Somali man sentenced to 9 years in prison by US Federal court

The United States Federal court in Washigton has sentenced a Somali-born man to 9 years imprisonment for supporting Islamist militant group Al Shabaab.

Mahdi Hashi pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiring to provide material support to the insurgent group in May last year.

The sentence comes a week after the court sentenced two Swedish citizens charged alongside Mahdi to 11 years in prison for their involvement with the group.

According to prosecutors, the three left their homes in Britain and Sweden and travelled to Somalia where they joined the terrorist organisation.

The group has in recent years been involved in launching a series of attacks in the East African region.

A 15 year jail term was sought by the prosecutors for all three but the judge was lenient to Hashi who told the court he joined the group because he thought it would help restore peace to the war-torn Somalia.

They accused were arrested in Djibouti for illegally crossing the border from Somalia on their way to join Al Qaeda in the Middle East.

The three were later turned over to U.S authorities for prosecution.