ST. PAUL, Minn. – Two women from Rochester, Minnesota pleaded not guilty Monday to federal charges of supporting the Somali terrorist group al-Shabaab.

The indictment alleges women and others went door-to-door in Minneapolis, Rochester and elsewhere in the U.S. and Canada to raise funds for al-Shabaab’s operations in Somalia. The indictment says the women raised the money under false pretenses, claiming it would go to the poor and needy, and used fake names for recipients to conceal that the money was going to al-Shabaab.

The indictment alleges Ali and Hassan also raised money by making direct appeals to people in teleconferences “in which they and other speakers encouraged financial contributions to support violent jihad in Somalia.”

During one teleconference, the indictment says, Ali told others “to forget about the other charities” and focus on “the Jihad.”

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