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Politics : The Iraq War And Beyond -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ed Huang who wrote (374)	8/18/2003 9:14:54 PM
From: DeplorableIrredeemableRedneck	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9018

Muslim Charity Leader Gets 11 Years By MIKE ROBINSON Associated Press Writer Aug 18, 6:07 PM EDT CHICAGO (AP) -- A Muslim charity leader linked by prosecutors to Osama bin Laden was sentenced Monday to more than 11 years in federal prison for defrauding donors by diverting money intended for refugees to Islamic military groups. Enaam Arnaout, 41, a Syrian-born U.S. citizen who says he has met bin Laden but opposes terrorism, was calm as the sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Suzanne B. Conlon. The government's investigation of Arnaout and his Benevolence International Foundation, based in suburban Palos Hills until it was shut down in 2002, has been a major component of the war on terrorism. Attorney General John Ashcroft traveled to Chicago to announce the charges against Arnaout when he was indicted. Arnaout (pronounced ARE-not) pleaded guilty to a racketeering charge, admitting that he diverted thousands of dollars from his Benevolence International Foundation to pay for boots, tents, uniforms and other supplies to military groups in Bosnia and Chechnya. Advertisement Conlon sentenced Arnaout to 11 years and four months in prison. He must serve nearly 10 years before he is eligible for parole. Conlon could have imposed a maximum of 12 years and seven months under federal guidelines. Arnaout's foundation funneled about $20 million to Muslim countries over eight years in the 1990s to help widows, orphans and refugees. Between $200,000 and $400,000 went to fighting groups. Conlon ordered Arnaout to pay $315,624 in restitution and recommended that it be turned over to the United Nations for refugee work. Defense attorney Joseph Duffy said Arnaout helped military groups in Bosnia to get access to widows and orphans in areas under military control. "This man has spent his life helping people in need," Duffy said. The judge had earlier declined a prosecution request to boost the sentence to 20 years, on the basis of Arnaout's ties to members of bin Laden's al-Qaida network. She said the links supplied grounds for suspicion but didn't constitute evidence that he backed terrorism. Arnaout, looking tired after more than a year in solitary confinement, spoke briefly before the court, saying he had been kidnapped by the government. He insisted he was innocent. "I came to this country to enjoy freedom and justice," Arnaout said. "I came to have a peaceful life." Arnaout claimed to have answered all the questions put to him by prosecutors in their investigation of al-Qaida. His attorneys said he met bin Laden in the 1980s when the terrorist mastermind was part of the U.S.-supported struggle of Afghan fighters to expel the Soviet army. They said he has had nothing to do with bin Laden in recent years. Prosecutors say he lied about his associations with bin Laden and his supporters. Among other things, they said one of bin Laden's top aides, Mamdouh Salim, traveled to Bosnia in 1998 with papers showing that Salim was a board member of Benevolence International. They also said that a man described by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald as "a famous member of al Qaida" was hired by Arnaout to serve as the charity's top man in Chechnya. And the minutes of the meeting at which al-Qaida was founded were discovered on a Benevolence computer, as were pictures of Arnaout and bin Laden, prosecutors say. Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved.