German gets 3 years imprisonment for al-Shabaab membership

Al-shabab militias

A Mogadishu-born German national was sentenced to two years and 10 months imprisonment by a court in Frankfurt on Friday after being found guilty of membership in the Islamist terrorist organisation al-Shabaab.

Abshir A, a 28-year-old whose name was withheld in line with German privacy rules, was an active member of the group between early 2012 and early 2014.

He left the group due to a physical affliction.

When he wanted to return to Germany, he falsified a document from a Somalian university in order to justify his stay in the east African country, the court found.

He was arrested upon landing at Frankfurt airport in July 2015.

Al-Shabaab is an Islamist militant group that operates in eastern Africa of Somalia and it is affiliated with the al-Qaeda terrorist network. (dpa/NAN)