DETROIT, March 1 (UPI) -- A Michigan man pleaded guilty Tuesday in Detroit to providing material support to the terrorist organization called Hezbollah.
The Justice Department said Mahmoud Youssef Kourani, formerly of Dearborn, Mich., and Yater, Lebanon, organized and hosted meetings at his Dearborn residence during Ramadan in 2002. | So, was he a Lebanese who emigrated to Michigan, or a Michiganer who emigrated to Lebanon? A good reporter might have made that clear. |
During the meetings, a guest speaker from Lebanon asked the participants to make donations to Hezbollah, the department said. The department said Hezbollah, also known as the "Party of God" and as "Islamic Jihad," among other names, is a worldwide terrorist network that has conducted numerous high profile terrorist attacks in the name of Islamic fundamentalism, the department said. The money solicited by Kourani's conspiracy was intended to support the terror group's "orphans of martyrs" program to benefit the families of those killed in terrorist operations, the department said.| The "Booming For Dollars" program. |
Kourani faces a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine, to be followed by deportation to Lebanon. Sentencing is scheduled June 14. |