[Ppnews] Holy Land Five - My Father Will Not be Forgotten

[Political Prisoner News]

http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/12/12/my-father-will-not-be-forgotten/

DECEMBER 12, 2011
The Holy Land Five Appeal
My Father Will Not be Forgotten
by NOOR ELASHI

Exactly three days following the tenth 
anniversary of the Bush administration shutting 
down the largest Muslim charity in the United 
States, the Fifth Circuit Court dismissed the 
appeal for the Holy Land Foundation case, 
affirming the conviction of my father, the 
co-founder of the HLF who`s serving a 65-year 
sentence for his humanitarian work.

On Wednesday, Dec. 7, the three-judge panel, 
based in New Orleans, filed their opinion, 
concluding that ``the district court did not clearly err.``

Upon hearing this news, it initially all rushed 
back to me at once, nostalgia on overdrive. I saw 
the relentless accusations by pro-Israeli lobby 
groups, the pressure by pro-Israeli politicians 
and the defamatory news reports in the 1990`s.  I 
saw the raid on the HLF in 2001, the pre-sunrise 
arrests and ``material support``  charges in 
2004, the first trial and hung jury in 2007, the 
second trial and guilty verdicts in 2008, the 
sentencing in 2009. I saw the plethora of prison 
phone calls and visitations. And finally, I saw 
my father being transferred in 2010 to the 
Southern Illinois city of Marion`s Communications 
Management Unit - what The Nation has called 
``Gitmo in the Heartland`` - and where my 
father`s significantly diminished phone calls and 
visitations are scheduled in advance and live-monitored from Washington D.C.

The case of the Holy Land Five comes down to 
this:  American foreign policy has long been 
openly favorable towards Israel, and therefore, 
an American charity established primarily for 
easing the plight of the Palestinians became an 
ultimate target. As my father said during our 
15-minute phone call on Thursday, ``The politics 
of this country are not on our side. If we had 
been anywhere else, we would`ve been honored for our work.``

This month could have marked a milestone. The 
leaders of our country could have learned from 
our past. The day the towers fell could have been 
a time to stop fear from dominating reason 
instead of a basis to prosecute. The HLF would 
have continued to triumph, providing relief to 
Palestinians and other populations worldwide in 
the form of food, clothing, wheelchairs, 
ambulances, furniture for destroyed homes, 
back-to-school projects and orphan sponsorship 
programs. And more notably, my father would not 
have been incarcerated. My family and I would 
have been able to call him freely and embrace him without a Plexiglas wall.

Yet my father was charged under the ambiguous 
Material Support Statute with sending 
humanitarian aid to Palestinian distribution 
centers known as zakat committees that 
prosecutors claimed were fronts for Hamas. He was 
prosecuted despite the fact that USAID-an 
American government agency-and many other 
NGOs  were providing charity to the very same 
zakat committees. Instead of the Fifth Circuit 
Court taking this fact into account and 
transcending the politics of our time, the 
language used in the opinion, drafted by Judge 
Carolyn King, echoed that of the prosecutors:

``The social wing is crucial to Hamas`s success 
because, through its operation of schools, 
hospitals, and sporting facilities, it helps 
Hamas win the ``hearts and minds` of Palestinians 
while promoting its anti-Israel agenda and 
indoctrinating the populace in its ideology.``

Even more disappointing is the Fifth Circuit 
Court`s opinion regarding one of the main issues 
in the appeal:  The testimony of the 
prosecution`s expert witness, an Israeli 
intelligence officer who, for the first time in 
U.S. history, was permitted to testify under a pseudonym. The opinion states:

``When the national security and safety concerns 
are balanced against the defendants` ability to 
conduct meaningful cross-examination, the scale 
tips in favor of maintaining the secrecy of the witnesses` names.``

I refuse to let this language bring me down, 
especially knowing that the battle for justice 
continues.  In the next few weeks, defense 
attorneys plan to ask the entire panel of 
appellate judges to re-hear the case, and if that 
petition is denied, they will take it to the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, my father waits in prison.  This 
Thursday, when I spoke to him, it had been the 
first time in several weeks since he received a 
phone call ban for writing his name on a yoga 
mat, which prison officials saw as ``destruction 
of government property.`` I told him that during 
the tenth anniversary of the HLF shutting down, 
the name of the charity is still alive and that 
he will not be forgotten.  My father is my 
pillar, whose high spirits transcend all 
barbed-wire-topped fences, whose time in prison 
did not stifle his passion for human rights. In 
fact, when I asked him about the first thing 
he`ll do when he`s released, my father said, ``I 
would walk all the way to Richardson, Texas 
carrying a sign that says, `End the Israeli Occupation of Palestine.` `` 

Noor Elashi is a writer based in New York 
City.  She holds a Creative Writing MFA from The New School.


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