Two women in the U.S. were charged Wednesday with funneling money to the al Qaeda-linked extremist group al-Shabaab in Somalia, prosecutors said. Muna Osman Jama, 34, of Reston, Virginia, and Hinda Osman Dhirane, 44, of Kent, Washington — have been charged with 20 counts each of providing material support to a foreign terrorist group, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Jama faced an initial appearance Wednesday afternoon at the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia, and Dhirane appeared in U.S. District Court in Seattle. Three others overseas have also been charged. An indictment alleges that, beginning in February 2011, the women sent monthly payments to al-Shabaab fighters. According to the government, the defendants would refer to money they sent overseas as "living expenses," and used code words like "orphans" to refer to al-Shabaab fighters and "camels" to refer to trucks.
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