A former official of a defunct Muslim charity, who was convicted of lying to an FBI agent, was set free on bail yesterday to await sentencing next month. Assistant U.S. Attorney Aloke Chakravarty objected to U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV’s decision to free Emadeddin Z. Muntasser of Braintree, a former Worcester resident, who was president of Care International Inc. in Boston from 1993 to 1996. The decision was welcomed not only by several family members and Muslim supporters of Mr. Muntasser, but also by the Worcester County Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. Ronal C. Madnick, director of the ACLU chapter, noted that Judge Saylor’s decision came on the same day the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 that the constitutional rights of Muslims imprisoned by the United States in Guantanamo were being violated. Mr. Madnick said the Bush administration received messages yesterday from courts from Worcester to Washington “that we do have a legal Earlier this month, Judge Saylor acquitted Mr. Muntasser, Muhamed Mubayyid of Shrewsbury, and Samir Al-Monla, a former Worcester resident living in Brookline, of conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service by concealing information that would have affected the IRS process to grant tax-exempt status in 1993 and to keep it for 10 years after that. Judge Saylor cleared Mr. Al-Monla of all charges and freed him, while Mr. Mubayyid remains jailed and continues to face charges of concealing material facts, impeding the IRS and filing false tax returns. Sentencing has been rescheduled for Mr. Muntasser, who faces only one count, for July 17, and the following day for Mr. Mubayyid.
Yesterday’s hearing in the Donohue Federal Building occasioned a fierce fight between the Justice Department and Kathleen M. Sullivan, Mr. Muntasser’s lawyer. She argued for the correctness of the Probation Department’s calculation that her client should be sentenced to between 0 and 6 months and said the government pushing for five years in prison disrespects the court’s dismissal of most of the counts against him. The U.S. attorney’s recommendation to exceed the guidelines by a factor of 10 runs counter to the policy enunciated three years ago by Deputy Attorney General James B. Comey to “ensure adherence to the sentencing guidelines,” even in light of Supreme Court decisions making them advisory only.
Assistant U.S. Attorney B. Stephanie Siegmann said the court is required to consider what is called relevant conduct — supporting jihad and raising money and contributing it to groups subsequently designated as terrorist organizations. She said the reason Mr. Muntasser lied to an FBI agent in 2003 about meeting with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a Muslim warlord, in Afghanistan in 1994 was to conceal that he had pledged Care’s support to him. She also said he promised to carry out his orders, as reflected in a document the FBI covertly copied pursuant to a search warrant from a secret court. The prosector said it was part of a pattern of lying to the government over a number of years to continue to hide the non-charitable activities of Care International.
Judge Saylor was clearly torn by the arguments, telling the lawyers several times that he is “struggling.” The judge said that on one hand, the government argues the statute of limitations doesn’t matter and the judge’s acquittal of the defendants on many charges doesn’t matter as far as his sentencing is concerned. On the other hand, the judge said, the defense says that only the narrow behavior of lying to the FBI agent should be taken into account. “Is there any stopping point in between these extremes?” he asked the lawyers. Judge Saylor said he will consider several issues before crafting a sentence: evidence from the trial, how much of a tax loss there was, and the “so-called terrorism” connection the government claims. While the release of Mr. Muntasser put a smile on the faces of his supporters, Judge Saylor also said, “There is a substantial possibility I may give a sentence longer than the guideline. I haven’t decided.”
Mr. Chakravarty said the government intends to file notice of appeal of the judgeÂ’s earlier acquittals on many of the charges; and Ms. Siegmann predicted a substantial chance that Judge Saylor will be overturned by the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals. But Ms. Sullivan predicted the judgeÂ’s decision will be upheld, and he should sentence on narrow grounds, revisiting the sentence only if the appeals court orders him to.
Judge Saylor ordered Mr. Muntasser to put his commercial property — valued by the defense at $1.9 million — as security for his release, on top of his home valued at $400,000. He also ordered home confinement and electronic monitoring. Ms. Sullivan said Mr. Muntasser, who was jailed upon his Jan. 11 conviction, could rejoin his pregnant wife and their four children as soon as today.