U.S. Muslim group charged with funding Hamas to hear verdict

DALLAS - Leaders of a group that was once the United States' largest Muslim charity could learn Monday whether a jury found them guilty or innocent of charges that they funneled millions in illegal aid to Middle Eastern terrorists.

The case against the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development is the most significant terror-financing trial since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. U.S. President George W. Bush personally announced the seizure of the charity's assets in December 2001, effectively shutting down the group.

The U.S. court jury delivered a verdict on Thursday, but it was sealed until Monday so the judge and all the prosecutors could be present.

Legal experts said there was no assurance that jurors even reached a decision on the major charges - that five former leaders of the charity gave aid to the militant group Hamas.

The U.S. government designated Hamas a terrorist group in 1995 and again in 1997, making financial transactions with the group illegal.

Each defendant faced up to 35 counts, including conspiracy and money laundering.

The defendants are Holy Land's former chief executive, Shukri Abu Baker; former chairmen Ghassan Elashi and Mohammed El-Mezain; the group's New Jersey representative, Abdulrahman Odeh; and fundraiser Mufid Abdulqader.

Abdulqader is the half brother of Hamas political chief Khalid Mishal, whom the U.S. government also designated a terrorist. Elashi is serving an 80-month sentence after being convicted at an earlier trial of having financial dealings with another designated terrorist, Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzook, who married Elashi's cousin.

Lawyers for the Holy Land officials said the group was a legitimate charity that provided medical help, social services and schooling to Palestinian children and families. The group sent millions of dollars to Palestinian charities in Gaza and the West Bank, areas occupied by Israel.

An Israeli security lawyer, who was allowed to testify under a false name, said the Palestinian charities were controlled by Hamas, which conducts suicide bombings inside Israel.

Defense lawyers called a retired U.S. diplomat in Jerusalem, who said he was privy to daily CIA briefings and was never told that Hamas controlled the charities. The U.S. government never designated the charities as terrorist organizations.

Three of the defendants attended a 1993 meeting in Philadelphia where participants spoke of helping Hamas derail a 1993 peace agreement between Israel and Palestinian representatives. The FBI secretly recorded the meeting.