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Radical Holy Land Foundation representative arrested |
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Written by Jim Kouri
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Wednesday, 03 February 2010 |
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WINDSOR-DETROIT – Mohamad Mustapha Ali Masfaka, a 47-year-old native of Syria, was captured by US Customs and Border Protection attempting to enter the United States from Windsor via the Ambassador Bridge last week.
Masfaka appeared in federal court in Detroit charged with attempted naturalization fraud, false statements and perjury.
The indictment charges Masfaka with lying to federal officials about his involvement with the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF), which was designated by the US treasury department on Dec. 4, 2001, as a specially designated global terrorist front group.
HLF was created in 1988 as a non-profit, tax-exempt charitable organization with a mandate to assist needy individuals in the West Bank and Gaza. As well as its main office in Richardson, TX, HLF maintained offices in Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza and other US cities, including Detroit.
While listed as a separate organization, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has been a loyal defender of HLF and in fact has requested their friend, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI), and other sympathetic members of Congress to pressure the Justice Department to expunge its name from the case, arguing the negative publicity has hurt membership and fundraising.
“There was a lot of evidence presented at a recent Holy Land Foundation trial, which exposed CAIR and others as front groups for the Muslim Brotherhood in the United States,” said Rep. Sue Myrick (R-NC).
On Nov. 24, 2008, a federal jury in Dallas convicted the HLF and five of its employees of 21 charges, including providing millions of dollars in material support to designated terrorist organization Hamas.
Masfaka’s Indictment alleges that he was employed by HLF in 1997 and 1998 and ran the HLF operations in the Detroit area to include organizing and participating in fundraising events for the HLF.
The Indictment also charges Masfaka with lying to both the FBI and US immigration officials about his involvement with the HLF while the FBI was investigating that organization on criminal terrorism charges and in an attempt to gain US citizenship. If convicted, Masfaka faces up to 23 years’ imprisonment and $750,000 in fines. |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 10 February 2010 )
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