Imam from Georgia Sentenced for Providing Material Support to Hamas

Mohamed Shorbagi, the imam of a Georgia mosque, pleaded guilty to providing support to the militant group Hamas. He was sentenced, Tuesday, February 27, to more than seven years in prison, although he could have faced up to 15 years in prison.^[1]

At the sentencing, Shorbagi said he realized that some of his actions were wrong.^[2] He pleaded guilty in August to a charge of providing material support to Hamas and also testified in a Chicago case against a man identified by authorities as a Hamas operative.^[3]

Prosecutors asserted that between 1997 and 2001, Shorbagi provided financial support to Hamas through donations made to a charity called the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development.^[4] Hamas was designated by the United States as a foreign terrorist organization on Oct. 8, 1997.^[5] After that, and continuing until Dec. 4, 2001, Shorbagi provided financial support to Hamas and conspired with unnamed others to provide such support.^[6] The government asserts that Shorbagi knew some or all of the money was going to Hamas, because he was a Georgia representative for Hamas.^[7]

We have previously discussed the crime of providing material support for terrorism here.

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^[1] Daniel Yee, Ga. Imam Sentenced For Aiding Hamas, AP (via Houston Chronicle), February 28, 2007.
^[2] Id.
^[3] Id.
^[4] Id.
^[5] Dept. of Justice, Georgia Man Sentenced to Federal Prison For Material Support of Foreign Terrorist Group, PRNewswire-USNewswire, February 28, 2007.
^[6] Id.
^[7] Id.