Very good news today out of Dallas as two founders and three members of what was once the largest Muslim "charity" organization in the United States, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF), were sentenced to long prison sentences after being convicted of using the "charity" as a front for supporting Hamas, which has been on the State Department's list of foreign terrorist organizations since 1995.
50-year-old Shukri Abu Baker and 55-year-old Ghassan Elashi were each sentenced in a Dallas courtroom to 65 years. Both are founding members of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development.
49-year-old Mufid Abdulqader was sentenced to 20 years on three conspiracy counts. 55-year-old Mohammad El-Mezain got 15 years for one count of conspiracy to support a terrorist organization. And Abdulrahman Odeh got 15 years for three conspiracy counts.
This has been a long and intense investigation that began in 2001, when then-Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill blocked the HLF from moving funds:
Today we are shutting down three Hamas-controlled organizations that finance terror. The Holy Land Foundation masquerades as a charity, while its primary purpose is to fund Hamas. This is not a case of one bad actor stealing from the petty cash drawer and giving those stolen monies to terrorists. This organization exists to raise money in the United States to promote terror.
Last year, Holy Land raised $13 million. Government agents today shut down 4 offices of the Holy Land Foundation in the United States. Innocent donors who thought they were helping someone in need deserve protection from these scam artists who prey on their benevolence.
In 2004, these five men were indicted on criminal charges for using "charity" funds to encourage "children to become suicide bombers and to recruit suicide bombers by offering support to their families."
Probably the most shocking and most talked about pieces of evidence during the trial was the "manifesto" (.pdf warning) found at the home of an unindicted co-conspirator, which was presented by the government as evidence during the trial:
Assuming their appeals are unsuccessful, this has been the largest conviction, monetarily-wise, for supporting terrorism since the government started really ramping up its investigations, assets-freezing, and prosecutions following the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
Let's all support President Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder, and the Justice Department in their efforts to keep up the good work and put more terrorists and terrorist supporters behind bars.