NEW YORK – A Somali man captured by the US military in the Arabian Peninsula region in April and interrogated by the US for more than two months has been indicted and accused of providing material support to terrorist groups.
Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame is accused of conspiring from 2007 until his arrest to provide money, training, communications equipment and personnel to al-Qaeda and al-Shabaab, both designated by the US as foreign terrorist organisations, in a federal indictment unsealed yesterday.
Mr Warsame, identified by prosecutors as an al-Shabaab leader, allegedly worked to broker a weapons deal with al-Qaeda and taught how to make explosives, destructive devices and weapons of mass destruction starting in 2009.
As a result of the interrogations, the US “has been able to obtain very valuable intelligence”, White House spokesman Jay Carney said yesterday.
Mr Warsame was “detained lawfully”, Mr Carney said, adding that the Red Cross was informed and had the opportunity to interview him. Mr Warsame arrived in New York yesterday morning, according to the office of US attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan.
Mr Warsame entered a not guilty plea yesterday before US district judge Colleen McMahon in a proceeding closed to the public because the indictment was under seal at the time, said Ellen Davis, a spokeswoman for Mr Bharara.
“Ahmed Warsame was a conduit between al-Shabaab and al- Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula – two deadly terrorist organisations – providing material support and resources to them both,” Mr Bharara said in a statement.
The defendant faces a mandatory life term if convicted of conspiring to provide material support to a terror group, according to Mr Bharara’s statement.
Mr Warsame was questioned for intelligence purposes for more than two months after his capture and later spoke to federal law enforcement officials “for several days” after he was informed of his legal rights, the statement said.
While Mr Warsame was in Yemen in 2010 until this year, he received training in military weapons including explosives, according to Mr Bharara.
The US said he possessed and used grenades and an AK-47 assault weapon while in Yemen to commit crimes of violence.
Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said yesterday he opposed bringing Mr Warsame to New York. He said Mr Warsame did not deserve the rights and privileges of US citizens and should be tried in Guantánamo Bay in Cuba.
Mr Warsame “is a foreign enemy combatant and he should be treated as one”, McConnell said on the Senate floor.
“He should be sitting in a cell in Guantánamo Bay and eventually be tried before a military commission.” – (Bloomberg)