[wvns] Popular singer arrested for 'Hamas ties'

A Farmington Hills man arrested last week for alleged ties to a Hamas-linked charity is a well-known singer in the Muslim world.

Farmington Hills man with alleged terrorist ties is popular Muslim singer
By Niraj Warikoo and Cecil Angel
Jan. 25, 2010
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100125/NEWS05/100125044/1322/Man-with-alleged-terrorist-ties-is-popular-singer&template=fullarticle

Mohamad Mustapha Ali Masfaka, 47, often known as Abu Ratib, sings frequently to Muslim and Arab audiences in the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East, his attorney Doraid Elder said today. Local Muslims say that Ratib is well known for his singing, especially for Islamic religious songs known as nasheed. He is to be arraigned today in Detroit.

Born in Syria, Ratib was arrested by federal agents last week. An indictment was unsealed Friday that charges him with attempted naturalization fraud, making false statements to FBI investigators and immigration officials, and perjury. Federal officials say he misled investigators who were probing the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, a Muslim charity based in Texas that was convicted in 2008 of helping to fund Hamas.

The U.S. government contends that Ratib sang at Holy Land events and received a check from the charity for his help. They also say he referenced Hamas in some of his performances.

According to federal investigators, Masfaka was employed by Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development in 1997 and 1998 and ran the group's operations in the Detroit area including organizing and participating in fund-raising events.

The group gave money to the Islamic Resistance Movement, known as Hamas, investigators said. The U.S. government considers it a terrorist group.

In 2002, Masfaka failed to mention his employment with the Holy Land Foundation in an application for naturalization with the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

In 2003, he told FBI agents he only worked for the group as a singer for fund-raising events but never received compensation.

However, investigators uncovered cashed checks showing that Masfaka's role was more extensive than he admitted and that he had been paid for his work.

Masfaka was arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection when he attempted to reenter the United States from Canada via the Ambassador Bridge.

But his attorney, Elder, said that Ratib did not lie to investigators and was open with them about his singing at Holy Land fund-raisers.

"He was as cooperative as he could be," Elder said.

Elder said he doesn't know what Ratib sang about exactly, but regardless, he said that Ratib's singing is free speech and protected under the First Amendment.

Ratib has been written about in Muslim publications. In an April 2006 article in IslamOnline.net, Ratib is described as a Muslim singer who uses his "talent to promote the tolerant message of Islam and tune down the noise of misconceptions and stereotypes."

Ratib is quoted as saying, "Religious songs have become the best tool to serve our faith."

The negative image of Islam after the Sept. 11 attacks, he said, "makes it incumbent upon us Muslims to craft out new ideas and tools to introduce the merciful, tolerant teachings of our religion."

The article said Ratib was a member of the Canton-based Crescent Academy International, a school.

The case of the Holy Land Foundation charity was closely watched by terrorism experts because of a memo produced during the trial that said the Muslim Brotherhood called for "a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and sabotaging its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God's religion is made victorious over all other religions."

Elder said the government's case against Ratib "is a stretch."

He said that Ratib never worked for the Holy Land Foundation, and was not aware of any terrorist support.

"If I thought he was a terrorist, or a terrorist supporter, I would in no way be representing him," Elder said.

Contact NIRAJ WARIKOO: nwarikoo@freepress.com.

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