Maryland man sentenced to 35 years for conspiring to aid Somalia's Al Shabaab



A Maryland man was sentenced on Tuesday to 35 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to conspiring to support the militant group Al Shabaab by travelling to Somalia to receive military training from the extremists, federal prosecutors said.

Maalik Alim Jones, 33, was sentenced by US District Judge Paul Gardephe in Manhattan. A lawyer for Jones could not immediately be reached for comment.

Jones pleaded guilty in September, admitting that he carried an AK-47 automatic assault rifle for Al Shabaab, which is allied with Al Qaeda.

Al Shabaab, which seeks to overthrow Somalia’s Western-backed government and impose a strict version of sharia, or Islamic law, has carried out violent attacks in Kenya and Ethiopia.

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Jones was charged in January 2016. Prosecutors said at the time that Jones, who was born and lived in Maryland, travelled in 2011 to Kenya and then to Somalia, where he was brought to an Al Shabaab training camp.

Authorities said Jones trained with the group for three months, learning how to handle weapons, including an AK-47 and rocket-propelled grenades.

He then became a member of a specialised fighting force within Al Shabaab, known as Jaysh Ayman, that carried out attacks and raids across the border in Kenya and participated in a battle against Kenyan soldiers in the Somali town of Afmadow, prosecutors said.

Jones was taken into custody by Somali authorities on December 7, 2015, while he was attempting to procure a boat to depart for Yemen, according to prosecutors.

Election pledges on migration

CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections" 

SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom" 

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When: September 16-23

Where: Insportz, Dubai

Indoor cricket World Cup:
Insportz, Dubai, September 16-23

UAE fixtures:
Men

Saturday, September 16 – 1.45pm, v New Zealand
Sunday, September 17 – 10.30am, v Australia; 3.45pm, v South Africa
Monday, September 18 – 2pm, v England; 7.15pm, v India
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Saturday, September 23 – 3pm, grand final

Women
Saturday, September 16 – 5.15pm, v Australia
Sunday, September 17 – 2pm, v South Africa; 7.15pm, v New Zealand
Monday, September 18 – 5.30pm, v England
Tuesday, September 19 – 10.30am, v New Zealand; 3.45pm, v South Africa
Thursday, September 21 – 12.15pm, v Australia
Friday, September 22 – 1.30pm, semi-final
Saturday, September 23 – 1pm, grand final

UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

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