Author:
Publication: BBC News
Date: November 25, 2008
URL: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7747187.stm
A Muslim charity and five of its former leaders
have been convicted of funding the Palestinian militant group Hamas, designated
a terrorist group in the US.
Jurors reached the guilty verdict after eight
days of deliberations in the retrial of the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation
for Relief and Development.
The group - once the largest US Muslim charity
- was accused of giving more than $12m (£8m) to support Hamas.
It was the largest terrorism financing trial
since the 9/11 attacks.
The former head of the charity, Ghassan Elashi,
and the former chief executive, Shukri Abu-Baker, were convicted of 69 counts
including money laundering and tax fraud.
Mufid Abdulqader and Abdulrahman Odeh were
convicted on three counts of conspiracy, and Mohammed El-Mezain was convicted
on one count of conspiracy to support a terrorist organisation.
The Holy Land group was convicted on 32 counts.
A sentencing date has yet to be announced.
The convicted men plan to appeal against the
verdict.
Hamas was designated by the US as a terrorist
group in 1995, making contributions to the group illegal.
The prosecution argued that Hamas controlled
the charities to which $12.4m was sent between 1995 and 2001.
The indictment against the group said it sponsored
orphans and families in the West Bank and Gaza whose relatives had died or
been imprisoned as a result of Hamas attacks on Israel.
The Texas-based charity was shut down and
had its assets frozen in 2001, as part of the clampdown that followed the
11 September attacks on New York and Washington.
The charity said it ran a legitimate operation
helping Muslim families. Holy Land's supporters accused the US government
of politicising the case as part of its so-called "war on terror".
Ghassan Elashi's daughter, Noor, said her
father was "paying the price" for saving lives.
"My dad was persecuted for his political
beliefs. It's as pure and simple as that," she said.
A previous trial against Holy Land ended last
year in some confusion with the jury deadlocked, prompting a mistrial verdict
and a subsequent retrial.
