terrorism charge dropped (another Ashcroft era case bites out)

[n2doc]

Hamas charge dropped
Move shocks lawyers for Bridgeview grocer

By Rudolph Bush
Tribune staff reporter
Published September 23, 2006

In a surprise move that stunned defense attorneys, federal prosecutors announced Friday that they will drop a key charge against a Bridgeview grocer accused of supporting terrorism as a leader of the Palestinian extremist group Hamas. Muhammad Salah was charged in 2003 with aiding Hamas in one of the few terrorism prosecutions in the U.S. since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Then-Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft announced Salah's indictment, signaling a more aggressive approach toward U.S. citizens suspected of supporting foreign extremist groups.

But Friday's move raised questions with both the judge and the defense about how much of the case remains against Salah. Salah, 53, still faces charges that he conspired to provide funds and other aid to Hamas and that he obstructed justice by lying in a civil suit about his alleged work on behalf of the group. But he will not face charges that in 1999 he provided money and recruited new members for Hamas.

Nor will he face the testimony of an undercover informant, Jack Mustafa, who befriended Salah in 1997 in order to provide federal agents with detailed accounts of his alleged work for Hamas. Coming three weeks before Salah's trial is scheduled to begin, the prosecutors' announcement astounded his defense attorneys. "I think it's the heart of the case. It really changes everything," said attorney Michael Deutsch.

The defense told U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve that the decision could call the entire case into question based on statutes of limitations, which require charges be filed within a certain number of years from the time an alleged crime is committed. Prosecutors declined to comment on why they dismissed the charge and decided not to call a key informant in whom the government invested significant time and money. Deutsch said that Mustafa was not a believable witness and noted that one FBI report warned that agents had "significant questions about the credibility of this informant."

more:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0609230064sep23,1,2440658.story?coll=chi-news-hed