Former treasurer of Islamic charity sentenced to 11 months

July 18, 2008 06:24 PM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +

By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff

A 43-year-old Shewsbury software engineer was sentenced today to 11 months in federal prison for concealing the nature of a tax-exempt charity that allegedly published newsletters promoting jihad and supporting Islamic militants overseas.

Muhamed Mubayyid, the former treasurer of the defunct Boston-based charity Massachusetts Care International Inc., will get credit for six months he has already served at a detention facility in Rhode Island. U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV also ordered Mubayyid to pay a $1,000 fine and serve three years of supervised release.

Mubayyid's lawyer, Michael C. Andrews, said the prosecutions of Mubayyid and two other men were "ill-conceived and born, in part, out of fear of Muslim organizations" after the Sept. 11 attacks. He said Mubayyid was innocent.

Mubayyid was convicted of five charges for allegedly failing to disclose in the group's 2000 tax return that the group had published newsletters from 1993 to 1997 supporting jihad.

Prosecutors argued in US District Court in Worcester that if the government had known of the group's activities it would have denied or revoked the group's tax-exempt status. Prosecutors said the fraud on the IRS deprived the government of more than $330,000 in tax revenue.

Saylor said prosecutors hadn't proved the exact sum, but he agreed the government had been defrauded.

"The IRS was, in fact, defrauded. It's a crime to give false information. Further, one simply cannot file false documents with the IRS without punishment," he said.

Emadeddin Muntasser, 44, of Braintree was sentenced yesterday to one year in prison in the case. Samir Al-Monla, 51, of Brookline was acquitted by the judge of all charges.