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| Somali woman who insisted on head scarf moved to another jail |
| By horseedmedia.net |
| Published: 11/02/2011 |
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Just as Sherburne County jailers began to accommodate Amina Farah Ali’s religious needs, federal officials transferred her to the Ramsey County Jail in St. Paul. But the woman awaiting sentencing for supporting a group trying to oust Somalia’s fledgling government told family members she was mistreated during the move, which took place Monday afternoon. “She was crying, and she said they mistreated her and they made her naked and they picked her up, and maybe she’s got a head injury, and she’s got chest pain,” said her brother, Hussein Ali. “The government might want to give her 1,000 years, but they should not kill her body and her mind. They have to treat her fairly.” He said he spoke with her in a brief phone call she made Monday from the Ramsey County Adult Detention Center, where records show she was booked in at 4:21 p.m. He said she didn’t mention where the alleged mistreatment took place, and a spokesman for the Ramsey County sheriff’s office said he’d heard no complaints of mistreatment. “If she has, I’m certain we’re making provisions to take care of it,” said the spokesman, Randy Gustafson. Deputy U.S. Marshal Thomas Volk said the transfer was “a law enforcement decision” and declined to elaborate. He said the Marshals Service would have nothing else to say about it. Dan Scott, Ali’s attorney, said he was given no explanation for the transfer. He hadn’t spoken with her about it yet because he’d been unable to schedule an interpreter. Ali speaks some English but communicates better in her native tongue, Somali. Ali, 34, and Hawo Mohamed Hassan, 64, both of Rochester, were convicted in federal court last month of raising and sending money to al-Shabaab, which the U.S. government considers a terrorist organization. The women claimed they were raising money for orphans and the needy in their native Somalia, which has been devastated by more than two decades of civil war, fighting among warlords and failed attempts to set up governments. After the jury convicted the women, Chief U.S. District Judge Michael Davis sent Hassan to a halfway house to await sentencing but ordered Ali jailed. In doing so, Davis gave the Muslim woman assurances her religious customs would be accommodated, a concern she had expressed after she spent two days in jail during her trial on a contempt-of-court charge. She claimed jailers mistreated her. Read More. |
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