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Joyce and Stanley Boim outside a Chicago federal court in 2004. (AP)
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Last update - 17:28 29/12/2007
U.S. court overturns award over W. Bank shooting of yeshiva boy
By The Associated Press
Tags: terrorism suit, West Bank 

SPRINGFIELD, Illinois - A federal appeals court overturned a $156 million award against U.S.-based Muslim activists for their involvement in the killing of an American teenager in the West Bank more than a decade ago.

The 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Friday that Stanley and Joyce Boim did not show a strong enough link between contributions from the American Islamic charities to the militant organization Hamas - a group designated by the U.S. as a terror organization - and the shooting death of their 17-year-old son, David.

Because of that error, it sent the case back for a possible new trial.
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The Boims' attorney, Nathan Lewin, said an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court is possible.

"This court of appeals decision is wrong, very wrong," Lewin said. "It amounts to encouragement of financial contributions to terrorist organizations."

"When combined with recent government setbacks in terrorism cases, Friday's ruling represents a swing back from zealous anti-Muslim sentiment in the years following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks," one of defendant's attorneys said.

"This case was a paradigmatic example of the laws being thrown out the window because of the pain and fear and anger that all of us felt after Sept. 11," said Matthew Piers, the lawyer for defendant Muhammed Salah. "If we break out laws in moments like this, the bad guys win."

The Boims had sued the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development; the American Muslim Society, also known as the Islamic Association for Palestine; the Quranic Literacy Institute, and Salah, an alleged Hamas fundraiser.

All the defendants denied financing terrorism.

The Boims' son, a yeshiva student, was gunned down in 1996 while waiting with other students at a bus stop in Beit El, in the West Bank.

The couple sought damages in 2000 under a federal law that allows victims of overseas terrorism to go after terror groups' stateside sponsors.

A federal court jury in 2004 ruled in their favor and awarded them $52 million in damages in one of the first jury awards against U.S.-based institutions accused of supporting terrorism. In accordance with U.S. anti-terrorism law, a federal magistrate subsequently tripled the amount of the damages levied against the defendants.

The 2004 ruling came in addition to a crackdown against a group of U.S.-based Islamic charities and others who saw their assets frozen and, in some cases, faced federal charges for allegedly funding groups deemed by the U.S. as terrorist organizations.

The case against the Holy Land Foundation, the largest Muslim charity in the country when it was shut down in 2001, was the government's biggest terror-financing case since the Sept. 11 attacks. Authorities closed it down after accusing it of funneling more than $12 million to Hamas. Several people connected to the group were charged.

But, in a blow to the government, the case ended in a mistrial after none of the group's leaders was convicted and many acquittals were tossed out in October after some jurors took the rare step of disputing the verdict.

In the Boims' case, attorneys for the Quranic Literacy Institute and Holy Land did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

In a separate case, a jury convicted Salah of obstruction of justice for lying under oath on a questionnaire stemming from the Boims' lawsuit, and he was sentenced in July to 21 months in federal prison. The jury, however, acquitted Salah of taking part in a racketeering conspiracy aimed at bankrolling Hamas.

"Friday's ruling has no impact on Salah's criminal conviction," Piers said.



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      1.   hahahahaha :) told you do!!! where is moshe? 05:00  |  muslim 29/12/07
      2.   How about a countersuit? 05:42  |  dana 29/12/07
      3.   terror funds 06:56  |  Shmuelshachor 29/12/07
      4.   he was a kid waiting at a busstop 13:58  |  Rocky 29/12/07
      5.   Excellent points No 2 14:55  |  Abe 29/12/07
      6.   Here is a goldmine 15:08  |  Natallie Durson 29/12/07
      7.   # 4 rocky 15:22  |  Axel 29/12/07
      8.   Mockery 16:23  |  JJ 29/12/07
      9.   if you feed someone out of charity and they harm another 16:52  |  muslim 29/12/07
      10.   Justice 16:54  |  Choni Davidowitz 29/12/07
      11.   a precedent has been set! zionists Must prove their claims 17:28  |  muslim 29/12/07
      12.   How could parents let their kid study in the WEST BANK ? 18:02  |  k 29/12/07
      13.   bring in the heavy artillery 18:04  |  bytheway 29/12/07
      14.   Charity 18:23  |  muslim 29/12/07
      15.   2)dana, very true, very true."Good thinking" 18:31  |  Harrison 29/12/07
      16.   No5.Abe. Excellent Points too. 18:42  |  Harrison 29/12/07
      17.   Abe #5 19:01  |  Teresa-Maria (Tess) 29/12/07
      18.   choni davidowitz 10 19:11  |  realism 29/12/07
      19.   To Dana, Abe, and Harrison 19:23  |  Tarik 29/12/07
      20.   axel-BOY,theres a lot of difference betwen standing on a side 19:36  |  terrornator 29/12/07
      21.   #3 Shmuelshachor 19:36  |  Boycott 29/12/07
      22.   20. brainless terronator 19:55  |  muslim 29/12/07
      23.   # 3 shmuel 19:56  |  Axel 29/12/07
      24.   Tying Cases Together 20:16  |  Mark of Lewiston 29/12/07
      25.   I wonder. 20:43  |  Colin Wright 29/12/07
      26.   say muslim,lol,i got that "say" thing from ballestic,the entire 20:50  |  terrornator 29/12/07
      27.   Criminal parents 20:51  |  Colin Wright 29/12/07
      28.   #20 `axel-BOY,theres a lot of difference betwen standing on a sid 21:15  |  Colin Wright 29/12/07
      29.   re #6 Natalie Durson `Here is a goldmine` 21:19  |  Colin Wright 29/12/07
      30.   Why send your son to Occupied Territories? 21:25  |  Tim 29/12/07
      31.   Barghouti and the Boims 21:34  |  Clickfool 29/12/07
      32.   oh colin#27,what part of the post did you not get 21:45  |  terrornator 29/12/07
      33.   tim # 30 its a funny thing that americans are limited to where 21:47  |  terrornator 29/12/07
      34.   muslim...old saying, 21:58  |  Lynn 29/12/07
      35.   AMAZING! NO Zealous Anti-Muslim Sentiment Is A Problem For Them. 22:07  |  Proud Pal Defender 29/12/07
      36.   JEWISH PARENTS PROTECT CHILDRERN 23:09  |  TOBIA 29/12/07
      37.   Colin Wright #27 00:13  |  Teresa-Maria (Tess) 30/12/07
      38.   Justice 01:38  |  David King 30/12/07
      39.   DANA.How about it? Go! Arabs are not short of a buck are they? 02:27  |  PETER SM 30/12/07
      40.   Either a biased court or an idiot for a lawyer 03:36  |  Denton 30/12/07
      41.   #31 CLickfool 04:11  |  TOBIA ( AN AMERICAN) 30/12/07
      42.   the worst travesty of justice... 05:49  |  eric 30/12/07
      43.   Abe #5 - Yes, you are right, let`s bring in the lawyers 06:34  |  dana 30/12/07
      44.   Tariq #19 - law is about perseverance 06:46  |  dana 30/12/07
      45.   PETER SM #39 why, you want to help 06:51  |  dana 30/12/07
      46.   Colin#27 - get hurt in traffic, blame the cars. 08:49  |  William 30/12/07
      47.   Dana#44 - Rachel Corrie is buried and gone 08:54  |  William 30/12/07
      48.   Muslim#9 - but who is starving in Gaza? 09:02  |  William 30/12/07
      49.   Muslim#14 - On Charity 09:07  |  William 30/12/07
      50.   william #47 - are you a lawyer, or a settler groupie? 09:35  |  dana 30/12/07
      51.   Fools on both sides: It `aint over! 14:27  |  David Teich 30/12/07
      52.   51 David Teich - Maybe, Maybe Not 00:20  |  Mark of Lewiston 31/12/07
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