Judge frees former leader of Islamic charity

June 3, 2008 04:41 PM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +

By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff

A federal judge today freed a former leader of a defunct Boston-based Islamic charity and set the stage for the release soon of the founder of the tax-exempt group after ruling that both should have been acquitted of most of the tax-related crimes of which they had been convicted in January.

US District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV threw out the convictions of Samir Al-Monla of Brookline for conspiring to defraud the United States and engaging in a scheme to conceal the true origins of the nonprofit charity, Massachusetts Care International Inc., which allegedly promoted jihad and supported Islamic militants overseas. Al-Monla is expected to be freed this afternoon.

The judge also acquitted Emadeddin Muntasser of Braintree, who owns Logan Furniture, of the same charges but allowed his conviction for making false statements to the FBI to stand. However, federal sentence guidelines call for a maximum of six months in prison for that crime, and Muntasser's lawyers said he has spent almost that much time at a federal detention facility in Rhode Island since the Jan. 11 verdict, making it likely he will be freed within days.

Saylor said that the government had failed to prove that the two deliberately schemed to deceive the Internal Revenue Service about their organization's activities. He also said the government's evidence against the men was "thin."

Federal prosecutors said they would likely appeal to the 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals.

Supporters of the defendants were elated by the ruling, smiling, hugging, and winking in the Boston courtroom. They said the case would never have been prosecuted if the men had belonged to a non-Muslim charity.

"Thank God for our Constitution and for the checks and balances it puts in our judicial system," said Benny Muntasser, Muntasser's older brother. "We feel that there is a minority that bears some biases and prejudices against us. However, we feel grateful again for the federal judicial system, the court system that is removed from politics and prejudices."

Saylor also dismissed a conspiracy conviction against a third leader of the group, Muhamed Mubayyid of Shrewsbury, but declined to overturn his conviction on four other offenses, most for filing false tax returns. Mubayyid's lawyer, Michael C. Andrews, said that he was disappointed and that his client could face as much as five or six years in prison when he is sentenced next week.

US Attorney Mihcael J. Sullivan said that, while prosecutors had "great respect" for the jury process and for the judge, they would "seek reinstatement of the jury's verdicts of guilty as to all three defendants."