Posted on 09/11/2003 10:17:46 PM PDT by piasa
When controversial New York attorney Stanley Cohen came to court last week seeking to represent Portland Seven defendant Patrice Lumumba Ford, the focus was on Cohen's prior representation of the spiritual leader of a Portland mosque where Ford had worshiped.
How can Cohen fairly represent Ford, U.S. District Judge Robert E. Jones asked, when Cohen's former client Sheik Mohamed Abdirahman Kariye is being investigated for allegedly helping to finance the same conspiracy with which Ford is charged?
According to an FBI affidavit unsealed Friday, Kariye may have raised $12,000, through unidentified worshipers at Masjed As-Saber in Southwest Portland, for Ford and five other Portland area Muslim men to go to China in fall 2001.
The men are charged with planning to fight with al-Qaida and the Taliban against U.S. forces in post-9-11 Afghanistan. A seventh defendant is accused of wiring money from an unidentified source to them in Asia.
Kariye has not been charged in the Portland Seven conspiracy; Cohen had represented Kariye earlier this year when the latter pleaded guilty to Social Security and public insurance fraud.
But the connection clearly troubled Jones, who questioned both the funding of the China trip and of Cohen's representation of Ford at a hearing held Friday. "I don't know where your money (to pay Cohen) is coming from," Jones said to Ford at the Friday hearing.
"There's an allegation by the government that somebody funded the trip to Afghanistan," Jones said. "Where'd that money come from? If that money is traced back to your backers, who are paying your defense fund, that could create more problems."
Jones eventually ruled that Cohen may represent Ford.
But the question of who paid for the trip joins a list of questions about what roles Kariye, and now Cohen, will play in the Portland Seven case as it heads toward a January trial.
The questions include:
• Who paid Cohen to represent Kariye on the fraud charges? Who is paying him to represent Ford, who received court-appointed counsel after his Oct. 4, 2002, arrest, based on his stated financial inability to hire an attorney?
In a telephone conversation with the Tribune on Wednesday, Cohen was vague about who paid for both clients, making general references to the money coming from "the community" and to "something blossoming up and raising the money."
"I've been a defense attorney for 20 years," Cohen said, "and the only time I ever get asked questions about who is paying is with Muslim clients."
Ford, responding to a direct question from Jones at Friday's hearing, said he has "no idea, specifically" who is paying Cohen to represent him.
After a brief aside with Cohen, Ford added, "I've just been informed that the community as a whole has come together."
No one talked at the hearing about how much Cohen's counsel is likely to cost. However, Jones made pointed reference to the fact that Ford's representation by Portland attorney Whitney Boise already has cost the public $106,000.
• What, if anything, is the significance of Cohen's prior representation of Kariye and of defendants in two other cases, nationwide, who have ties to Kariye or to another member of Masjed As-Saber? Those cases have ties to a mosque in Arlington, Texas, with alleged ties to al-Qaida.
In last week's conversation with the Tribune, Cohen laughed at any suggestion that his representation of Kariye, and now Ford, is the result of the crisscross of relationships among himself, Masjed As-Saber and the Islamic Society of Arlington (Texas)."If you're asking if there's any sinister connection between Portland and Arlington, there isn't," Cohen said. He was speaking to the Tribune from Arlington, where he said he was representing a Muslim called before a federal grand jury.
• Why is Cohen whose clients have included the leader of the political wing of the Palestinian group Hamas and a group of Palestinian-Americans who are suing President Bush and Israeli leader Ariel Sharon interested in representing Ford in the relatively low-profile Portland Seven case?
According to Cohen, he wants to represent Ford because the Portland Seven case is "profoundly" important.
"It's a uniquely political case," he said, "one driven not just by the politics of the Justice Department but by the politics of the Islamic community as well. And Portland is a great community: If there's any place in the United States where these defendants can get a fair trial, this is it."
Scoffing at a columnist's suggestion in New York Newsday that he is 'house counsel' for terrorists, Cohen said, "I'd like to call myself 'house counsel' for international human rights and resistance.
"If there's a common strain among my practice of the last 20 years, it's that I've represented the despised and the unpopular," he said. "For the last decade, it's been Muslims because our government has targeted them, especially Palestinian Muslims."
Africa bombings involve many
Cohen's representation of Kariye on the fraud charges, which lasted from September 2002 until Kariye pleaded guilty and was sentenced in March, was not his first case with a Portland connection.
In 1998, Cohen represented Mohammed Moataz Al-Hallak, former spiritual leader of the Islamic Society of Arlington. Al-Hallak was called to testify before a New York grand jury investigating the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 and injured thousands.
The grand jury subsequently returned an indictment that included Portland resident Farid Adlouni as an unnamed, unindicted alleged co-conspirator in the al-Qaida conspiracy that led to the bombings. Adlouni, who has attended Masjed As-Saber since 1988 and has at times been its spokesman, is a former resident of Arlington.
According to the indictment, Wadih El-Hage Osama bin Laden's former personal secretary faxed a copy of a report prepared by al-Qaida's military commander from Kenya to Adlouni in Lake Oswego with instructions to share it with "the brothers in work."
El-Hage, who previously had worshiped at Al-Hallak's mosque in Arlington, subsequently returned to Texas, where he was living when he was indicted by the grand jury before which Cohen had represented Al-Hallak. Charged with conspiracy and perjury, El-Hage was convicted of both and sentenced to life in prison.
Adlouni was not charged in the case.
Last year, Adlouni was involved in a joint effort by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Greater Northwest Defense Association to provide attorneys to Portland area Muslims who were being questioned in connection with terrorism-related investigations, including the Portland Seven case.
Cohen was listed as the contact for the association, which the ACLU last year described as a "new, local grassroots organization created to assist Muslims who are being targeted by (U.S. Attorney General John) Ashcroft."
Cohen told the Tribune that he didn't recognize Adlouni's name but couldn't rule out having met him in Portland. The defense association issued a news release last week urging Jones to allow Cohen to represent Ford.
Global Relief in spotlight
In 2000, Cohen had another case with a connection to Portland when he represented Hazem M. Ragab, treasurer of the Illinois-based Global Relief Foundation, which Ragab, Kariye and several others had co-founded in 1992.
According to Cohen, the FBI wanted to question Ragab about his fund raising for the foundation through the Islamic Society of Arlington and about his contacts with people there who had alleged ties to al-Qaida. Ragab refused to be questioned and left the United States shortly thereafter.
In 2001, the federal government raided the foundation's office and froze its assets and records; in 2002, it formally declared the Global Relief Foundation a "specially designated global terrorist." At the time, Cohen told the Tribune that Kariye had had nothing to do with the foundation for at least eight years and that the government has no new evidence against it.
The foundation has "only been charged in the court of John Ashcroft and the news media," Cohen said.
Cohen did not mention his prior representation of either Al-Hallak or Ragab in his application to represent Ford. However, he did tell Jones that he has represented "numerous Muslim leaders and activists and Islamic organizations in a host of different contexts." One of them, he said, was the leader of the political wing of the organization Hamas.
From Ford's point of view, Cohen's legal history is a plus.
"As a result of his work on Imam Kariye's case and years of practice in the Muslim community throughout the United States, Mr. Cohen enjoys the trust and respect of my community," Ford wrote Jones in his request to substitute Cohen for Boise. "I firmly believe that being represented by counsel who has such a relationship with my community is essential if I am to receive an effective defense and my rights are to be vindicated."
But another Portland attorney familiar with the Portland Seven case is not convinced that Cohen's past work including his connections with Hamas, whose militant wing has claimed responsibility for last week's suicide bombing in Israel will wear well outside of the Muslim community.
"If you're busted for stolen auto parts in Southeast Portland, you don't hire (convicted New York Mafia boss) John Gotti's lawyer," said the lawyer, who asked not to be named. "It doesn't reflect well on you, and the lawyer must know that."
Imam say : "Jews : we terrorists can't stand to live with them, but can't live without them..."
Idiot, your clients are despised for good reason.
SEPTEMBER 10, 2001 : (MUSLIM CLERIC MOATAZ AL-HALLACK LEAVES THE NORTHEASTERN US FOR TEXAS) Al-Hallak had been questioned by prosecutors in the U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. After 9/11, authorities would try to find him again, believing he left the US northeast for Texas, according to a later AP report.- "More arrests coming, U.S. says : So far, 25 people arrested for immigration violations are being questioned by federal investigators in connection with Tuesday's attacks," © St. Petersburg Times, published September 16, 2001 - Information from Cox News Service, Associated Press, Boston Globe and Chicago Tribune was used in this report. cache , http://www.sptimes.com/News/091601/Worldandnation/More_arrests_coming__.shtml. , current page , http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:HBTXAfMKTmsC:www.sptimes.com/News/091601/Worldandnation/More_arrests_coming__.shtml+%22Mohammed+Jaweed+Azmath+%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
http://www.mail-archive.com/msa_ec@listbot.com/msg00769.html
Muslim officials want imam banned from mosque : Supporters say leader should retain role
By Ben Tinsley / Arlington Morning News
FORT WORTH - The Islamic Society of Arlington's board members have requested a temporary restraining order to keep off their property the organization's former spiritual leader - whom the FBI has linked to an associate of suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden.
The request for a temporary restraining order is part of a petition filed last week against former Imam Mohammed Moataz Al-Hallak, whose employment contract at the Central Arlington mosque recently was terminated, and seven supporters.
The petition alleges that "violent people" are conspiring with the former Imam in an effort to "re-establish him as Imam by force."
The petition alleges incidents of cursing, slandering, pushing and various violent acts, including an incident where one member tried to run over another member's feet with a car in the parking lot of the mosque at 1700 S. Center St.
The imam, who has repeatedly denied any ties to Mr. bin Laden, has an unlisted telephone number and could not be reached for comment Monday night.
But Mohamad Jibaly, one of the eight people named in the petition, said the allegations are untrue and that most Muslims at the mosque want the imam to remain in his leadership role.
"I cannot right now give you much detail," he said Monday night. "All I can tell you is whatever has been said is not true.
"The majority of [the congregation] is on the side of the imam. Ninety nine percent is in the support of the imam and his side."
Donald Fulton, the Fort Worth attorney representing the Executive Committee of the Islamic Society of Arlington, said a district court judge will hear arguments about the temporary restraining order on March 30. The petition also seeks monetary damages.
Mr. Jibaly said he and the imam met Monday evening to discuss the petition with the other six defendants - Jihad Al Asaad, Ayman Al Asaad, Osamah Al Asaad, Abdullah Jibaly, Anwarul Haq and Mohamed Abdo.
"We have to see what kind of agreement or thing we agree to among the others before we can make any more statements," Mr. Jibaly said. "We don't want to say something others feel is not appropriate to say."
Five society board members accuse Imam Al-Hallak of preventing guest speakers from leading prayer services and other activities at the mosque.
The men - board chairman Hasan Hasan-Ali, executive committee president Saleh Alahmad, board secretary Kassem M. Elhalil, executive committee treasurer Ayman Ali and executive committee secretary Redda al Sadat - also accused Imam Al-Hallak's followers of pushing, cursing and threatening other Muslims in an attempt to impose their will at the mosque on various occasions.
"Defendant Al-Hallak has insisted upon remaining as Imam against the wishes of ISAT and its membership, as though he were 'dictator-for-life,' " according to the petition.
Imam Al-Hallak, spiritual leader of the mosque for the past 12 years, was removed from his position because of his repeated intolerance for change, not because of his alleged closeness to Wadih el Hage, said Syed Ahsani, chairman of the American Muslim Alliance of Texas and a member of the mosque.
Mr. el Hage is in jail in New York on federal charges of aiding an alleged international conspiracy to kill Americans.
Federal authorities say Mr. el Hage has ties to Mr. bin Laden, the millionaire suspected of being behind the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
Imam Al-Hallak has not been charged with a crime, but court filings by federal prosecutors accuse the cleric of providing "cover" for Mr. el Hage. Attorneys representing Imam Al-Hallak have denied the allegations.
Those allegations have nothing to do with the ouster of the former imam, Dr. Ahsani said.
"The direct cause is his contract has not been renewed and therefore he has been able to mobilize his supporters. They tried to hold an emergency meeting. They were in control for 12 years and wanted to regain control," Dr. Ahsani said.
Dr. Ahsani, a former ambassador of Pakistan to Brazil, Sudan and Ghana, said Imam Al-Hallak lost the confidence of Muslims at Arlington's oldest mosque because of his unwillingness to accept others' points of view.
"His has a very particular ideology which has a very strict adherence to the [Koran] and does not tolerate any different form of opinion," he said.
Dr. Ahsani said Imam Al-Hallak resisted registering members of the Islamic community to vote and taking part in the mainstream political process.
"We would like to be part of the American mosaic," Dr. Ahsani said. "But he opposes participation in the mainstream political process because he said our religion does not allow participation in a system in which we do not believe.
"He thinks this system is not based on the correct principles. He will not vote and he will not allow the other people to vote."
The mosque is owned by the North American Islamic Trust, the trustee of which is the Islamic Society of North America. Both organizations recognize the current board of directors as their agents with the power of attorney in this matter, the petition states.
Arlington Police Lt. Carolyn Allen said authorities have been trying to work with both sides and have been reluctant to intervene directly because the struggle has been internal.
But the board members "are the actual owners and operators of the property, which means they get to decide who will be on the property," Lt. Allen said. "We don't enforce civil restraining orders or anything along those lines but we can enforce against criminal trespass and disruption of meetings."
Lt. Allen said Arlington police are also investigating allegations of assault and criminal mischief, although no arrests have been made or warrants issued.
"The tension has been fairly high for the past month or so," she said.
Imagine you're a Muslim terrorist.How deliciously ironic it must be to be defended against the American legal system by a Jewish lawyer.
And for those Muslim terrorists represented by the Public Defender, at U.S. taxpayer expense, no less.
Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my General Interest ping list!. . .don't be shy.
Thanks for the post and the ping. LOTS of stuff here it appears ...
In the Portland seven case, the defendants are trying to get as much info as possible and are levying complaints at Ashcroft for not giving them information. The more information they get, the more Cohen can transfer to the terror groups still out there for their benefit.
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