Holy Land Foundation - Formerly largest Muslim Charity in U.S. Convicted of Funneling Money to Hamas
Quoted from http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-11-24-charity_N.htm?csp=34#uslPageReturn:
Islamic charity leaders guilty of aiding Hamas
By Donna Leinwand, USA TODAY Five leaders of the Holy Land Foundation, once the nation's largest Muslim charity, were convicted Monday in Dallas of supporting the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
Prosecutors said the foundation, based in Richardson, Texas, sent more than $12 million to Hamas-run schools, hospitals and social welfare programs in Palestinian territories.
A jury convicted the group and its officers of all 108 charges, including money laundering, conspiracy, supporting a terrorist group and tax fraud, in one of the largest terrorism financing trials since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
"Today's verdicts are important milestones in America's efforts against financiers of terrorism," said Patrick Rowan, assistant attorney general for national security. "This prosecution demonstrates our resolve to ensure that humanitarian relief efforts are not used as a mechanism to disguise and enable support for terrorist groups."
Linda Moreno, an attorney for Ghassan Elashi, who served as Holy Land's chairman, said Elashi and the other officers will appeal.
"We continue to believe in our client's innocence," Moreno said. "We accept the jury's verdict, but we think it was mistaken."
Elashi will appeal the use of testimony from an anonymous Israeli security services agent, Moreno said.
"This prosecution was a win-at-all-costs contest for them," Moreno said.
Lawyers for the Holy Land officers argued during the trial that the group simply gave charity to Palestinians and others in need.
"No one here is engaging in acts of terrorism," Theresa Duncan, attorney for the charity's chief executive, Shukri Abu Baker, said at the trial.
A sentencing date has not been set. Money laundering carries a maximum of 20 years in prison for each conviction. Supporting a terrorist organization has up to a 15-year sentence on each count.
The U.S. in 1995 designated Hamas a terrorist organization and said its schools and other social service programs support terrorist ideology and serve as recruiting grounds for suicide bombers. It is illegal for Americans and U.S. groups to support designated terrorist organizations.
President Bush linked Holy Land to the "war on terrorism" when the U.S. Treasury froze the charity's assets and federal agents raided its offices in December 2001.
A grand jury first indicted Holy Land's officers in July 2004. That case ended in a mistrial in October 2007.
Contributing: The Associated Press
