Lawsuit by son of slain Somali activist against money transfer business is thrown out

[Deeq A.]

A federal appeals court has upheld a decision to dismiss a lawsuit claiming a money-transfer firm with ties to Minnesota was involved in the death of famed Somali activist Saado Ali Warsame.

The case, filed in late 2015, was brought by Warsame’s son, Harbi Hussein, who claimed the firm Dahabshiil was behind payments to Al-Shabab, a terrorist group whose operatives gunned down Warsame in July 2014.

Dahabshiil houses a subsidiary headquarters in Minneapolis and is widely used by Minnesota Somalis to wire money to relatives back home.

The appeals court ruled that Hussein failed to raise a “plausible allegation” that Dahabshiil staff “knew or were deliberately indifferent to the fact that their services were used to send funds to Al-Shabab on any specific occasion.”

In a statement after the lawsuit was filed, Dahabshiil said that Hussein’s claims were “completely absurd and absolutely false. We have absolutely no involvement whatsoever with the funding of terrorist organizations … Every customer [who] uses our services to transfer money is clearly identified and subject to a rigorous due diligence process before and during every transaction. We operate as a fully licensed and internationally regulated money services business with the full confidence of our banking partners.”

Warsame was a Somali icon who lived in New York and Minneapolis before returning to her homeland in 2012. Her longtime campaign for social justice included roles in pushing out the country’s military regime and becoming one of the country’s first female members of parliament.

Startribune