SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 22: Attorney Jihad Smaili has expressed concern that secret evidence and other post-9/11 legal manoeuvres will be used against KindHearts, whose accounts have been frozen by the Treasury Department.

Pending a court battle all he and KindHearts can do is to tell their story, said Jihad Smaili, who is also a board member of KindHearts. KindHearts, whose offices in Toledo, Ohio, were also sealed, collects more than $4 million a year in donations, making it one of the largest Muslim charities in the United States.

The Treasury Department said it froze the accounts of the charity ‘pending investigation’.

The United States shut down the Holy Land Foundation, once the largest US-based Muslim charity, and the Global Relief Foundation after the September 11, 2001, attacks.

It said Holy Land had ties to Hamas and Global Relief was affiliated with Al Qaeda.

Under the government action, US citizens are barred from doing business with KindHearts.