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Anti-terror material support laws criminalize religious charity and political solidarity

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tagsja-picks, xref, factual_claims, corroborated, category/factual-claims
aliases@kumar_islamophobia_2012, loc. 578

4 min read

Anti-terror material support laws criminalize religious charity and political solidarity

Evidence

The charge of “material support” for terrorism has been used against people for a wide range of activities from donating to charitable organizations to participating in anti-war activities. Charity or zakat is one of the five pillars of Islam and is considered a religious obligation for all Muslims. After 9/11 the Bush administration shut down major Muslim charitable organizations operating in the United States and froze their assets, allegedly to prevent the flow of money to “terrorists.” Muslims who made contributions to charitable organizations that then donated money to groups the US government designated “Foreign Terrorist Organizations” (FTOs) were tried in court for providing “material support” to terrorists. As lawyer Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights explains, even limited contact, such as providing blankets to a hospital associated with an FTO or teaching nonviolent forms of conflict resolution to an FTO, is seen as material support. Zakat has an element of political solidarity with struggles elsewhere, especially Palestine, which the security state has sought to control. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 590 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

The largest Muslim charitable organization in the United States, the Holy Land Foundation, was alleged to be associated with Hamas and shut down by executive order shortly after 9/11. During the ensuing trial, it was well established that the Holy Land Foundation’s leaders had not performed, supported, or encouraged any form of violence, and furthermore, that the money sent abroad was used to provide basic needs and services for the very poor, such as Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, whose living conditions constitute a humanitarian crisis. The government did not establish any direct funding ties for “terrorism.” Instead, the case rested on the argument that the foundation had sent money to zakat committees controlled by Hamas. The defense argued that these charitable committees were the only means through which aid could get to the people who needed it—and that UN agencies and USAID had also used the same committees. Hamas controlled these committees, they explained, because Hamas is the elected government of Palestine. Nevertheless, the prosecution managed to secure harsh convictions. Two of the defendants are serving sixty-five-year prison terms. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 579 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

  • corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim
  • XREF: connects to: When believers cannot be visually identified, lawmakers criminalize the religion wholesale.; Anti-sharia experts framed Islamic charity as criminal material support for terror — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 408; Material-support law criminalizes religious charity implicated in Palestinian solidarity — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 590 (+15 more)

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