Ali Yasin Ahmed, Terror Support, New York 2023

Brooklyn Federal Court: Two Men Receive 11-Year Prison Terms

Two Swedish citizens, Ali Yasin Ahmed and Mohamed Yusuf, were sentenced to 11 years in prison for conspiring to provide material support to the Al-Shabaab terrorist organization. The sentencing took place at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, with United States District Judge John Gleeson handing down the sentences.

The defendants, both naturalized citizens, traveled to Somalia with the intention of waging violent jihad on U.N.-sanctioned AMISOM and Somali government forces. Once in Somalia, they participated in numerous attacks on government forces, and Yusuf appeared in an Al-Shabaab recruiting video aimed at inducing young Muslim men in Western countries to join the terrorist organization.

According to court documents, the defendants served as members of Al-Shabaab in Somalia between December 2008 and August 2012, during which time they agreed to support the organization’s extremist agenda. In early August 2012, they were apprehended in East Africa by local authorities while on their way to Yemen. The Federal Bureau of Investigation took custody of the defendants and brought them to the Eastern District of New York for prosecution.

“These defendants left their adopted European homes to support Al-Shabaab, a violent terrorist organization that has demonstrated its capabilities and motives in numerous terrorist attacks overseas and has publicly called for attacks against the United States,” stated U.S. Attorney Robert L. Capers.

Assistant Attorney General John P. Carlin added, “Ahmed and Yusuf travelled to Somalia to fight on behalf of Al Shabaab as part of the terrorist organization’s cadre of foreign fighters.” FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Diego Rodriguez praised the international cooperation that led to the defendants’ prosecution and conviction, stating, “The guilty pleas and sentencing of these men for providing material support to Al-Shabaab demonstrates the U.S. government’s commitment and leadership in prosecuting persons whose intention is to violently assault societies different than their own.”

The Al-Shabaab terrorist organization has successfully recruited individuals from around the world, including the defendants, to join its ranks and fight alongside native Somali fighters. The organization frequently utilizes Western foreign fighters as the face of its fund-raising and propaganda efforts, emphasizing that the conflict in Somalia is part of a broader global jihad aimed at creating an Islamic caliphate.

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