June 05, 2008	Thursday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 30, 1429

BOSTON, June 4: A federal judge on Tuesday threw out the convictions and ordered the release of a former Islamic charity leader and partially overturned the sentence against two others, ruling that prosecutors failed to prove conspiracy and tax-related charges.

Samir Al-Monla, Emadeddin Muntasser and Muhammed Mubayyid were convicted in January of conspiracy to dupe the US government into awarding their Boston-based organisation tax-exempt status by hiding its pro-jihad activities.

Care International Inc, which is now defunct, described its mission as helping war orphans, widows and refugees in Muslim nations. But prosecutors said the organisation also distributed a newsletter promoting jihad and supported Muslim militants involved in armed conflicts around the world.

US District Court Judge Dennis Saylor IV overturned conspiracy and tax-related convictions against Al-Monla and Muntasser on Tuesday, saying prosecutors did not prove the two conspired to dupe the Internal Revenue Service at the time they applied for a tax-exempt status for the organisation, defence attorney Charles P. McGinty said.

“The ruling was there was no proof of conspiracy at the beginning of creation of Care as a charity,” he said.

The judge also ruled that the government failed to prove that the two men schemed to make false statements within the past five years to justify prosecution under the statute of limitations. “In other words, they haven’t proven that the case wasn’t stale,” McGinty said.

Al-Monla was immediately released. “He is gratified by the court ruling,” McGinty said.—AP