FBI reps, Hub Somalis talk partnership at Hub mosque

Outgoing U.S. Attorney Michael J. Sullivan (center) talks to attendees at a meeting between representatives from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Boston office and members of the local Somali Muslim community held on Saturday, April 18, 2009, at the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center in Roxbury. (Tony Irving photo)

n a meeting last Saturday, Warren Bamford, special agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Boston field office, and outgoing U.S. Attorney Michael J. Sullivan reassured members of the local Somali Muslim community that the FBI works to protect the civil rights of American citizens.

“Investigating civil rights violations is one of the top priorities of the FBI,” Sullivan said.

The meeting drew about 50 attendees to the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center in Roxbury and was a follow-up to one held in November, at which time Bamford outlined a strategy to begin outreach efforts aimed at establishing a partnership between the FBI and Boston’s Somali community.

Initial interest in such a partnership was born out of news last November that Shirwa Ahmed, a Somali-born Muslim and naturalized U.S. citizen living in Minneapolis, had been recruited by a terrorist organization to be a suicide bomber. After being trained in Minneapolis, Ahmed was sent to Somalia to carry out his mission. He blew himself up in a bombing in northern Somalia on Oct. 28.

The story took a local turn last month, when allegations arose in a meeting of the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security that Al Shabaab, an Islamic terrorist group linked to al-Qaida, may be recruiting Boston youth to fight in Somalia. Boston Somalis were angered at the assertions, saying there was no evidence to back them up...more..http://www.baystatebanner.com/local16-2009-04-23