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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MSI who wrote (266641)	6/25/2002 9:04:10 AM
From: gao seng	Respond to of 769670

Was that post your ramblings, an article from the early 90's, or a mixture of both? Either way, I consider this (below) to be good news. First today, Muslim chartities, tomorrow - the Baptists. - LA judge dismisses terrorism fund-raising case against seven Iranians Published 8:15 p.m. PDT Friday, June 21, 2002 LOS ANGELES (AP) - A federal judge threw out a 59-count indictment against seven Iranians the government accused of using charitable fund-raising as a front for bankrolling a terrorist organization. U.S. District Court Judge Robert M. Takasugi said the government's system for designating a group a terrorist organization was unconstitutional and violated the defendants' rights to due process. "I will not abdicate my responsibilities as a district judge and turn a blind eye to the constitutional infirmities" of the 1996 act of Congress that permitted the designation, Takasugi said in a 19-page ruling released Friday. He cited a ruling by a federal appeals court in Washington last year that found the act unconstitutional. "We're reviewing the decision and we are considering all of our options, including the possibility of seeking appellate review," said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles. The case stemmed from a March 2001 indictment against Roya Rahmani, Mustafa Ahmady, Hossein Afshari, Alireza Mohammadmoradi, Mohammad Omidvar, Navid Taj and Hassan Rezaie. The defendants allegedly showed travelers at Los Angeles International Airport photographs of starving children and alleged atrocities by the government of Iran in soliciting money for humanitarian purposes. The government contended that the money they raised was actually used to fund terrorist actions, including the purchase of weapons, for the armed wing of a group called Mujahedin-E Khalq, or MEK. The MEK is based in Iraq and wants to overthrow Iran's Islamic government. "I'm thrilled for these people, who are such good people," said Richard Steingard, Ahmady's lawyer. "These people had nothing to do with terrorism." The 1996 act authorizes the secretary of state to designate an organization as a "foreign terrorist organization" if it is foreign and engages in terrorist activities. The designation expires in two years unless the secretary of state renews it. The designation makes it illegal for Americans to provide material support for such groups, which may seek judicial review of the designation. The government originally designated MEK as a terrorist organization in 1997 and redesignated it as such in 1999 and again last year. The federal appeals court found that MEK had sufficient presence in this country to entitle it to some constitutional rights of due process, including the opportunity to review evidence against it and make its case in writing to the secretary of state. MEK was not given those rights and its designation was left intact as the court remanded the case to the secretary of state. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- sacbee.com