Despite No Links to Violence, Founders of Muslim Charity Sentenced to Lengthy Terms for Donations to Needy Palestinians in Occupied Territories

Despite No Links to Violence, Founders of Muslim Charity Sentenced to Lengthy Terms for Donations to Needy Palestinians in Occupied Territories:

"Five founders of the Holy Land Foundation, once the nation’s
largest Muslim charity, have received prison terms of up to sixty-five years on charges of supporting the Palestinian group Hamas. The five were never accused of supporting violence and were convicted for funding charities that aided needy Palestinians. The government’s case relied on Israeli intelligence as well as disputed documents and electronic surveillance gathered by the FBI over a span of fifteen years. We speak to Noor Elashi, daughter of Ghassan Elashi, the chair of the Holy Land Foundation who was sentenced to sixty-five years; and Nancy Hollander, a defense attorney who represented former Holy Land CEO Shukri Abu Baker.

Five founders of a Muslim charity have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms in a controversial case that began nearly ten years ago. The Holy Land Foundation, based in a Dallas suburb, was the biggest Muslim charity in the United States before the Bush administration shut it down in 2001. Its five founders were convicted last November on charges of funneling money to the Palestinian group Hamas. The U.S. government declared Hamas a terrorist organization in 1995.

It was the second trial against the Holy Land foundations’s five leaders after the first ended in a mistrial. The government’s case relied on Israeli intelligence as well as disputed documents and electronic surveillance gathered by the FBI over a span of fifteen years.

Defendants Ghassan Elashi and Shukri Abu Baker each received 65-year prison sentences. At his sentencing hearing, Elashi said: “Nothing was more rewarding than…turning the charitable contributions of American Muslims into life assistance for the Palestinians. We gave the essentials of life: oil, rice, flour. The [Israeli] occupation was providing them with death and destruction.”

Another defendant, Mohammad El-Mezain, was sentenced to fifteen years in prison. He was found guilty of supporting Hamas but acquitted on thirty-one other charges. Volunteer fundraiser Mufid Abdulqader was sentenced to twenty years in prison. And the fifth defendant, Abdulrahman Odeh, was sentenced to fifteen years in prison. All five defendants plan to file appeals.

We go now to Dallas where we are join by Noor Elashi, she’s the daughter of Ghassan Elashi, the chairman of the Holy Land who was sentenced to 65 years. And joining us from her home in Albuquerque via videostream is Nancy Hollander, a defense attorney who represented former Holy Land CEO Shukri Abu Baker. We invited Jim Jacks, the lead prosecutor in the case, on the show but his office declined.

Nancy Hollander, attorney for former Holy Land CEO Shukri Abu Baker.

Noor Elashi, daughter of Ghassan Elashi, Holy Land board chairman who was sentenced to sixty-five years in prison."

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