Five men formerly associated with the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) were sentenced to 15 to 65 years by United States District Judge Jorge Solis of Dallas for providing material support to a terrorist organization. The jury found that the HLF funneled at least 12.4 million dollars to Hamas. While the Holy Land Foundation claimed to be a charitable organization a jury found that the organization and the five individuals were providing material support to a terrorist organization. The claim is that the organization was channeling money to Hamas a Palestinian organization listed as a terrorist organization by President Clinton.

At one point the HLF was the largest Islamic charity in the United States assisting the victims of natural disasters as well as supporting schools and other charitable goals. But at the same time it channeled some of the charitable funds through Hamas and assisted Hamas in some of its projects. In 1991 after the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon the FBI and the European Union froze its assets. In 2004 it was indicted along with the leadership. In 2007 a jury found the leaders not guilty on some counts and it was deadlocked on other counts. Last year the government retried the leaders on the deadlocked counts and this week Judge Solis sentenced Shurki Abu Baker, Mohammad El-Mezain, Ghassan Elashi, Mufid Abdulqader and Abdulrahman Odeh to prison terms ranging from 15 to 65 years according to Jurist

Under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act it is assumed that any money given to a terrorist organization, even for its charitable deeds supports the organization and can be considered providing material support to the organization.