San Diego judge says prosecutors can raise terrorism in immigration case
Posted on Wed, Feb. 16, 2005

Associated Press


SAN DIEGO - In a victory for the United States government, a federal judge in San Diego has ruled that prosecutors can mention terrorism to a jury hearing the case of a Somali national charged with lying to naturalization agents about his connection to two charities that have been linked to terrorist groups.

U.S. District Judge John Houston reversed himself Tuesday for the second time in the immigration case against Omar Abdi Mohamed, president of the San Diego-based Western Somali Relief Agency.

Prosecutors said the Western Somali Relief Agency accepted $5,000 between 1998 and 2001 from the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, which was accused of financing Osama bin Laden's terrorist network. The San Diego group also accepted more than $326,000 from the Bridgeview, Ill.-based Global Relief Foundation, which is suspected of raising money for terrorists, they said.

Mohamed has no ties to terrorism and used the money for famine relief in Ethiopia and Somalia, his attorney, Mahir Sherif, had said before a gag order was imposed.

Judge Houston ruled the charities are material to the case because they could indicate that Mohamed had a motive to lie in order to gain citizenship in the United States.

He had previously ruled that the trial was not about terrorism, and mentioning the charities would prejudice the jury.

Mohamed's trial is scheduled to begin March 21.

If convicted, he could face five years in prison for each of nine counts and be deported.

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Information from: The San Diego Union-Tribune