...K P F T news

The Bush Administration's war on terror has wreaked havoc on Muslim American humanitarian aid organizations since September 11, 2001.  Offices of relief organizations were raided in locations ranging from Texas, Chicago, Los Angeles, Bosnia and Palestine in December of last year.  The United States government then froze the assets of the three largest Muslim relief organizations in America: Holy Land Foundation, Global Relief Foundation and Benevolence International Foundation. While some of the foundations have been closed down, others face pending court cases on a variety of charges.

Of the three major Muslim-American relief organizations currently under scrutiny, two had divisions in Texas.  Holy Land Foundation’s offices in Richardson, Texas, were one of the many offices raided by the federal government. 

Holy Land and Global Relief in particular have been accused of distributing humanitarian aid such as medical attention and food, to orphans and widows who may be related to suicide bombers.  One of the attorneys representing Benevolence International, Matt Piers, examines these accusations:

[PIERS]

According to the attorney for Holy Land Foundation, John Boyd, the source of some evidence presents a conflict of interest:

[John Boyd]

Some of the executive directors of the organizations, such as Rabbih Haddid of Global Relief and Ernan Arnout of Benevolence have been incarcerated for several months.  Attorney for Global Relief, Roger Simmons, explains Mr. Haddad's current status:

[ACTUALITY - Simmons]

The legality of the government’s raids and investigations has been repeatedly called into question.  The United States government has made use employed what is called Secret Evidence. Mr. Simmons explains:

[GRF simmons—actuality]

When Holy Land Foundation was closed, some of its members in Dallas, Texas founded Kinder USA, another humanitarian relief organization.  This summer, a physician and a Dallas aid worker of Kinder USA were detained in Israel without charges.  For a week, the two Americans waited for the US State Department to take action to have them released from the custody of a foreign government.

When contacted, US District Judge Gladys Kessler had no comment regarding Kinder USA or the Holy Land Foundation.  Similarly, US District Attorney for Southern Illinois, Pat Fitzgerald’s spokesperson refused to comment on the status of Benevolence International and would not confirm or deny an investigation of Global Relief.  Global Relief attorney, Roger Simmons suggests the implications of these court proceedings could further infringe upon civil liberties in the post-September 11 climate:

[ACTUALITY—GRF Simmons]

Seema Jilani.  KPFT News.  Houston.

E-mail Seema Jilani at  HYPERLINK mailto:imagine_peace7@hotmail.com
imagine_peace7@hotmail.com .