A random man who might as well be a Methodist has randomly lied to a random law enforcement agency about his fundraising activities on behalf of a random charity that just happens to have connections with random terrorism that just happens to be Islamic but could just as easily have been Southern Baptist.
“Man charged with lying to FBI about charity: Mesa resident denied raising funds for terror-linked group,” by Sean Holstege for the Arizona Republic, August 22:
A federal grand jury has charged a Mesa man with lying to the FBI when he told agents he did not raise money in the Phoenix area for a charity with reputed terrorist ties.
The indictment alleges that Akram Musa Abdallah, 54, raised money for the Holy Land Foundation between 1994 and 1997. Abdallah told FBI agents the opposite when they questioned him in late January 2007, federal prosecutors said. He has not been charged with funding terrorism.
Abdallah was arrested Wednesday and the next day appeared in court to plead not guilty to one count of making false statements. A trial date was set for October.
Abdallah’s case is linked to one of the U.S. government’s highest-profile terrorism investigations. Since 2004, the Justice Department has tried to convict leaders of the Dallas-based foundation of supporting the Palestinian group Hamas, which the government designates a terrorist organization.
The FBI questioned Abdallah, a naturalized U.S. citizen of Palestinian origin, six months before the Holy Land Foundation went to trial in mid-2007. Prosecutors claimed foundation leaders conspired to steer $12.4 million to Hamas. That case fell apart with a hung jury, and a new trial is to begin next month.
“My father has been falsely accused,” said Abdallah’s 20-year-old son, Saias. “Within the past five to six years Muslims have been falsely accused of many things in this country.”…
Uh huh. See here re the Holy Land Foundation.
John Dixon, a neighbor of Abdallah’s, said he got to know the family pretty well.
The Abdallahs took care of their home, raised two bright, college-bound children and ran a local coffee shop, Dixon said. At one time, Abdallah, an engineer, and his wife both worked at Boeing, he said. The Abdallahs got involved in neighborhood activities and liked living in Arizona, Dixon said.
Well, then, they must not be jihadists!
Saias Abdallah said his father has spent almost his entire life in the Phoenix area. He would not say what his father did for a living.
Why not?
Three corporations are registered at the home, including Fiber Optic Communications LLC.
In the fall of 2006, Dixon said his neighbor disappeared for about six months. During that time, in January 2007, the FBI showed up across the street, and a couple of dozen agents spent the day packing up and hauling away two vans full of evidence from the Abdallahs’ house, Dixon said…..