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Washington Post – August 1, 2006
Islamic charity fundraiser released
By Jeremiah Marquez
The top fundraiser for an Islamic charity that the government claims has ties to terrorism was released Monday from a federal detention center where he had been held for more than two years.
Abdel-Jabbar Hamdan, 45, left the Terminal Island detention facility in San Pedro shortly after 9:30 p.m. after an emotional reunion with his wife and five children inside the prison gates. Earlier Monday the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a last-ditch government request to keep him locked up.
"No words can describe how I'm feeling right now. I'm ecstatic," Hamdan said as he left the center with his family. A few dozen supporters celebrated as he exited the terminal gate.
Hamdan, who founded a mosque in Anaheim, was arrested on immigration charges in July 2004 when federal authorities unsealed an indictment against the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development. The government charged that the Texas-based charity funneled millions to the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The Holy Land Foundation's president, chairman and director of endowments were also charged with terrorism-related crimes.
Hamdan himself was never charged with terrorism. Instead, he was convicted of overstaying a student visa he got 27 years ago. The month after the Holy Land Foundation was charged, he was ordered deported on the immigration charge.
His requests to be released while he fought the charge were denied until U.S. District Judge Terry Hatter ordered him freed last week. He was released without bond Monday but must wear an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet and check in regularly with authorities…..
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/01/AR2006080100064.html
Mercury News – August 1, 2006
It is a "hard time" to be a Muslim in America
Islamic charity fundraiser says he was victim of terror paranoia
BY PETER PRENGAMAN
BUENA PARK, Calif. - An Islamic charity fundraiser who was detained two years on suspicion of ties to terrorism said Tuesday he had no connections to terrorists and accused the U.S. government of sidestepping justice in its efforts to prevent another Sept. 11 attack.
Abdel-Jabbar Hamdan, who has never been charged with terrorism, was released late Monday on a federal court order.
He said Tuesday, he was a victim of paranoia that swept the United States after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The fear that followed them, he said, has made it a "hard time" to be a Muslim in America.
"The government is trying to win at any cost," said Hamdan, 46, who spoke with reporters alongside his wife outside their home in this Los Angeles suburb. "They seem not to care about what is just or unjust."….
Hamdan, who founded a mosque in Anaheim, was arrested on immigration charges in July 2004 as federal authorities unsealed an indictment against the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development. The government charged that the Texas-based charity funneled millions to the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The Holy Land Foundation's president, chairman and director of endowments were charged with terrorism-related crimes.
Hamdan, who was convicted of overstaying a student visa issued 27 years ago, has acknowledged traveling around the country as a Holy Land fundraiser.
"I was never a terrorist fundraiser," he said. "I'm not a death giver. I'm a life-giver for all the people who are needy, whether they be in Palestine or America," added Hamdan, who was born in a Palestinian refugee camp in the West Bank.
During his incarceration, he requested release on bond while he fought the immigration charge, but the request was denied for nearly two years.
U.S. District Judge Terry Hatter ordered him freed last week after a magistrate judge concluded he had been held longer than necessary to complete his immigration case. "This court finds no reason that petitioner's right to due process should be subjugated to these considerable delays for which the government is exclusively responsible," U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Johnson wrote last month….
After he was released Monday, federal authorities said they would continue to work to have him deported.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/15175526.htm
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