|
Trending Topics
|
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20169-2004Aug20.html?
Hamas Leader, 2 Others Indicted
(Washington Post) Dan Eggen and Jerry Markon - The Justice Department unsealed an indictment on Friday accusing a senior Hamas leader and two other men of a 15-year racketeering conspiracy that raised millions of dollars for the militant Palestinian group, which is labeled a terrorist organization by the United States for carrying out bombings, kidnappings and other attacks in Israel. The indictment, handed up in Chicago, includes the deputy chief of Hamas's political wing, Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook, who was expelled from the United States in 1997, is believed to be living in Syria. The new charges also signal an unusual strategy by the Justice Department, which for the first time has labeled Hamas a "criminal enterprise" and which is attempting to use racketeering and conspiracy statutes more commonly applied to drug gangs and mafia figures. Matthew Levitt, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former FBI counterterrorism analyst, said that focusing on alleged criminal activity allows prosecutors to more easily include activities before 1995, when Hamas was designated a terrorist organization.