with Holly Johnson, here in my previous post, knows Kurbanov?