A Kent woman received a 11-year prison sentence on Friday for providing material support to al-Shabaab, a foreign terroist organization.
Hinda Osman Dhirane, 46, and Muna Osman Jama, 36, of Reston, Va., were found guilty by a U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Trenga in October in Virginia of the charge as well as a charge of conspiracy to provide material support to the terrorist group, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office media release. Jama received a 12-year sentence from Trenga. They each faced a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.
According to court documents, Jama and Dhirane sent money to financiers of al-Shabaab in Somalia and Kenya, which they referred to respectively as the “Hargeisa side” and the “Nairobi side.”
The defendants also organized what was called a “Group of Fifteen,” which included women from Somalia, Kenya, Egypt, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Canada, as well as Minneapolis, Minn. The “Group of Fifteen” met regularly in a private chatroom that Jama established to organize and track monthly payment of money to the “Hargeisa side,” which was used to finance al-Shabaab military operations in the Golis Mountains in northern Somalia, and the “Nairobi side,” which was used to fund two al-Shabaab safehouses.
One of the safe houses was used by al-Shabaab to store weapons and to prepare for attacks. The other was used to treat al-Shabaab fighters who had been wounded in battle.
A substantial part of the government’s case consisted of recorded telephone calls and other communications among the “Group of Fifteen.” These recordings demonstrated that the women had close connections with al-Shabaab leadership and were privy to non-public, inside information concerning al-Shabaab activities. Jama and Dhirane were recorded as they laughed as the carnage at the Westgate Mall in Nairobi was still taking place. Dhirane and co-conspirator were also recorded as they laughed at the Boston Marathon Bombing before it became known who committed the attack.
The FBI’s Washington, D.C. Field Office, with the assistance of the FBI’s Minneapolis and Seattle Field Offices investigated the case. Agents arrested Dhirane in July 2014 at her Kent home and Jama at her Reston home.
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