Virginia: Banker Linked to Hamas Leader Sentenced

Soliman Biheiri update. From AP, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- A businessman who lied to investigators about his dealings with a top figure in the militant group Hamas was sentenced Thursday to 13 months in prison.
Soliman Biheiri was convicted in October for falsely telling agents in 2003 that he had had no business dealings with Mousa Abu Marzook, a former northern Virginia resident who has been deported and is now a top officer in the political wing of Hamas.

Prosecutors said Marzook helped lure $1 million in investment to BMI Inc., Biheiri's now-defunct New Jersey-based business, and that the two engaged in financial transactions involving tens of thousands of dollars as recently as 1996 -- a year after the U.S. government designated Marzook a terrorist.

U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III rejected prosecution calls for at least a five-year sentence on counts of making false statements to federal investigators and fraudulently obtaining a passport.

Prosecutor David Laufman said Biheiri deserved a tougher sentence because he lied "to investigators who were conducting a major terrorism financing investigation into how Hamas raised money in the United States."

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11 Comments

Rikki | January 14, 2005 9:30 AM

What the investigators should really be focusing on is why he did this. It stinks of a diversion, anyone else think he may have been trying to make the FBI look the other way, while something of more importance was taking place.

Mike | January 14, 2005 12:14 PM

"I never support terrorism. I never believe in it. I have always believed myself a liberal Muslim. ... How did I know that Abu Marzook, that three years later he would be a member of Hamas?" Biheiri asked.

STILL LYING.

1)Abu Marzook founded the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP) in Richardson, Texas in 1981.
2)Marzook was elected Chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau in 1991.
3)Marzook is suspected of planning numerous terrorist attacks, including the April 1994 bombings in Afula and Hadera. In 1995, he was arrested in the United States at New York's JFK Airport after returning from a trip from the Middle East.

I sure hope we get to deport this prevaricator...

f.g. | January 14, 2005 12:58 PM

>I sure hope we get to deport this prevaricator...

You are too kind. I would just shoot him in the head and throw him in a ditch.

f.g.

Mike | January 14, 2005 2:53 PM

f.g.:

Here - use my .357

Mike | January 14, 2005 2:55 PM

Northern Virginiastan:

http://northernvirginiastan.blogspot.com/

Chuck | January 14, 2005 6:18 PM

******SOMETHING I JUST DONT GET HERE FOLKS*******

13 Months for trying to undemine, maim and murder innocent people all over the world, he secured ! million dollars in funding and got 13 months, he got 13 months , he got 13 months................

Here in the United States we have mandatory sentencing whereas our people are given life sentences for a much lesser offense. Give me a brake here;...... The State of Michigan has a 700 grams law wich means if you get caught with that much cocaine about a pound and a half, little more than half a key, you get life without parole, you get life without parole, you get life without parole.

Now if our youth go to jail for life over those F*&%+ng drug laws and never get out but if you try to kill thousands and undermine a government you get 13 months,deported and another chance to do what you tried in the first place.

"AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGG"
Chuck H

Now I am not a rocket scientist

pythagoras | January 14, 2005 7:29 PM

Golly gee!! a thirteen month jail sentence for attempting to murder thousands of human beings. Imagine if you or I did a thing as horrible as this. Now, it is clear that the Muslims are correct when they say America is discriminatory in its dealings with them. Only it is non-muslims who are being discriminated against apparently, not they. Perhaps this article should have appeared under DHIMMIWATCH instead.

profitsbeard | January 14, 2005 8:00 PM

Let's hope that one his first day of those 13 months he slips on a bar of soap in the shower and gets to travel to his "72 virgins" (or, as another translation has it "72 bunches of grapes"...although a third version insists it was "72 raisins").

Mandatory minimum for Americans on absurd drug infractions -of years, decades or even life...

-while these maniacs, who would love to see every Westerner fried in a nuclear holocaust if they could pull it off, get a wrist slap. 13 months!

The judge and jury should be bitch-slapped.

"Gutta cavat lapidem, non vi sed saepe cadendo."

(The drop of rain makes a hole in the stone, not by violence, but by falling often.)
-Ovid.

Rikki | January 15, 2005 6:03 AM

Posted by: pythagoras at January 14, 2005 07:29 PM

100% mate!!!
I'd happily do thirteen months in jail if I was garaunteed that sentence after wasting a few hundren muslims, it'd be worth the reading time!!!

susan_b | January 15, 2005 7:08 AM

ACTION ALERT:
these 2 item were sent in by Suzi and Cowboyjohn...
many thanks!

WE MUST ALL CONTACT FOX AND PROTEST THIS....!!!!

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 1/14/05) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today said that it is encouraged by a recent meeting in Los Angeles with representatives of the Fox television network to discuss Muslim concerns about the drama series "24." SEE: http://www.fox.com/24/

CAIR called for Wednesday's meeting to address the depiction of a "Muslim" family that is at the heart of a terror plot in the popular program. The Washington-based Islamic civil rights and advocacy group is concerned that the portrayal of the family as a terrorist "sleeper cell" may cast a shadow of suspicion over ordinary American Muslims and could increase Islamophobic stereotyping and bias.

At the meeting, which included representatives from CAIR's Southern California office and from the Los Angeles-based Muslim Public Affairs Council, Fox officials said they would distribute a CAIR public service announcement (PSA) to network affiliates and ask that it be aired in proximity to "24."

TO VIEW THE CAIR PSA, GO TO:
http://www.cair.com/default.asp?page=PSAJun2004

SEE ALSO: "US TV to Screen Pro-Muslim Spots"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/4173647.stm

FOX also gave meeting participants assurances that the program will be balanced in its portrayal of Muslims. Network representatives said that they had already reviewed existing episodes and removed some aspects that could potentially be viewed as stereotypical.

"We thank Fox for the opportunity to address the Muslim community's concerns and for the willingness of network officials to take those concerns seriously in an atmosphere of mutual respect and cooperation," said CAIR Communications Coordinator Rabiah Ahmed. She added that CAIR looks forward to working with Fox in the future.

CAIR, America's largest Muslim advocacy group, has 30 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

And also this:

To view the entire article, visit http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=42393

Friday, January 14, 2005
------------------------------------------------------------------
CAIR presses Fox TV
on Muslim terrorists
By Art Moore
------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted: January 14, 2005
5:00 p.m. Eastern

Fox television bucked current media convention by portraying terrorists as Muslims in its drama series "24 ," but a controversial Islamic lobby group that complained about the show now says it is "encouraged" after meeting with network officials and winning concessions and assurances.

Fox spokesman Scott Grogin told WorldNetDaily today the network has agreed to the Council on American-Islamic Relations' request to distribute a CAIR public service announcement to network affiliates.

But when asked to comment on CAIR's claim that network officials assured the Muslim group they had already removed some aspects of existing episodes "that could potentially be viewed as stereotypical," Grogin refused to comment.

Grogin, who was at the meeting, said he had nothing to say aside from stating, "We met with representatives from CAIR on Wednesday and had a very informative and productive meeting, and we look forward to working with them in the future."

However, he corrected CAIR's statement that Fox agreed to ask affiliates that the PSA "be aired in proximity to '24.'"

Grogin said Fox only agreed to distribute the PSA to affiliates and will make no request as to when, "or even if," it is to air.

CAIR said it called for the meeting Wednesday -- which included representatives from CAIR's Southern California office and from the Los Angeles-based Muslim Public Affairs Council -- to "address the depiction of a 'Muslim' family that is at the heart of a terror plot in the popular program."

The Washington, D.C.-based group said it was concerned that the portrayal of the family as a terrorist "sleeper cell" may "cast a shadow of suspicion over ordinary American Muslims and could increase Islamophobic stereotyping and bias."

CAIR's statement today said that in addition to distribution of the PSAs, "FOX also gave meeting participants assurances that the program will be balanced in its portrayal of Muslims. Network representatives said that they had already reviewed existing episodes and removed some aspects that could potentially be viewed as stereotypical."

The show, which has a story line that runs the entire season, is based on 24 hours at a counter-terrorism unit.

In its fourth season, this year's story centers on a terrorist sleeper cell planning an attack on the United States.

CAIR is a spin-off of the Islamic Association For Palestine, a group identified by two former FBI counter-terrorism chiefs as a U.S. front group for the terrorist group Hamas.

Since 9-11, CAIR has seen three of its former employees indicted on federal terrorism charges.

Randall Todd "Ismail" Royer was sentenced to 20 years in prison on charges he trained in Virginia for holy war against the United States and sent several members to Pakistan to join Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Kashmiri terrorist group with reported ties to al-Qaida.

In a plea bargain, Royer claimed he never intended to hurt anyone but admitted he organized the holy warriors after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S.

After his arrest, Royer sought legal counsel from Hamas lawyer Stanley Cohen, who said after 9-11 he would consider serving as a defense lawyer for Osama bin Laden if the al-Qaida leader were captured.

Another CAIR figure, Bassem Khafagi, was arrested in January 2003 while serving as the group's director of community relations. The previous December, Ghassan Elashi, the founder of CAIR's Texas chapter, was indicted for financial ties to Hamas leader Musa Abu Marzook.

Current CAIR leaders also have made statements in support of Hamas and the domination of the U.S. by Islam.

As WorldNetDaily reported, CAIR's chairman of the board, Omar Ahmad, was cited by a California newspaper in 1998 declaring the Quran should be America's highest authority.

He also was reported to have said Islam is not in America to be equal to any other religion but to be dominant.