Ghassan Elashi

Who is Ghassan Elashi?

Ghassan Elashi was a founder of the charitable group Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development and the Texas branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, and a vice president of the Richardson, Texas, internet company InfoCom Corporation. In a second trial that concluded in November, 2008, Elashi was convicted of terrorism financing crimes related to financial dealings with the Palestinian group Hamas. Elashi is appealing the verdict. He and his co-defendants contend that the Holy Land Foundation funded legitimate humanitarian aid in Palestinian territories rather than Hamas.

In 2002, Elashi was indicted, along with Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook, a senior member of Hamas, for directing funds toward the group, which the U.S. Department of State has designated a terrorist organization. InfoCom shared personnel, office space, and board members with the Holy Land Foundation, and both received investments from Hamas leader Marzook. Elashi was arrested in December 2002 and charged with conspiracy, money laundering, and dealing in the property of a designated terrorist. The government later allowed the case against Elashi and his codefendants to be split into two cases. In 2004, Elashi and two of his brothers were convicted for illegally shipping computer shipments to Syria and Libya, which were U.S. State Department-designated state sponsors of terrorism. On October 13, 2006, Elashi was sentenced to seven years in prison. The second cased ended in a mistrial in 2007, but Elashi and his codefendants were convicted after a retrial, in November 2008. In 2009, Elashi was sentenced to 65 years in prison on federal charges of funneling 12 million dollars to Hamas.