Suspected terrorist headed to federal prison

San Antonio Express
Friday, July 26, 2013

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A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a Somali man with suspected terrorist ties to eight years in prison for lying to FBI agents and to an immigration judge in a failed attempt to obtain asylum.

Abdullah Omar Fidse — who pleaded guilty to the charges in December — has already served two of those years because federal authorities transferred him from immigration detention facilities to federal facilities in 2011.

He faced up to 10 years in stacked sentences as part of a plea agreement for the separate charges of lying to the FBI and lying to immigration officials.

Speaking through an interpreter, Fidse denied accusations of supposed associations with terrorist groups in Somalia, saying government prosecutors “are not seeking the truth.”

“I am not a terrorist,” Fidse said. “I am accused of things that I don't know where they are coming from.”

Authorities detained Fidse and his co-defendant, Deka Abdalla Sheikh, at the Hidalgo port of entry in January 2008. Both claimed persecution in their home country but did not possess identification. Sheikh eventually received asylum, but Fidse did not.

U.S. District Judge Fred Biery sentenced Sheikh to five years probation Wednesday for lying to the same FBI agents who were investigating Fidse's alleged terrorist affiliations. Sheikh pleaded guilty to the charge in September, admitting Fidse “coached” her on how to respond to questions regarding his background.

During the course of Fidse's two-day sentencing hearing, prosecutors presented evidence to challenge the Somali man's claims of not being affiliated with terrorist groups.

One of Fidse's fellow detainees at South Texas Detention Facility informed authorities that Fidse was promoting radical Islam, had discussed killing Jews and Christians and claimed to be a former cook for Osama bin Laden, FBI special agent Mark Wagoner said Wednesday.

Wagoner said the informant recorded conversations with Fidse, one of which described a theoretical assassination attempt on the U.S. ambassador to Kenya and killing of his guards.

Fidse also discussed purchasing weapons and vehicles for terrorist groups in the region, including a $100,000 armed vehicle destroyed in combat during a 2006 conflict in the Somali village of Adale, Wagoner said.

Defense attorney Molly Roth said Fidse's supposed recorded comments were made by either the informant or a third party to the conversation. Roth said there is no evidence Fidse has planned terrorist activities.

“What the government is doing to Fidse is prophylactically locking him up because they don't know who he is,” she said. “That is not a reason to detain someone.”

Prosecutors sought the full 10-year sentence.

“His duty was jihad,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Mike Roomberg said. “His duty was to kill the infidels.”

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