Trial begins for men accused of helping Hamas DALLAS Opening statements were scheduled to begin Thursday in the trial of three Dallas-area brothers accused of helping a terrorist organization through business dealings with a high-ranking official in the militant Palestinian group Hamas.
Ghassan, Basman and Bayan Elashi face multiple counts of funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Hamas official, Mousa Abu Marzook, who is related by marriage and believed to be living in Syria. The men were also involved in a Muslim charity that was raided and closed by federal agents, who accused the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development of being a funding arm of Hamas. Authorities said the charity was used to support the families of suicide bombers in the Middle East. The three Elashis, plus two of their brothers, were arrested in 2002. Then-Attorney General John Ashcroft personally announced the indictments, calling them part of a campaign against "the financiers of terror." All five men were convicted last July on charges of making illegal computer shipments to Libya and Syria, countries that the U.S. government had declared state sponsors of terrorism. According to the indictment in this week's case, Marzook invested $250,000 in the Elashis' computer business, InfoCom Corp., in the early 1990s in exchange for 40 percent of the company's profits. The transaction was designed to hide Marzook's assets, authorities charged. The U.S. government had designated Marzook a terrorist in 1995, making transactions with him illegal. 050331 144926 A look at the Hamas Trial case By The Associated Press Important dates in the case against five Dallas-area men charged with funneling money to a high-ranking official in the terrorist group Hamas, according to U.S. officials: _ 1989: A group later named the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development founded in California to aid Palestinians. _ 1992: The group moves to Richardson, a Dallas suburb. Mousa Abu Marzook, a political leader in the Palestinian militant group Hamas, and his wife begin a series of transactions with InfoCom Corp., a Richardson company run by the Elashi brothers. _ 1995: The U.S. government declares Hamas a terrorist organization and prohibits dealings with it. _ 1997: Marzook is deported to Jordan. _ 2001: Federal agents raid InfoCom. President Bush holds a news conference to announce that Holy Land Foundation has been closed and its assets frozen. He calls the organization a front for Hamas. _ 2002: Four of the Elashi brothers are arrested on charges of financial ties to Marzook. A fifth brother was already in custody on an unrelated conviction. _ 2004: All five Elashis are found guilty of violating export laws with illegal shipments of computers to Libya and Syria. _ March 31: Ghassan, Basman and Bayan Elashi go on trial on charges of funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars to Marzook, whom the government had designated as a terrorist. 050331 145129 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Give underprivileged students the materials they need to learn. Bring education to life by funding a specific classroom project. http://us.click.yahoo.com/FHLuJD/_WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
