It's the same case, with the same defendants, but the terror-support retrial of five former officials at the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) offered a substantially different presentation from last year's original trial.
That case ended in a mistrial when jurors failed to reach unanimous verdicts on most of the counts involved. The only verdicts acquitted a former HLF chairman of 31 of the 32 counts against him. Jurors later complained the case was too complicated, with too many charges and a mountain of evidence to navigate.
Prosecutors listened, dramatically streamlining their presentation. But they still found a way to present four new witnesses while trimming two weeks off their case. They offered a host of new summary and demonstrative exhibits, including a highlight reel of a secret 1993 meeting of Hamas supporters seeking to derail American efforts to negotiate a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians (see story here). Defendant Shukri Abu Baker, HLF's former executive director, is among several participants who discuss the need to mislead Americans about their true agenda, saying "War is deception."
The Dallas Morning News and Wall Street Journal have taken notice of the adjustments.
The streamlined presentation brings a sharper focus on the basic facts and key exhibits in evidence. The new witnesses added valuable context to the laws the men are accused of violating and an insider's account of what HLF did with the money it collected in the name of needy Palestinians. Taken as a whole, the changes offered a strong rebuttal to defense arguments that the men sought merely to provide charity and not help Hamas, and claims the case is built upon the word of biased American and Israeli sources. Read more ...
That case ended in a mistrial when jurors failed to reach unanimous verdicts on most of the counts involved. The only verdicts acquitted a former HLF chairman of 31 of the 32 counts against him. Jurors later complained the case was too complicated, with too many charges and a mountain of evidence to navigate.
Prosecutors listened, dramatically streamlining their presentation. But they still found a way to present four new witnesses while trimming two weeks off their case. They offered a host of new summary and demonstrative exhibits, including a highlight reel of a secret 1993 meeting of Hamas supporters seeking to derail American efforts to negotiate a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians (see story here). Defendant Shukri Abu Baker, HLF's former executive director, is among several participants who discuss the need to mislead Americans about their true agenda, saying "War is deception."
The Dallas Morning News and Wall Street Journal have taken notice of the adjustments.
The streamlined presentation brings a sharper focus on the basic facts and key exhibits in evidence. The new witnesses added valuable context to the laws the men are accused of violating and an insider's account of what HLF did with the money it collected in the name of needy Palestinians. Taken as a whole, the changes offered a strong rebuttal to defense arguments that the men sought merely to provide charity and not help Hamas, and claims the case is built upon the word of biased American and Israeli sources. Read more ...
Source: IPT News
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