The story on Alpha News is horrifying:
Islamic center writes ‘community support letter’ for Somali immigrant convicted of raping a 12-year-old.
The convicted felon is one Qalinle Ibrahim Dirie, age 42, convicted on a feloy rape charge and due to be imprisoned until 2033.
The Islamic center is Al-Ihsan of St. Paul. Alpha News quotes the letter as saying:
We, the undersigned members of the Somali community, write this letter to express our strong and heartfelt support for Qalinle Dirie, a member of our community.
The name and address for the center, as listed on the letterhead, rang a bell.
In the prosecution’s exhibit list for the first Feeding Our Future courtroom trial held in 2024, the name Al-Ihsan, and the Minnehaha address in St. Paul, appears some 25 times. Two of the exhibits listed for the courtroom trial include Al-Ihsan’s banking records.
It turns out that the Al-Ihsan center served as a food distribution site under the sponsorship of the nonprofit Partners in Nutrition (d/b/a Partners in Quality Care) as part of the Empire Cuisine vendor network.
In the exhibit list, the Al-Ihsan name appears in conjunction with the names of several defendants later convicted in the sprawling free-food scandal.
Neither Al-Ihsan itself, nor anyone associated with the center, have been accused of any wrongdoing in the Feeding Our Future case.
It’s a small world, after all.