Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame (born c. mid-1980s) is a Somali prisoner of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. He is said to have described himself as a coordinator between the Somali Al-Shabab and

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula ( ar-at, تنظيم القاعدة في جزيرة العرب, Tanẓīm al-Qā‘idah fī Jazīrat al-‘Arab, lit=Organization of the Base in the Arabian Peninsula or , ''Tanẓīm Qā‘idat al-Jihād fī Jaz� ...

, and is under

indictment An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felonies, the most serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use the felonies concept often use that of a ...

in federal district court in New York City. Warsame was captured April 19, 2011, aboard a fishing vessel transiting the Gulf of Aden in

international waters The terms international waters or transboundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water (or their drainage basins) transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed region ...

between

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

and Somalia by Navy SEALs of

SEAL Team 6 The Naval Special Warfare Development Group (NSWDG), abbreviated as DEVGRU ("Development Group") and commonly known as SEAL Team Six, is the United States Navy component of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). The unit is often referre ...

. The Seals were on in Navy fast boats hidden behind a wooden ship and stealthily boarded Warsame's boat. The SEALs subdued Warsame and his associate without a shot being fired. He was later transferred, held, and interrogated in military custody aboard the for two months. Several days later, he was given a

Miranda warning In the United States, the ''Miranda'' warning is a type of notification customarily given by police to criminal suspects in police custody (or in a custodial interrogation) advising them of their right to silence and, in effect, protection f ...

by civilian officials, who proceeded to question him and then had him flown to New York, arriving July 5, where he was indicted by a grand jury and held for trial. Several American political figures have objected to his appearing in Federal court instead of being sent to the Guantanamo Bay detention camp for a

military tribunal Military justice (also military law) is the legal system (bodies of law and procedure) that governs the conduct of the active-duty personnel of the armed forces of a country. In some nation-states, civil law and military law are distinct bod ...

Representative Representative may refer to: Politics * Representative democracy, type of democracy in which elected officials represent a group of people * House of Representatives, legislative body in various countries or sub-national entities * Legislator, som ...

Howard McKeon Howard Philip "Buck" McKeon (born September 9, 1938) is an American politician who served as a U.S. representative from California's 25th congressional district from 1993 to 2015. He is a member of the Republican Party. He is a former chairman of ...

, chairman of the

United States House Committee on Armed Services The U.S. House Committee on Armed Services, commonly known as the House Armed Services Committee or HASC, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is responsible for funding and oversight of the Department of De ...

, said transferring Warsame out of Guantanamo "directly contradicts Congressional intent and the will of the American people," and Senator

Susan Collins Susan Margaret Collins (born December 7, 1952) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Maine. A member of the Republican Party, she has held her seat since 1997 and is Maine's longest-serving member of Con ...

stated that captured foreign nationals "should be tried in a military commission, not a federal civilian court in New York or anywhere else in our country". In December 2011 Warsame pleaded guilty to nine terrorism charges and provided valuable intelligence information.

References

External links

Warsame's indictment by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York
hosted by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

''
Warsame's plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York"Guilty Plea Unsealed in New York Involving Ahmed Warsame, a Senior Terrorist Leader and Liaison Between al Shabaab and al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, for Providing Material Support to Both Terrorist Organizations"
hosted by The Federal Bureau of Investigation 21st-century Somalian people Ethnic Somali people 1980s births Living people {{navy-stub