Trial begins for Somali Muslims who kidnapped, killed four Americans

via Attorneys make opening statements in Somali piracy, murder trial.

NORFOLK, VA (AP) — Defense attorneys for three Somalis charged with murdering four American yachters in a pirate hijacking said Thursday there’s no physical evidence proving their clients fired the shots that killed the Americans during a moment of chaos as U.S. Navy warships and special forces circled nearby off the coast of Africa.

The attorneys also suggested during opening statements in federal court that the other 11 men who have already pleaded guilty to piracy in the case have a vested interest in testifying against their clients, noting that they agreed to testify in exchange for the possibility of a reduced sentence. The 11 are currently serving mandatory life sentences.

The yacht’s owners, Jean and Scott Adam of Marina del Rey, Calif., and their friends, Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay of Seattle, were shot to death in February 2011 after they were taken hostage at sea several hundred miles south of Oman. They were the first Americans to be killed during a wave of pirate attacks that have plagued the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean in recent years, despite an international flotilla of warships that regularly patrol the area.

The men who have pleaded guilty in the case have said they intended to take the Americans back to Somalia and hold them for ransom. Their plan fell apart after U.S. Navy warships began shadowing the Quest.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Samuels said that after the Navy established contact with the Quest, the 19 men who boarded the American yacht split into two factions. One group wanted to accept the Navy’s offer to release the Americans and be allowed to return to Somalia with the Quest. The other faction repeatedly threatened to kill the Americans if they weren’t allowed to proceed to Somalia with them.

Samuels said the three men charged in the murders — Ahmed Muse Salad, Abukar Osman Beyle and Shani Nurani Shiekh Abrar — fell into the more aggressive camp.

Despite all the witnesses, DNA samples and ballistic experts, Dash said there is no physical evidence proving his client fired the fatal shot. Samuels noted that some DNA evidence wasn’t available because of exposure to weather during the two days that the Quest was towed to Djibouti following the shootings.

That distinction could help determine whether the men face the death penalty. In all, In all, 22 of the 26 counts against the defendants are death-eligible offenses. Jury selection took more than two days, in part, because of questions about jurors’ views of the death penalty. Piracy carries a mandatory life sentence.

Executions under federal law are rare. Only three out of more than 1,300 executions in the U.S. since 1976 have been carried out by the federal government, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, which tracks death penalty statistics and is opposed to the death penalty.

Kenyan Woman Kept as Domestic Slave for Months by Saudi Diplomats…in Virginia

Arab Muslim slavery of black Africans isn’t confined to the Middle East and Africa. via Kenyan Woman Claims She Was Kept as Domestic Slave for Months | NBC4 Washington.

A 25-year-old Kenyan woman has come forward with allegations that she was kept as a domestic slave for three months by Saudi Arabian diplomats living in Northern Virginia.

The allegations come to light two weeks after News4 first reported an investigation into possible human trafficking at a Saudi-owned compound in McLean, Va.

The Kenyan woman — who goes by the name Sheila — said she was brought to the U.S. from Kenya by way of Saudi Arabia last summer, by people who forced her to work long hours each day, seven days a week, as a domestic worker.

“I used to work from 6 in the morning to 8, 10 in the evening,” Sheila said by cell phone to News4′s Jackie Bensen. “From Monday to Monday.”

Did you ever have a day off? Bensen asked. “No,” Shelia replied.

Shelia said she was rescued with the help of a Fairfax County man, Marikio, whom she met on a Facebook community for Kenyans living in the D.C. area.

He and Sheila had corresponded online for a couple of days when he grew puzzled by her reluctance to answer basic questions about where she lived and worked.

“It’s very simple: ‘Where you living? You should tell me where you’re living.’ She was hiding,” he said.

She told him she lived in a high-rise in a place she knew as Falls Church, but she was not sure of the address because she was never allowed outside. He told her to look at a piece of her boss’ mail to see what the address was.

Marikio arranged to help her. The rescue ended up being a harrowing one — particularly, Marikio said, because he knew if he called 911, he risked a chance that Sheila’s boss could convince police to arrest him instead, because he was in the country illegally.

Still, Sheila — wearing a head scarf and a veil — ran from of the lobby of Skyline Towers on Seminary Road and jumped into his car. It was the first time the two had met.

Marikio said Sheila was gaunt and in obvious pain. She told him she was hemorraghing from an untreated medical condition. He told her to go back inside and get her passport, and he’d take her to a hospital.

“She was sick, and she was shaking, and the police asked her, ‘Do you want an ambulance?’” Marikio recalled. “She said yes and the ambulance came.”

But, Marikio said, when she went back for her passport, she was held by the family she worked for.

“She went back, the guy was holding her. He was still holding hostage. She was screaming with her cell phone. … I say, ‘Go out!’”

Said Shelia, “I was afraid, because maybe they could have killed me. Because they have taken all my documents. They have taken my passport.”

Police officers ordered the boss to return the passport, and he did. Shelia then recieved medical treatment.

Shelia now has an attorney, immigration attorney Regina Njogu. An investigation revealed the Saudi diplomat who brought her to the U.S. used an domestic worker visa known as an A3 visa.

“I called the embassy, and I spoke with him,” Njogu said. “At first he didn’t know what I was calling about. When I told him what I was calling about, he said he doesn’t care, because he’s a diplomat nothing will happen to him.”

The Saudi Arabian embassy did not return News4′s calls for comment.

Njogu said her efforts to get authorities to investigate further have been frustrating. “Basically it was a game of ping-pong. I was being referred from one place to another. I could tell from those I was speaking to that there was a great reluctance to get involved.”

Now, Shelia remains in the U.S., relying on the assistance of fellow Kenyans. Her visa has expired, so she has no way to work.

But, she said, she is grateful she can sleep in a bed instead of the floor, where she slept in the Falls Church home.

 So what will the U.S. government do about the Saudi diplomats keeping slaves in Virginia? Probably the same thing they’ll do to the worker with the expired visa (now illegal) and the illegal immigrant who helped her.

Update: Woman Says She Was Held as a Domestic Slave by Saudi Diplomats in Virginia

Sheila was taken to the hospital, and police ordered the Saudis to return her paperwork after they allegedly tried to detain her when she returned for it in person.

Sheila now has an immigration attorney named Regina Njogu, who described the effort to get anything done as a game of “ping-pong,” where she is transferred from one person to another, though none seem particularly concerned that women are allegedly being held as slaves in Saudi compounds in Virginia.

Njogu said she spoke with the unidentified diplomat, describing the conversation: “When I told him what I was calling about, he said he doesn’t care, because he’s a diplomat nothing will happen to him.”

US Naval Academy & the US Muslim Brotherhood Part 2: The Case Of Akbar Ahmed

via The US Naval Academy And the US Muslim Brotherhood Part 2: The Case Of Akbar Ahmed

The Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Watch has identified a second professor at the US Naval Academy who is close to the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), a part of the US Muslim Brotherhood and where Global Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi reportedly serves as a trustee. The GMBDW reported yesterday that Ermin Sinanovic, who is teaching a course at the academy on “Muslim World Affairs”, would also be teaching at two different venues for IIIT. Dr. Sinanovic was not alone however. In September 2008, US media reported that Dr. Akbar Ahmed would be joining the U.S. Naval Academy to fill a new chair for Middle East Studies and would be teaching courses, advising midshipmen and faculty, and assisting in research projects. According to his CV, Dr. Ahmed served as First Distinguished Chair for Middle East/Islamic Studies at the US Naval Academy from 2008-2009.

Dr. Akar Ahmed is a former Pakistan High Commissioner (Ambassador) to the UK and Ireland and currently the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University in Washington DC. He is frequently described as a prominent Islamic moderate who has received numerous awards and accolades. However, Dr. Ahmed also has a long association with the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), established in 1980 by some of the most important figures in the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood. Dr. Ahmed’s association with IIIT appears to have begun with a relationship to Ismail Faruqi who Dr. Ahmed said appointed him to both IIIT and the Islamic Institute of Advanced Studies, previously known as the Graduate School of Islamic & Social Sciences (GSISS), an organization once sanctioned to certify Muslim chaplains for the U.S. military and also associated with the US Muslim Brotherhood. Dr. Ahmed writes:

Later from his base in Temple University, where he headed the Islamic Studies Department, [Dr. Faruqi] embarked on the serious and gigantic task of re-thinking the fundamental concepts of modern social sciences within an Islamic framework. He called it  ’the ‘Islamization of Knowledge’. This was his vision and it became his passion. Towards this end he helped set up the International Institute of Islamic Thought, and, recently, the Islamic Institute of Advanced Studies, both in the USA. (My name was placed on the faculty of the two Institutes thanks to him.)

Read it all via The Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Watch.

For part 1 of this story, go here.

Readers may recall Ahmed from this post Virginia Military Institute to commemorate Muslim invasion of Spain. and the ‘Islamization of Knowledge’ post from March 2013, Goals and Strategy for Islamization of Knowledge and Higher Education in U.S.A. and the World.

As yourselves how these individuals who promote Islamization have infiltrated our most prized military institutions. It’s no accident.

Virginia: Feds Raid Saudi Diplomatic Compound, Rescue 2 Domestic Workers

Aka slaves. via Possible Human Trafficking At Saudi Diplomatic Compound | wusa9.com.

MCLEAN, Va. (WUSA9) — A Saudi diplomatic compound in McLean is now the center of a possible human trafficking case.

The details are scarce, but what little is known is certainly bizarre. On the 6000 block of Orris street in McLean is the mansion, said to be home of the Saudi military attaché.

It was raided yesterday by federal agents from homeland security investigations and ICE. It was at this compound that federal agents claim to have rescued two women.

The women are believed to be from the Philippines. A source close to the investigation tells WUSA9 they both speak English and they were in the U.S. legally with passports indicating they may have been here to do domestic work.

Neighbors we spoke are in awe of the allegations coming out of this compound. Even a catering crew who showed up to work a dinner party here seemed surprised.

“If I would have known I wasn’t gonna go anyways.”

Federal authorities wouldn’t say much else in regards to these speculations except to confirm they are looking into this being a possible human trafficking case. It’s unclear who alerted the authorities to these women, but they are said to be safe in their care.

Now here is where all of this gets bizarre there are no charges in any of this.

Investigators are now on the process of trying to find out who if anyone was holding these women and why. Furthermore, if someone who lives here is found to be responsible for a criminal act they may have diplomatic immunity given this all happened is sovereign soil.

Needless to say this investigation has a long way to go.

We know how far investigations into Saudi‘s go. Not far. (and Obama Nominee for Deputy Attorney General defended Saudi’s against 9/11 Families)

More via Possible Human Trafficking Investigated at Saudi Diplomatic Compound in Virginia

Agents from U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement/Homeland Security Investigations and Fairfax County police were called to a home in the 6000 block of Orris Street in McLean overnight and, in the words of a source familiar with the investigation, “rescued” two women. One woman reportedly tried to flee by squeezing through a gap in the front gate as it was closing.

It’s not clear if the women, who sources say are from the Philippines, called investigators to the home themselves or if someone else did.

“Homeland Security Investigations DC did encounter two potential victims of trafficking and the investigation is ongoing,” a D.C.-based spokesman for ICE/Homeland Security investigations told News4.

The investigation is in its very early stages and complicated by the possibility some of those involved may have diplomatic immunity.

The compound featuring three security gates, a guard shack and security staff on foot patrol is owned by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, according to Fairfax County real estate records. A man outside the gates who said he works for the embassy told News4 the homeowner was at the embassy Wednesday, and vehicles driven in and out of the gates had diplomatic license plates.

And as DG notes in Federal Agents Raid Saudi Diplomatic Compound, Free Slaves:

Considering the power of the Saudi lobby, the odds are not good that anyone involved will be punished. Local authorities might crack down, but the Feds answer to Obama Inc. Diplomatic immunity can be waived, but the Saudis won’t be waiving it.

Two slaves of the House of Saud escaped. Millions more still suffer.

Another U.S. Muslim calls for limiting American’s 1st Amendment rights…to protect Muslims

And subjecting Americans to sharia law.

via Obama’s Religious Freedom Appointee Involved in Muslim Event Calling for Limiting Freedom of Speech | CNS News.

America’s free-speech model is in desperate need of an update, says an American-Muslim human rights activist who recently spoke at an event linked to an Obama administration appointee.

Dr. Qasim Rashid argued that cyber-bullying laws could be used to limit freedom of expression – such as the burning of Korans — in war time:

“When a nation is at war, many things that might be said in times of peace are a hindrance to this effort,” Rashid said on March 19 at Howard University.  “And their utterance will not be endured so long as men fight and…no court can regard them as protected by any constitutional right.”

Read that again. Rashid masquerades as a self-proclaimed moderate but he clearly wants to replace the Constitutional right of free speech with sharia law.

Rashid began his remarks by personally thanking Dr. Azizah al-Hibri, appointed by President Barack Obama to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) in June 2011. Al-Hibri founded Karamah, a group devoted to the rights of Muslim women, and it was this group that invited Rashid to speak.

“I do want to start by thanking Karamah,” Rashid said.  “I was fortunate enough to have several constitutional scholars look at this paper and provide feedback. Dr. al-Hibri, of course…”

The topic of the March 19 event at Howard University was titled, “The Limits of Free Speech in a Global Era: Does America’s Free Speech Model Endanger Muslim Americans?”

“Our understanding of free speech today is not some long-held 227- or 235-year understanding,” said Rashid, a member of the Muslim Writers Guild of America, who presented a paper titled “In Harm’s Way: The Desperate Need to Update America’s Current Free Speech Model.”

In other words, Muslims like Rashid want to modify our Constitutional rights, using existing laws at first, to institutionalize sharia blasphemy laws. Muslims are becoming much more vocal about their desires to force all Americans to abide by Islamic sharia law. See Muslim group asks DOJ to start enforcing sharia blasphemy law and 40% of Muslims in US want sharia, 46% say criminalize blasphemy, incl death penalty.

Rashid quoted Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who in 2011 said, “Free speech is a great idea, but we’re in a war.”

Using the Koran burning as an example, Rashid said that cyber-bullying legislation could be used to prosecute individuals for their speech on a case-by-case basis.

“My argument is that we already have legislation, right?” he said.  “I mean, we already have a cyber-bullying policy in all 50 states that even without the threat of violence – even without violence occurring, we’re already holding individuals responsible for this intentional infliction of harm on others.”

“So I think that legislation’s already there,” Rashid said.  “It’s just more a question of how is it going to be applied.”

MFS notes:

According to the Investigative Project on Terrorism, Dr. al-Hibri sat on the National Advisory Board of the American Muslim Council (AMC) from 1991 to 1998 with AMC Executive Director Abdurahman Alamoudi.

Alamoudi was later sentenced to 23 years in prison after pleading guilty to terrorism charges for his involvement in an assassination plot of then- Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah.

Thanks to sheikyermami for reminding us that Obama appointee al-Hibri says Koran and Islam influenced Jefferson, Founding Fathers.

David Wood at Answering Muslims writes:

Hmmm. Whenever I say, “Islam doesn’t allow criticism of Muhammad or his teachings,” I’m labeled a racist, Islamophobic, hate-mongering bigot. How dare I even suggest that Islam isn’t perfectly in line with the U.S. Constitution? But when Muslim leaders call for restrictions on free speech, no one seems to care.

I’m still waiting, though, for some consistency on the part of Muslims. If Qasim Rashid wants my speech to be restricted because it might offend Muslims, what about verses of the Qur’an that are offensive to non-Muslims? The Qur’an calls Christians and Jews the “worst of creatures” (98:6), and commands Muslims to violently subjugate non-Muslims (9:29), and asks Allah to destroy Christians and Jews (9:30), and invites men to beat their wives into submission (4:34). If we’re going to start banning speech, why wouldn’t this speech be first on the list?

Andrew Harrod has a more detailed analysis of the meeting via A Muslim ‘Reformer’s’ Idea of Free Speech.

Here’s a photo from Rashid’s website and a description:

In our inaugural year, 2010, the Muslim Law Student Association at Richmond Law got off to a great start with a lecture on Shariah Finance.

From Islamic blasphemy to finance, Rashid is all about sharia.

He specifically uses Terry Jones as an example of banning free speech so this should be interesting – WORLDWIDE BURNING OF 2,998 KORANS ON SEPTEMBER 11th, 2013.

Virginia: School board rejects Turkish imam-linked charter school

A rare victory. via Loudoun County appears poised to turn down charter school application – The Washington Post.

Loudoun County School Board members, many of whom campaigned to expand school choice, turned down their only pending charter school application Tuesday night after months of scrutiny and a storm of allegations that the applicants have hidden ties to a Muslim preacher.

Board members had raised questions about significant gaps in the academic and operational plans for the Loudoun Math & IT Academy, which hoped to become Northern Virginia’s first charter school. They criticized its loosely formed curriculum, shaky financial assumptions and an inadequate transportation plan before voting 8 to 1 to reject the application.

“As much as I wanted to support this effort, I am resigned that it is not of the caliber that Loudoun students deserve,” said board member Jeff Morse (Dulles).

Board members were also concerned that they had not heard more community support for the school among local parents. Just three people spoke in favor of the proposal during a three-hour hearing Feb. 19. The schools’ governing board had pushed for a longer review period, hoping to have more time to work with the school system on concerns.

On Tuesday, Mindy Carlin, a spokeswoman for the applicants, urged the school board to help them continue developing a promising plan. “Are there still details and questions to be resolved? Of course,” she said. “But has enough of a case been made to warrant further work?”

Opponents urged the board to drop the application, claiming that the school’s organizers are connected to a Turkish Islamic leader named Fethullah Gulen who oversees a worldwide religious and nationalistic movement from a retreat in Pennsylvania.

A loose network of Gulen’s followers have opened more than 130 schools in two dozen states, according to researchers. State and federal investigators have probed some schools for their practices of hiring foreign nationals and allegations that they require staff to donate a portion of their salary to the movement.

The Loudoun applicants, several of whom are of Turkish origin, have denied any connection to the controversial figure.

Of course they denied it. Much more on the Gulen Islamic schools in our archives. Read up.

 

How Muslim proselytizing creeps into public schools

via GAFFNEY: How Muslim proselytizing creeps into public schools – Washington Times.

…the Loudoun County School Board is expected to hear from Mary Addi on Tuesday, in the course of its last public input session on the application for the Loudoun Math and Information Technology Academy. Ms. Addi and her Turkish husband, Mustafa Emanet, both formerly taught in a Gulen school in Cleveland. They have courageously made public their insights into issues sure to afflict the Loudoun County school system if the current application is approved: systematic mismanagement; use of Turkish teachers who are unqualified to teach, do not speak English comprehensibly or both; visa fraud; financial irregularities; chronic deviation from the curriculum and other rules and regulations meant to govern its operations; and so on. These issues have affected other Gulen charter schools around the country. Ms. Addi and her husband have even contributed to an ongoing investigation of the Gulen Movement and its schools by the FBI.

In a letter previously submitted to a select committee of the Loudoun School Board that — to its credit — actually recommended rejection of the Gulen charter application, Ms. Addi wrote:

“According to my husband, in addition to garnering as much taxpayer money as possible, the Gulen movement’s other agenda is to spread Islam though subliminal indoctrinations. More specifically, the mission is to spread Islam by means of the Turkish events such as trips to Turkey, the Turkish Olympics, other cultural events and teaching Turkish as a second language.

“Although the Gulenists are careful not to speak directly about their religious beliefs, it is their hope that by indoctrinating American students and parents with their culture and hospitality, that the students will likewise be more susceptible to religious conversion.”

Such behavior would, of course, fall afoul of prohibitions in the Virginia code barring proselytization in public schools. Like the rest of the Gulen program, however, unless the application is rejected, it is predictable that Loudoun County will find itself wrestling with what other school systems have confronted elsewhere: an entrenched school, indifferent to its obligations and responsibilities — and exceedingly difficult to discipline due, in part, to the Gulenists’ intensive efforts to buy political protection from county supervisors, state legislators, governors and others.

If the mere prospect of those sorts of vexing problems were not grounds enough to reject the application, this passage from the Loudoun County School Board code of conduct should be: “I must never neglect my personal obligation to the community and my legal obligation to the State, nor surrender these responsibilities to any other person, group, or organization; but that, beyond these, I have a moral and civic obligation to the Nation which can remain strong and free only so long as public schools in the United States of America are kept free and strong.”

It creeps like this too:

• Terre Haute, Indiana elementary school allows Muslim parent to proselytize teachers (video)
  

• Maryland: Muslims excused from class early for daily prayers in public school library

• Illinois School District adding Muslim holiday, considers dropping Veterans & Presidents Days

Virginia: $1.5M theft estimate revised after Muslim says she “didn’t steal during Ramadan”

How pious. via Sentencing reveals that theft of parking fees at Smithsonian’s Va. annex exceeded $1.5 M – The Washington Post. h/t halalporkshop

McLEAN, Va. — Authorities have determined that parking-lot employees stole more than $1.5 million from the Smithsonian at the museum’s Udvar-Hazy Air and Space annex in Chantilly, much more than first estimated.

The new estimate came to light at a hearing Friday in federal court in Alexandria, where a lot attendant, Freweyni Mebrahtu, 46, of Sterling, was sentenced to two years and three months in prison.

When charges were announced last year, authorities said they believed the losses exceeded $400,000 but were unsure of the exact amount.

At Friday’s hearing, Mebrahtu admitted she alone stole $895,000 over a three-year period.

She said she did so at the urging of supervisors with parking contractor PMI, who demanded two-thirds of the money Mebrahtu took in.

Going into Friday’s hearing, authorities had estimated that Mebrahtu stole nearly $1.2 million, based on length of employment and how much she typically stole each month. But prosecutors accepted her assertion that she did not steal during the Muslim holy days of Ramadan, and revised the loss attributable to Mebrahtu to $895,000.

Unindicted co-conspirator ISNA hosts Brotherhood-linked Somali president & Obama’s envoy to Muslim world

Whatever they’re plotting, it’s most likely with American tax dollars and won’t be of any benefit to non-Muslims. via The Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Report

The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) has announced that it recently hosted the newly elected President of Somalia in a meeting that included U.S. government officials, notably Rashad Hussain the U.S. Envoy to the OIC, and a representative of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA). According to the ISNA announcement:

On Friday, January 18, 2013, Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) President Imam Mohamed Magid hosted the newly elected Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud at the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) Center in Virginia.  ISNA was delighted to have the opportunity to welcome the new President after a long period of political instability in Somalia.  His visit to Washington, DC marks the first time the U.S. government has recognized the Somali government in 20 years, and ISNA is hopeful that his leadership may indeed provide stability and peace to the country. During the meeting, President Mohamud expressed his vision for a new Somalia, sharing his hopes for its transformation.  Specifically, he appealed to the American Muslim community to help him build youth centers across the country to provide vocational training and educational programs for youth and to help guide them in a positive direction.  Imam Magid was moved by President Mohamud’s vision and agreed that priority should be given to the youth, offering to help the President realize that goal. Several other esteemed leaders also joined the meeting.  These included representatives of the U.S. government such as Farah Pandith, U.S. Special Representative to Muslim Communities; Rashad Hussain, U.S. Special Envoy to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation; and Ambassador Johnnie Carson, U.S. Assistant Secretary for African Affairs.  Representatives of other Muslim organizations were also present, such as Naeem Baig of the Islamic Circle of North America, and Humera Khan of Muflehun Institute.  Accompanying President Mohamud were his Chief of Staff, Kamal Dahir Gutale, and Somali Foreign Minister Fowsiyo Yusuf Haji Aadan.”

A post from last September reported that international leaders were calling the election of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud “a great step forward” for Somalia. The BBC report  that was the subject of the September post described Mr. Mohamud, 56, as

…a civic activist who founded a university in Mogadishu and has worked for several national and international peace and development organizations. He has links to al-Islah, Somalia’s branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.’

A 2007 article on the  Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood  website confirms that Al-Islah is, in fact, the Somali branch of the Global Muslim Brotherhood. A Somali web portal recently described Al-Islah as follows:

Al-Islah, the internationally-recognized MB outfit, can best be described as a small organization with an elitist bent. Many of the rank- and- file members are educated and have no commonality with the average Guled or Maryam. Whereas the Egyptian MB shares the same elitist quality with its brethren in Somalia, it was nevertheless able to articulate its political and social agendas with the Egyptian masses. Al-Islah, on the other hand, has generally steered of being part of Somalia’s political process because it lacked vision, grass-roots support among the masses, and a willingness to cooperate with other–and in some cases bigger– Islamic movements in the country. For the last two decades, al-Islah has distinguished itself by telling the international community that it is not Salafi, and hence militant. The leadership has failed to define its movement other than reciting that it is not Al-Ittihad al-Islami (AIAI) or al-Shabab.

Continue reading ISNA Hosts New Somali President; Meeting Included U.S. OIC Envoy And The Islamic Circle of North America.

Recall just last week we gave you this news almost entirely blacked out by the media: U.S. recognizes Somalia govt as Muslim Brotherhood-linked president visits White House.

Virginia Muslim Sentenced To 25 Years For Shooting at Military Buildings

via AlexandriaNews – Alexandria Man Sentenced To 25 Years For Shooting Military Buildings In Northern Virginia.

Yonathan Melaku, 24, of Alexandria, Va., was sentenced Jan. 11, to 25 years in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release, for damaging property and firearm violations involving five separate shootings at military installations in Northern Virginia between October and November 2010 and attempting to injure veterans’ memorials at Arlington National Cemetery.

Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Debra Evans Smith, Acting Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing by United States District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee.

On Jan. 26, 2012, Melaku pled guilty to a three-count information that included injuring property of the United States, use of a firearm during a crime of violence, and attempted injury to veterans’ memorials on U.S. property. The defense and government jointly recommended in the plea agreement a sentence of 25 years in prison.

“Yonathan Melaku is a self-radicalized terrorist who carried out a campaign of fear that escalated until his arrest,” said U.S. Attorney MacBride. “He took calculated steps to target specific military buildings, cover up his crimes, and plan even more destruction should his message not be heard. This sentence is just punishment for the danger he poses to our community.”

According to court records, Melaku carried out a series of five shootings from Oct. 17, 2010, through Nov. 2, 2010, at the following locations: the National Museum of the Marine Corps (twice), the Pentagon, a Marine Corps recruiting sub-station in Chantilly, Va., and a U.S. Coast Guard recruiting office in Woodbridge, Va. Each shooting took place late at night or early in the morning and involved multiple 9mm rounds fired at each building. The cost for repairs at the facilities exceeded $100,000.

During the second shooting at the National Museum of the Marine Corps, Melaku set up a video camera within the interior of his vehicle to record the shooting incident. The video shows Melaku repeatedly firing a handgun out the passenger-side window, and he narrates the incident on the video and states, among other things: That’s my target. That’s the military building. It’s going to be attacked” and at the conclusion of multiple shots, exclaiming “Allahu Akbar” repeatedly.

Melaku attempted to flee law enforcement after being spotted on the property of Ft. Myer in Arlington, Va., at approximately 1:30 a.m. on June 17, 2011. During the pursuit, he dropped a backpack that contained numerous spent 9mm shell casings; four bags containing ammonium nitrate, and a spiral notebook with numerous Arabic statements referencing the Taliban, al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, “The Path to Jihad,” as well as a list of several other individuals associated with foreign terrorist organizations.

At the time of his apprehension, Melaku was attempting to enter the area of Arlington National Cemetery containing graves of deceased Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, intending to desecrate and injure the grave markers by spray-painting the markers with Arabic statements and by leaving the ammonium nitrate he was carrying at the sites of the grave markers.

On June 17, 2011, during a search of his residence, FBI search teams found Melaku had stored within the bedroom closet of his residence a typed list titled “Timer” that included nine items that Melaku admitted are consistent with what would be required to construct the firing mechanism for an explosive device. Four of those items had been crossed through.

In interviews with law enforcement after his arrest, Melaku said he targeted military-associated buildings to send a message that the U.S. should not be involved in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and to intimidate those who supported U.S. involvement. He planned to desecrate nearly 2,400 grave markers at Arlington National Cemetery and leave ammonium nitrate at the scene to instill fear in the public. He stated that he planned further crimes, including blowing up a military fuel truck, if his message was not heard.

 

Lady al Qaeda loses appeal; South Park jihadist’s wife loses custody

via Aafia Siddiqui loses appeal on shooting conviction – The Express Tribune.

NEW YORK: A US appeals court on Monday upheld the conviction and 86-year prison sentence of Pakistani neuroscientist Aafia Siddiqui for shooting at FBI agents and soldiers after her arrest in Afghanistan.

The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in New York said a lower court judge had not erred in allowing Siddiqui, 40, to testify in her own defense at trial and in allowing certain evidence against her.

Siddiqui, whose conviction was widely criticized in Pakistan, was sentenced by US District Judge Richard Berman in September 2010. She was convicted by a New York federal jury of attempted murder, armed assault and other charges.

She was arrested in July 2008 by Afghan police, who said she was carrying two pounds (900 grams) of sodium cyanide and crumpled notes referring to mass casualty attacks and New York landmarks.

The day after her arrest, she grabbed an M-4 rifle in her interrogation room and started shooting while yelling “death to America,” the trial jury heard.

No US agents or soldiers were hit, but Siddiqui was shot and wounded in response, according to US prosecutors.

And your daily double from the Jawa Report:

America is Islamaphobic for Taking Baby Away from Convicted Terrorist

Did I also mention the baby in question was being taken by the convicted terrorist to Somalia? But according to this Left Wing rag, the fact that Zach Chesser’s wife — the women who agreed to let her child be taken to Somalia as cover for her husband so he could sneak out of the USA and join the al Qaeda linked al Shabaab terrorists — wasn’t given custody is a sign of ….. wait for it …..

ISLAMOPHOBIA.

WAPO:

May 2010: Court-ordered electronic surveillance records Chesser telling his wife that he is taking their son with him to Uganda as part of his cover.

And she let him, lied to the FBI, and he was arrested with the baby:

Chesser brought his infant son with him as he tried to board a flight from New York to Uganda so he would look less suspicious, according to an FBI affidavit.

Hence the court ruling, from the left wing rag:

The court ruled that both Zachary and Proscovia were “both absolutely, unequivocally legally unfit as parents.”