Monday, June 4, 2007
First, see this NY Sun piece: Islamic Groups Named in Hamas Funding Case
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."...
The most obvious name on the list is CAIR, of course. There are, however, less obvious local connections. The Islamic Society of North America is the parent group of the Islamic Society of Boston. As I pointed out in my piece on the ISB, the ISB was organized under the tax-exempt umbrella of ISNA by Abdurahman (Abdel Rahman) Alamoudi as a present or past member of the US Muslim Brotherhood. Of course, Alamoudi is already doing 23 years on terror-related charges, so his nature is well known.
The new news is that newly made Islamic Society of Boston trustee, Jamal Badawi is named on the indictment's list of unindicted co-conspirators as having "participated in fund-raising activities on behalf of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development."
A PDF of the entire list is here. You may note other names and groups of interest.
[Update: This is either the ISB's Badawi or someone with an unfortunately identical name. I would welcome news that it is not the same man and will issue a correction if that proves to be the case. Our Badawi is quoted in this article defending HLF.]
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A Canadian, eh? Sounds like it is the ISB's new trustee Jamal Badawi, who is a professor at St. Mary's University in Halifax, Novia Scotia.