The 2008 criminal conviction of the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) and five of its leaders for providing material support to Hamas, a listed terrorist organization, is being challenged in an Aug. 10, 2015 petition seeking a new trial based on new evidence. Although the government admitted that no HLF funds went to Hamas, at trial it argued that the local charity committees HLF worked with were controlled by it.  However, these committees have never been placed on the U.S. terrorist list. The new petition presents sworn statements from people directly connected to the local charities that state they were independent and not controlled by Hamas or any other group.  A decision on whether to grant an evidentiary hearing is not expected for several months. HLF itself, which was convicted without representation at trial, is not part of this petition and remains unrepresented. Background information on the HLF case can be found here.

Attorney Gary Udasher filed the habeus corpus petition in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division (Case No. 3:04-CR_00240-P). The 56 page brief argues that an evidentiary hearing is necessary to fairly decide on whether a new trial should be granted. The hearing would bring in testimony of witnesses who worked for the local charities on Gaza to address the central question of whether they were controlled by Hamas.  Since the government admitted that HLF’s funds were spent on charitable items such as food, clothing and education, the issue of Hamas control is central to the government’s case. The fact that other, non-Muslim U.S. charities worked with the same local charities but were never prosecuted continues to raise questions about the fairness of the HLP prosecution.

The former HLF leaders are all serving substantial prison sentences. They are Abdulrahman Odeh, Mufid Abdulqader, Ghassan Elashi, Mohammad El-Mezain and Shukri Abu Baker. The petition on their behalf is supported by the Muslim Legal Fund of America. Its press release said the case is important, as “errors made in the trial could eventually impact the legal rights of all Americans, not just Muslims.”