It took five years of hard work by Justice Dept. attorneys, but it has paid off with a guilty plea from an al-Qaeda collaborator. Sentencing is set for July 9th, where he could get over 12 years for working with terrorists.
Minnesota Public Radio ST. PAUL, Minn. — A former Minneapolis man who’s been imprisoned for more than five years awaiting trial on terrorism charges has struck a plea deal with the U.S. government.
Mohamed Warsame pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to provide support to a terrorist organization. In exchange, the government will drop four other charges that include providing support to a terrorist organization and lying to the FBI.
Warsame, a Canadian citizen of Somali descent, lived in Minneapolis as a community college student before he was arrested in 2003. The government later charged him with providing support to al-Qaeda, alleging he took part in military camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan; attended lectures by Osama Bin Laden; taught English to al-Qaeda operatives, and lied to the FBI.
Warsame’s lawyers say he’s spent more time in prison awaiting trial longer than anyone else in U.S. history — five and half years, primarily in solitary confinement. Warsame had maintained that he never knowingly attended an al Qaeda training camp but was on a spiritual journey seeking a “utopian” society in Afghanistan.
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