Kenyan man sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty in US terrorism support case

MIAMI – A Kenyan man has been sentenced to 15 years in U.S. prison after pleading guilty to providing money and recruits to foreign terrorist groups.

U.S. District Judge Ursula Ungaro imposed the maximum possible sentence Friday on 27-year-old Mohamed Said. He admitted in May that he conspired to support to Africa's violent al-Shabaab organization and al-Qaida affiliates in Syria and elsewhere.

Said's attorney had sought a more lenient eight-year sentence because Said never plotted directly against the U.S. But Ungaro said terrorist groups he supported have an avowed intent to attack the U.S.

Said and co-defendant Gufran Mohammed were arrested in 2013 in Saudi Arabia in a case that evolved from FBI monitoring of Internet chat rooms frequented by Islamic extremists. Mohammed is already serving a 15-year prison sentence.