OSLO, Norway — A Somali-born Norwegian citizen has pleaded not guilty to charges of sending over $30,000 to top leaders of an al Qaeda-linked Somali militant group.

Norwegian prosecutors indicted the 40-year-old man late last year for collecting at least 200,000 kroner (US$33,000) in Norway and Sweden and sending it to senior commanders of the Islamist group al-Shabab. He cannot be named due to Norway's privacy laws.

The U.S. and several other countries, including Norway, have designated al-Shabab a terrorist organization.

The man's lawyer, Frode Sulland, says his client did not intend to send money to al-Shabab, but to the Islamic Courts Union, a Somali opposition group that was attempting to restore order in the lawless country.

The trial, which began Tuesday, is the first under Norway's 2002 terror financing law.