Controversial data collected from NSA eavesdropping on U.S. citizens may have been used by intelligence officials in order to make a deadly drone strike on Somali militant leader. That’s what the defense is arguing in a California terrorism funding case that’s focused on al Shabaab, the same group that recently carried out a deadly attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi. Four San Diego men of Somali extraction were convicted of conspiracy to finance and support the Somali militant group in February. Now they argue that data illegally collected on one of them was used to justify the lethal strike and want a new trial.
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Lawyers for San Diego resident Basaaly Moalin and three other men want a retrial for their clients who were convicted of conspiracy to aid the militant group in February
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Data collected on Moalin may have led directly to the deadly 2008 drone strike that killed militant leader Aden Hashi Ayrow
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The revelation may reignite questions about the legality of the NSA's use of data collected from American citizens
The militant leader was one of around 30 killed in the strike (aftermath pictured), which lawyers for @placeholder say was justified with illegally obtained intel.