Material support statutes criminalize expressing an ideology, not committing violence

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)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Anti-terror material support laws criminalize religious charity and political solidarity; Material support laws criminalize peace activism by non-Muslim leftists — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 580; Material support laws also enabled FBI targeting of non-Muslim anti-war activists. (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Material support laws target non-Muslim anti-war activists, not only Muslims #exemplifies (0.90)
• Anti-war activism was prosecuted as material support for terrorism #exemplifies (0.90)
• Material-support law criminalizes religious charity implicated in Palestinian solidarity #exemplifies (0.85) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 590
• Overbroad statutes are tainted when prohibiting both protected and criminal conduct #qualifies (0.75) — Ruggero J. Aldisert, Agatha D. Aldisert, Logic for Lawyers- A Guide to Clear…, 844