Mufid Abdulqader
Born1960
Silwad
OccupationEngineer

Mufid Abdulqader is a former Dallas Public Works and Transportation Department engineer, entrepreneurial investor, who was sentenced to 20 years of prison[1] for raising funds for Hamas, on three separate conspiracy charges.[2] His family has claimed his innocence, and demands his release.[3] Human Rights Watch has also condemned the trial and called on the Biden administration to release all 5 accused.[4]

Early life and education

Abdulqader was born in 1960 the West Bank village Silwad,[5] at the time a territory of Jordan. Together with Abdulqader's half brother Khaled Mashal, his father moved the family to Kuwait afterwards for financial reasons, where Abdulqader, like his half-brother Khaled, completed high school.[6]

Abdulqader's half-brother is Khaled Mashal, who later became the leader of Hamas and stepped down as Hamas' politburo chief in 2017.[7]

Career

Mufid won praise from Dallas Mayor Laura Miller during his tenure as a "rising star" in the Dallas Public Works and Transportation Department, where he worked on street design and sidewalk projects, and led the $4.8 million Bishop Arts District redevelopment in 2001.[8] By September 2003, he was Senior Project Manager.[9] Before Dallas, he worked at the Oklahoma Department of Transportation from 1988 to 1996.[10]

Mufid performed for the band Al Sakhra ("The Rock"). It performed "stridently anti-Semitic" songs[11] on coast-to-coast tours in the United States.[12] In addition to singing, Mufid performed skits on stage.[13] His band was afterwards called Al Nojoum.

Investments & entrepreneurship

Together with co-worker Mohammad Elyazgi, Abdulqader was a co-owner of Sinbad Greek & International Food in Oklahoma.[14][15][10]

Holy Land Foundation

Abdulqader was a "top fundraiser" for the Holy Land Foundation,[16][17] and was described by The New York Times as a "leader" of it.[18]

Conviction and incarceration

In September 2008, prosecutors asked the judge for the dismissal of 29 counts each against Abdulqader and Abdulrahman Odeh,[19] keeping only three conspiracy counts.[20]

On October 29, 2012, the United States Supreme Court denied a petition for writ of certiorari; thus making Abdulqader's conviction final and definitive.[21][22][23] Nonetheless, the American Human Rights Council in 2017 asked for Mufid Abdulqader's conviction, as well as others, to be commuted to time already served by then-president Barack Obama.[24]

A 2011 NPR report claimed Abdulqader is imprisoned in a highly restrictive Communication Management Unit in Terre Haute, Indiana.[25]

In 2018 Miko Peled published the book, Injustice: The Story of the Holy Land Foundation Five, where he catalogs the trial of the criminalization and dismantling of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, leading to the arrest and jailing of Foundation President Shukri Abu Baker, Chairman Ghassan Elashi, Mohammad el-Mezain, Mufid Abdulqader and Abdulraham Odeh.[26] In 2022 His daughter, Nida Abu Baker along with the Thursday by Within Our Lifetime, the Coalition for Civil Freedoms and the Samidoun Prisoner Network called for his release along with other Palestinians imprisoned by the US government.[27]

Human Rights Watch has condemned the trial as it was based on hearsay evidence and called on the Biden administration to release all 5 accused.[4]

References

  1. ↑ "5 men from defunct Muslim charity get long sentences". CNN. 27 May 2009. Retrieved 26 December 2018. Mufid Abdulqader, 49, of Richardson, Texas, received 20 years
  2. ↑ "Founders of US Muslim charity jailed for 65 years for funding Hamas". The Telegraph. 27 May 2009. Retrieved 26 December 2018. Mufid Abdulqader, 49, was sentenced to 20 years on three conspiracy counts.
  3. ↑ "Holy Land Foundation 5' are victims of the US' unjust persecution of Palestinians". Middle East Monitor. 2022-11-26. Retrieved 2023-05-01.
  4. 1 2 "After Israel's Designation of Human Rights Groups as "Terrorists," Biden Should Release Palestinian-Americans Imprisoned Over Similar Claims". Human Rights Watch. 2022-03-11. Retrieved 2023-05-01.
  5. ↑ Peled, Miko (2018) Injustice. The Story of the Holy Land Foundation Five. Just World Books. ISBN 978-1-68257-085-2. p.34
  6. ↑ TODD BENSMAN (13 February 2006). "Hamas's Rock Star". The Weekly Standard. Retrieved 26 December 2018. Mufid and Khaled both graduated from a Kuwaiti high school.
  7. ↑ TODD BENSMAN (1 January 2005). "The Terrorist at City Hall". D Magazine. Retrieved 26 December 2018. But Mufid had yet another secret. His half brother is the notorious Khalid Mishaal, the current leader of Hamas
  8. ↑ "The Terrorist at City Hall". Dmagazine.com. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  9. ↑ "Accelerated Construction Technology Transfer (ACTT) Workshop" (PDF). Federal Highway Administration. U.S. Department of Transportation. 9–11 September 2003. p. A-2. Retrieved 26 December 2018. Name: Mufid Abdulqader Title: Senior Project Manager Company: Public Works & Transportation Office: City of Dallas
  10. 1 2 Erick Stakelbeck (2011). "Chapter Five - Freaks Geeks and Jihadis". The Terrorist Next Door: How the Government is Deceiving You About the Islamist Threat. Simon and Schuster. p. 112. ISBN 978-1596986800. Retrieved 26 December 2018. Adulqader and Elyazgi have worked for the Oklahoma Department of Transportation
  11. ↑ "Jurors see bin Laden's mentor stumping for Holy Land Foundation". The Dallas Morning News. October 2008. Retrieved 26 December 2018. Mufid Abdulqader -- a former city of Dallas civil engineer -- is seen performing with his Palestinian folk band, Al Sakhra, or "the rock," singing stridently anti-Semitic songs
  12. ↑ TODD BENSMAN (1 January 2005). "The Terrorist at City Hall". D Magazine. Retrieved 26 December 2018. Mufid's secrets. For more than a decade, he'd been touring the country with the popular Arabic singing troupe Al-Sakhra. If he had muffled his political views about the Middle East while at City Hall, the Arabic lyrics he sang on weekend gigs all across the country left no doubt about his true feelings. With all the angst of a rock star, he urged on the violent holy war and glorified the martyrdom of suicide bombers
  13. ↑ "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. MUFID ABDULQADER and ABDULRAHMAN ODEH - NO: 3:04-CR-0240-P" (PDF). Government Publishing Office. Government of the U.S. 26 March 2009. p. 7. Retrieved 26 December 2018. videos depicted performances of the Al Sakhra band, with Albdulqader singing songs of praise for Hamas and violent jihad and performing skits depicting the killing of Jews
  14. ↑ DIANE WEST (30 October 2007). "Oklahoma lawmakers hang tough". Tulsa World. Newspaper Enterprise Association. Retrieved 26 December 2018. Mohamed Elyazgi, was a business partner of Mufid Abdulqader, a defendant in the Holy Land Foundation trial and half-brother to the political chief of Hamas
  15. ↑ Annie Jacobsen (January 12, 2006). "How Normal Is Norman?". Free Republic. Retrieved 26 December 2018. I had reviewed 1995 court documents that list Elyazgi and Abdulqader as co-owners of Sinbad Greek & International Food in Oklahoma and as co-defendants on fraud and failure to pay charges (Case No.: CJ95 2176-66)
  16. ↑ Elizabeth Wilcox (2010). Digest of United States Practice in International Law 2008. Oxford University Press. p. 97. ISBN 978-0199738557. Retrieved 26 December 2018. HLF was incorporated by Shukri Abu Baker, Mohammad El-Mezain, and Ghassan Elashi. Mufid Abdulqader and Abdulrahman Odeh worked as fundraisers.
  17. ↑ Zeyno Baran (2011). A&C Black (ed.). Citizen Islam: The Future of Muslim Integration in the West. Bloomsbury. p. 100. ISBN 978-1441112484. Retrieved 26 December 2018. Mufid Abdulqader, a top fundraiser for the HLF, is Mishal's half-brother
  18. ↑ GRETEL C. KOVACH (24 November 2008). "Five Convicted in Terrorism Financing Trial". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 December 2018. The charity's leaders — Ghassan Elashi, Shukri Abu-Baker, Mufid Abdulqader, Abdulrahman Odeh and Mohammad El-Mezain — were not accused in the 2004 indictment of directly financing suicide bombings or terrorist violence. Instead, they accused of illegally contributing to Hamas after the United States designated it a terrorist group.
  19. ↑ JOSH GERSTEIN (15 September 2008). "High-Stakes Trial Is Set Against Alleged Hamas Arm". The New York Sun. Retrieved 26 December 2018. at the prosecution's request, the court dropped 29 counts each against Messrs. Odeh and Abdulqader. The counts, charging money laundering and providing aid to a terrorist group, pertained to individual financial transfers to the zakat committees.
  20. ↑ JEFF CARLTON; David Koenig (2 September 2008). "Some charges tossed in case against Muslim charity". Fox News. Associated Press. Retrieved 26 December 2018. prosecutors requested the dismissal of nearly 30 counts against Mufid Abdulqader and Abdulrahman Odeh. The men each will still face three conspiracy counts that could send them to prison, if convicted, for 55 years.
  21. ↑ Kampeas, Ron (2012-10-30). "Supreme Court denies appeal of Holy Land Foundation convictions". Jta.org. Retrieved 2014-06-04.
  22. ↑ Elashi v. United States, No. 11-1390, 133 S. Ct. 525 (2012)
  23. ↑ "Defendants' Petition for Certiorari Rejected, Elashi et al v. United States, October 29, 2012".
  24. ↑ "AHRC urges President Obama to commute the sentence of the Holy Land". American Human Rights Council. 13 January 2017. Retrieved 26 December 2018. Five well- regarded members of the Muslim American community, Mufid Abdulqader, Shukri Baker, Ghassan Elashi, Mohammad El-Mezain, and Abdulrahman Odeh, were given unusually lengthy sentences that shocked the American Muslim community for their harshness
  25. ↑ Data & Graphics: Population Of The Communications Management Units, Margot Williams and Alyson Hurt, NPR, 3-3-11, retrieved 2011 03 04 from npr.org
  26. ↑ THE UNJUST PROSECUTION OF THE HOLY LAND FOUNDATION FIVE
  27. ↑ "Holy Land Five: Rights groups, families demand release over 'miscarriage of justice'". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 2023-05-01.
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