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Calling it a case of "cultural misunderstanding," a federal court judge on Wednesday gave probation to a Somali shopkeeper who lied to the FBI about her teenage son's whereabouts.
The agency had launched an investigation into the 18-year-old's possible connections to a terrorist organization, but later cleared him.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups said the case against 42-year-old Lul Noor Abdi came down to mistrust of the FBI by Salt Lake City's Somali community. He said sending Abdi to prison would only worsen relations between the FBI and Somalis — instead of promoting the sharing of pertinent information about security and terrorism issues.
The judge instead sentenced the woman to 60 months of probation.
Waddoups called Abdi a "woman of courage" and a "woman of influence," praising her survival in the U.S. after fleeing war-torn Somalia in 2000.
Abdi, who operates the Waamo Market, at 1341 S. State Street, is a respected teacher at the local mosque who gives other refugees rides to stores and doctor appointments, said her attorney, M. Tyler Williams.
Abdi's father was murdered in Somalia in 1991 during the country's civil unrest. She fled with her mother and sisters to Uganda, but her husband stayed behind to work for the United Nations. He too, was killed by extremists during the country's conflict in 1996.
So when FBI agents knocked on Abdi's door last July asking about her teenage son's whereabouts, she lied on the advice of family and friends, her attorney has said.
Abdi worried that if she told agents her son was in Somalia, he'd be labeled as a terrorist. So instead of telling agents that her son was attending business school in Somalia and living with an uncle, she said he was in Uganda with a grandfather and that she had been sending money there, Williams said.
The decision — which Abdi now understands was wrong — was based on her background of witnessing genocide in Somalia, where corrupt police and warlords arriving on one's doorstep spelled trouble, Williams said.
Williams said Abdi "wasn't up-front" about her son, but has paid the price.
FBI agent Kevin Ward visited Abdi's son, Khalid, in Uganda last month and found the teenager poses no threat to national security, Williams said.
Waddoups said Wednesday there is no evidence that Abdi meant to cause harm to the U.S. when she withheld information from the FBI.
She was indicted in August on a felony charge of false information and pleaded guilty to the crime in January. The crime carries a maximum penalty of up to five years in federal prison.
Abdi's nephew, Mohamed Sharif, said his aunt lied to investigators because she feared she would be viewed as a terrorist or as an accomplice to an extremist, as reports about unrest and piracy in Somalia were on the rise. In particular, teens like Abdi's son were watched closely because of reports that young Somali men sympathized with al-Qaida, he said.
Sharif said Abdi's son was wrongly flagged as having ties to al-Qaida when his stepbrother, a member of the U.S. Army, contacted FBI officials upon learning that Abdi's son was returning to Somalia.
Abdi sent the boy back to Uganda in 2007 to live with his grandfather after the boy got into trouble with drugs in Maine. She thought sending him back to Africa with family would put him on the right track.
The boy then moved from his grandfather's home to an uncle's house in Somalia, where he had different school opportunities, Sharif said. That is when the boy's stepbrother contacted the FBI, who soon after contacted Abdi, Sharif said.
Abdi's son, who is a U.S. citizen like his mother, is still in Uganda, but plans to return to the U.S. now that the FBI has cleared him of terrorist ties. He plans to enroll in community college and take business classes.
Sharif said the family wishes Abdi's stepson, who last winter stayed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., after returning from a tour of duty, had not taken the case to the FBI before consulting with family members. He said the stepson and Abdi's son do not get along, leaving some family members wondering if the stepson's report to the FBI was the result of a rift between the two.
Wednesday's sentencing turned into a chance for Somalis to air grievances about their treatment by the FBI.
Abdinasir Abdulle, of Riverdale, spoke in defense of Abdi before Waddoups handed down the sentence.
"There is a lot of misunderstanding between the FBI and the [Somali] community," he said. "People have the feeling that the FBI is out there to nail them and not to help them or uphold the law."
He said he hopes Abdi's case will serve as an example and be a catalyst to start mending the relationship between law enforcement and Somalis.
Twitter: @mrogers_trib Probation conditions
Lul Noor Abdi will undergo 60 months of probation as a result of her guilty plea to making false statements to the FBI about her son's whereabouts in Somalia. As part of probation, she must allow agents access to her business and financial records, as well as email and other electronic devices if agents deem there is reasonable evidence that she may be in violation of her probation. She must also allow vehicle searches.