Mogadishu, Somalia – On Monday, a Somali military court sentenced Fartun Abdirashid Hussein, the wife of Somalia’s ISIS-Somalia leader, Abdulkadir Mumin, to eight years in military prison. Fartun, who also went by the aliases Fa’iso, Asiyo, and Faysa, was arrested by security forces in March 2022 for being a member of the ISIS group and facilitating its finances.
She was apprehended in Mogadishu’s Hilwaa district, near the livestock market. According to Somali security, she had a close relationship with the head of ISIS’s media department in Somalia and the recently killed leader Bilal al-Sudani.
The court acknowledged that Fartun was responsible for hosting ISIS-Somalia members hiding in Mogadishu and was accused of sending financial support, ranging from $100 to $200, to active ISIS members.
Fartun’s husband, Abdulkadir Mumin, is a former UK-based preacher and ex-Al-Shabaab theological leader who founded ISIS-Somalia in 2015 after declaring his allegiance to the Islamic State.
Fartun’s sentence serves as a warning to those who support and finance terrorism in Somalia and serves as a sign of the country’s commitment to combatting the spread of violent extremism.