Muslim Charity Sues U.S. for Listing As a Terrorist Financier

On March 7, 2002, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLFRD also referred to as Holy Land and) brought a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice, State, and Treasury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, challenging its listing in December 2001 as a financier of terrorism and the freezing of its assets. Since December 2001, when the Bush Administration listed the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development as a group that funds terrorists, the Administration has applauded its ability to identify and close one of the largest sources of funding for transnational terrorism. The decision to list the Holy Land Foundation as a terrorist financier was partly the result of a 49-page memorandum prepared by Dale L. Watson, assistant director of the Counter-terrorism Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The memorandum points out that the FBI had monitored the foundation at least since 1993 and found evidence it was “the primary fund-raising entity for Hamas.”