US Muslim Charities Want Answers

"A snail could have looked through the property seized quicker than they have,'' said Lugue.

"They are still trying to prove that they weren't wrong in the first place,'' said Nancy Luque, an attorney for Muslim charities in Herndon.

In 2002, US federal agents swarmed into more than 15 sites of Muslim charities in Falls Church, Leesburg and Fairfax County, including Herndon.

They seized 500 boxes of documents they claim as "evidence" of international terrorism financing network.

One woman whose home was searched said agents, brandishing weapons, broke in and held her and her teenage daughter in handcuffs for five hours.

However, no charges have been filed against the targeted Muslim charities.

"You storm into people's homes, take their children's toys, terrorize the women, and 4 1/2 years later, you haven't got a scintilla of evidence against any of them," said Lugue.

I 2004, federal prosecutors said that they would file charges against some or all of the Herndon-based Muslim charities, possibly under racketeering statutes once used to target the Mafia.

Law enforcement sources said they still expect further prosecutions, but would decline to comment on timing or the nature of the possible charges.

Although the specifics of the investigation remain unclear, prosecutors are now seeking the testimony of what they say a potentially key witness.

Last week, the lawyer for Sami Al-Arian -- a former Florida professor who was acquitted in one of the nation's highest-profile terror cases but then pleaded guilty to a single charge -- said he had been subpoenaed to appear before a federal grand jury in Alexandria.

The lawyer, Linda Moreno, said prosecutors want to ask Arian about his ties to the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), one of the key Herndon groups under investigation.

During the 2001 raids, US federal agents spent 12 hours alone at IIIT where they seized about 25 computers and documents that included financial records, mailing lists and staff lists.

Too Long

US prosecutors argue that the investigation was too complex as it seeks to trace what they say is a Byzantine trail of transactions between corporations and related charities in the US and overseas.

But lawyer Luque ridicules the argument.

"A snail could have looked through the property seized quicker than they have,'' she said.

She said the accused members of the Herndon-based charities are all US citizens who have no terrorist ties and "have embraced this country.''

Richard K. Gordon, a former specialist in money laundering and terrorist financing at the International Monetary Fund, agrees.

"After 4 1/2 years, you ought to be able to get the evidence or decide you can't,'' Gordon said.

"It's not like we're infiltrating the Mafia, where it takes five years to get insiders.''

Some of the organizations raided in 2002 have closed while the Herndon groups, are still operating, Luque said.

One of the main organizations named in the 2002 search warrant, the SAAR Foundation, dissolved in 2000.

Since 9/11 attacks, US authorities have shut down a number of local Muslim charities on claims of terror-financing.

Similar freezes have been placed on assets of other charities in a number of countries.

Last November, a US Senate committee found no evidence that the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and nearly two dozen other Muslim groups raised funds for "terrorist" activities.

The US has also been putting pressures on Muslim countries to clamp down on Islamic charities under the pretext that they were channeling funds to terrorists and extremists, a charge vehemently dismissed by many.

The charities have complained that restrictions were affecting their work to reach out to the poor and needy.