Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development

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The Holy Land Foundation was the largest Islamic charity in the United States. It was formerly known as Occupied Land Fund.[1] It had its assests frozen by the European Union[2] and U.S., and shut down by the U.S. government following accusations of funding Hamas.

The organization's web site stated, "Our mission is to find and implement practical solutions for human suffering through humanitarian programs that impact the lives of the disadvantaged, disinherited, and displaced peoples suffering from man-made and natural disasters." Their primary area of focus was with the Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, and the Palestinian territories. They have also provided support to victims after disasters and wars in Bosnia, Kosovo, Turkey, and in the United States (Iowa floods, Texas tornadoes, and the Oklahoma City bombing).

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[edit] Terrorism charges

In December 2001, the United States Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Asset Control designated Holy Land Foundation as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.[1] while the European Union froze its European Assets.[2]

Among the founders of the Holy Land Foundation is Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook, a political leader of Hamas, who provided substantial funds to the Holy Land Foundation in the early 1990s. In 1994, Marzook (who was named a Specially Designated Terrorist by the Treasury Department in 1995) designated HLF as the primary fund-raising entity for Hamas in the United States. He was deported from the United States to Jordan in 1997. Marzook was indicted on August 20, 2004 by a United States federal grand jury in Chicago, Illinois. He and two other individuals have been charged with a 15 year conspiracy to raise funds for terrorist attacks against Israel.

The Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development was designated (December 4, 2001 and re-designated on May 31, 2002) under Executive Orders 13224[3] and 12947[4] as a charity that provided millions of dollars of material and logistical support to Hamas. HLF, originally known as the Occupied Land Fund, was established in California in 1989 as a tax-exempt charity. In 1992, HLF relocated to Richardson, Texas. It had offices in California, New Jersey, and Illinois, and individual representatives scattered throughout the United States, the West Bank, and Gaza. In the year 2000 alone, HLF raised over $13 million. According to the United States Department of Treasury, HLF had supported Hamas activities through direct fund transfers to its offices in the West Bank and Gaza that are affiliated with Hamas and transfers of funds to Islamic charity committees ("zakat committees") and other charitable organizations that are part of Hamas or controlled by Hamas members. The Department of Treasury also reported that HLF funds were used by Hamas to support schools that served Hamas ends by encouraging children to become suicide bombers and to recruit suicide bombers by offering support to their families. [5]

[edit] Chronology of Events

In December 2001, the assets of the organization were frozen by the FBI and Treasury agents. Treasury officials conceded that a "substantial amount" of the money raised goes to worthy causes, but insisted that Holy Land's primary purpose has been to subsidize Hamas. Repeated appeals to the courts by the Holy Land Foundation to have the freeze lifted have failed.

On July 27, 2004, a federal grand jury in Dallas, Texas, returned a 42 count indictment against the Holy Land Foundation. [6] Charges include: conspiracy, providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, tax evasion and money laundering. The indictment alleges that the Holy Land Foundation provided more than $12.4 million to individuals and organizations linked to Hamas from 1995 to 2001, when their asset were frozen. The indictment also names specific officers of the Holy Land Foundation: president Shukri Abu Baker; chairman, Ghassan Elashi; and executive director, Haitham Maghawri and four others: Mohammad el-Mezain, Akram Mishal, Mufid Abdulqader and Abdulraham Odeh. Five of the seven have been arrested. Maghawri and Mishal have not been found and are considered fugitives.

The Holy Land Foundation explains that members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation falsified evidence and "fabricated a case" against it in an effort to show that it financed Palestinian suicide-bombers. It denies all charges made against it. Evidence being presented by prosecutors includes transcripts of conversations that were taped through the use of warrantless wiretapping. The Holy Land Foundation contends that in the taping of their communications, FBI translators made gross errors, turning what were otherwise unimportant conversations into something more ominous. Additionally, documents produced by Dallas-area activist groups, such as Hungry for Justice, which plans to support the Holy Land Foundation through civil disobedience, were recently found to be in the prosecution's possession before the activists had distributed them.[citation needed]

The Holy Land Foundation goes on to argue that the organizations within Palestine which received money were approved as legitimate by Israel. Among the allegations leveled against the Holy Land Foundation is the assertion that providing financial support to hospitals, schools and food missions in Palestine allowed Hamas to shift focus and concentrate more of its assets on committing acts of violence. Members of the foundation and the groups planning to support them during the trail allege that if the foundation were to lose, it could mean the end of humanitarian aid to Palestine, at least from United States charities.[citation needed]

In December, 2004, a federal judge in the U.S. city of Chicago ruled that the Holy Land Foundation (along with the Islamic Association of Palestine and the Quranic Literacy Institute) was liable for a $156 million dollar lawsuit for aiding and abetting the terror group Hamas in the death of a 17-year-old American citizen called David Boim. [7]

[edit] July 2007 trial

A Holy Land Foundation criminal trial began on Monday, July 23, 2007, at the Earl Cabell Federal Building in Dallas, Texas. On Monday, October 22, 2007, Judge Joe Fish declared a mistrial for the government's case against the charity because jurors were deadlocked. Although 200 combined charges were filed against the defendants, the jurors had acquitted on some counts and were deadlocked on charges ranging from tax violations to providing material support for terrorists. One defendant was acquitted of most of the 32 charges against him. The New York Times reported: " The decision today is “a stunning setback for the government, there’s no other way of looking at it,” said Matthew D. Orwig, a partner at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal here who was, until recently, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas.

“This is a message, a two-by-four in the middle of the forehead,” Mr. Orwig said. “If this doesn’t get their attention, they are just in complete denial,” he said of Justice Department officials, whom he said may not have recognized how difficult such cases are to prosecute."[3]

The Justice Department will retry the case on the charges where the jury reached no verdict.[4][5]

[edit] Evidence introduced as evidence in the trial against the Holy Land Foundation

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Critics faulted much of the evidence given during the trial, some of which consisted of testimony by Israeli agents using pseudonyms. The government did not allege that the foundation paid directly for suicide bombings, but instead alleged that the foundation supported terrorism by sending more than $12 million to charitable groups, known as zakat committees, which build hospitals and feed the poor. The prosecution said the committees were controlled by Hamas and contributed to terrorism by helping Hamas spread its ideology and recruit supporters. [8]

[edit] Mistrial

After 19 days of deliberations, a jury in 2007 were unable to come to a definitive conclusion and the case ended in a mistrial. On Nov. 4, 2007 the LA Times reported: "The nation's biggest terrorism finance case ended so badly for the government that it has thrown into question the Bush administration's original order to shut down the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development six years ago."

Experts found the jury's inability to come to a definitive conclusion evidence of weakness in the government's ability to provide clear enough evidence against the charity.

The LA Times reported: "If the government can shut them down and then not convince a jury the group is guilty of any wrongdoing, then there is something wrong with the process," Georgetown University law professor David Cole said.[6]

George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said the criminal trial derailed the government's long-publicized assertions about Holy Land. "From the beginning, the allegations were highly suspect and only got worse," said Turley, who has handled a number of national security cases.

"Indeed, Turley said, if the government had begun with the troubled criminal case, it might never have succeeded in closing down the foundation administratively because its disputed evidence would have come to light years ago."

Some jurors were skeptical of the government's case. The LA Times reported: "The government's allegations not only proved unpersuasive but engendered skepticism among some jurors.

"The whole case was based on assumptions that were based on suspicions," said juror Scroggins, who added: "If they had been a Christian or Jewish group, I don't think [prosecutors] would have brought charges against them." [6]

The federal government will go through a retrial, beginning August 18, 2008. [9]

[edit] Jurors' Allegations of Bullying

At least three jurors have complained publicly about one juror, William Neal, citing bullying tactics. There have been complaints that he cursed at and belittled fellow jurors for taking any positions that were in favor of conviction.[7]

[edit] Related groups

Mr. Ghassan Elashi, HLF chairman, is among the founders of the Texas branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Texas). Mr. Elashi was also vice president of InfoCom Corporation of Richardson, Texas, indicted along with Hamas' Marzook.[10] InfoCom, an Internet company shared personnel, office space, and board members with the HLF. The two organizations were formed in California around the same time, and both received seed money from Hamas leader Marzook.[11] InfoCom also maintained the web sites for HLF and IAP. [12]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/sdn/t11sdn.pdf
  2. ^ 2005 EU list of banned individuals and groups
  3. ^ Eaton, Leslie. "No Convictions in Trial Against Muslim Charity", New York Times, 2007-10-22. 
  4. ^ Trahan, Jason; Michael Grabell. "Judge declares mistrial in Holy Land Foundation case", The Dallas Morning News, The Dallas Morning News, Inc., 2007-10-22. Retrieved on 2007-10-22. 
  5. ^ Trahan, Jason; Michael Grabell. "Holy Land Foundation mistrial another misstep for U.S. government", The Dallas Morning News, The Dallas Morning News, Inc., 2007-10-22. Retrieved on 2007-10-22. 
  6. ^ a b "Weak case seen in failed trial of charity; Muslim relief group was shut based on charges that ended in mistrial.", by Greg Krikorian, Los Angeles Times, November 4, 2007, page A22.
  7. ^ Fechter, Michael. "HLF JURY ROOM BULLYING", IPT News Service, 2007-12-10. 

[edit] See also

[edit] External links