DALLAS (AFP)--The leaders of what was once the largest Muslim charity in the United States were found guilty Monday of being a front for Palestinian militants, in the largest terrorism financing prosecution in American history.
It was a victory in the White House's "war on terror" and comes after a mistrial was declared last year in the case involving the now defunct Texas-based Holy Land Foundation, charged with funneling more than $12 million to Hamas.
Family members could be heard sobbing in the Dallas courtroom as guilty verdicts were read on all 108 charges of providing material support to terrorists, money laundering and tax fraud.
One woman cried out: "My dad is not a criminal! He's a human!"
Holy Land was one of several Muslim organizations the Bush administration shut down in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks for allegedly raising money for overseas Islamic extremists.
In two other high-profile cases in Florida and Chicago, charges of support of Palestinian militants have ended in acquittals or convictions on lesser charges.
Muslim charities that remain open have reported significant drops in contributions because of fears of prosecution.
The United States Justice Department vowed in October 2007 to retry the five former charity organizers in the Holy Land case, after jurors could not agree on verdicts on nearly 200 charges. A new jury was seated in mid-September.
Over the past two months, the government has presented largely the same evidence, hoping to prove that Holy Land was created in the late 1980s to gather donations from deep-pocketed Muslims in the U.S. to support the then-newly formed Hamas movement resisting the Israeli occupation.
Defense attorneys said the charity did not support Hamas and operated legally to get much-needed aid to Palestinians living in squalor under Israeli occupation.
While prosecutors said the foundation raised money for Hamas, they did not accuse the charity of directly financing or being involved in terrorist activity.
Instead prosecutors say humanitarian aid was used to promote Hamas - a multi-faceted Islamist political, social and armed movement which now controls the Gaza Strip - and allow it to divert existing funds to militant activities.
Defense attorneys said the chief reasons their clients were on trial are family ties.
Khaled Meshaal, Hamas' political leader in Syria, is the brother of defendant Mufid Abdulqader, a member of a Palestinian band that played at Holy Land fundraisers.
Meshaal's deputy, Mousa Abu Marzook, is a cousin of defendant Mohammad el-Mezain, a foundation co-founder, and is married to the cousin of defendant Ghassan Elashi, former Holy Land board chairman.
The brother of defendant Shukri Abu Baker, former Holy Land chief executive officer, is Jamal Issa, former Hamas leader in Sudan and its current head in Yemen.
A fifth defendant is Abdulrahman Odeh, Holy Land's New Jersey representative.
-Dow Jones Newswires, 201-938-5500
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 24, 2008 17:14 ET (22:14 GMT)

Publié le 24 novembre 2008 Copyright © 2008 Dowjones