10 September, 2017
Maalik Alim Jones, 32, pleaded guilty to three criminal counts before US District Judge Paul Gardephe Friday, according to the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of NY.
Al Shabaab, which seeks to overthrow Somalia's Western-backed government and impose a strict version of sharia, or Islamic law, has carried out violent attacks in Kenya and Ethiopia.
The US military has carried out several airstrikes against the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab in the Horn of Africa nation since President Donald Trump approved expanded military operations against the group. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.
Shortly after his arrest in January 2016, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said Jones had made his way from NY through Morocco and Kenya to Somalia.
The FBI said he admitted he was paid $100 monthly by al-Shabab while he worked for them from August 2011 to December 2015.
The report about the operation in the southern town of Baraawe, about 270 kilometers southwest of this capital, omits if the extremist fighter was a high ranking leader in the organization, whose deactivation is an objective of United States air raids. "For his allegiance to this lawless, terrorist organization that vows to destroy America and its values, Maalik Jones been held to account in an American court of law". He is to be sentenced January 25.
As a part of his plea, Jones agreed not to appeal any sentence that is less than 50 years, according to Reuters. He is facing a minimum of 30 years in prison and a maximum of life.
