[Pnews] Ten Years since the Holy Land Five

[Prisoner News]

http://www.pymusa.com/holyland5


  Ten Years since the Holy Land Five

November 24, 2018
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*/The following statement was co-authored by the Palestinian Youth 
Movement, the daughters of the Holy Land Five, and the Coalition for 
Civil Freedoms on the 10th year anniversary of the Holy Land Five’s 
unjust convictions. Below the statement is our call to action. /*

Ten years ago today, five Palestinian-Americans who were pillars of 
their communities were convicted on false charges of “providing material 
support for terrorism.” They ran the largest Muslim charity in the 
United States, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development 
(HLF). As George W. Bush waged the domestic “War on Terror,” in December 
2001, he designated the HLF as a “terrorist” organization, stating that 
the government would seize their assets and close them down. The U.S. 
government acknowledged that all financial support HLF sent to Palestine 
went to charities that support widows and orphans living under Israeli 
occupation, and were the same ones that the U.S. government itself sent 
money to. Not a single dollar was used for any violent activities, yet 
five key members of the HLF—Shukri Abu Baker, Ghassan Elashi, Mohammed 
El-Mezain, Mufid Abdulqader, and Abdulrahman Odeh, known as the Holy 
Land Foundation 5 (HLF5)—were unjustly convicted in 2008.

The HLF trial is considered the largest “terrorism” financing case in 
U.S. history, and yet prosecutors did not argue that the charity or any 
of its officials funded any violence. Instead, they told jurors that the 
schools, hospitals, and social welfare programs the charity sent money 
to were under Hamas’ control. Since money is “fungible,” prosecutors 
argued that those donations freed up other funds for Hamas to use in 
violent attacks. The irony is that these same Palestinian charities also 
received donations from the U.S. Agency for International Development 
(USAID), which is funded by the U.S. government and the International 
Red Cross.

After failing to convict them in the first trial, the case was retried 
<https://theintercept.com/2018/08/05/holy-land-foundation-trial-palestine-israel/>. 
It featured the testimony of an anonymous Israeli intelligence agent 
whom the defense team was unable to adequately question— the first time 
in legal history that a court had allowed an expert witness to testify 
under anonymity. An outfit run by notorious Islamophobe, Steven Emerson, 
the Investigative Project on Terrorism, supplied fabricated testimony 
central to the criminalization and indictment of the HLF5. They were 
given sentences of up to 65 years in prison, and were put in 
Communication Management Units (CMUs), often dubbed the “Gitmo North” 
due to the severity and discriminatory nature of their conditions.

The closure of the HLF and the conviction of its five most prominent 
members was meant to have a chilling effect on the Muslim and Arab 
communities in this country and to hinder their ability to mobilize 
around social justice issues, such as Palestinian self-determination. 
The case was one of the most egregious attempts by the government to 
stretch the definition of “material support for terrorism,” going as far 
as vilifying legitimate charitable works. This strategy is part of a 
long tradition of the U.S. government using incarceration to criminalize 
black and immigrant communities and to silence political activism and 
dissent.

Today, we continue to honor the HLF5, to fight for justice on their 
behalf, and on behalf of the other political prisoners that languish in 
the U.S. prison system as an attempt to intimidate and further 
marginalize our communities. We affirm that the only reason the HLF5 
were targeted by the U.S. government is because their mission was 
explicitly rooted in community empowerment and worked to alleviate the 
conditions caused by Israeli settler-colonialism in Palestine. We stand 
by the HLF5, their families and their communities, and salute their 
struggle in their firm resistance against Zionist repression and 
aggression in all its forms. We stand by their work and will continue to 
build institutions that serve our community as part of our larger 
commitment to the Palestinian national liberation movement.

*#FreeTheHLF5 #10YearsTooLong #FreePalestine #FreeAllPoliticalPrisoners*

/Endorsed by:/

Jacksonville Palestine Solidarity Network

Jewish Voice for Peace - Los Angeles

National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP)

Palestine Solidarity Committee - Austin, Texas

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network

Students for Justice in Palestine - Houston

Students for Justice in Palestine - West Region (SJP West)

Texas Palestine Coalition

U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN)

Within our Lifetime - United for Palestine

_______________________________________


    *our Call to action *

  *

    A social media flood to #10YearsTooLong: Change your individual or
    group profile photo on social media to the photo included in this
    post, and include a link to this statement in the caption while
    spreading the hashtag #10YearsTooLong

      o

        Sample caption:

          +

            This year marks 10 years since 5 integral members of the
            Palestinian community were convicted on trumped up charges.
            It has been #10yearsTooLong. We demand freedom for the HLF5
            #freeTheHLF5 #freeAllPoliticalPrisoners

  *

    Photo campaign: Share a picture of yourself or your organization
    with a sign that shows support for the HLF 5

  *

    Organize a community education event:

      o

        Documentary

          +

            Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJJkaWVENTg&t=21s

          +

            Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnNNfjD3hqc&t=515s

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 https://freedomarchives.org/
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