Arnaout, a Syrian-born U.S. citizen, has been imprisoned since April on federal perjury charges. He faces 90 years in prison if convicted.

Under the pretext of shutting down "money-laundering for al Qaeda’s network," FBI and other government agents have raided Muslim charities and local money-transfer offices around the country. The cops have been taking advantage of a provision in the "antiterrorist" law passed by Congress last year, the so-called USA Patriot Act, which gives the government wide authority to freeze the assets of organizations deemed suspect of funding "terrorist groups."

In a sensationalized media event, Ashcroft flew into Chicago to announce the indictment of Arnaout. He was accused of racketeering, conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, conspiracy to launder money, money laundering and wire e-mail fraud. The charges expand on earlier perjury charges that he lied about alleged ties to Osama bin Laden. Claiming the groups al Qaeda and Hezbe-e Islami were recipients of the charity’s funds, Ashcroft said some of the contributions were turned into "terrorist blood money" supporting bin Laden and Islamic fighters in Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Bosnia.

Matthew Piers, lawyer for the Benevolence International Foundation, called the charges against Arnaout "an amalgamation of falsehoods, half-truths, and guilt by association."

Rasheed Ahmed, president of the Muslim Civil Rights Center based in the Chicago suburb of Hickory Hills, said the expanded charges against Arnaout "only increase the skepticism of the community" in the government’s case.

The attacks on the BIF and Arnaout date back to December 14, when FBI agents raided the foundation’s offices and Arnaout’s home, seizing financial records, computers, and personal items. The U.S. Treasury Department froze the charity’s assets.

In response, Benevolence International Foundation filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court of Illinois, challenging the break-ins and seizures as violations of the 4th and 5th Amendments.

On April 29 U.S. district attorney Patrick Fitzgerald filed charges against Arnaout for his statement denying that BIF ever provided any aid to organizations engaged in terrorist activities. Arnaout was arrested and placed in solitary confinement, and is surrounded by three guards whenever he’s allowed to leave his cell.

A federal judge threw out the initial perjury charges on September 13, but the U.S. attorney immediately refiled a similar charge based on another statute. The new indictment against Arnaout relies on supposed documents tying him to bin Laden in the 1980s.  
 
 
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