Palestinian American Mufid Abdulqader was released after serving nearly two decades in US prison in a controversial terrorism case known as the Holy Land Five, which civil liberties groups argue highlighted the disproportionate targeting of Muslims post-9/11.
Abdulqader, 64, was released on Thursday to a halfway house, a facility used to transition prisoners and reintegrate them back into society, where he will spend one year, the Coalition for Civil Freedoms told Middle East Eye.
While he was never granted early release and ended up serving his full sentence, the news of Abdulqader being taken out of federal prison was celebrated by Palestinian rights groups and civil liberties organisations.
“We at CCF are very happy that Mufid was given a whole year of halfway house time, which rarely happens in our experience. Now he will be able to be with his family and that is wonderful,” Kathy Manley, the legal director for the Coalition for Civil Freedoms (CCF), told Middle East Eye.
“We still need to work hard with everyone concerned about this egregious case to find a way to get Shukri Abu Baker and Ghassan el-Ashi released as well.”
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Within Our Lifetime, a prominent pro-Palestinian advocacy group in New York City, said in a post on X that it “joins Mufid’s family, loved ones, community and people of conscience around the world in celebrating his release and demanding freedom for Shukri Abu Baker and Ghassan Elashi of the HLF5 and ALL political prisoners!”
In 2020, Abdulqader had put in a plea for compassionate release on the grounds of the Covid-19 pandemic, which was tearing through the Seagoville federal prison in Texas where he was serving his sentence.
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However, his plea was denied, and soon after, he contracted the virus, and his family feared he might not make it out of prison alive.
Abdulqader was part of a group of four other Palestinian-American individuals: Mohammad el-Mezain, Ghassan el-Aashi, Shukri Abu Baker, and Abdulrahman Odeh. They became known as the Holy Land Five.
In 2004 – in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks during the US-led “war on terror”, American authorities raided their homes and arrested them after designating the charity they volunteered at, the Holy Land Foundation, a “terrorist organisation”.
The Holy Land Foundation, which had raised millions of dollars for relief work and humanitarian aid for Palestinians living under Israeli occupation, had long been a target of pro-Israel groups in the US, according to the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network.
The first trial did not begin until 2007 and ended in a hung jury. A second trial ended in November 2008 and ultimately handed lengthy prison sentences to each individual on charges of “material support for terrorism” after accusing the charity of funnelling money to Hamas, a Palestinian political party designated a terrorist organisation by the US in 1995.
Abdulqader received a 20-year prison sentence; Mezain and Odeh each received 15 years in prison, while Abu Baker and Aashi were handed down a sentence of 65 years each.
Today Mufid AbdulQader was released after having lost almost two decades of his life in a prison cell after a sham trial meant to punish charities supporting Palestine.
It’s time to free them all @FreeTheHLF5 pic.twitter.com/aQrsoQdsh4
— Dr. Omar Suleiman (@omarsuleiman) December 12, 2024
The US government didn’t accuse the charity of directly funding Hamas but argued that it was using “Zakat committees”, which Washington argued were front organisations for the Palestinian political party.
None of the Zakat committees mentioned in the indictment against the Holy Land Five were named on a US-designated terrorist list, and the government agency USAid was working with the same Zakat committees – and continued to do so long after the Holy Land Foundation was shut down.
“Treasury’s legal theory makes it impossible for US charities operating abroad to protect themselves by checking local charity partners against the list of designated supporters of terrorism,” the Charities and Security Network, a nonprofit advocacy group, said in November 2008 at the time of the conviction.
“The threat of being shut down by Treasury has already discouraged international programs from operating in conflict zones, and now the potential for severe criminal sanctions could further exacerbate this situation.”
Odeh was released from prison in 2021, and a year later, Mezain was released from detention and immediately deported to Turkey.
