October 15, 2012 | Posted by admin

As he cooled his heels in a Dutch prison, Mahamud Said Omar answered an FBI agent’s questions and then listened as she played secretly recorded phone conversations he’d had with a man he allegedly helped join the terror group al-Shabaab.

At first, Omar laughed, scoffing that “nobody in their right mind would talk about those things” over the phone, the agent claimed.

But later, privately, Omar allegedly told his translator, “They got me,” FBI Special Agent Kiann VanDenover told jurors Monday, Oct. 15, as Omar’s trial on terror-conspiracy charges began its third week in federal court in Minneapolis.

VanDenover is the government’s 18th and final witness in the trial of Omar, 46, of Minneapolis. She was the FBI’s chief investigator in the case against Omar, and she twice traveled to the Netherlands to interview him.

Omar had sought asylum in the European country and, when that appeal was denied, spent a year and a half fighting extradition to the U.S. He faced a federal indictment accusing him of three counts of conspiracy and two counts of providing aid to terrorists.

Omar, who was born in Somalia but came to the U.S. as a refugee after that country fell into civil war, is alleged to have helped local men return to Somalia to fight for al-Shabaab. The State Department declared it a Foreign Terrorist Organization in February 2008.

Somalia’s official religion is Islam, but al-Shabaab seeks to overthrow the country’s new government and impose a

fundamentalist and extremist interpretation of Islam.

Monday’s testimony included VanDenover (she continues Tuesday) and a man who was part of the alleged conspiracy and has pleaded guilty to wiring $100 to one of his friends who left the Twin Cities to fight for al-Shabaab.

But some of the day’s legal wrangling had little to do with the witnesses. Prosecutors filed a trio of motions involving evidence they originally had said they didn’t plan to use. Now, they say they want to introduce statements showing that Omar lied to Dutch immigration officials when he sought asylum and that in a jailhouse phone call, one of his brothers told him to fabricate evidence.

Prosecutors also want the defense barred from mentioning harsh conditions at the Dutch prison where Omar was held, and they want no mention of the death penalty.

Omar doesn’t face the death penalty, but prosecutors said defense lawyers might argue Omar made some of the statements he allegedly did out of fear he might be executed if returned to the U.S.

Defense attorneys fired back with a motion of their own, claiming prosecutors haven’t turned over all the evidence they’re supposed to — namely, records involving phone calls intercepted under a secret warrant FBI agents obtained under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Defense attorney Jon Hopeman told U.S. District Judge Michael Davis that although some calls had been played for the jury, “there were numerous other calls that were never disclosed to us,” despite a defense request for them.

“I feel we have been stiff-armed on this request,” he told the judge.

A Justice Department lawyer told the judge that the government had turned over everything it was obligated to.

In its case so far, the government has presented three local Somali men who traveled to Somalia to join al-Shabaab. Each has pleaded guilty to charges and awaits sentencing, and when they took the stand, each faced hard questions from Davis, the judge who will sentence them.

Ahmed Hussein Mahamud, who testified Monday, was no exception, even though he never traveled to Somalia. In February, he pleaded guilty to providing material support to a Foreign Terrorist Organization.

He wired $100 to a friend in Somalia to buy a weapon.

Mahamud, 27, of Eden Prairie, said he was one of the “brothers,” as members of the small and secret band of young men called themselves. As a prosecutor questioned him, Davis broke in with questions of his own, asking him how someone could go from believing Islam is a religion of peace to aiding terrorists.

“I’m not a terrorist, sir,” the man replied.

Davis pressed him, saying he wanted to know how a law-abiding citizen decides to join a league of terrorists.

“I didn’t believe in terrorism, sir,” Mahamud said. “I was just helping a friend.”

David Hanners can be reached at 612-338-6516.

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