The Investigative Project has reported that two organizations tied to the US Muslim Brotherhood mounted a lobbying campaign during the last days of the Obama Administration aimed at freeing former officials of a Palestinian charity convicted of funneling money to Hamas. The IP report begins:
As President Obama’s tenure reaches its final days, Islamists in the United States are waging a furious lobbying campaign aimed at securing the freedom of five men convicted of illegally routing millions of dollars to Hamas.
An open campaign urges the president to pardon five former officials from the defunct, Texas-based Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF), casting them as victims of ‘anti-Muslim hysteria’ triggered by the 9/11 attacks. In 2008, a jury convicted the five – Shukri Abu Baker, Ghassan Elashi, Mohammed El-Mezain, Abdulrahman Odeh and Mufid Abdulqader – of using a network of Palestinian charities controlled by Hamas to funneling money to the terrorist group.
It is not clear whether the requests to pardon the five, or to commute their sentences and release them from prison, is being considered seriously. Obama’s pardons thus far involved somewhat less serious crimes including fraud, embezzlement and non-violent drug offenses.
But advocates are pushing social media campaigns and online petitions aimed at securing a pardon, or, short of that, a commutation of the five men’s sentences to set them free. The campaign also has enlisted support from at least one member of Congress.”
But advocates are pushing social media campaigns and online petitions aimed at securing a pardon, or, short of that, a commutation of the five men’s sentences to set them free. The campaign also has enlisted support from at least one member of Congress.
Left unspoken is an undeniable truth behind the pardon/commutation campaign, and behind any ongoing defense of the Holy Land Foundation: Advocates do not believe Hamas support is wrong.
The Muslim Legal Fund of America (MLFA) is leading the charge, supported by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and pro-Palestinian groups.
Read the full report here.
The Holy Land Foundation (HLF ) was the largest Palestinian charity in the U.S. and was intimately associated with the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood whose organizations consistently supported HLF throughout the two trials. Among the more significant developments during the history of the prosecution was the public release of a cache of U.S. Brotherhood documents discovered in the backyard of one of the defendants that revealed the previously unknown covert structures of the Brotherhood in the US.. Also significant was the naming of many of the US. Brotherhood leaders and organizations as unindicted coconspirators in the case, a move which is still being fought by those same groups and individuals. In December 2011, the GMBDW reported that the convictions against five leaders of the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) for financing Hamas were upheld by a Texas judicial panel. Previous posts covered the trial and convictions of the HLF defendants.
The board of directors of the Muslim Legal Fund (MFLA) is comprised of individuals who are associated with US Muslim Brotherhood organizations including the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Islamic Association of North Texas (IANT) which operates the Dallas Central Mosque that has been tied to Hamas support. Perhaps the most notable of the MFLA board members is Hatem Bazian, President of the American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) and also part of the US. Hamas support infrastructure.
The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) describes itself as “a grassroots civil rights and advocacy group and as “America’s largest Islamic civil liberties group.” CAIR was founded in 1994 by three officers of the Islamic Association of Palestine, part of the U.S. Hamas infrastructure at that time. Documents discovered in the course of the the terrorism trial of the Holy Land Foundation confirmed that the founders and current leaders of CAIR were part of the Palestine Committee of the Muslim Brotherhood and that CAIR itself is part of the US. Muslim Brotherhood.