ROCKFORD, Ill. (AP) — The daughter of an Illinois woman who is one of six Bosnian immigrants accused of supporting extremist groups said her mother has been falsely accused.
Sejla Ramic said her mother, 42-year-old Jasminka Ramic, doesn’t stand with terrorism and would never send money to a terrorist organization. Sejla Ramic said whoever assumed her mother would do so is mistaken.
“This is a false accusation,” Sejla Ramic told WREX-TV (http://bit.ly/1DVoaxR ). “When we heard the news, we were so shocked at how someone could say such things.”
Jasminka Ramic and the other suspects are accused of sending money and military equipment to the Islamic State group and Nusra Front, an al-Qaida-affiliated rebel group.
An indictment unsealed Friday in U.S. District Court in St. Louis alleges that they plotted by phone, Facebook and email; shared videos and photos related to their plans on social media sites; sent money via PayPal and Western Union; and shipped boxes of military gear through the U.S. Postal Service.
The defendants are accused of donating money themselves and, in some cases, collecting funds from others in the U.S. and sending the donations overseas. All are charged with conspiring to provide and providing material support to groups designated by the U.S. as foreign terrorist organizations.
Along with Ramic, who lives in Rockford, the indictment names Mediha Medy Salkicevic, 34, of Schiller Park, Illinois; Nihad Rosic, 26, of Utica, New York; Armin Harcevic, 37, of St. Louis County, Missouri; and Ramiz Zijad Hodzic, 40, and his wife, Sedina Unkic Hodzic, 35, also of St. Louis County. Online court records do not list defense attorneys for any of the defendants.
WREX-TV reports the Ramics were in Germany and unaware of the indictment until a reporter contacted them. It’s unclear if Jasminka Ramic has been arrested or has a lawyer.
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Information from: WREX-TV.
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Well given that case against her mother…she’d better come up with something a bit better than lame denial.
The continuing belief of reporters that protestations of innocence from close blood relatives are newsworthy never fails to disgust me. For cripes sake, of course they do. There’s no point exposing them to public scorn and derision.
Close relatives who say a suspect is guilty–now that’s news.
This kind of nonsense does not help the Muslim cause. If every Muslim accused (and found guilty) of terrorist sympathies was gauged by their relatives protestations then they just suddenly went mad with no warning. They essentially reversed polarity. If this is the case then all Muslims are to be viewed with suspicion.
If these people are found to have done this the should be deported to ISIS controlled Syria. There has to be a ‘reward’ for supporting this scum.