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WILLMAR — A Willmar woman has been convicted and sentenced in a 2017 case in which she was accused of sharing sexual images of another person without consent, often called revenge porn.
Sahra Abdilahi Ahmed, 26, was sentenced June 6 in Kandiyohi County District Court to a stay of imposition of sentence on a felony conviction of nonconsensual dissemination of private sexual images with the intent to harass.
Ahmed was convicted of three charges in a court trial in February, but she was not sentenced on two similar charges.
Ahmed was accused of posting the same image of a woman engaged in oral sex with a man. It was posted on several social media platforms. The woman’s face was identifiable in the photo. Ahmed was also accused of vulgar taunts aimed at the woman on social media.
If Ahmed completes all the requirements of four years of probation set by Judge Stephanie Beckman, the charge will be reduced to a misdemeanor on her record.
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Ahmed was ordered to complete 16 hours of community service weekly during the entire time of her probation. The community service could be waived by her probation agent if she is employed, in school or has other structured time that is consistent throughout the week.
She was ordered to pay $140 in fines and court fees.
Ahmed was ordered to serve two 30-day stints in jail beginning Dec. 15, 2023, and Dec.
15, 2024. The jail time may be waived by her probation agent if she is in school or working.
Other conditions include writing a letter of apology, remaining law-abiding, participating in victim/offender mediation if the victim is willing. Otherwise, she is to have no contact with the victim. If they are in the same public place, she is to make no eye contact and remain 50 feet away.
Ahmed was first charged in October 2017. The charges against Ahmed were dismissed twice by Beckman, and both dismissals were appealed. A ruling by the Minnesota Supreme Court sent it back to Kandiyohi County for a third time.
In May 2018, the judge ruled there was no probable cause to bring the charges.
Prosecutors appealed, and the Minnesota Court of Appeals decided in December 2018 that the ruling was in error and returned the case to the district court.
Ahmed appealed that decision to the Minnesota Supreme Court, which did not accept it for review.
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When the case returned to Kandiyohi County District Court, an earlier constitutional challenge to the law was considered.
In August 2019, Beckman dismissed the charges, ruling that the law prohibiting nonconsensual sharing of sexual images was “unconstitutionally overbroad.”
Days later, that ruling was appealed. The Court of Appeals agreed the statute was unconstitutional and upheld the dismissal of the charges.
An appeal of that ruling to the Minnesota Supreme Court was put on hold while the court ruled on another case challenging the statute.
The Supreme Court ruled in February 2021 that the act of sharing intimate images without permission “presents a grave threat to everyday Minensotans whose lives are affected by the single click of a button.”
The government is allowed to limit First Amendment protections as long as it’s done narrowly “to protect the lives of its citizens.”
The Supreme Court ruling sent the case back to the district court again.
