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(CBS) The leader of an Islamic militant group, his wife, and five brothers who work at a Texas computer firm were indicted on charges of trafficking with terrorist states Libya and Syria, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced Wednesday. "We will pursue the financiers of terror as aggressively as we pursue the thugs who do their dirty work," Ashcroft said at the Justice Department. Earlier, four of the brothers were arrested in Texas by federal anti-terrorism agents. The fifth brother already was in custody. The brothers worked at Infocom, a computer company in Richardson, Texas, a Dallas suburb. The indictments...

On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda operatives slaughtered nearly 3,000 Americans in an operation that marked the second major attack by violent jihadists against the World Trade Center. There wasn’t much mystery about who had carried out these atrocities — unless you were Salam al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. Marayati warned Americans not to conclude that the suicide hijacking attacks were the work of Muslim terrorists. “If we are going to look at suspects,” he told a Los Angeles radio station, “we should look at groups that benefit the most from these kinds of incidents, and I...

Today, in federal court in Dallas, U.S. District Judge Jorge A. Solis sentenced the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) and five of its leaders following their convictions by a federal jury in November 2008 on charges of providing material support to Hamas, a designated foreign terrorist organization, announced acting U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas, and David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security. All defendants are presently in federal custody. “Today's sentences mark the culmination of many years of painstaking investigative and prosecutorial work at the federal, state and local levels....

Two founder members of what was once the biggest Muslim charity in the US have each been jailed for 65 years. Shukri Abu Baker, 50, and Ghassan Elashi, 55, were convicted of channelling funds to the Palestinian militant group, Hamas. Three other members of the Holy Land Foundation were jailed for between 15 and 20 years by a Dallas court. The charity was found guilty last year of sending $12m (£7.4m) to fund social programmes controlled by Hamas. The five men were convicted in November on charges ranging from money laundering to supporting terrorism.

Holy Land/CAIR Founder Sentenced This Dallas Morning News article doesn’t mention it, but in addition to his ties to the Holy Land Foundation, Ghassan Elashi was also the founder of the Texas chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations: Holy Land group’s co-founder sentenced. (Hat tip: LC LaWedgie.) Ghassan Elashi, co-founder and former chairman of the now-defunct Richardson-based Holy Land Foundation, was sentenced Thursday to six years and eight months in prison on charges that he did business with a terrorist and violated export laws with his brothers and their company InfoCom Corp. Mr. Elashi was allowed by U.S....

Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald was back in court seeking information about the New York Times' anonymous sources on Monday, this time appealing his setback in a lower court. Fitzgerald is best known for being the special prosecutor whose investigation led to the indictment of Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby. Former Times reporter Judith Miller spent 85 days in jail in that case last year for resisting Fitzgerald's request to reveal her sources, and the two have been pitted against each other once again in a free-speech battle over journalists' rights to keep their sources secret from...

Violence-Preaching Web Magazine Linked To N. Texas Brothers Feb 7, 2005 9:00 pm US/Central By Todd Bensman and Robert Riggs The Investigators CBS-11 News (KTVT, Dallas)BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND - A radical Islamist web magazine published here, which has encouraged suicide attacks against American forces in Iraq, is hosted by a North Texas Internet company linked to three Palestinian brothers about to be tried on federal terrorism charges in Dallas, CBS-11 News has learned.The monthly journal and its publisher in Birmingham, England, the Centre for Islamic Studies, have come under international condemnation and investigation for allegedly soliciting suicide bombers to attack American...

CYNTHIA McKINNEYPOSITION: Democrat Congresswoman from GeorgiaDONOR: Abdurahman Alamoudi AMMOUNT: $2000 on September 11, 2001 DETAILS: Alamoudi, President of the American Muslim Foundation, is a well known radical mohammedan activist known for publicly praising terrorist organizations. He worked closely as an informal advisor and affiliate of several Clinton administration officials (source). At an October 2000 rally in Washington, D.C. Alamoudi spoke to a radical islamic crowd announcing ""I have been labeled by the media in New York as being a supporter of Hamas. Any supporters of Hamas here? (cheers) Hear that, Bill Clinton? We are all supporters of Hamas ... I...

On Tuesday the federal authorities struck another serious blow against the toleration of Islamist terrorist activities on American soil, by arresting five former leaders of the so-called Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, which, as I have previously argued, would be better called the Holy War Foundation.   HLF is, after all, a front for the Palestinian suicide terror gang Hamas, which is mainly funded by Saudi Arabia. < -snip- > HLF long functioned as the nerve center of the “Wahhabi lobby” in the U.S., headquartered in Texas, with branch offices in Paterson, N.J., Bridgeview, Ill., and San Diego.  Established...

Trial set for Texas men accused of funding terrorists Jun 6, 2004 7:01 pm US/Central Five brothers whose computer company did business in the Middle East are scheduled to go on trial this week on charges that they made illegal shipments of computer equipment to countries that support terrorism and tried to cover up the deals. The trial in federal district court in Dallas, however, will not include the most explosive charges in the original indictment, that the men funneled money to the terrorist group Hamas. The men, all Palestinian-born brothers, are expected to stand trial on the Hamas-related charges...

Iraq, its domain and the 'terrorist-funding' owner By Kieren McCarthy Posted: 09/04/2003 at 11:54 GMT The war against Iraq may be drawing to a close but the war over its Internet future is just beginning. As with the overthrow of the Afghanistan regime by US forces, it is widely thought that the removal of Saddam Hussein from power will see the Middle Eastern country catch up with the rest of the world in terms of Internet infrastructure and use. Currently, there is limited, expensive and state-controlled Internet use in Iraq, beamed via satellite since sanctions on the country have...

Aid push made for 5 tied to Hamas Backers seek to raise $500,000 for Muslim brothers' legal team 02/15/2003 By STEVE McGONIGLE / The Dallas Morning News Supporters of five brothers accused of doing business with Middle Eastern terrorists are asking the Dallas-area Muslim community to help raise $500,000 to pay for a team of prominent attorneys hired to defend the men. The Muslim Legal Fund of America, a nonprofit group established by friends of Richardson businessman Ghassan Elashi and his brothers, is having a fund-raiser Saturday at the Dallas Central Mosque. A leaflet distributed by the fund described...

Judge orders activist freed But InfoCom official remains jailed pending appeal by prosecutors 12/21/2002 By STEVE McGONIGLE / The Dallas Morning News Two days after U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft described four employees of a Richardson Internet services company as "terrorist money men" for Hamas, a Dallas federal magistrate ruled Friday that the most prominent defendant is not a flight risk and may be released from custody without having to post bond. But Judge Irma Ramirez granted a request by prosecutors to delay the release of Ghassan Elashi until Monday to allow U.S. District Jerry Buchmeyer to hear an...

Islamic coalition says bias prompted arrests Tearful relatives join in criticizing charges against 4 brothers 12/20/2002 By TODD BENSMAN / The Dallas Morning News RICHARDSON - A coalition of North Texas Islamic groups lashed out at federal law enforcement Thursday, saying that religious discrimination motivated charges against four brothers accused of trying to hide investments by a Hamas political leader in their company. The news conference included three of the brothers' teenage daughters, who talked about the deep community ties of their fathers. Federal agents arrested Ghassan, Bayan, Basman and Hazim Elashi early Wednesday on charges that their Richardson-based...

DALLAS, 9:36 a.m. CST December 18, 2002 - The FBI says it has arrested a number of people with ties to a Richardson computer company, and accuses them of fund raising for terrorists. The arrests are the result of a multiyear FBI investigation into Richardson computer company Infocom, and a Palestinian charity across the street, Holy Land Foundation. FBI agents arrested Ghassan Elashi and three of his brothers Wednesday, NBC 5 reported.

Dallas-area Terror Funding being investigated by Feds

Terrorism links under investigationFBI spokesman says 24 Texas suspects came from watch list By Jonathan York (Daily Texan Staff) December 10, 2002 Massive and oblique, the investigation into Texas terrorism connections has continued, but its traces remain in an FBI "watch list" dating from immediately after Sept. 11, 2001. The connections spread into Houston, where links to a foreign airline and two addresses are unexplained. They haunt Dallas, where a tangle of odd business involving an Internet service provider caused the United States to shut down its largest Islamic charity. Of about 370 suspects on the list, 24 are...

Ask the Imam -- Is it OK to have SEX with my SLAVES? -- Can the master and slave have bodily contact and to what extent? Question #26067: He hired a woman to serve him then he agreed with her that she would be his slave Question: Few years back, I needed a slave for comfort and support and to fulfill my jobs, I was able to pay the slave what they wanted and to comfort them too on their conditions. There was a Young Lady who agreed, on our conditions. My slave was only there when I needed her...

An Austin Review investigation has revealed that U.S. Senate candidate Ron Kirk has employed an anti-Israel activist who has defended terrorist groups and is friends with American Taliban John Walker Lindh. The Review has also learned that Kirk has received numerous campaign donations from individuals linked with terrorism and anti-Semitism, one of whom also violated U.S. export laws by shipping sensitive technology to Libya and Syria. Kirk's recently filed campaign report shows payments to a Steven L. Hyland, Jr. of: $1133.22 for "payroll expense" and three separate payments totaling $638.30 for "postage and delivery." Hyland has a long history as...