Muslim charity director faces trial in terror funding case

CHICAGO -- Enaam Arnaout says his charity raised millions of dollars to help widows, orphans and the poor in Muslim lands ravaged by war and famine.

Prosecutors say he duped well-meaning U.S. Muslims into giving to a charity that was secretly used to support Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network and other violent groups.

Arnaout, a U.S. citizen who was born in Syria, faces racketeering and fraud charges in what would be the first U.S. trial since the Sept. 11 terror attacks of anyone with alleged links to bin Laden. Jury selection was scheduled to begin today.

Arnaout, 40, is not accused of having anything to do with Sept. 11 or other specific acts of terrorism.

But prosecutors hope to present evidence showing contacts between Arnaout and bin Laden's network going back to the late 1980s to bolster their case that he supported al-Qaida, as well as Chechen rebels fighting the Russian army and armed violence in Bosnia.

If convicted, Arnaout could be sentenced to 90 years in prison without parole.

Experts say the case could be key in the legal war on bin Laden's al-Qaida network.

"This is very important because one of the principal ways al-Qaida raises money around the world is through charitable giving," said William Wechsler, a Clinton administration authority on terrorism.

Arnaout, who has been in custody since his arrest last April, denies he ever raised money for terrorists. He says everything Benevolence International Foundation did from its storefront office in suburban Palos Hills was aimed at providing humanitarian aid to the needy in Muslim countries.

Defense attorney Joseph Duffy has said Arnaout is the victim of an overzealous hunt for terrorists stemming from passions let loose by the Sept. 11 attacks.

The defense concedes Arnaout may have known bin Laden years ago in Afghanistan but notes that, in those days, bin Laden and the United States both sided with Afghan freedom fighters trying to expel the Soviet army.

"The United States intends to try Enaam Arnaout not for acts he committed in violation of U.S. laws but rather for associations he had over a decade ago," defense attorneys said in recently filed court papers.

U.S. District Judge Suzanne Conlon has indicated she may reject some prosecution documents that "are about events long ago and do not reflect Arnaout's conduct or any relationship with his charity."

She struck the prosecution another blow last week, turning down their request for sweeping permission to offer hearsay evidence.

Prosecutors sought an exception to the general rule banning hearsay in trials, citing an exception for conspiracy cases. But Conlon said they had failed to show a conspiracy existed.

Prosecutors allege that there is ample evidence connecting Arnaout to al-Qaida:

-- A raid on the charity's Bosnia offices in March produced minutes of the meeting at which al-Qaida was founded by bin Laden, as well as photos that prosecutors say connect Arnaout with the terrorist mastermind.

-- Mohamed Bayazid, who according to prosecutors once tried to get uranium so al-Qaida could build an atom bomb, was listed as president of Benevolence in 1993.

-- Bin Laden's alleged finance chief, Mamdouh Salim, went to Bosnia in 1998 with papers describing him as a Benevolence director.

-- In the late 1980s, Arnaout was close to bin Laden in Afghanistan, even serving as the terrorist leader's chauffeur, prosecutors allege.

The seven-count indictment says Arnaout used his charity to transfer money to al-Qaida in the early 1990s, that Benevolence paid for the lodging during Salim's Bosnia visit, and that Benevolence produced a fund-raising video for al-Qaida in Bosnia.

Prosecutors also allege that Benevolence sent an X-ray machine, uniforms and steel-reinforced anti-mine boots to Chechen rebels fighting Soviet troops in 1995. But defense attorneys say those things add up to humanitarian aid and not fuel for terrorism.

Leading the prosecution team is U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who as a prosecutor in New York won convictions against terrorists in the 1992 World Trade Center bombing and the 1998 bombing of two U.S. embassies in Africa.

While the case has no direct tie to Sept. 11, the attacks on the Trade Center and the Pentagon are expected to shape the mood.

Conlon acknowledged as much in a recent ruling saying potential jurors were bound to feel "the public trauma the country has suffered because of terrorism, deeply affecting our national individual lives like no other event in recent history."