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New York Times - July 27, 2004
Muslim charity charged in U.S. with funding Hamas
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Texas-based Muslim charity and seven of its directors and fundraisers have been charged with supporting the militant Palestinian group Hamas and with money laundering and conspiracy. A federal grand jury in Dallas returned the 42 charges against the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development and the seven men in an indictment unsealed on Tuesday.
Holy Land Foundation, which once called itself the largest U.S.-based Muslim charity, was shut down when the U.S. government seized its assets after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. On Dec. 4, 2001, the Treasury Department designated the charity a terrorist group and froze its assets because it said the foundation funneled millions of dollars to Hamas. The United States designated Hamas a terrorist group in 1995.
The group appealed the designation and freezing of assets, but it was upheld in court.
In addition to the charity, the indictment charged Shukri Abu Baker, Mohammad el-Mezain, Ghassan Elashi, Haitham Maghawri, Akram Mishal, Mufid Abdulqader and Abdulraham Odeh. Elashi and four of his brothers were convicted earlier this month in Texas for falsifying documents and making illegal shipments of computer equipment to Syria and Libya. Elashi also faces a second trial on charges that he and two brothers sent money to Hamas. The indictment accused Abu Baker, el-Mezain and Elashi of creating Holy Land in 1988 to provide financial and material support to Hamas.
It said the charity sponsored orphans and needy families in the West Bank and Gaza.
``While the program was mantled with a benevolent appearance, the (Holy Land Foundation) specifically sought orphans and families whose relatives had died or were jailed as a result of furthering Hamas' violent campaign, including suicide bombings,'' the indictment said. ``This type of support was critical to Hamas' efforts to win the hearts and minds of the Palestinian people and to create an infrastructure solidifying Hamas' presence.''
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-security-holyland.html
New York Times - July 27, 2004
U.S. Indicts Muslim Charity in Texas
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A major American Muslim charity and seven of its officers were charged Tuesday with providing millions of dollars in support to Hamas, a Palestinian terrorist organization blamed for dozens of suicide bomber attacks in Israel.
The 42-count indictment, returned by a federal grand jury in Dallas, alleges that the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development provided more than $12.4 million to individuals and organizations linked to Hamas from 1995 to 2001. The U.S. government froze the charity's assets in December 2001.
The indictment names the foundation along with its president, Shukri Abu Baker; chairman, Ghassan Elashi; executive director, Haitham Maghawri; and four others. The charges include conspiracy, providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, tax evasion and money laundering.
``To those who exploit good hearts to secretly fund violence and murder, this prosecution sends a clear message: There is no distinction between those who carry out terrorist attacks and those who knowingly finance terrorist attacks,'' Attorney General John Ashcroft said at a news conference to announce charges.
Noting that a number of Americans have been Hamas victims, Ashcroft said, ``Today, a U.S.-based charity that claims to do good works is charged with funding the works of evil.''
The attorney general said the foundation gave money to the families of Hamas terrorists killed and jailed by Israel. ``In this manner, the defendants effectively rewarded past, and encouraged future suicide bombings and terrorist activities on behalf of Hamas.''
On Monday (July 26, 2004), the foundation filed a complaint with the inspector general of the Justice Department and asked for an investigation because it claimed the FBI fabricated its case.
Holy Land, which claims to be the largest U.S. Muslim charity, has been shut down since about $4 million of its assets were frozen by the U.S. government in late 2001. Federal courts have repeatedly rejected Holy Land's appeals to get its assets unfrozen, concluding that the government has sufficient evidence linking the charity to terrorism.
The charity has insisted that its money went only for relief to refugees, orphans and disaster victims. In 2000, it raised about $13 million for what charity officials said were schools and social programs in Palestinian-controlled areas and other mainly Islamic nations.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Holy-Land-Foundation.html
Chicago Tribune – July 27, 2004
Muslim charity in Texas indicted
By CURT ANDERSON
WASHINGTON -- A major American Muslim charity and seven of its officers were charged Tuesday with providing millions of dollars in support to Hamas, a Palestinian terrorist organization blamed for dozens of suicide bomber attacks in Israel.
The 42-count indictment, returned by a federal grand jury in Dallas, alleges that the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development provided more than $12.4 million to individuals and organizations linked to Hamas from 1995 to 2001. The U.S. government froze the charity's assets in December 2001.
The indictment names the foundation along with its president, Shukri Abu Baker; chairman, Ghassan Elashi; executive director, Haitham Maghawri; and four others. The charges include conspiracy, providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, tax evasion and money laundering.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-holy-land-foundation,1,837527.story?coll=chi-news-hed
New York Times - July 27, 2004
Islamic charity says F.B.I. falsified evidence against it
By ERIC LICHTBLAU
WASHINGTON, July 26 - A shuttered Islamic charity in Dallas, accused of being a financial front for Middle East terrorists, charged Monday that the Federal Bureau of Investigation falsified evidence and "fabricated a case" against it in an effort to show that it financed Palestinian suicide-bombers.
The charity, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, brought a formal complaint with the Justice Department inspector general and requested an investigation, saying that the F.B.I. used as the crux of its case a "distorted" and erroneous translation of sensitive Israeli intelligence material. The Holy Land group said it hired an independent translating service in Oregon, which cited 67 discrepancies or errors in translation in a four-page F.B.I. document used in the case.
The F.B.I. and the inspector general's office said they had not yet seen the request for an investigation and could not comment on the specifics of the accusations. But an F.B.I. official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that "our investigation was based on the facts that were developed, and I'm not aware of any concerns expressed with regard to the translations used in the case."
The inspector general recently completed a separate investigation into a former F.B.I. translator's accusations that the bureau failed to address widespread problems in its ability to translate terrorist-related intelligence. That report remains classified, though officials are seeking to release a declassified version.
The Holy Land group was the biggest Islamic charity in the United States before the Bush administration froze its assets after the Sept. 11 attacks, accusing it of using charitable contributions to help finance terrorist activities by Hamas, a Palestinian group that was designated a terrorist organization in 1997.
For Holy Land, a group described by Attorney General John Ashcroft in 2002 as "the North American front for Hamas," the request for a Justice Department investigation represents a last-gasp effort to defend its tattered name and remain in business in the face of a continuing criminal investigation.
"We're one thousand percent confident of our innocence, and we're going to fight as long as we can to get the truth out," Shukri Abu Baker, the foundation's former chief executive, said in an interview on Monday. "It's open season on American Muslims in this country, and that's what really scares me in all this." ….
A federal judge in 2002 refused to reverse the Bush administration order freezing Holy Land's assets, and an appellate court last year upheld that decision, finding that there was "ample evidence" that the group had financial ties to Hamas.
But John Boyd, a lawyer for the foundation, maintained in an interview that the courts relied on secret evidence, including the challenged F.B.I. memorandum, and that Holy Land was never allowed to present a full defense. "The government's case rests on highly questionable evidence, and my hope is that someone in a position of authority is finally going to take a look at what happened here," Mr. Boyd said…..
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/27/politics/27muslim.html
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