Monday, August 09, 2010
by Laura Yuen
Amina Ali and Hawo Hassan, both of Rochester, were named in an indictment released Thursday by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.
Both women had admitted raising money and collecting used clothing to send to poor refugees in Somalia, but the government has said the money was going to al-Shaabab, which it considers a terrorist group.
According to court documents filed Thursday, Hassan and Ali raised more than $8,000 for al-Shabaab.
During their arraignment hearing, the indictment against Ali and Hassan was read and translated into Somali.
Before the hearing at the federal courthouse in St. Paul, about a dozen women gathered to show support for Hassan and Ali. The women said they supported the efforts, and some of them displayed photos of the refugees who are receiving help from Somalis in Minnesota.
Source: Minnesota Public Radio