Posted on 02/25/2011 2:32:30 PM PST by NormsRevenge
NEW YORK (AFP) A dual US-Lebanese citizen has been extradited from Paraguay and charged with supporting Lebanon's Hezbollah militant force, US officials said Friday.
Moussa Ali Hamdan, 38, appeared in court in Philadelphia following his extradition and has been charged with providing "material support to Hezbollah, a designated foreign terrorist organization," the federal prosecutor's office in Pennsylvania said in a statement.
Hamdan was arrested by Paraguayan authorities June 15 on suspicion of supporting terrorism and was subsequently handed over to US custody.
He is accused in the United States on 28 counts including conspiring to supply Hezbollah with proceeds from the sale of counterfeit money and fake passports.
He also allegedly raised funds for Hezbollah through the sale of counterfeit electronics and leisure wear, such as Nike shoes.
If convicted on all charges, he faces a prison sentence of up to 260 years.
Diplomatic cables made public by WikiLeaks revealed that the US embassy in Chile was concerned about Hezbollah fund raising in that Latin American country, and described a broader Islamist network in the so-called Tri-Border Area of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, the area where Hamdan was detained.
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(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
A student flashes the V for 'victory' sign as he holds a flag of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah during a protest in Tehran 2008. A dual US-Lebanese citizen has been extradited from Paraguay and charged with supporting Lebanon's Hezbollah militant force, US officials said Friday. (AFP/File/Behrouz Mehri)
2nd story this week about Hezbollah in our news. The other one from the Mexican border. They are working with the cartels.
We need to end dual citizenship, period.
None of this “I want to be a citizen of two or more countries” crap.
I know it’s a tangent, it just struck me as it’s part of the reason for the extradition. Just end this ability and you are either a citizen of one country alone. You can’t have equal loyalty to both places.
Here is the first sentence of the Naturalization Oath:
"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen"
There should never be dual citizenship in any manner or context.
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/paraguay/index
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NOTE The following text is a quote:
NOTE The following text is a quote:
philadelphia.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel11/ph022511a.htm
Alleged Supporter of Terrorist Group Extradited from Paraguay
PHILADELPHIAMoussa Ali Hamdan, 38, a dual citizen of the United States and Lebanon and a former resident of Brooklyn, New York, made an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia today after being extradited from Paraguay. He is being held pending a detention hearing. Hamdan is among several defendants charged in a conspiracy to provide material support to Hizballah, a designated foreign terrorist organization. He was indicted November 24, 2009, along with nine co-defendants. Hamdan was taken into U.S. custody in Asuncion, Paraguay, on Thursday, by U.S. Marshals who escorted him to Washington, D.C., where members of the FBIs Joint Terrorism Task Force took him into custody.
At the time of the indictment, Hamdan had left the United States. On June 15, 2010, Paraguayan authorities arrested him in the Tri-Border Area (TBA) of Paraguay for the crime of material support of terrorism.
Hamdan is charged in 28 of the 31 counts in the indictment, including conspiring to provide material support to Hizballah in the form of proceeds from the sale of counterfeit money, stolen (genuine) money, and fraudulent passports. According to the indictment, Hamdan and several other defendants were also charged with several counts of transporting stolen goods, trafficking in counterfeit goods, and making false statements to government officials.
According to a related criminal complaint Hamdan began purchasing purportedly stolen cellular telephones from a cooperating witness acting as an agent of the government and participated in the purchase and transportation of purportedly stolen goods on numerous occasions. These stolen goods included cellular telephones, laptop computers, Sony Play Station 2 systems, and automobiles, which the conspirators caused to be transported to destinations outside Pennsylvania, including overseas destinations such as Lebanon and Benin (Africa). Hamdan also allegedly bought counterfeit goodsnamely, counterfeit Nike® shoes and Mitchell & Ness® sports jerseysfrom the cooperating witness. The complaint details efforts by defendants Moussa Ali Hamdan and his co-defendants to sell the CW counterfeit United States currency for the purpose of raising funds for Hizballah. In total, the conspirators provided the CW with approximately $10,000 in counterfeit United States currency. The complaint also alleges that certain of Hamdans co-defendants generated additional funds for Hizballah by selling fraudulent passports. The CW and the defendants participated in the purchase of two fake passportsone from the United Kingdom and one from Canadafor the benefit of Hizballah. Hamdan allegedly agreed to pay $10,000 towards the purchase of these passports, in order to satisfy a debt he owed to the CW.
If convicted of all charges, Hamdan faces a statutory maximum sentence of 260 years in prison.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigations Joint Terrorism Task Force, the New Jersey State Police, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, the United States Secret Service, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the Philadelphia Police Department, Department of Commerce, Office of Export Enforcement U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security, Customs and Border Protection, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Federal Air Marshals, Pennsylvania State Police, and the Philadelphia Police Department.
It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Nancy Beam Winter and Vineet Gauri, and National Security Division Counterterrorism Section Trial Attorney Jolie F. Zimmerman.
The U.S. Attorneys Office would like to extend special thanks to the Paraguayan judicial and law enforcement authorities, including the U.S. Ambassador to Paraguay, for their invaluable assistance in the arrest and subsequent extradition of Hamdan, as well as the Office of International Affairs and U.S. Embassy, Asuncion, Diplomatic Security personnel who were involved in ensuring Hamdans capture and return to the United States.
INFOSUR HOY.com: Asuncion, Paraguay - "PARAGUAY: ALLEGED HEZBOLLAH FINANCIER DETAINED Wassim el Abd Fadel, a Lebanese with Paraguayan citizenship, faces human trafficking and narco-terrorism charges." by Marta Escurra (SNIPPET: "Fadel is suspected of running the operation after the organization he allegedly worked with was dismantled by Paraguayan authorities. Lebanese national Moussa Ali Hamdan was extradited to the United States on Feb. 11, 2011 to face charges of terrorist financing. About a year earlier, two of his alleged cohorts Amer Zoher El Hossni and Nemir Ali Zhayter were extradited to the United States, where they were wanted on cocaine-trafficking charges. Ali Hamdan was apprehended on June 16, 2010 in Ciudad del Este. Hamdan, a dual U.S.-Lebanese national, is accused of allegedly buying goods he suspected were stolen from a U.S. official.") (January 24, 2013) (Read More )
INFOSUR HOY.com: Asuncion, Paraguay - "PARAGUAY: THREE LEBANESE OFFICIALS EXTRADITED TO U.S. Nemir Ali Zhayter, Amer Zoer El Hossni, Mousa Ali Hamdan to face charges in U.S." (February 28, 2010) (Read More )
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