Ex-University of Alabama student sentenced for concealing funding to Al Qaeda

Former University of Alabama student Alaa Mohd Abusaad on Thursday was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison for concealing funding to Al Qaeda.

As a college student, Abusaad studied geology/earth science and was president of the Muslim Student Association, the student newspaper The Crimson White wrote after she was indicted in 2018.

She was 22 at the time of her indictment, and she was last enrolled at the University of Alabama in the 2017-2018 school year. She pleaded guilty to "concealment of terrorism financing" in 2019.

From February to April 2018 Abusaad told an undercover FBI agent how to donate money to the terrorists. She told the agent that money "is always needed," according to a Department of Justice press release. "You can't have a war without weapons. You can't prepare a soldier without equipment."

Abusaad advised the agent on how to send money without being detected by law enforcement by, for example, using fake names and addresses for electronic money transfers, according to the DOJ.

She even connected the FBI agent with a person to facilitate the funding to "brothers that work with aq," meaning Al Qaeda, officials said.

After finishing her prison sentence, Abusaad will face 10 years of supervised release.

The maximum penalty she faced for concealing terrorism funding was 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and a life term of supervised release, the DOJ previously stated.