HLF Officials Convicted on All Counts
IPT News
November 24, 2008
 |
| Donna McWilliam |
| Three women who declined to be identified but said they were supporters of five Muslim men on trial, sit outside the federal courthouse after a guilty verdict was rendered against the men and a Muslim charity in Dallas, Monday, Nov. 24, 2008. The Muslim charity and five of its former leaders were convicted Monday of funneling millions of dollars to the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the retrial of the largest terrorism |
updated 5:25 p.m.
DALLAS – A jury convicted five former officials at the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) on all counts in the Hamas-support case after 8 days of deliberations.
The men, Shukri Abu-Baker, Ghassan Elashi, Mohamed El-Mezain, Mufid Abdulqader and Abdelrahman Odeh, could face up to 20 years in prison for their convictions on conspiracy counts, including conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. The verdicts, read Monday afternoon, ended a two-year saga in what is considered the largest terror financing case since the 9/11 attacks.
In the original trial last year, jurors acquitted El-Mezain on 31 of the 32 counts against him, but could not reach unanimous verdicts on any other counts, prompting a mistrial.
Prosecutors made a series of significant adjustments, from dropping 29 counts each against defendants Mufid Abdulqader and Abdelrahman Odeh, to adding new witnesses who could put the charity support in context. In addition, jurors in this trial saw three exhibits Israeli military officials seized from the Palestinian Authority which showed the PA also considered HLF to be a Hamas financer and that an HLF-supported charity committee was controlled by Hamas.
continue reading at http://www.investigativeproject.org/article/865
From Jeffrey Imm……..
(U.S.) Holy Land Foundation defendants guilty on all counts
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/112508dnmetholylandverdicts.1e5022504.html
— Defendants in the Holy Land trial
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/longterm/stories/101907dnmetholylanddefendants.1829f8674.html
— Investigative Project on Terrorism: HLF Officials Convicted on All Counts
http://www.investigativeproject.org/article/865
— Justice served: Holy Land Foundation defendants guilty on all counts
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/023628.php
— AFP: Jury finds US-based Muslim charity guilty of funding terrorism
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081124/wl_mideast_afp/usmideasthamastrial
The Verdicts:
— Ghassan Elashi
—- Dallas Morning News: “The decision: Guilty on 35 charges, including support of Hamas, money laundering and tax fraud. He faces up to life in prison.”
— Shukri Abu Baker
—- Dallas Morning News: “The decision: Guilty on 34 charges, including support of Hamas, money laundering and tax fraud. He faces up to life in prison.”
— Mufid Abdulqader
—- Dallas Morning News: “The decision: Guilty on three charges, including conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization; conspiracy to provide funds, goods and services to a specially designated terrorist; and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He could get a total of 55 years in prison.”
— Abdulrahman Odeh
—- Dallas Morning News: “The decision: Guilty on three charges, including conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization; conspiracy to provide funds, goods and services to a specially designated terrorist; and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He could get a total of 55 years in prison.”
— Mohammad El-Mezain
—- Dallas Morning News: “The decision: Guilty of providing support to Hamas, having been acquitted on 31 other charges last year. He faces up to 15 years in prison.”
