Three Muslim charities ordered to pay $156m: US teenager's death in Jerusalem
By Our Correspondent
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 9: American Muslim organizations have expressed shock and dismay at a judgment against three Muslim charities and Mohammad Salah, an alleged fund-raiser for the Palestinian group Hamas
, who were ordered on Wednesday to pay 156 million dollars to the parents of an American teenager, David Boim, shot dead at a bus stop in Jerusalem in 1996.
The three charity organizations involved are Texas-based Islamic Association of Palestine (IAP), the Holy Land Foundation and Chicago-based Quranic Literacy Institute. The American Muslim Voice and Muslim Civil Rights Committee, two leading civil rights groups, described the judgment as unfortunate and unfair.
It was the first time a court had held US-based organizations liable for terrorism abroad. The defendants had denied any ties to Hamas and argued that there was no evidence to show that money they sent to charities on the West Bank was tied to Boim's killing. Judge Arlander Keys, however, said the Boim's parent didn't need to show that.
Attorney Brendan Shiller, representing the Islamic Association for Palestine, said the judge's decision "dangerously stretches theories of liabilities so you no longer have to prove cause and effect."
Quranic Literacy Institute's attorney, John Beal, refused to take any active part in the trial. He said the judge didn't provide enough time to prepare a defence. Amer Haleem, the institute's secretary told the court the larger issue before the court was whether Muslims can get a fair trial.
"The answer that has been coming from many courts is 'no'," he said. The Institute was implicated because Mohammad Salah, the alleged Hamas fund raiser, worked at the institute.
The judgment against the three charities came as American Muslims find themselves distressed over the impact of US government shutdowns of Islamic charities for possible links to terrorism.
The assets of a fourth US-based charity - Islamic American Relief Agency in Columbia, Missouri - were frozen in mid-October at the start of Ramazan. And the following week, a plea from Muslim organizations for the US government to provide a list of "approved" charities for donations was turned down.
