[wvns] Holy Land Foundation On Trial in Texas
Ex-U.S. diplomat testifies on behalf of Holy Land
By JASON TRAHAN / jtrahan @ dallasnews.com
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
The Dallas Morning News
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/090507dnmetholyland.9f870791.html
A witness who was formerly the State Department's
second-highest-ranking intelligence official testified Tuesday that he
had no knowledge that the Palestinian charity committees the Holy Land
Foundation is accused of illegally funding were controlled by Hamas.
But on cross-examination, Edward Abington, a retired U.S. consul
general in Jerusalem, testified that he was not aware specifically who
was in charge of the committees.
Mr. Abington, who also worked as a paid adviser for the Palestinian
Authority, was the first defense witness to be called after the
government rested its case last week.
He told jurors that while working as consul general in Jerusalem from
1993 to 1997, he observed the effects of the harsh Israeli military
occupation on the Palestinian people, whom the Holy Land Foundation
was trying to help.
The former Richardson charity and five of its former organizers are
accused of sending millions of dollars to Palestinian charity
committees, which government witnesses have testified are controlled
by Hamas. The committees used the money to distribute humanitarian
aid, but supporting Hamas in any way became illegal in 1995 when the
U.S. declared the group a terrorist organization.
Countering government witnesses who say the charity committees are
filled with Hamas operatives, Mr. Abington described them as being
staffed by "pious Muslims."
He said that they gather religious contributions, known as zakat, and
help the needy in various ways, including "buying a cow, setting up a
small business or giving money so that people can buy food."
More than a quarter of the 3.5 million Palestinian refugees under
Israeli military occupation are in need of food assistance, he testified.
Mr. Abington also testified about key chains and posters lauding Hamas
suicide bombers that were found inside some zakat offices by the
Israeli military. The government says the propaganda is evidence of
the groups' terrorist affiliations.
Mr. Abington said that such propaganda is "plastered all over light
posts and in people's offices" in the West Bank and Gaza. It does "not
necessarily mean the person supported that political party," he said.
"These are seen as signs of resistance to the Israeli occupation" in
general, he said.
Mr. Abington said that the Israeli roundup that included the
suspicious posters, key chains and financial documents, which are key
to the Justice Department's case, were considered by the State
Department to be "a propaganda exercise by the Israelis to undermine
the Palestinian Authority."
The Israelis "seized tens of thousands of pages," he testified. "You
don't know where they came from, how they are related to each other.
If you are an American analyst, you can't rely on those documents as
showing a true picture."
On cross-examination, prosecutor Barry Jonas suggested that Mr.
Abington left his Jerusalem post at the State Department because he
had become too biased toward the Palestinians – a charge the former
envoy denied.
Mr. Abington told Mr. Jonas that his firm was paid $750,000 when it
began lobbying for the Palestinian government in 1999, and received
$650,000 annually for the next six years.
Mr. Abington quit advising the Palestinian Authority about the time
Hamas won a majority of seats in parliamentary elections last year.
Mr. Abington said he opposes Hamas, whose members he called "radical
fundamentalists."
Defense attorneys have argued that none of the zakat committees Holy
Land gave money to are listed on U.S. terrorist lists.
Under questioning by Mr. Jonas, Mr. Abington said that it's illegal
for anyone in the U.S. to support any group, including charities, that
are connected to Hamas – even if they are not specifically designated
on American terrorist lists.
The defense case is expected to last several weeks. Several witnesses
are expected to testify about the moderate views of Holy Land's
organizers and the need for their assistance overseas.
===
Professor challenges government testimony in Holy Land trial
By JASON TRAHAN - jtrahan @ dallasnews.com
The Dallas Morning News
Monday, September 10, 2007
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/091107dnmetholyland.bf01114a.html
A Middle Eastern expert testifying Monday on behalf of the Holy Land
Foundation defendants questioned the reliability of a star government
witness, an Israeli government agent who testified under a pseudonym.
Nathan Brown, a political science and international affairs professor
at George Washington University, told jurors Monday that the testimony
of "Avi," a Shin Bet counterterrorism analyst and attorney, lacked
"social and political context."
Also Online
Read previous DMN stories about the Holy Land Foundation case
"Avi" testified last month that the zakat, or charity committees, to
which Holy Land sent millions of dollars were staffed by Hamas
members. The former Richardson charity and five of its former
organizers are on trial accused of supporting Hamas, a terrorist
group, through these charities.
But Dr. Brown, an expert on Middle Eastern charities, told jurors that
"Avi" relied too much on a questionable cache of documents seized by
the Israeli military and Middle Eastern press accounts to draw his
conclusions.
"His lack of political and historical background would not allow him
to approach press accounts with a critical eye," Dr. Brown testified.
Dr. Brown also bolstered the testimony last week of defense witness
Edward Abington, former U.S. consul general in Jerusalem, who
testified that posters lauding suicide bombers and Hamas, found in the
possession of zakat committees, were hardly evidence of the
committees' terrorist ties.
"I was struck that every blank wall was plastered with posters of
martyrs," Dr. Brown testified Monday, recalling a trip he made to the
region in 2000. Holy Land is accused of illegally sending money
between 1995 and 2001, when it was shut down by U.S. authorities.
Dr. Brown also challenged "Avi's" testimony that stated the presence
of Hamas members or sympathizers on zakat committee boards was
evidence they were controlled by terrorists.
"Hamas at this point is a party with broad popular support," said Dr.
Brown, referencing Hamas candidates' victories in last year's
Palestinian elections. "These zakat committees are not
administrative-heavy groups. Their job is to collect money, certify
need and give it out. It's not an institution where a director would
have much latitude as to what the zakat is doing."
Under cross examination, Dr. Brown acknowledged that he was not an
expert on terrorism and has only studied certain aspects of Hamas.
"I'm in the process of becoming one," Dr. Brown testified, when asked
by prosecutor Nathan Garrett if he was a Hamas expert. He said he was
working on a book on the subject.
When asked his personal opinion of Hamas, Dr. Brown said, "I think
they're leading the Palestinians into disaster." He then characterized
Hamas as "an organization that engages in terrorism, but that's not
all they do."
===
Read the archives of the HLF trial news:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/longterm/stories/071607dnmethlfarchive.7bf9ee89.html
===
Muslim Charity Trial Wraps Up in Texas
By DAVID KOENIG
The Associated Press
Monday, September 17, 2007
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/17/AR2007091700454_2.html
DALLAS -- The Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development used
charity as a cover to finance international terrorism, a federal
prosecutor said Monday in closing arguments in the case against the group.
Prosecutors said Holy Land officials worked with the Palestinian
militant group Hamas to target aid to families of suicide bombers and
militants jailed in Israel.
"The HLF was helping Hamas take care of its own," said prosecutor
Barry Jonas, who summed up the government's case after two months of
testimony in federal court.
Defense attorney Nancy Hollander said prosecutors built their case on
the word of one Israeli official who testified under a false name, and
showed the jury only selective evidence.
"Who is it that's being deceptive?" she asked jurors. "Do you really
trust the government?"
The government shut down the Texas-based group in December 2001 and
its assets were seized. The group and five of its former leaders are
on trial on charges of aiding terrorists, conspiracy and money laundering.
Closing arguments are expected to finish Wednesday, and the case will
go to the jury.
Prosecutors say Holy Land funneled more than $12 million to
Palestinian schools and charities controlled by Hamas after the U.S.
government declared Hamas a terrorist group in 1995, which made
supporting it illegal.
Jonas played several videotapes in a bid to use the defendants' own
words against them.
One, he said, showed people singing pro-Hamas songs at a Holy Land
fundraiser. Another captured one defendant, former Holy Land chairman
Mohammed El-Mezain, urging force to remove Jews from former Arab lands
in Gaza and the West Bank.
"The Intifada has risen so that the people as a whole return to Jihad
and Palestine returns, from the (Jordan) river to the (Mediterranean)
sea," El Mezain said on the tape.
Jonas said the comments showed the defendants' desire to finance
Hamas, which calls for the elimination of Israel.
Jonas showed the jury bank records detailing millions in money
transfers from Holy Land to Palestinian charities called zakat
committees. The Israeli official, who testified under the pseudonym
"Avi" at the Israeli government's request, had said that Hamas members
were among the leaders of each zakat.
Hollander countered that Holy Land was "a real charity" that helped
"the desperately poor people of Palestine." She pointed to a 2003
report by a United Nations agency that said Holy Land and three other
charities provided food to about one-fourth of the Palestinian population.
Hollander said there was no evidence that the zakat committees funded
by Holy Land were controlled by Hamas, and said none have ever been
listed by the U.S. government as terrorist organizations. She also
took square aim at the witness who said the zakats were controlled by
Hamas, the Israeli known only as Avi.
"What this really comes down to is, 'What did Avi say?'" she said.
Defense attorneys called a retired U.S. consul general in Jerusalem,
Edward Abington, who testified that he had been privy to CIA briefings
but never heard that the Holy Land-backed zakat committees were under
Hamas control.
If the defendants are found guilty and the jury determines their
actions resulted in deaths, the men could face up to life in prison.
In addition to El-Mezain, the other defendants are former Holy Land
chief executive Shukri Abu Baker, former chairman Ghassan Elashi,
former fundraiser Mufid Abdulqader, and Abdulrahman Odeh, the group's
representative in New Jersey.
Two other men named in the indictment were never arrested and are
believed to be in the Middle East.
===
Hungry for Justice
Coverage of the Holy Land Foundation Trial
The Hungry for Justice
is a coalition of national civil & legal rights organizations working
at the grassroots level to ensure that the defendants in the Holy Land
Foundation Trial receive a fair trial.
Please visit the website for the latest updates and information about
this High Profile Legal Case. Also, visit the video links and other
related blogs.
Please support your brothers who are facing this extreme hardship and
rememebr that a Muslim does not let down his brothers in Islam when
facing calamity and hardships.
Please remember that standing up for justice and hardship situations
like these is the ultimate humanity and morality.
We are requesting each person to support these extensive efforts
with an immediate $100.00
Please click here to support your brothers now
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https://mmm1909.dulles19-verio.com/musli6/donation.php
Please encourage others to do the same and earn similar rewards from
Allah (swt)
Hungry for Justice / MLFA
2701 W. 15th St. Suite# 640 - Plano, TX
===
CAIR-TX ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF 'HUNGRY FOR JUSTICE' COALITION
(DALLAS, TX 7/16/2007) - The Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of the Council
on American Islamic Relations (CAIR-DFW) today announced the launching
of the "Hungry for Justice" Coalition, a national coalition of Muslim
and non-Muslim organizations calling for justice in the Holy Land
Foundation (HLF) trial.
The coalition was launched at a rally yesterday at the Plano Civic
Center in Plano, Texas, attended by some 600 people and a dozen
national speakers.
The HLF trial opening statements are set to begin Monday, July 23,
2007 with jury selection starting today.
CONTACT: CAIR-DFW Executive Director Mustafaa Carroll, 972-241-7233
===
TX: AS MUSLIM GROUP GOES ON TRIAL, OTHER CHARITIES WATCH WARILY
Neil MacFarquhar
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/17/us/17charity.html
The strained argument between the United States government and
nonprofit groups over how to deal with charities suspected of
supporting terrorism is expected to play out in federal court here
with the trial of the largest Muslim charity in this country, the Holy
Land Foundation for Relief and Development.
The government, in the lengthy indictment and other court documents,
accuses the foundation of being an integral part of Hamas, which much
of the West condemns as a terrorist organization. The prosecution
maintains that the main officers of the Holy Land foundation started
the organization to generate charitable donations from the United
States that ultimately helped Hamas thrive.
The defense argues that the government, lacking proof, has simply
conjured up a vast conspiracy by claiming that the foundation
channeled money through public charity committees in the occupied
territories that it knew Hamas controlled. The federal government, the
defense says, has never designated these committees as terrorist
organizations.
The defense is expected to liken a donation to the Holy Land
foundation to one to a Roman Catholic charity in Northern Ireland that
ends up helping poor Irish Republican Army sympathizers.
The case is being closely watched by a large number of charitable
organizations, as well as Muslim-Americans, because its outcome might
well help determine the line separating legitimate giving from the
financing of banned organizations.
Critics of government policy say the Office of Terrorism and Financial
Intelligence at the Treasury Department has gone too far in using
often secret evidence to condemn charities. The process unfairly
destroys them, the critics say, though not one American charity itself
has been convicted of supporting terrorism since the practice started
in 2001. Some individual officers have gone to jail.
These critics say that in its zeal to prosecute, the government has
lost sight of the fact that the charities were delivering millions of
dollars to the poor and to victims of disasters.
They also say that undermining charities on the basis of little or no
public evidence tarnishes the United States' reputation among Muslims
globally, effectively helping the very groups the policy is supposed
to subvert. . .
For American Muslims, whose religion stipulates that they give 2.5
percent of their annual income to charity, the shuttering of so many
of their organizations without a hearing smacks of discrimination.
*********************************************************************
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