Vol. 72/No. 50      December 22, 2008

"My dad was persecuted for his political beliefs and his humanitarian work in Palestine," declared Noor Elashi, the daughter of one of the five, November 24 outside the courtroom at the federal court building in Dallas. "He saved lives and now he's paying the price.”

Ghassan Elashi, Shukri Abu-Baker, Abdulraham Odeh, Mufid Abdulqader, Mohammed El-Mezain, and the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development itself were convicted of aiding the Palestinian organization Hamas, which the U.S. government designated as “terrorist” in 1995. The conviction also included an order for the foundation to pay the U.S. government more than $12 million the foundation had collected. The government shut down Holy Land in December 2001.

Achieving the guilty verdicts took the government two trials, a decade-long press campaign claiming the charity was “terrorist," and 15 years of organizing frame-up “evidence,” including wiretapping, bank records, and video recordings. The government offered a former foundation representative a reduced sentence in exchange for testifying for the prosecution and presented testimony from anonymous Israeli military witnesses.

More than 300 individuals and organizations, including the Islamic Society of North America and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, are included as “unindicted co-conspirators.”

The first trial ended in a hung jury Oct. 22, 2007. Prosecutors spoke with jurors from the first trial to modify their case to ensure a conviction on the second round. They reorganized the “evidence” and presented it again in the retrial, which began in September.

The defense explained in both trials that the foundation gave humanitarian aid, including school supplies and medicine for hospitals, to Palestinian refugees. It also financed the drilling of water wells. The prosecution presented unrelated videos of Hamas rallies and charts claiming the Holy Land defendants were linked to Hamas.

The foundation and its leadership had been targeted by the government since the early 1990s. On Jan. 25, 1995, President William Clinton issued Executive Order 12947 titled, "Prohibiting Transactions With Terrorists Who Threaten To Disrupt the Middle East Peace Process." Passage of the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act in 1996 increased attacks on democratic rights under the cover of “fighting terrorism.” This included further spying and fabrication of evidence against the Richardson, Texas-based charity. In December 2001 President George W. Bush used the Clinton measures to order freezing the foundation’s funds. Indictments came in 2004.

As in the 2007 trial, prosecution lawyers did not try to prove direct ties to Hamas or support for terrorism. They claimed that the foundation contributed to Palestine-based charities that included prominent Hamas members. Following the verdicts, U.S. District Judge Jorge Solis immediately ordered the men detained until sentencing. Defense lawyers say they will appeal.

About 150 supporters joined Noor Elashi outside the Federal Building, reported the Dallas Morning News. “This is not over,” she told them.  
 
 
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