Court Overturns Award in HLF Terror Case

The Islamists must be dancing with joy.

U.S. court overturns $156 million award in terror case

A Federal Appeals Court has overturned a $156 million judgment that had been awarded to the family of an American-born student killed in a 1996 attack in the West Bank.

On Friday, the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed a December 2004 ruling that found three U.S.-based Islamic charities and an individual, whom the plaintiffs charged had ties to Hamas, had played a role in the boy's death because they had raised money for Hamas.

Israel, the European Union and the United States regard the Palestinian militant group Hamas as a terrorist group. It is illegal for U.S. citizens to provide funding for terrorist organizations.

The suit was filed by Stanley and Joyce Boim, whose 17-year-old son David was shot and killed by gunmen while standing at a bus stop near Beit El in the West Bank.

The Boims sued Muhammad Salah, a businessman from the Chicago suburb of Bridgeview, the American Muslim Society (AMS) and the Texas-based Islamic charity Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLS).

At the conclusion of the trial in 2004, the jury concluded the Quranic Literacy Institute of the Chicago suburb of Oak Lawn was also liable.

The case was brought under a 1992 U.S. law that permits victims of terrorism to seek civil damages against groups deemed responsible for such acts.

A jury in that trial awarded $52 million in damages against the organizations and Salah. U.S. Magistrate Judge Arlander Keys tripled the amount to $156 million under the 1992 law.

In Friday's ruling, the court found lawyers representing the Boim family had failed to produce clear evidence the activities of the defendants directly contributed to the fatal attack on David Boim and as a result, caused his death.

The case will be sent back to U.S. District Court for further proceedings, where "the Boims will have to demonstrate an adequate causal link between the death of David Boims and the actions of HLF, Saleh and AMS," according to a ruling written for the court by appelate Judge Ilana Rovner.

The decision is the latest setback for U.S. government efforts to implicate U.S. Muslim charities in funding Islamic terrorism.

A Texas U.S. District Court judge in October declared a mistrial on most of the counts against the Holy Land Foundation and several men linked to it who were accused of funneling over $12 million to Hamas.

More Whining From CAIR

This is getting tiresome.

The unindicted co-conspirators from CAIR continue to snivel and whine about unfair treatment from the Justice Department, not to mention Audrey Hudson's ongoing demolition of them, which only provides more fodder to expose these charlatans for what they are.

I'd advise them to quit while they're behind, but since they're a terrorist frontgroup, why dispense advice for the enemy?

CAIR blames Justice for its troubles

The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) says it is suffering from a decline in membership and fundraising and blames the Justice Department for listing it as an unindicted co-conspirator in a case involving a charity accused of terrorist ties.

CAIR is asking a federal judge to strike it as one of the more than 300 Muslim groups listed as unindicted co-conspirators in the government's case against the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, which is currently on trial in Dallas.

"The public naming of CAIR as an unindicted co-conspirator has impeded its ability to collect donations as possible donors either do not want to give to them because they think they are a 'terrorist' organization or are too scared to give to them because of the possible legal ramifications of donating money to a 'terrorist" organization," CAIR said in an amicus curiae brief filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

The brief cites reporting by The Washington Times about the organization's declining membership — coverage that CAIR had previously denounced as a "hit piece."

Unindicted Terrorist Co-Conspirators: We Swear, We're Not Terrorists

Muslim terrorist frontgroup CAIR, along with several other dubious outfits, just can't stand it when they're exposed for what they are. The Hamas-linked unindicted co-conspirators have sent a strongly-worded letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales claiming they're being smeared, which, ironically is what they do to everyone who exposes their nefarious activities.

Let's hope the Justice Department has the spine to dismiss this.

Muslim Groups Oppose a List of ‘Co-Conspirators’

Two prominent Muslim American organizations took steps yesterday to reverse what they called a Justice Department effort to smear the entire Muslim community by naming some of its largest organizations as unindicted co-conspirators in a Texas terrorism trial.

The National Association of Muslim Lawyers, which is not named, sent a letter to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales objecting to the list, which it said breached the department’s own guidelines against releasing the names of unindicted co-conspirators and did not serve any clear law enforcement purpose.

The letter, also signed by the National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys, said the “overreaching list” of more than 300 organizations and individuals would further cripple charitable donations to Muslim organizations and could ratchet up the discrimination faced by American Muslims since the Sept. 11 attacks.

Of course, no evidence of any discrimination is provided, as usual.

In addition, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, which is on the list, announced that it would file a brief today asking Judge A. Joe Fish of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas to remove its name and all others from the list.

The brief, a copy of which was released yesterday, says the list furthers a pattern of the “demonization of all things Muslim” that has unrolled in the United States since 2001.

“Most people don’t understand what an unindicted co-conspirator is,” said Parvez Ahmed, CAIR’s board chairman, adding that the release of the list prompted death threats and hate mail against the council. “They think that being related to a terrorism case means we are terrorists.”

We understand exactly what an unindicted co-conspirator is, and yes, being related to a terrorism case may well mean you're terrorists.

Not too difficult to understand.

Islamic Groups Named in Hamas Case

With any luck, this will be a death blow to radical frontgroups such as CAIR.

Of course, most of the media will simply ignore this.

Federal prosecutors have named three prominent Islamic organizations in America as participants in an alleged criminal conspiracy to support a Palestinian Arab terrorist group, Hamas.

Prosecutors applied the label of "unindicted co-conspirator" to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Islamic Society of North America, and the North American Islamic Trust in connection with a trial planned in Texas next month for five officials of a defunct charity, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development.

While the foundation was charged in the case, which was filed in 2004, none of the other groups was. However, the co-conspirator designation could be a blow to the credibility of the national Islamic organizations, which often work hand-in-hand with government officials engaged in outreach to the Muslim community.

A court filing by the government last week listed the three prominent groups among about 300 individuals or entities named as co-conspirators. The document gave scant details, but prosecutors described CAIR as a present or past member of "the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood's Palestine Committee and/or its organizations." The government listed the Islamic Society of North America and the North American Islamic Trust as "entities who are and/or were members of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood."

It's well past time these groups were outlawed.