Free Republic

BOSTON - Three former leaders of an Islamic charity were convicted Friday of duping the U.S. government into getting tax-exempt status by hiding the group's pro-jihad activities. Care International Inc., which is now defunct, described its mission as helping war orphans, widows and refugees in Muslim nations. But prosecutors said the organization also distributed a newsletter promoting jihad and supported Muslim militants involved in armed conflicts around the world. Emadeddin Muntasser, the founder of Care International; Muhammed Mubayyid, the group's former treasurer; and Samir Al-Monla, the president of Care from 1996 to 1998, were charged with tax code violations, making...

A man claiming to have kidnapped an Italian aid worker in Afghanistan told media overnight he had killed her, but a government spokesman said she was still alive. Clementina Cantoni, 32, who works for the CARE International aid agency, was snatched this week when four gunmen stopped her vehicle on a central Kabul street and bundled her into a white Toyota car. Timoor Shah, who has claimed in several conversations with media to be holding Ms Cantoni, said he killed her after President Hamid Karzai's government refused to accept his demands. "We strangled her with a rope at nine...

BOSTON -- Two former officers of an Islamic charity were arrested on Thursday after they were indicted on federal charges of lying to authorities investigating the charity's alleged ties to terrorist organizations. Emadeddin Z. Muntasser, the former president of Care International, and Muhammed Mubayyid, the defunct charity's former treasurer, were arrested Wednesday on charges of concealing information from federal agencies, conspiring to defraud the United States, and making false statements to the FBI. "Organizations that conceal their true activities to abuse our tax laws, and in this case fund their support of the mujahideen and jihad, will be prosecuted to...

BOSTON (AP) - Prosecutors have asked a judge to halt citizenship proceedings for a businessman who headed an Islamic charity so the FBI can continue investigating whether he lied about his ties to organizations that include one linked to Osama bin Laden. U.S. Attorney Michael J. Sullivan asked to postpone Emadeddin Z. Muntasser's naturalization hearing scheduled for Thursday. The judge did not immediately rule on the request and gave Muntasser until Wednesday to respond. Muntasser, whose citizenship application has been in the pipeline more than two years, is "the subject of a pending federal criminal investigation regarding statements he made...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Margaret Hassan, the kidnapped director of CARE International in Baghdad, has been seen on a videotape aired by Al-Jazeera pleading for her life. In the video aired Friday by the Arabic-language TV channel, an unblindfolded Hassan is speaking to the camera, sobbing and crying. "Please help me, please help me, these might be my last hours.... Please help me, please British people ask Mr. (British Prime Minister Tony) Blair to pull the troops from Iraq and not bring them to Baghdad. "Please, please I beg of you, the British people, to help me. I don't want...

100 casualties' in Iraq attack A mortar attack on an Iraqi National Guard headquarters north of Baghdad has caused many casualties, Iraqi officials have said. There is so far no clear breakdown on the number of dead, but more than 100 people are believed to have been killed or injured, the officials said. Six mortar rounds fell on the building in Mashahidan, 40km (25 miles) from the Iraqi capital, AP news agency said. Two American field hospitals are treating the wounded. US Blackhawk helicopters are also helping to evacuated the injured, AP reported. Iraq's fledgling security forces have been a...