Warsame's Confinement Decision Postponed

U.S. District Judge John R. Tunheim originally ordered terror suspect Mohamed Warsame transferred to more typical pretrial detention and said he must continue to be held without bail until his trial.^[1]

Warsame was attending college in Minneapolis in 2003 when FBI agents questioned him about time he allegedly spent in two terrorist training camps in Afghanistan three years earlier.^[2] Federal agents interviewed Warsame in his home on Dec. 8, 2003, and following that they arrested him as a material witness.^[3] Warsame was indicted about six weeks later in Minneapolis on charges of conspiring to provide material support to the Al-Qaida terrorist organization and of lying to federal agents about traveling to Afghanistan and sending $2,000 to an associate there.^[4]

Judge Tunheim suppressed some of the evidence in the case in May, and government prosecutors appealed on June 28; Warsame accused prosecutors of stalling and petitioned Tunheim to release him until his trial.^[5]

Tunheim rejected Warsame's motion on August 31st, saying he had presented no new information affecting the original detention order, which found him a flight risk and a risk to public safety.^[6] "He asserts that he is less likely to flee now than when he was originally detained because his wife and child are now in school, but that fact does not minimize the risk Warsame poses to the public safety or guarantee Warsame's presence at trial," asserted the judge.^[7]

However, now, Tunheim is postponing his Aug 31 order that would have eased the conditions of the confinement of Warsame.^[8] On Friday, September 28, Tunheim ruled that his Aug. 31 order to transfer Warsame to a more normal detention facility should be postponed while the court considers the prosecution's arguments to keep holding Warsame under special circumstances.^[9] Warsame, a Canadian citizen of Somali descent, reportedly has been held in solitary confinement at the Oak Park Heights prison.^[10]

False Statements False Statements are covered under 18 U.S.C §1001. wherein it states that a) except as otherwise provided in this section, whoever, in any matter within the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the Government of the United States, knowingly and willfully 1) falsifies, conceals, or covers up by any trick, scheme, or device a material fact;^[11] 2) makes any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation; or^[12] 3) makes or uses any false writing or document knowing the same to contain any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or entry;^[13] shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 5 years or, if the offense involves international or domestic terrorism (as defined in section 2331), imprisoned not more than 8 years, or both.^[14]

Conspiracy
18 U.S.C. § 371 states that it is a violation of law for "two or more persons" to conspire
to commit any offense against the United States, or " to defraud the United States, or any agency thereof in any manner or for any purpose, if one or more of such persons does any act to effect the object of the conspiracy.^[15]

Federal criminal defense attorney Douglas McNabb has discussed the terrorism crime of providing support to terrorists extensively in this blog; these posts can be accessed here.

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^[1] AP Staff, Judge Orders Terror Suspect Warsame's Confinement, Associated Press Newswire, September 1, 2007, available at LEXIS, News Library, Wire News Services.
^[2] Id.
^[3] Id.
^[4] Id.
^[5] Id
^[6] Id.
^[7] Id.
^[8] AP Staff, Judge Delays Order To Ease Warsame's Confinement, Associated Press Newswire September 28, 2007, available at LEXIS, News Library, Wire News Services.
^[9] Id.
^[10] Id.
^[11] 18 U.S.C §1001(a)(q)(2007).
^[12] Id. at §1001(a)(2).
^[13] Id. at §1001(a)(3).
^[14] Id.
^[15] 18 U.S.C. § 371 (2005).