US: Indian-engineer pleads guilty to raising money for al-Qaeda leader
A 38-year-old Indian engineer in the US state of Ohio, accused of funding a top al-Qaeda leader, has pleaded guilty to concealment of financing of terrorism. Ibrahim Zubair Mohammad, second of the two brothers, is accused of sending money to Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen. Al-Awlaki was later designated a terrorist and killed by a US drone in 2011. Here are more details.
Mohammad will be deported to India after trials
Mohammad would receive an agreed-upon prison sentence of 60 months, although he would receive credit for 30 months as he already has spent in Lucas County jail awaiting trial. US District Judge Jeffrey Helmick told him, "You ultimately will be removed from this country and told you are not welcome to come back." Mohammad studied at Illinois University and lived in Toledo since 2006.
Mohammad's brother also pleaded guilty last year
Two co-defendants, Sultane Roome Salim, 43, and his brother, Asif Ahmed Salim, 37, are scheduled for a change of plea hearing before Judge Helmick later. A fourth co-defendant, Mohammad's brother, Yahya Farooq Mohammad, 39, pleaded guilty last year to a conspiracy to provide and conceal material support or resources to terrorists. Farooq was sentenced to 27 years in prison and ordered deported to India.
Farooq raised money in UAE to deliver to al-Awlaki
Michael Freeman, an assistant US attorney, outlined the factual basis for the charge to which Ibrahim Mohammad pleaded guilty. Freeman said Mohammad's brother and others raised money in 2009 in the United Arab Emirates to deliver to al-Awlaki in Yemen. Freeman said Farooq raised some funds through credit-card fraud, sought funds from others he knew, and enlisted his brother in the US to help.
Farooq delivered $22,000 to an associate of al-Awlaki
Two associates of Farooq delivered $7,000 to an associate of al-Awlaki in Yemen in late January 2009, Freeman said. In July 2009, Farooq delivered $22,000 to an associate of al-Awlaki. Freeman said Ibrahim knew that al-Awlaki had expressed support for the killing of 13 US service personnel at Fort Hood, Texas, by Nidal Hasan on November 5, 2009.
