Some CAIR Officials Convicted of Crimes, More Tied
to Extremist Groups
by Steven Emerson - IPT News March 2008 InvestigativeProject.org
(note: The third installment of our CAIR dossier can be viewed in its entirety Here
The questionable associations and actions by many of its leaders cast serious doubt on
CAIR's claims of moderation and restraint. Some have committed criminal acts themselves;
others have ties to organizations with connections to Islamic extremism.
Those convicted of direct criminal activity include Ghassan Elashi, a founding board
member of CAIR-Texas; Randall (Ismail) Royer, once a communications specialist for the
national group, and Bassam Khafagi, the organization's one-time director of community
relations.
In the more egregious cases, the organization has tried to distance itself from the
individuals, contorting both logic and the English language. As the IPT's series on CAIR's
history and activities continues, we look at the suspect nature of these examples and
others close to the organization.
· Ghassan Elashi, who attended a 1993 Philadelphia meeting called by Hamas to discuss
derailing U.S. peace initiatives, was convicted in 2004 on six criminal counts, including
making false statements, conspiracy to violate the Export Administration Regulations and
the Libyan Sanctions Regulations, and conspiracy to file false shipper's export
declaration forms. He was a defendant again in the 2007 Hamas-support trial of the Holy
Land Foundation (HLF), where jurors were unable to reach unanimous verdicts on the charges
against him.
Elashi served as HLF chairman and treasurer and vice president of Infocom, a computer
export company. He was sentenced to 80 months in prison for making illegal computer
shipments to Libya and Syria and conspiring to send money to Mousa Abu Marzook, an
admitted Hamas leader.
Seeking to minimize Elashi's ties to CAIR, Executive Director Nihad Awad assured U.S.
senators in 2003 testimony, "Mr. Elashi was never an employee or officer of our
corporation. The fact that he was once associated with one of our almost twenty regional
chapters has no legal significance…"
· Randall Royer, the former CAIR communications specialist, has a more colorful criminal
history. Police who stopped his car for a traffic violation in 2001 found an AK-47-style
rifle and 219 rounds of ammunition inside. Then, in 2003, he was indicted on charges
stemming from participation in the ongoing jihad in Kashmir -- specifically, doing
propaganda work for Lashkar-e Taiba, a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group, and
personally firing at Indian positions in Kashmir.
Pleading guilty to weapons and explosives charges in 2004, he was sentenced to 20 years in
prison. In later grand jury testimony, Royer admitted that the cell's primary goal was to
fight with the Taliban against United States forces in Afghanistan
Again, CAIR reacted defensively, seeking to downplay both his ties to the organization
and, indeed, the nature of his crimes. "Notwithstanding the fact that any criminal
action to which he pleaded guilty was done when Royer was no longer employed with CAIR and
not at CAIR's direction," the group said, "it is important to note that the only
crimes that he pleaded guilty to were weapons charges, not charges of terrorism."
CAIR's timing point contradicts media reports indicating that Royer still worked for the
group in October 2001; while the charges to which Royer pleaded guilty do not directly
contain the word "terrorism," they involved his activities in support of a
conspiracy against the United States.
Bassam Khafagi pleaded guilty to bank and visa fraud charges in September 2003, after his
arrest and indictment earlier that year. "At the time of his arrest," the
Associated Press reported, "he was community affairs director of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations."
Khafagi also served as a founding member and president of the Islamic Assembly of North
America. That group was investigated on charges of money laundering and recruiting
terrorists over the Internet and the FBI raided its offices in February 2003.
Trying to put the best face on the situation once again, Awad claimed in Senate testimony,
"Khafagi was never an ‘employee' of CAIR," but rather an "independent
contractor for CAIR."
Among other CAIR officials:
· Nabil Sadoun, currently on CAIR's board and chair of CAIR-Texas, helped found
the United Association for Studies and Research (UASR). While there has been no criminal
prosecution of the UASR, Sadoun founded it along with Hamas leader Marzook. Internal
records show the UASR was a founding member of the Muslim Brotherhood's Palestine
Committee in America. Federal prosecutors say that committee's "designed purpose was
to support Hamas."
Sadoun also co-founded the Muslim American Youth Association. MAYA's conferences, many of
which it co-sponsored with IAP, have long supported Hamas.
· Mohammad El-Mezain, the former chairman and director of endowments for HLF, conducted
fundraising at a 2004 CAIR-New York event, soliciting over $100,000 for CAIR. He was
indicted soon afterward for providing material support to Hamas. Acquitted of most counts
against him in the HLF trial, he faces retrial on a charge of conspiring to provide
material support to a terrorist group.
· Rabih Haddad served as a fundraiser for CAIR's Ann Arbor chapter. He co-founded the
Global Relief Foundation (GRF), one of the largest Islamic charities in the United States
-- but one that the U.S. government has investigated of funding violent jihadism.
In December 2001 the FBI raided GRF's headquarters and arrested Haddad, then its chairman,
on a visa violation. He was deported to Lebanon after an immigration judge found that he
presented "a substantial risk to the national security of the United States."
The Treasury Department said Haddad had been a member of Makhtab Al-Khidamat, the
precursor organization to Al Qaeda.
Again, to view the full installment
click here: http://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/misc/111.pdf
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