Joe Catron pointed us to this statement from Shukri Abu Baker following the Supreme Court’s decision to deny the Holy Land Five appeal. Abu Baker is part of the Holy Land Five along with Mohammad el-Mazain, Ghassan Elashi, Mufid Abdulqader and Abulrahman Odeh.
Friends, Salaam,
No one on Earth, and absolutely nothing can make me lose faith in God. The Supreme Court’s decision to deprive us of a fair hearing speaks volumes about the nature of our case. Rightfully so, the Court involves itself only in matters of law, not politics; therefore, I’m not disappointed.
Shukri Abu Baker (Photo: freedomtogive.com)My friends and I, in the HLF 5, stand to be the only men on earth that are serving hard time for providing charitable and life saving aid to the Palestinian population in occupied West Bank and elsewhere. We would have been hailed as American heroes had our effort gone to save the lives of stray dogs and starved cats. Apparently, some believe that the Palestinians have not yet earned the credential they needed to elevate themselves to the status of abandoned animals to be worthy of being saved, loved and served.
Today, I spoke with my wife and daughters and everyone assured me that their faith in Allah and in His promise of relief was not shaken; to the contrary, it was galvanized. And today, I stand stronger than I had ever been. I feel the pulse of my community, friends , and supporters worldwide and I am able to comfort myself with their outpouring love. So does my family. This is why I’m saying from the deep of my heart, “Thank you.”
This is not the end of our journey, though. We will press on. We will keep the torch alight. And we will prevail by the Grace, the Power and the Might of Allah.
I love you all. Cheer up. Roll up your sleeves and keep striving for JUSTICE.
Shukri Abu Baker 10/30/12
Politics: we should — as a peace and justice community — petition the president for pardon for these fine people and a reversal of the dreadful anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim crusade by DoJ in the name of anti-terrorism.
Justice: Abu Baker suggests there were no legal problem in his (essentially political) conviction, but there were two “colorable” legal issues raised by HLF’s petition to the S/C:
[1] trial court allowed testimony from a witness who was allowed the privileges of appearing as an “expert witness” but without any proof of his expertise other than his own say-so and without giving his name (“Avi” was a pseudonym), contrary to an interpretation of the right to confront prosecution witnesses as understood by some courts (but not by others) and who therefore could not be adequately cross-examined [S/C should have clarified the law]
[2] trial court allowed out-of-court testimony of a business partner (made before any law is alleged to have been broken) under a rule which is intended only to allow out-of-court testimony of co-conspirators DURING a criminal conspiracy.
I invented a THIRD legal issue, but it sure feels good (even though I did no legal research to back it up:
[3] trial court convicted of a crime of supporting a listed terrorist organization (a Palesetinian zakat or charity distributor) despite the fact that the money was given to zakat organizations that were NOT listed at the time of the alleged crime (and, indeed, after HLF folks had asked DoJ if such contributions would be legal). This feels like conviction of an “ex post facto” law since entry of organization names on the DoS or DoT lists appears to be PART of the quasi-legislative (that is, administrative) act of specifying the crime. It also feels like entrapment (since the HLF folks asked first and were given a “no comment” on the legality of the proposed mcontributions).
RE: “Rightfully so, the Court involves itself only in matters of law, not politics . . .” ~ Shukri Abu Baker
MY COMMENT: Perhaps in theory, but I certainly wouldn’t count on it in practice!
SEE: “Et tu Elena– Justice Kagan’s in Israel, celebrating ‘deep commitment to the rule of law’”, by Philip Weiss on July 3, 2012
LINK – https://mondoweiss.mystagingwebsite.com/2012/07/e-tu-elena-justice-kagans-in-israel-celebrating-deep-commitment-to-the-rule-of-law.html
Muslim have their share in the making of this travesty. Jabir Ibn Hayyan wrote a number of influential books on alchemy describing many scientific discoveries which only increased the credence of the central idea, namely that one can transmute base metals into gold.
And this trial is about such transmutation, legal alchemy. You collect money to be distributed among indigent children, orphans and widows. And this is transmuted into terrorism. I am afraid that our postings form a material support for Holy Land Foundation, found to be terrorist, so we are also terrorist, and my meager donation to Mondoweiss makes me an aggravated material supporter of terrorism. All that is needed is some future detrmination of State Department or Tarrytown Police or whatever. Perhaps a secret agent of an undisclosed allied state.
Why isn’t Nancy Pelosi also in an orange jump suit along with these good people?
http://weaselzippers.us/2012/11/02/nancy-pelosi-holds-secret-fundraiser-with-cair-hamas-linked-islamists/