Woman Charged with Funding Terrorist Group Linked to al-Qaida

A Northern Virginia woman is among five charged with funneling money to a Somalia-based extremist group linked to al-Qaida.

Muna Osman Jama, 34, of Reston, was arrested Wednesday and charged with 20 counts of providing material support to a foreign terrorist group, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.

The indictment alleges that in 2011, Jama and four other women began sending monthly payments of about $100 to fighters in the militant group al-Shabaab, which the U.S. designated as a terrorist group in 2008. Leaders of the group announced a merger with al-Qaida in 2012. 

The largest single payment to al-Shabaab fighters was $1,500, according to the indictment. The defendants would reportedly refer to the payments as “living expenses,” using secret codes to refer to al-Shabaab fighters as “orphans” and trucks as “camels.”

Jama and Hinda Osman Dhirane, 44, of Kent, Washington, allegedly directed a primarily female-based fundraising network in which Jama funneled money to a conduit in Kenya and Dhirane sent money to a contact in Somalia, The Associated Press reports.