U.S. Citizen Pleads Guilty to Training With al Qaeda

A U.S. citizen, whotrained to fight jihad along with elements of al Qaeda to establish an Islamic state in Somalia, has been convicted of receiving training from a foreign terrorist organization, Kenneth Wainstein announced.

At a hearing, Daniel Joseph Maldonado, a.k.a. Daniel Aljughaifi, 28, pleaded guilty to the sole charge in an Information filed on March 30, 2007 and unsealed Thursday. During the hearing, Maldonado admitted he had traveled from Houston to Africa in November 2005 and then on to Somalia in December 2006 to join the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) and elements of al Qaeda to fight "jihad" against the Transitional Federal Government to establish an independent Islamic State in Somalia, according to the US Justice Department.

While in Somalia, Maldonado was provided an AK-47, equipped with military combat uniforms and boots in Mogadishu, and participated intraining camps in Kismaayo and Jilib, Somalia. The camps included physical fitness, firearms and explosives training all in preparation to go to the front to fight for the ICU. Al Qaeda members were present at the training camps. ICU and al Qaeda, a recognized foreign terrorist organization,worked together to train fighters in the camps to fight jihad to establish an independent Islamic state in Somalia, the Justice Department says.

"Today's guilty plea is the first involving an American who joined forces with Islamic extremist fighters in Somalia and should serve noticeto others who would travel overseas to wage violent jihad," says Wainstein, assistant attorney general for national security.

"For an American to travel overseas to train as a violent jihadist alongside al Qaeda elements who are focused upon threatening the security of our nation, is decidedly disturbing and definitely illegal," says U.S. Attorney Don DeGabrielle. "Maldonado's conviction should serve as a strong warning to any American who considers joining forces with terrorist groups here or abroad."


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Islamic Charity and Five Individuals Indicted

The U.S. branch of an international Islamic charity and five of its officers, employees or associates have been indicted for illegally transferring funds to Iraq, laundering money, stealing federal funds, and obstructing tax laws by, among other things, falsely denying that a procurement agent of Osama bin Laden had been an employee of the charity, Assistant U.S. Attorney General for National Security Kenneth Wainstein, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri Bradley Schlozman, and Assistant Director of the FBI's Counterterrorism Division Joseph Billy announced.

The charity named in the 33-count indictment is the Islamic American Relief Agency (IARA), formerly known as the Islamic African Relief Agency-USA. IARA is an Islamic charitable organization headquartered in Columbia, Mo., that was officially formed in 1985 and closed in October 2004, when it was identified by the U.S. Treasury Department as a specially designated global terrorist organization, the Justice Department says.

Also charged in the indictment are Mubarak Hamed, 50, of Columbia, Mo., a naturalized U.S. citizen from Sudan who served as executive director of IARA; Ali Mohamed Bagegni, 53, formerly of Columbia, Mo. and currently of Iowa City, Iowa, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Libya and a former member of IARA's board of directors; Ahmad Mustafa, 54, of Columbia, Mo., a citizen of Iraq and a former fund-raiser for IARA; Khalid Al-Sudanee, 55, a citizen and resident of Jordan and the regional director of the Middle East office of the Islamic African Relief Agency (also known as the Islamic Relief Agency, or ISRA); and Abdel Azim El-Siddiq, 50, of Palos Heights, Ill., a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Sudan and formerly vice president for international operations for IARA, the Justice Department says.

"Today's indictment paints an alarming picture of theft, money laundering, and fraud by the U.S. branch of an international charitable organization. These charges demonstrate our resolve to thoroughly investigate and prosecute any charities that abuse their tax-exempt status to engage in wide-ranging criminal activity," says Wainstein.

"The FBI will continue to work closely with our law enforcement andintelligence community partners to ensure charitable donations are notmisused for criminal purposes," says Billy.

The indictment, which was returned under seal by a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Mo., on Tuesday, March 6, was unsealed and made public upon the arrest and initial court appearance of several co-defendants, the Justice Department says.

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