Woman gets 20 years for sending money to al-Shabab


May 16, 2013 at 4:54p.m.

Woman gets 20 years for sending money to al-Shabab

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota woman convicted of conspiring to send money to the terrorist group al-Shabab in Somalia is sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Amina Farah Ali was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis on 13 terror-related counts. Each count held a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.

Authorities say Ali and her co-defendant, Hawo Mohamed Hassan, went door-to-door raising money in the name of charity, but routed the funds to al-Shabab. Their attorneys say the women are humanitarians who gave money to orphans, as well as to a group working to push foreign troops out of Somalia.

Hassan is also being sentenced today. They are among nine people sentenced this week in the long-running federal investigations into terror recruiting and financing for al-Shabab.