Judge Saylor overturns some of the guilty verdicts against Care 3

Last January, three officers of the Muslim charity Care International were convicted (by a jury) of lying to investigators and federal agents during an investigation about the group's tax exempt status. These convictions were obtained despite the fact that a high level IRS agent testified that Care international's tax exempt status was completely legitimate.

I attended the hearing in Worcester in January where Judge Saylor (who had presided at the trial) decided to detain all three defendants pending sentencing which was supposed to happen in April. This pre-sentencing detention was ordered despite the judge's statements at the hearing that he thought the defendants might prevail upon appeal and have their convictions overturned.

It appears that the sentencing hearing finally occurred yesterday. However at the hearing Judge Saylor (in his capacity as the judge presiding over the trial) overturned many of the jury's convictions on the basis that they were not justified by the evidence. While this is a positive development, one of the men, Muhamed Mubayyid, still has many standing convictions against him and will likely be sentenced to more jail time. Another of the men Emadeddin Muntasser still stands convicted of one charge. He will probably be released soon but I don't know what will happen with his US residency status. All three men have been imprisoned since January. All three men and their families and community have been dragged through a terrible ordeal for years simply because they are Muslims. The prosecution kept accusing them of supporting "terrorism" even though that wasn't the actual charge. Meanwhile Jewish phony "charity" groups like CJP/JCRC and American Jewish World Service, etc., are allowed to maintain non-profit status even though the agenda of these groups clearly is support for Zionist/imperialist genocidal terrorism and war against Muslims. The prosecution can still appeal today's decisions by Judge Saylor. The defense appeals against the remaining charges may still go forward. The ordeal is not over.

Below are articles from the Worcester Telegram and Boston Globe reporting the results of today's hearing. Below these articles is another article from the Worcester Telegram written just before the hearing that has some more background info.

~ David Rolde

Judge drops most charges against Muslim charity officials

By Lee Hammel TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

A federal judge today threw out the most serious charges for which three officers of a defunct Muslim charity were convicted.

Muhamed Mubayyid of Shrewsbury, Emadeddin Z. Muntasser of Braintree and Samir Al-Monla, of Brookline – the latter both formerly of Worcester – were convicted in January of conspiracy to defraud the United States by securing and maintaining tax-exempt status between 1993 and 2003 for the defunct Boston charity, Care International Inc., and other charges.

U.S. District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV dismissed all of the charges against Mr. Al-Monla and all but one charge against Mr. Muntasser.

The judge also set aside Mr. Mubayyid’s conviction for conspiracy to defraud the United States, but let stand most of the other charges for which he was convicted. Judge Saylor noted that the bulk of the violations for which Mr. Mubayyid was convicted fell within the six year statute of limitations covering those offenses.

He ruled that the government did not present enough evidence during the lengthy trial heard in Boston federal court to convince him that Mr. Muntasser had conspired with anyone when he asked the IRS to grant tax exempt status to Care International in 1993.

Family members and friends of Mr. Muntasser openly rejoiced after the hearing. Several said that Judge Saylor had proved to them the value of the American justice system.

The hearing today was to decide whether to acquit the defendants or to order a new trial. While Judge Saylor acquitted them of the most serious charges, he did not order a new trial on the remaining charges.

Judge Saylor had been urged by prosecutors to stay within federal sentencing guidelines.

“The impact of a sentence here will likely be interpreted across the world as some barometer of the United States' attitude toward the abuse of its civil infrastructure to support fighting and armed conflict," Assistant U.S. Attorney Aloke Chakravarty wrote in a brief submitted to the court prior to today’s session. "Especially when the problem of ostensible charitable organizations diverting money to noncharitable activities is a contemporary concern of international significance, the deterrent impact is magnified."

The government charged that the three officials of Care International received and kept tax-exempt status that it might not have gotten, had the officials not withheld information from the government. The information, the government said, was that Care was an outgrowth and successor to Al-Kifah Refugee Center, which later was named a specially designated global terrorist organization, and that Care supported and gathered contributions for Muslim holy war and the mujahedeen who fought it.

Kathleen Sullivan, Mr. Muntasser’s lawyer, said that the government had injected “completely irrelevant references to violent activities” into its case against the defendants – activities, she said, “that have nothing to do with the defendants.”

Judge Saylor himself had previously objected to the Washington office of the Justice Department referring to "the use of charities as a means of promoting terrorism" in the case. The judge said no such evidence had been produced during the trial.

LOCAL NEWS UPDATES

From the City & Region staff at The Boston Globe

Judge frees former leader of Islamic charity

By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff

A federal judge today freed a former leader of a defunct Boston-based Islamic charity and set the stage for the release soon of the founder of the tax-exempt group after ruling that both should have been acquitted of most of the tax-related crimes of which they had been convicted in January.

US District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV threw out the convictions of Samir Al-Monla of Brookline for conspiring to defraud the United States and engaging in a scheme to conceal the true origins of the nonprofit charity, Massachusetts Care International Inc., which allegedly promoted jihad and supported Islamic militants overseas. Al-Monla is expected to be freed this afternoon.

The judge also acquitted Emadeddin Muntasser of Braintree, who owns Logan Furniture, of the same charges but allowed his conviction for making false statements to the FBI to stand. However, federal sentence guidelines call for a maximum of six months in prison for that crime, and Muntasser's lawyers said he has spent almost that much time at a federal detention facility in Rhode Island since the Jan. 11 verdict, making it likely he will be freed within days.

Saylor said that the government had failed to prove that the two deliberately schemed to deceive the Internal Revenue Service about their organization's activities. He also said the government's evidence against the men was "thin."

Federal prosecutors said they would likely appeal to the 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals.

Supporters of the defendants were elated by the ruling, smiling, hugging, and winking in the Boston courtroom. They said the case would never have been prosecuted if the men had belonged to a non-Muslim charity.

"Thank God for our Constitution and for the checks and balances it puts in our judicial system," said Benny Muntasser, Muntasser's older brother. "We feel that there is a minority that bears some biases and prejudices against us. However, we feel grateful again for the federal judicial system, the court system that is removed from politics and prejudices."

Saylor also dismissed a conspiracy conviction against a third leader of the group, Muhamed Mubayyid of Shrewsbury, but declined to overturn his conviction on four other offenses, most for filing false tax returns. Mubayyid's lawyer, Michael C. Andrews, said that he was disappointed and that his client could face as much as five or six years in prison when he is sentenced next week.

US Attorney Mihcael J. Sullivan said that, while prosecutors had "great respect" for the jury process and for the judge, they would "seek reinstatement of the jury's verdicts of guilty as to all three defendants."

Crime’s impact called global

Judge weighs Muslim case

By Lee Hammel TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF lhammel@telegram.com

The U.S. Attorney’s office predicted that the eyes of the world will be upon the courtroom of U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV and urged him not to go below the sentencing guidelines in the case of three convicted officers of a defunct Muslim charity.

“The impact of a sentence here will likely be interpreted across the world as some barometer of the United States’ attitude toward the abuse of its civil infrastructure to support fighting and armed conflict,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Aloke Chakravarty wrote. “Especially when the problem of ostensible charitable organizations diverting money to noncharitable activities is a contemporary concern of international significance, the deterrent impact is magnified.”

He was referring to the sentencing of a Shrewsbury man and two former Worcester men who were convicted of conspiracy to defraud the government, scheming to conceal material facts and other charges. The scheme in which Muhamed Mubayyid, 42, of Shrewsbury; and Emadeddin Z. Muntasser, 43, of Braintree, and Samir Al-Monla, 50, of Brookline were convicted was for obtaining and keeping tax-exempt status for Care International, a Muslim charity in Boston.

They were convicted in January of failing to tell the government that Care International supported holy fighters and Islamic holy war through its newsletter and fundraising and that it was the outgrowth and successor of Al-Kifah Refugee Center. That New York City-based organization was tied in news accounts to the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993.

Noting public and media attention to the Muslim charity case, the government made reference to the deterrent effect of the maximum sentence given to actor Wesley Snipes in April for his tax evasion.

Kathleen Sullivan, lawyer for Mr. Muntasser, said, “The government effort to inject completely irrelevant references to violent activities that have nothing to do with the defendants should gain no favor with the court.”

She said, “We will argue to the court that these recommended sentences are outrageous in relation to the actual offense here, which has nothing to do with terrorism. It has to do with failing to file information on ambiguous tax forms.”

But Mr. Chakravarty argued, “This is more than just an ordinary tax case.” He referred to Al Capone, the notorious Chicago mobster, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 1931 on tax charges.

The prosecutor said the Muslim defendants intended to support violent jihadists by avoiding taxes for both Care International and its donors. He also referred to “fraudulently soliciting and expending money for violence in the name of religion” and spoke of “when a noble religious concept is perverted.”

But Judge Saylor himself has previously objected to the Washington office of the Justice Department referring to “the use of charities as a means of promoting terrorism” in this case. The judge said no such evidence was produced during the trial.

The government has backed off its statement that it may seek sentences that exceed sentencing guidelines, but it urged Judge Saylor to at least sentence within the guidelines.

There is a dispute between the government, the probation department and the defendants over what the guidelines should be. In the case of Mr. Muntasser, for example, the government believes the sentence guideline should be 97 to 121 months in prison; Probation calculated 63 to 78 months; and the defense wants no more than 6 months.

But Judge Saylor is expected to announce in federal court in Boston today whether there will even be a sentence. He previously conducted two days of hearings on motions on whether he should acquit the defendants despite the jury verdict or order a new trial.

The defendants have argued for acquittal on a number of grounds, including that Mr. Muntasser acted alone — not with two unindicted co-conspirators, as the government argued — when he applied for tax-exempt status in 1993. They also argue that the defendants had no duty to report the newsletters that the government said promoted and glorified holy war.

Except for one charge that Judge Saylor dismissed against two of the defendants during the trial that began in November, he has mostly ruled against the defendants. But, even though he ruled against freeing them from jail on conditions after conviction, Judge Saylor said, “this case — which is both complex and relatively unique — presents a variety of substantial issues for possible appeal, and has a significantly greater-than-average chance of resulting in reversal.”