By Jonathan Saltzman
A federal judge yesterday freed a former leader of a defunct Boston-based Islamic charity and set the stage to soon release another official from the group, after ruling that a jury should not have convicted them in January of most of the tax-related crimes for which they were tried.
Setting aside several verdicts, US District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV acquitted Samir Al-Monla, 51, of Brookline, of conspiring to defraud the United States and of scheming to conceal the origins of the tax-exempt charity, Massachusetts Care International Inc., which allegedly published newsletters promoting jihad and supporting Islamic militants overseas. He was freed a couple of hours later.
Saylor acquitted Emadeddin Muntasser, 44, of Braintree, who owns Logan Furniture, of identical charges, but sustained his conviction for making a false statement to the FBI about having visited Afghanistan. However, federal sentencing guidelines call for a maximum of six months in prison for that crime, said Muntasser's lawyers, and the founder of Care International has spent almost that long at a federal detention facility in Rhode Island since the Jan. 11 verdict. That makes it likely he will be freed within days, his lawyers said.
Elated supporters of Monla and Muntasser hugged one another and the defendants' lawyers after the hearing. Several said the case would never have been brought if the men belonged to a non-Muslim charity. Read more ...
A federal judge yesterday freed a former leader of a defunct Boston-based Islamic charity and set the stage to soon release another official from the group, after ruling that a jury should not have convicted them in January of most of the tax-related crimes for which they were tried.
Setting aside several verdicts, US District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV acquitted Samir Al-Monla, 51, of Brookline, of conspiring to defraud the United States and of scheming to conceal the origins of the tax-exempt charity, Massachusetts Care International Inc., which allegedly published newsletters promoting jihad and supporting Islamic militants overseas. He was freed a couple of hours later.
Saylor acquitted Emadeddin Muntasser, 44, of Braintree, who owns Logan Furniture, of identical charges, but sustained his conviction for making a false statement to the FBI about having visited Afghanistan. However, federal sentencing guidelines call for a maximum of six months in prison for that crime, said Muntasser's lawyers, and the founder of Care International has spent almost that long at a federal detention facility in Rhode Island since the Jan. 11 verdict. That makes it likely he will be freed within days, his lawyers said.
Elated supporters of Monla and Muntasser hugged one another and the defendants' lawyers after the hearing. Several said the case would never have been brought if the men belonged to a non-Muslim charity. Read more ...
Source: Boston Globe
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