Muhammad Salah Trial
July 11, 2007, SALAH RECEIVES JAIL TIME
Judge Amy St. Eve today sentenced Muhammad Salah to 21 months in prison. JCRC Chair Alan Solow and Executive Director Jay Tcath said, "We applaud the US Attorney's office for aggressively pursuing criminal charges against these men... They sent a clear and forceful message that America will not allow itself to be used as a safe haven for supporting international terrorist activities." Read JCRC's entire statement (PDF) or listen to a podcast of JCRC leaders' reaction (MP3).
Additional articles:
- Bridgeview man cleared of terror charges gets two years for lying, Daily Southtown, July 12, 2007
- Chicago man accused of terrorism gets 21 months for lying, Chicago Sun-Times, July 12, 2007
Feb. 8, 2007. SPLIT VERDICTS ON SALAH TRIAL
JUF's Jewish Community Relations Council closely monitored the case and attended court throughout the trial. Expressing a partial victory at the guilty verdict on obstruction of justice were Alan Solow, chair, and Jay Tcath, director, of JCRC, said in a joint statement (PDF), "It is very important that the jury found Muhammad Salah guilty of lying about his involvement with and support for the terrorist organization Hamas."
Jan. 11, 2007. SALAH CASE COMING TO A CLOSE
Closing arguments for Bridgeview resident, Muhammad Salah, took place in a Chicago courtroom this week. Salah's defense attorney pleaded with jurors Wednesday to ignore his admission that he aided Hamas terrorists, saying the confession was obtained through torture.
Dec. 21, 2006. HUMAN RIGHTS EXPERT TESTIFIES AT HAMAS-CASE TRIAL OF BRIDGEVIEW MAN
A researcher with the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem, took the stand in Chicago on behalf of Muhammad Salah, a Bridgeview man accused of supporting terrorism as a member of the Palestinian extremist group Hamas. Yuval Ginbar testified that Israeli interrogators engaged in systematic torture of the "vast majority" of people detained as security threats during the 1990s, though he acknowledged he had no firsthand information about how Salah was treated when Israeli security agents interrogated him in 1993.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday Judge Amy St. Eve disqualified Norman Finkelstein, a DePaul University assistant professor, from giving "expert" testimony during the trial. The defense sought Finkelstein's testimony re: alleged "pressure" the Israeli government and the "Jewish Lobby" exerted on the U.S. government to both cover up the torture of Salah and to bring the case to trial. After several days of deliberations, Judge St. Eve ruled that Mr. Finkelstein did not, in fact, possess specific expertise on the particular time period - 1992-1993 - leading up to and including Mr. Salah's imprisonment in Israel.
Oct. 12, 2006. SALAH TRIAL BEGINS IN CHICAGO TODAY
The criminal trial against a Chicago-area man, Muhammad Salah, and two others charged with supporting Hamas, opened this morning in a downtown Chicago courtroom with jury selection. This criminal trial is the most significant non al-Qaeda trial to be tried in U.S. court to date. For JCRC, this culminates a 12-year effort of tracking and exposing the Chicago connection to international terrorism. Read about the individuals being tried and the charges against them (PDF).
Jun. 29, 2006. ANONYMOUS JURY URGED IN HAMAS FUNDS CASE
A defense lawyer for Muhammad Salah on Wednesday called prosecutors' motion to have an anonymous jury hear Salah's case "outrageous," and accused the government of trying to prejudice the jury pool and the public.
Oct. 20, 2005. SALAH'S LAWYERS CLAIM HE WAS COERCED
Attorneys for a Bridgeview man accused of laundering millions of dollars for Hamas terrorist activities have asked that prosecutors be blocked from using a confession their client says Israeli police coerced from him through torture. Muhammad Salah is charged with taking part in a 15-year racketeering conspiracy to provide money and weapons to Hamas. The interrogation was reportedly witnessed by embattled New York Times reporter Judith Miller, and defense attorneys suggested Monday the best way for the U.S. government to prove its case--and prove Salah wasn't abused--is to call the journalist to the witness stand.
