WASHINGTON, 9 May 2003 — Wielding new powers granted by a six-month-old federal court decision, the FBI has greatly intensified decade-old investigations of alleged US supporters of the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, and Hezbollah groups, according to government officials.
Confident that its efforts to track the Al-Qaeda terrorist network in this country are beginning to pay off, the FBI is devoting more resources to the two Middle Eastern groups, which command more widespread support in Arab and Muslim communities here. Officials say that there are active Hezbollah cells in this country but that most of their renewed efforts are aimed at alleged financial supporters of both groups — including Islamic centers, charities and criminal rings scattered from Washington to Detroit to Los Angeles.
The stepped-up investigations in at least two dozen US cities were triggered by a November 2002 ruling from a secretive three-judge appeals panel. The renewed efforts are another example of the more aggressive tactics the FBI has been freed to use in the war on terror since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The court ruling authorized federal agents who pursue criminal prosecution of terrorism suspects to use decades worth of classified wiretaps and intelligence reports from foreign security agencies that previously had been off-limits.
“It’s a trove of information that’s created enormous possibilities, a whole new world for us,” said a senior US counterterrorism official who works on criminal cases. “Before, we were playing with one hand tied behind our backs.”
Before the ruling, wiretap and search information from intelligence investigations was not usable in criminal cases because the standards for securing an intelligence warrant are lower. Traditionally, intelligence agents kept track of people believed to be engaged in terrorism and espionage, but did not develop criminal cases.
Because of the ruling, federal prosecutors and FBI counterterrorism agents who work on criminal cases are now getting their first chance to examine tens of thousands of pages of wiretap transcripts and reports compiled over many years by fellow FBI agents who pursued intelligence cases. The ruling was issued by an appellate panel that adjudicates investigations begun under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
Stanley Cohen, a New York attorney who represents several men in this country who the US government contends are officials of the Islamic Resistance Movement, also known as Hamas, said he has detected reinvigorated investigations of his clients after the ruling.
Prosecutors “haven’t figured out how many pieces of candy they can eat,” he said. “It’s been quite a topic of discussion (among defense lawyers) on how and when the next shoe will drop.”
The first shoe to drop was the indictment in February of Florida college professor Sami Al-Arian on charges of conspiracy to commit murder via suicide attacks in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
For years, Al-Arian had denied that he was an operative of Palestinian Islamic Jihad — which the US government has designated a terrorist group because of its suicide bombings of Israelis.
No charges were filed against Al-Arian until the 50-count indictment, the first to exploit FISA information. It contains scores of transcribed pages from secretly intercepted telephone conversations, e-mails and faxes made available to FBI criminal investigators only months ago. Authorities said they prove that Al-Arian helped direct Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s worldwide operations. Al-Arian’s lawyers deny the charges, saying he is a victim of anti-Muslim conspiracies.
US officials said the investigation into alleged supporters of Hamas focuses in part on the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, the nation’s largest Muslim charity until agents shut it down in 2001. Last year, a federal judge in Washington ruled that the charity supports the families of Hamas suicide bombers, paid for many trips by Hamas officials to this country, and “has had financial connections to Hamas since its creation in 1989.” Holy Land officials deny terrorist ties.
Hamas is a militant group, founded in 1987 and based in the Palestinian territories, that seeks the establishment of an Islamic state there and in Israel, and works to end the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. It runs an extensive network of social service agencies in the territories and has not targeted US interests.
The probe of suspected backers of Hezbollah largely focuses on networks of Islamic centers that allegedly raise money for the group, officials said. In addition, investigators are looking into rings that commit crimes such as credit card fraud and send the profits to Hezbollah in Lebanon, the officials said.
Many Arab and Muslim activists denounce the probes, saying they admire Hamas and Hezbollah for their armed resistance to Israel.
