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MAS Bulletin - February 28, 2006
KindHearts Vs. Hardhearts
A case of religious freedom and theft
By Mahdi Bray, Executive Director, MAS Freedom Foundation
The recent government closure and freezing of assets of Kind Hearts, a Muslim Ohio-based charity, is yet another encroachment on the religious freedom of American Muslims by its own government. U.S. law enforcement officials say they have frozen Kind Hearts’ assets because the organization allegedly has connections to Hamas, which has been designated by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization.
Let's get a few things straight. Firstly, the act of giving charity (Zakat) is more than simply a commendable action; it is the fourth of five pillars of the Islamic faith. Secondly, when you freeze the assets of Muslim charities for alleged criminal activities without providing lawful means to dispense those assets to intended recipients, you violate the First Amendment rights of American Muslims who donated the money. Let’s be clear: the money we give to charities to assist the needy is mandated by our lord Allah (SWT).
Thus, the government freezing of these funds without allowing a lawful fiduciary process for their transfer, violates the principle of freedom of religion as guaranteed in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. American Muslims do not give Zakat to support terrorism and criminal activities. They give it to alleviate the suffering of the poor, orphans and widows, those who suffer from sickness, and for the victims of catastrophic disasters.
The investigation of Muslim charities, which is highly politically motivated, should not impede a lawful transfer of funds to those recipients for whom Muslims donated the money in the first place. The government breaches our constitutional rights when it stops our religious obligation of Zakat from reaching its source. It is high time that Muslims stop being so complacent about their charitable religious responsibilities.
Let's call a spade a spade. The government interruption of Muslim charitable giving, and their refusal to release the funds to the needy, while claiming such activities are being investigated for terrorist ties, are not just unacceptable; they’re illegal. Even more despicable is taking money from starving women and children, the elderly, the sick and the destitute. As Allah said in the Holy Qu'ran, "Woe to those who are neglectful of their prayer and want only to be seen of men and refuse to provide the neighborly deeds."
Dear brothers and sisters; your government is stealing from poor American Muslims and calling it a war on terrorism. They are violating your Constitutional rights and calling it the spread of democracy. Is it not your duty to God and country to break the silence? Now is the time to speak.
(Mahdi Bray is the Executive Director of Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation)
http://www.masnet.org/takeaction.asp?id=3225
The Plain Dealer – March 2, 2006
FBI's informant worked at Muslim charity 3 years
By Mike Tobin, Mark Rollenhagen and Christopher Evans
The FBI operative known as the Trainer was a part-time employee for three years at KindHearts, the Toledo-based Muslim charity shut down by the government.
Now Darren Griffin's behavior makes sense to his co-workers, the charity's lawyer said Wednesday.
Once, Griffin pulled a colleague aside and complained about mounting civilian casualties in Iraq. He said something ought to be done.
Another time, someone saw him looking at a Navy weapons Web site on an office computer.
But during the three years Griffin worked a $7-an-hour, part-time job at KindHearts, his co-workers knew him as Bilal and considered him to be a faithful Muslim and an American patriot who served in the U.S. military in Iraq.
That opinion hasn't changed since the revelation that Griffin was an undercover FBI operative whose work led to the arrests of three men on terrorism charges last month.
"We commend him as a Muslim for trying to stop these alleged terrorists," said Jihad Smaili, KindHearts' attorney and a board member.
Richard Kerger, who represents one of the terrorist suspects, noted that this kind of high-profile case intimidates people.
"I don't fault KindHearts," Kerger said about Smaili's comments. "They're in their own jam."
Federal officials declined to confirm that Griffin, 39, of Toledo, is the Trainer.
Griffin, whose driver's license lists him at 5 feet 9, 250 pounds, loaded and unloaded trucks that carried KindHearts' literature to religious conventions. He also entered data into computers.
Smaili said he believes investigators planted Griffin inside KindHearts in an effort to link the charity with terrorists.
"They had a guy working inside," Smaili said. "You'd expect people to be in jail. You'd expect the leaders to be locked up."
No one from KindHearts has been charged with a crime, although the Treasury Department seized the charity's office and froze its bank accounts on the same day the three terrorism suspects were arrested. Officials contend KindHearts financially supports Hamas, which the United States considers a terrorist group.
Prosecutors have said investigations of KindHearts and the three men - Mohammad Amawi, Wassim Mazloum and Marwan El-Hindi - are separate but the raids needed to be done in concert to avoid compromising either.
Smaili insists the KindHearts raid was a reaction to Hamas' rise to power during the Palestinian elections last month and recent criticism that federal authorities had not done enough to crack down on Muslim charities.
Search warrants show federal agents seized invoices to KindHearts from the Toledo travel agency where Amawi worked and a KindHearts binder at El-Hindi's home. Agents also took a change purse with the KindHearts logo from Amawi's house.
Smaili said federal agents are desperate to connect KindHearts to the three accused terrorists. The only direct link between the charity and the three men, Smaili said, is that El-Hindi was paid about $1,000 to embroider the KindHearts logo on about 100 hats four years ago…..
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1141292040138340.xml&coll=2
Toledo Blade - March 1, 2006
KindHearts
Muslim charities targeted, group says
Coalition seeks talks with Treasury chief
By David Yonke
An American Muslim coalition is seeking to meet with Treasury Secretary John Snow to discuss the padlocking of the Toledo-based charity, KindHearts, and "the continued targeting of Muslim charities without due process of law."
Federal agents, using the power of an executive order, closed KindHearts' West Toledo headquarters on Feb. 19 and froze its assets while authorities investigate the Muslim charity for alleged support of Hamas terrorists in the Middle East.
The funds, which KindHearts said were more than $1 million, were frozen "to prevent asset flight" while the federal investigation is under way, according to Stuart Levey, Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.
Yesterday, the American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections, a Washington-based coalition of Muslim organizations, sent a letter to Secretary Snow about KindHearts, which technically is "blocked" and not closed, and the permanent closures of three U.S. Muslim charities that were shut down after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington.
Islamic law requires Muslims to donate to charity and places restrictions on how the funds are to be distributed, steps that usually are not met by secular American charities, Muslim leaders say.
"The closures ... have impaired the ability of American Muslims to carry out their religious obligation to help the needy in this country and overseas," AMT said in its letter to Secretary Snow.
While AMT officials "support our government's efforts to thwart terrorist financing, we find it unfair that our government has yet made another extrajudicial decision to effectively wipe out more than five years of humanitarian assistance to the world's needy by the mere stroke of a pen."
"What happened to due process laws," Jihad Smaili of KindHearts asked last night. "Corporations have rights just as individuals do under our Constitution. It's clear that you should at least ask a question or two before you shoot."
He said the government is "making our options very, very limited for giving to charity. It's really not helping the Muslim and Arab-American communities to embrace our new home, which is the United States of America."
KindHearts officials claim the closing of the Toledo office and the freezing of funds were politically motivated because the U.S. government was displeased with the Hamas party's legislative victory in the Palestinian territories in January.
Mr. Smaili said last night that Secretary Snow should "grant the request and sit down and talk. Hopefully we can get some answers."
Molly Millerwise, a spokesman for the U.S. Treasury Department, said last night that she has no comment on AMT's request to meet with Secretary Snow.
But she said Treasury officials have worked closely with charities, including Muslim charities, to draft voluntary guidelines creating "transparency" in how charities operate. She said the guidelines were revised in 2005 based on input from the charities…..
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060301/NEWS08/603010506
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