A man described as a high-ranking Hamas operative was freed Monday on a $1 million bond, but must appear before a federal grand jury in Chicago probing the Palestinian militant group's financing.
| I believe making bail is the sixth pillar of Islam. |
Ismael Selim Elbarasse was released during a closed-door detention hearing in federal court in Baltimore, said Vickie LeDuc, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office.
"Is a check okay?"
"It ain't from outta state, is it?" |
His attorney said he was traveling to his home in Ein el-Hellhole Annandale, Syria Va. Elbarasse had been arrested after officers pulled him over Aug. 20 just west of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge after spotting his wife filming the structure with a video camera. Neither Elbarasse nor his wife was charged with any wrongdoing. However, Maryland authorities held him after discovering a material witness warrant had been issued for him in Illinois the same day. Federal officials in Chicago want Elbarasse to appear before a grand jury probing the financing of Hamas, which the government has designated a terrorist organization. "He's going home, and I suspect what he and his family will do is stop keeping photo albums of their targets vacations," said Elbarasse's attorney, Stanley Cohen. A phone call to Elbarasse's home was unanswered Monday afternoon.
| Yas, the rivets on the Brooklyn Bridge are so inspiring for the relatives back home. |
Cohen said Elbarasse's friends put up property to post the bond. Elbarasse, an accountant, was jailed for eight months in 1998 after failing to testify before a federal grand jury that was investigating Hamas fund-raising. |