U.S. Indicts Texas Muslim Charity

[abu afak]

U.S. indicts Muslim charity on terror charges

Ashcroft to outline case against Texas group, individuals
From Terry Frieden
CNN
Tuesday, July 27, 2004 Posted: 1:41 PM EDT (1741 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. authorities planned to announce Tuesday charges against a Texas-based Muslim charity and seven individuals on charges related to financing terrorism, law enforcement sources said.

U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft was expected to provide details later Tuesday of the indictment against the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development and the seven individuals.

Officials said the indictments by a Dallas, Texas, grand jury will name as defendants figures associated with the charity, which was virtually shut down by federal authorities who seized the organization's assets two years ago.

According to The Associated Press, the indictment includes a count or counts of conspiracy, providing support to an international terrorist organization, conspiracy to deal in the property of a terrorist, and dealing in the property of a specially designated terrorist.

The indictment also alleges money-laundering, conspiracy to impede an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service and filing false tax returns, the AP reported.

Among the men charged were Shukri Abu Baker, the foundation's former chief executive, according to the AP.

Federal authorities said five of the seven indicted persons were arrested early Tuesday in Texas, New Jersey, and California. The two others are believed to be overseas, but authorities declined to be more specific.

Authorities have accused Holy Land Foundation of operating as a front for Hamas, a Palestinian Islamic fundamentalist organization that the United States and Israel call an international terrorist organization. The group operates an extensive social services network in the Palestinian territories.

Within weeks after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, an FBI investigation identified Holy Land Foundation as the source of financial support for Hamas, and for family members of suicide bombers.

The government then froze the charity's assets, and courts have upheld the action.

On Monday, however, lawyers for Holy Land sent a formal complaint against the FBI to the Justice Department inspector general demanding an investigation into the FBI for distorting facts and falsifying evidence. A spokesman for the inspector general Tuesday confirmed receipt of correspondence

http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/07/27/holy.land.indictment/

[abu afak]

Guilty: Hamas & Holy Land
Arutz Sheva ^ | Aug 01, '04 | Gary Fitleberg


The Holy Land Foundation is contributing to terrorism in the Middle East and internationally. According to the Associated Press, the alleged Muslim charity was charged in the United States with funding Arab terrorist organization Hamas.

Hamas, of course, denied taking any money from the Holy Land Foundation, a major American Muslim charity. The Foundation, charged with providing millions of dollars to the Arab "Palestinian" Islamist extremist, fanatical, fundamentalist terrorist group, has accused President George W. Bush's administration of using the case to help in Bush's re-election bid.

President George W. Bush need not use a case with clearly documented evidence to help his re-election campaign. He just needs to show he is tough on terrorism. All terrorists.

Al-Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, as well as the Palestinian Authority (formerly known as the Palestine Liberation Organization) and its Fatah-led subsidiary terrorist organizations, sometimes called militias or "security forces", such as the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Force 17 and Tanzim.

"Hamas did not take any penny from the Holy Land Foundation," Moussa Abu Marzouk, a member of the political bureau of Hamas, told the Associated Press in Damascus. "Hamas has its own means of funding that is not connected with any institution in the West."

Surely we can trust in the word of terrorists in Hamas for honesty.

"The reason for putting the Holy Land Foundation on trial is no doubt an election issue," Abu Marzouk said. "Bush wants to appear before the American public [showing] that he is successful in fighting terrorism."

Terrorists don't like those who are tough on terrorism, apparently.

Hamas, which has carried out numerous homicide bombings in Israel, is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and Israel. However, it is viewed by many Arabs as a group fighting for Arab "Palestinian" rights.

A 42-count indictment, returned by a federal grand jury in Dallas, Texas, on Tuesday, 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 US government froze the charity's assets in December 2001. The indictment in the United States charges that Holy Land provided financial aid to the terrorist group Hamas as far back as 1988.

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. Five of the seven defendants were arrested while two of them, Maghawri and Akram Mishal, are not in the United States and are considered fugitives, according to US Attorney General John Ashcroft. The US attorney general said the foundation gave money to the families of Hamas terrorists killed and jailed by Israel.

On Monday, the foundation filed a complaint with the inspector general of the US Justice Department and asked for an investigation, because, it claimed, the FBI fabricated its case.

Abou Marzouk said it was "strange" that a licensed institution and its employees are accused of links to terrorists. "It used to send money to social institutions inside [so-called "Palestinian" territories] and they are institutions which helped the [Arab] Palestinian people," he said, noting that the foundation was legal in the eyes of US and Israeli authorities in the past.

Hamas is a licensed institution for murder and mayhem. Marzouk is one of the main men of Hamas. Or, as they say, he has "a license to kill."

Marzouk, a mouthpiece for the mob, and mastermind of murder and mayhem, oddly didn't try the old trick of bringing up a distinction between the "military" wing and the "political' wing of Hamas, as has often been the case in the past.

Hamas has claimed to be the beneficiary of relief to refugees, with clothing, food, and shelter. Holy Land claims to be the largest US Muslim charity. It has insisted that its money went only for relief to refugees, orphans and disaster victims. Hamas and the Holy Land Foundation are founded on hatred, incitement, terrorism and violence.

Thanks to terrorism, tougher laws are turning the tide to end terror once and for all. Hamas and the Holy Land Foundation can't hide the reality and truth forever.

There is an old saying, you can fool some of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time. This time, the terrorists got caught.