A CNN report Wednesday identified accused Somali war criminal Yusuf Abdi Ali as a resident of the United States—and a security guard at Dulles International Airport, to boot. Ali was a commander under the brutal dictatorship of Mohamed Siad Barre instituted by military coup in 1969 but has been a resident of the U.S. for the past two decades.
The Center for Justice and Accountability brought a civil suit against Ali 10 years ago, alleging he committed horrific war crimes during the ensuing Somali Civil War. According to CNN, the case could be taken up by the Supreme Court and would become “a landmark case over whether foreigners living in the U.S. can be held accountable for crimes allegedly committed overseas.” Lawyers for the CJA estimate there are at least 1,000 international war criminals, immigrants to the U.S., passing as ordinary Americans today.
In the 1980s, Ali personally tortured individuals and led the mass execution of the Isaaq clan in northwestern Somalia. When the Barre regime fell, Ali fled to Canada, and when a documentary exposing him as a war criminal resulted in his deportation, he moved to Virginia. His wife had managed to become a U.S. citizen by fraudulently claiming refugee status—she said she belonged to the Isaaq clan—and secured him a visa.
Since then, Ali has lived and worked in Virginia for nearly twenty years—entrusted daily with the safety and security of countless international travelers in close proximity to the nation’s capital.
