3 Strikes and You're Out at The Legal Fishing Expedition

WASHINGTON, D.C. (MASNET) Oct. 22, 2007 – MAS Freedom (MASF), as the civic and human rights advocacy entity of the Muslim American Society (MAS) has learned of today's announcement that the Dallas, TX jury has returned a "not guilty" verdict for the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) defendants. While there remains a mixture of verdict response on some charges, a mistrial on most of the remaining defendants has been reached.

MAS Freedom Executive Director, Mahdi Bray, who has shuttled repeatedly between Washington and Dallas for the HLF trial and coordinated the Dulles-based Hungry for Justice Coalition stated, "This is a good day for the rule of law. A jury of Dallas citizens has rejected the government's outrageous overreach in this case and has made it crystal clear that in America, free speech is protected and feeding hungry children is not a crime – and that includes Palestinian children as well."

"They tried it in Florida, they tried it in Chicago, and they tried it in Texas, as they say in baseball; three strikes and you're out" Bray proclaimed.

Central to many in the Muslim community is the unprecedented use of designating over 300 individuals, including many major Muslim organizations, as "unindicted co-conspirators." MAS Freedom has strongly protested this and continues to fight this abuse by the US government. "Use of the wholesale designation "un-indicted co-conspirator" smears the reputation of well-respected Muslim organizations and their leaderships and it cannot be allowed to continue," stated Bray.

“The government needs to stop wasting the money of taxpayers with all of these legalized fishing expeditions. They tried it in Florida with Dr. Sami al-Arian and failed, they tried it in Chicago with Dr. Abdul-Halim al-Ashqar and Mohamed Saleh and failed, and now the government has failed in their efforts in Texas to connect anyone from the Holy Land Foundation with international terrorism and it should be three strikes and your out for the government.” Bray said.

MAS Freedom will continue to provide additional information as it becomes available.

MAS Freedom National Mobilization Team Responds to HLF UCC Designation

On Sunday, the Muslim community of Dallas packed the Plano Centre in a Town Hall response to the upcoming Holy Land Foundation (HLF) trial. MAS Freedom and MAS-Dallas accepted responsibility on behalf of the Hunger for Justice Coalition to mobilize the community with its Faith Over Fear & Justice For All National mobilization team. Members of the Dallas community enthusiastically waved Faith Over Fear & Justice For All banners as members of the Coalition spoke about the HLF trial scheduled to begin on Monday, July 23.



Speakers from major national organizations explained the following to the audience:



• The government claims "the trial is a part of the global war on terror", yet HLF is not accused of any violent act, destruction of property, or harm to anyone. In reality, the defendant's lawyers assert that they are being accused of feeding, clothing, and sheltering the "wrong children" - the Palestinians.



• Closing HLF by Executive Order violates HLF’s rights to judiciary review or due process.



• Waiting three years to issue an indictment has denied HLF and its associates the right to a speedy trial.



• Now the government has added insult-to-injury by naming several mainstream Muslim organizations and prominent Muslim leaders as un-indicted co-conspirators (UCC), a designation which offers the designees no opportunity to defend themselves against such scandalous claims.



MAS Freedom flew in for the Hunger for Justice Coalition event its Faith Over Fear & Justice For All national mobilization team. The team consists of Mahdi Bray, Executive Director, MAS Freedom; Brian Becker, National Coordinator for the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition; Mara Verheyden-Hillard, Esq., Partnership for Civil Justice and National Lawyers Guild; Rev. Graylan Hagler, National Board Member, United Church of Christ; Bilal Khaleem, MAS Boston.



MAS Freedom Executive Director, Bray, received several standing ovations as he encouraged the crowd to find strength within their faith. He also reiterated that this new, broad, legal attack on the Muslim community was an important struggle for the soul of America. Addressing this issue of the UCC, he stated that, although MAS was not on the list, many prominent leaders and organizations were. Thus, MAS Freedom views this attack an inappropriate legal attack on the entire Muslim community and its organizations.



"Muslim organizations not listed, must not abandon organizations listed as UCC's out of timidity, fear or some superficial sense of token acceptance. This is an attempt by our own government to legally lynch our community. We either hang together, or for sure we’ll hang separately. We at MAS Freedom will never abandon our core principle of standing for justice. We’ll continue to defend our community and its organizations against injustice."



Bray further stated, "Many of our fellow Americans are deeply troubled by the direction of a US long-standing, one-sided foreign policy that is so intrinsically welded to the illegal Israeli occupation of the Palestinian people, that it would jeopardize the fundamental values of American justice and due process of its own citizens. Regardless of what one may think about the occupation of Palestine (and undoubtedly that’s what this case is about), feeding hungry children anywhere on earth should never be classified as a crime. Yes, that includes Palestinian children, too."



MAS Freedom wishes to thank the Hunger for Justice Coalition, the Muslim Legal Fund of America, the MAS-Dallas Chapter, the MAS Freedom national mobilization team, community leaders, family, and friends who exhibited an overwhelming sense of solidarity concerning this important matter. Truly this is an important legal challenge facing the American Muslim community and it needs all of our support.