Swedes charged with terrorism in US court
Published: 23 Dec 12 09:38 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/45242/20121223/
Two Swedish citizens appeared in a federal court in Brooklyn, New York on Friday on charges that they had trained and fought with al-Shabaab, a Somali group designated as terrorists by the United States.
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The two Swedes, aged 27 and 29, along with a 23-year-old defendant, are accused of participating in weapons and explosives training with al-Shabaab, a United States-designated terrorist group linked to al-Qaeda, during a four-year period beginning in 2008.
If found guilty they could face lifetime in prison.
The men were arrested in August by authorities in Africa while going to Yemen. They appeared in the Brooklyn court with the aid of a Swedish interpreter.
Much of the case is shrouded in mystery, reports the New York Times. It remained under seal for four months and the court documents unsealed on Friday contained little elaboration on the crimes or any indication of why the case was brought in New York.
According to the Swedish Foreign Ministry, staff from the Swedish consulate visited the two Swedes and reported that they are well "considering the circumstances".
Sweden has not objected to the men's extradition to the United States.
"This is a legal issue between Djibouti and the USA," Sara Brandt-Hansen, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, told the TT news agency.
“We will use every tool at our disposal to combat terrorist groups, deter terrorist activity and incapacitate individual terrorists," said Loretta E. Lynch, the United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
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The free world might be getting a little fed up with Sweden's lax attitude to its homegrown terrorists. Sort it out SÄPÅ.
For Mr @Rishonim I think you misunderstood the point these folks are Swedish and that have all the right to get legal support from the consulate as like any other citizen.
you talking from you comfort bed with nonsense rubbish , I wish if you get water boarded, and F- ass get rape you will clearly admit that you war behind 9/11. just clueless idiot.
but let me tell you this , they may get your vote ! but they will never get the responsible people of Sweden's vote.
We have values to stand for it in Sweden and we cannot be intimidated by these young bats. Let these stinky rubbish fixed their problems first before they come to talk about Sverige.
But like i said, there is no point arguing with the stinky trashes, but like all trashes, they're every where!
Here's a link to a Bloomberg story on the arrests:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-21/three-men-charged-with-supporting-terror-group-al-shabaab.html
"The defendants, Ali Yasin Ahmed, 27, Madhi Hashi, 23, and Mohamed Yusuf, 29, were arrested in Africa by local authorities in August and taken into U.S. custody in November, according to prosecutors. The men are charged with conspiracy, use of high- powered firearms, and providing material support to a foreign terrorist group, according to the indictment.
Prosecutors allege that from December 2008 to August, the men participated in weapons and explosives training and a suicide-bomber program with associates of al-Shabaab and were deployed in combat operations to support the group, which is affiliated with al-Qaeda. "
Too often, in the USA, people such as these two men are predetermined guilty and that is what the trial procedings will show in the USA. Trials of this nature are not dissimilar to the communists accusations and trials of the McCarthy era in the USA.
Too many countries follow the USA as if by rote. This has become a complete farce in today's world and world leaders look like fools bending over backwards to follow the lead of the USA. Other soveriegn countries ought to learn to think for themselves rather than the accept the rule of the USA.
Thes two young Swedes must be brought back to Sweden and Sweden must determine the plausiblity of the American accusations with their own sources of intelligence and information gathering. In the case that the evidence requies arrests and trials then it is up to Sweden to put them on trial.
Other fighting groups cannot be deemed terror groups just because they oppose the USA. Whether this fighting group is a terror group ought to be determined by each country on its own and to not be influenced by American views that do not often bear witness to the truth.
In our world today and for the past 50 years or so has proved itself to be the largest terror group in our world via the CIA, the DEA, the many military covert groups including Psy-ops and the Green Berets and Delta Force if you believe to be a real thing, and the Blackwater killers now owned by Monsanto if we're to believe the latest news.
http://butterflystorms.blog.ca