CAIRO, October 20 (IslamOnline.net) - Facing charges that carry a maximum of ten years in jail, Muslim American political activist Abdel-Rahman al-Amoudi is to appear at a bail hearing Thursday, October 23, his lawyer told IslamOnline.net Monday, October 20.

“The hearing, the second after an earlier appeal to release Amoudi on bail was turned down, is to witness a new evidence refuting all of the accusations,” Maher Hunayna told IOL by phone.

Hunayna said the indictment against his client is only on “making an unauthorized visit” to Libya, a move that violated the International Economic Emergency Powers Act, which prohibits U.S. citizens from visiting Libya without special approval.

He belied press reports claiming that the accusations include receiving money from Libya or having links to terrorists.

“He is only charged with the Libya visit, nothing else,” Hunayna maintained.

Not ruling out foul play, the American lawyer admitted that Amoudi could face up to 10 years in jail for the existing charges.

“The government is using him, he is facing selective persecution,” he said, noting that Americans who had faced charges of unauthorized trips to Tripoli were only fined 20,000 or 30,000 dollars.

Another source close to the case told IOL that no terrorism charges were directed to Amoudi.

“If there are any such accusations, they would have popped them up,” the source said, on condition of anonymity.

The source, also a friend to Amoudi for eight years now, said the Muslim activist retracted his support to Hamas and Hezbollah, organizations designated by the U.S. as "terrorist groups".

But he said such support was mentioned in the indictment as “background factual information”.

An affidavit, issued after Amoudi’s arrest at Dulles International Airport upon his return from an extended overseas trip in September, said that he received and transferred and otherwise dealt in funds from the Libyan permanent mission at the United Nations.

The detention triggered a furor in the Muslim community, given Amoudi’s role in funding some of the Muslim American groups and serving on their boards.

Toorani warned that these arrests would draw the United States back to a stage of political detention it has never seen since some 50 years.

While Kamal Nawash, a Muslim American lawyer, said the detention “sent shockwaves among Muslim Americans, given the high status of Amoudi”.

Amoudi - an American citizen of Yemeni origin - had earlier worked as a representative of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and a vice director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, and with the Muslim Student Association (MSA).

Muslim activists describe him as one of the founders of a group called the American Muslim Armed forces and Veteran Affairs Council which the Defense Department uses to certify Muslim chaplains for military duty.

Two of the chaplains have been arrested allegedly on suspicion of spying, after which two senators called for a full investigation of terrorists' attempts to recruit members of the U.S. Armed Forces.

Amoudi dismissed any links to the chaplains arrested, his defense team said.

Gamal Abdel-Hafiz, fired in May after once considered one of the FBI’s best assets, is preparing a lawsuit that could expose he was “hit in the back” by fellow agents who mistrusted him because of his Muslim faith, said the Newsweek in its current issue.

Lt. Butch Gamble of the Fairfax County Police Department had said that the incident is being treated as an "apparent bias crime".