A U.S. court on Tuesday convicted two women for financing the Somali based Al-Shabaab terrorist group.
According to the prosecutor, the two women identified as Muna Osman Jama, 36, and Hinda Osman Dhirane, 46 led an online group involved in raising funds to support the Somali insurgent group, Al-Shabaab.
The U.S. District Court in Virginia found them guilty of organizing an online group called ‘Group of Fifteen’ women from eight countries raising money to finance Al-Shabaab military operations and safe houses in Somalia and in Kenya.
“These women funneled money to a terrorist organization which was conducting a violent insurgency campaign in Somalia,” U.S. Attorney Dana Boente said in a written statement.
Boente further noted that the National Security is the top priority saying his office will work closely with other law enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute those who provide material and financial support to the terrorist groups.
Jama, of Reston, Virginia, and Dhirane, of Kent, Washington, were arrested in July 2014, along with a third woman, Farhia Hassan, who was taken into custody in the Netherlands while several others in the group are considered as fugitives.
The evidence at trial indicate that the Group of Fifteen included women from Somalia, Kenya, Egypt, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Canada.
