AP News, July 24th, 2007
A Florida mosque raised money for Jose Padilla to study Islam and the Arabic language in Egypt, not to support violence or terrorism, a Muslim cleric testified Tuesday.
Prosecutors contend that Padilla, a U.S. citizen and Muslim convert, went to Afghanistan from Egypt in 1998 and filled out a form to join an al-Qaida training camp.
But the imam, Raed Awad, repeatedly denied the allegations, saying "I have no knowledge of that" when asked about recruitment at his mosque or elsewhere in the U.S. of Islamic extremist fighters.
Awad said that donations collected at the Masjid Al-Iman mosque in Fort Lauderdale, where he was imam, was focused on providing aid to oppressed Muslims.
"We raised the money for him in the community _ in the mosque," Awad said of Padilla. "He went to study Islam and Arabic language."
Awad, now imam at the Birmingham Islamic Society in Alabama, was imam at the Florida mosque from 1995 through 2000, covering most of the years of the FBI investigation of Padilla and his co-defendants Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi, who are accused of supporting terrorism.
They are being tried on charges of operating a support cell for Islamic extremist groups worldwide, including al-Qaida, and conspiring to "murder, kidnap and maim" people overseas.
The trial does not include the original allegations that Padilla was plotting to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" inside the U.S. when he was arrested in 2002. Padilla was held for 3 1/2 years as an enemy combatant after his arrest and was added in late 2005 to the Miami terrorism support indictment.
Awad testified that he was once the chief Florida representative for the Holy Land Foundation, a Dallas-based charity currently on trial in a Texas federal court on charges related to support for Hamas. That Palestinian organization is considered a terrorist group by the U.S. government and much of the world for its attacks on Israel.
The imam drew a distinction between terrorism and Islamic mujahedeen who were fighting in defense of Muslims in places such as Chechnya, Bosnia and Somalia.
"The mujahedeen were fighting, and in fighting there is killing," Awad testified. "The mujahedeen are honorable people. Terrorists are people who have no goal but to maim and kill."
During that time, Awad said he knew Hassoun as a dedicated Muslim who went to the mosque nearly every day and occasionally substituted for Awad in giving sermons at Friday prayer services. He said Hassoun wanted to assist Muslims around the world but did not advocate violence or try to recruit terror operatives at the mosque.
Awad's testimony included in heated exchanges with Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Frazier, including one instance when Awad raised his voice and said people who commit atrocities against Muslims "should be killed and taken to justice."
U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke sent the jury out of the room at that point and told Awad to keep his cool.
Defense lawyers are scheduled to resume presenting evidence on Thursday, including the recall of lead FBI agent John T. Kavanaugh, who already spent three weeks on the witness stand explaining dozens of wiretap intercepts.
