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Mail Tribune - August 17, 2005
Charity tries to break its ties with Pete Seda
The Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation seeks a court order removing its name
from an indictment against Seda and a Saudi man
By MARK FREEMAN
An Ashland-based Islamic charity is trying to distance itself from founder and international fugitive Pete Seda as part of an apparent strategy to rid the chapter’s global-terrorist designation, regain its financial assets and be dropped from civil suits stemming from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
In papers filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Eugene, the Oregon Chapter of the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation wants a judge to remove all charges and any reference to the chapter in a tax evasion and money-laundering indictment against Seda and chapter director Soliman Al-Buthe, a Saudi national.
Seda and Al-Buthe face felony charges alleging they illegally transported about $150,000 out of the country in 2000 to help al-Qaida fighters in Chechnya, then filed a false tax return to hide the transaction. The money allegedly was funneled into the country as a donation to the chapter.
Federal prosecutors filed a motion Aug. 5 to drop criminal charges against the chapter, but reserve the right to re-file them later. The government motion does not remove the chapter from possible loss of assets in forfeiture, court papers say.
In replies filed in court Monday, chapter attorney Marc Blackman urges U.S. Magistrate Thomas Hogan to strike down the dismissal, which would force prosecutors to try the chapter within two months even if Seda and Al-Buthe remain fugitives.
If the judge rejects the chapter’s request, then Blackman asks that Hogan remove all references to the chapter in the Seda and Al-Buthe indictments. "We want to be completely in or completely out," Blackman said in a Tuesday interview. He declined to elaborate.
But in his filings, Blackman argues that any ties to the Seda and Al-Buthe cases have stymied the chapter’s efforts to clear itself as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist organization as outlined by the Department of Treasury.
It also would help the chapter’s efforts to be dropped as a co-defendant in a combined federal civil suit in New York filed by Sept. 11 victims against people and groups alleged to be terrorists or those who aid terrorists, the motion states.
The chapter also wants the government to drop any future attempts to seize the chapter’s assets, a move that could ease the sale of chapter holdings.
Previous court filings show the chapter owns Seda’s former Ashland residence as well as a prayer house in Springfield, Mo.
"Al-Haramain still has a stake here," Blackman said. He declined to reveal who and how many people remain involved in the chapter, but documents show Seda and Al-Buthe are the chapter’s only corporate directors…..
http://www.mailtribune.com/archive/2005/0817/local/stories/04local.htm
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