DOSSIER: Stanley and Joyce Boim Financing terrorism from Oak Lawn, Illinois <http://www.geostrategy-direct.com/geostrategy-direct/images/haleemB.jpg> "The international terrorist group Hamas has some of its biggest supporters right here in the United States, right here in Chicago," said Boim attorney Richard Hoffman. Amer Haleem, secretary of the Quranic Literacy Institute, of suburban Oak Lawn, Ill. listens to attorneys presenting their case. _____ Stanley and Joyce Boim 7 Cause: plaintiffs against Islamic financiers of Hamas 7 Whereabouts: Chicago Stanley and Joyce Boim have demonstrated that U.S. anti-terror laws hold Islamic charities responsible for the groups they sponsor. And if those groups are terrorists, then the charities could pay big. On Dec. 8, the Boims were awarded $156 million in a precedent-setting court ruling that essentially made charities responsible for the activities they fund. The Federal District Court ruling in Chicago could end the use of the United States as a source of finance for Al Qaida, Hamas, Hizbullah and related groups. A 12-member jury agreed with the Boims that Islamic charities that financed Hamas in the United States were responsible for the terror attacks of the Palestinian group. The jury found the Quranic Literacy Institute, based in Oak Lawn, Ill., liable for funding Hamas terrorists and awarded the Boims $52 million. U.S. District Judge Arlander Keys, acting under federal statute, then tripled the damages. "I hope to see more of these terrorist organizations put in their place and stopped," Mrs. Boim said. The Boims were an ordinary American Jewish couple, living in Jerusalem for the last 20 years. But their lives changed in 1996 when their 17-year-old son, David, was shot and killed at a bus stop in Jerusalem. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack. <http://www.geostrategy-direct.com/geostrategy-direct/images/boims.jpg> Joyce and Stanley Boim get into a cab outside federal court in Chicago on Dec. 8, after three Islamic charities and an alleged fund-raiser for the Palestinian militant group Hamas were ordered to pay $156 million to the parents, whose 17-year-old son, David, was shot and killed by terrorists on Israel's West Bank eight years ago. <http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/041208/480/cx10112082146> _____ Hamas has been the target of the federal government for about a decade. In 1995, then-President Bill Clinton issued an executive order that made it illegal for U.S. nationals to provide financial assistance to Hamas. Two years later, Hamas was placed on the State Department's list of foreign organizations supporting terrorism. Under last week's ruling, three other Islamic charities convicted of financing Hamas terror attacks would share in paying damages. They were identified as the Texas-based charity Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, the Islamic Association for Palestine and Muhammad Salah, designated a key fundraiser for Hamas and based in Chicago. The defendants said they would appeal. The ruling implies that families of victims of the 9/11 Al Qaida strikes in New York and Washington could sue financiers of Osama Bin Laden's movement in civil court. A class-action lawsuit has sought about $100 trillion in damages for the families of the more than 3,000 victims of 9/11. The defendants include senior Saudi princes including Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultan and Interior Minister Prince Nayef. In 2000, the Boims brought their case against the Islamic charities seeking $300 million in damages. The statute allows terror victims abroad to collect damages in U.S. courts from groups that give money to terrorists. In a 107-page opinion, Keys held the Holy Land Foundation and Islamic Association for Palestine liable for damages in the Hamas killing of the David Boim. The judge also held Salah responsible. Salah has been under indictment in an alleged Hamas fundraising conspiracy. Keys said the evidence showed that all three defendants were responsible for Boim's death. The judge refused to wait until the termination of criminal proceedings against Salah. The judge ruled that the Boims were not required to show that the money provided by the charities to Hamas paid for the killing of their son. Keys said the question was whether the U.S. charities knew that Hamas engaged in violence. The case against the Quranic Literacy Institute stretched U.S. law even further. The Boims claimed that Salah used the Quranic Literacy Institute as a front. The institute translates Islamic texts and Salah was alleged to have used the QLI for alleged Hamas fundraising. In 1998, the U.S. government froze $1.4 million of QLI's assets. "The international terrorist group Hamas has some of its biggest supporters right here in the United States, right here in Chicago," said Boim attorney Richard Hoffman. For years, the Boims tried to win support from Congress to bring their son's killers to justice. But the State Department refused to press the issue in an attempt to maintain relations with the Palestinian Authority. Then, the Boims discovered another avenue the Federal Courts. The Boims case was based on a law passed in 1992. That law, termed Section 2333(a), allows the family of any U.S. national injured or harmed by international terrorists to sue for damages in Federal court and recover three-fold damages as well as the court costs and attorney fees. <http://www.geostrategy-direct.com/geostrategy-direct/images/haleemC.jpg> Amer Haleem, secretary of the Quranic Literacy Institute, of suburban Oak Lawn, Ill <http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/041208/480/cx10112082146> _____ The plaintiffs said the support provided by Islamic charities in the United States to Hamas converted them into international terrorists. The Boims argued that Hamas depended on contributions from the United States and Europe, with command and control centers in the United States. The charities were alleged to have coordinated fundraising and money laundering and had channeled funds to Hamas operatives in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. "Hamas operatives in the West Bank and Gaza used the money wired from the United States to buy weapons and carry out terrorist attacks, including the attack on David Boim," a government affidavit submitted in 2001 said. "Funds were drawn from a pool of such funds by Hamas military organizers to finance training, weaponry, lodging, false documentation/identification, communications equipment, facilities, lethal substances, explosives, personnel, transportation and other material support. Upon information and belief, among the expenditures paid for by this pool of money were the vehicle, machine guns and ammunition used to kill David Boim." The Quranic Institute and Holy Land Foundation argued that they had nothing to do with Boim's death and were exempt from Section 2333(a). Moreover, they said Section 2333(a) was unconstitutional because it denies their First Amendment right to associate with Hamas. A Federal District court rejected the arguments. The court said Section 2333(a) reaches beyond the violent act itself to the individuals who knew about the act and participated in the preparation of the plan to commit it. At the same time, the court said that merely contributing money to Hamas does not make a person or institution an international terrorist. The court set the task of the Boims as proving that the charities aided and abetted liability, or knew that the money was going for Hamas attacks. The court also dismissed the argument that association with Hamas was a constitutional right. The court said there was no constitutional right to provide funds to designated foreign terrorist organizations. It is unlikely the Boims will recover anywhere near the award against the Islamic charities. Stephen Landes, another attorney for the Boims, said the defendants have up to $7 million in frozen funds, but most of that would go to the government. Legal experts said that under the ruling the Boims could seize future income and assets belonging to the defendants. The decision is so far-reaching that legal experts predict it will be sent to the U.S. Supreme Court. QLI refused to put up a defense, saying it was not ready for trial, which could be a key argument in any appeal. "It sends a message that people who pay for terrorism are going to wind up paying the victims of terrorism," Landes said. "It exposed and hopefully put an end to the network in the U.S. that supports Hamas. The veil has been lifted." http://www.geostrategy-direct.com/ _____ [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> $4.98 domain names from Yahoo!. Register anything. http://us.click.yahoo.com/Q7_YsB/neXJAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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