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"Today, the Treasury Department has virtually unchecked power to designate groups as terrorist organizations. Terrorism financing laws are overly broad and lack procedural safeguards that would protect American charities against government mistake(s) and abuse."
Yet independent counterterrorism policy and court case studies show troublesome flaws in the evidence the Treasury Department uses. A Government Accountability Office (GAO) one, found no accountability for Treasury designations and asset blocking. Treasury officials even acknowledged that:
"some of the evidentiary foundations for the early designations were quite weak (and) might (have) result(ed) in a high level of false designations."
Yet the damage was done, forcing innocent victims into federal prisons. The Bush administration hailed its successes, and effectively "create(d) a general climate in which law-abiding American Muslims fear making charitable donations in accordance with their religious beliefs."
In interviewing Muslim donors, the ACLU:
"documented a pervasive fear that they may be arrested, prosecuted, targeted for law enforcement interviews, subpoenaed, deported, or denied citizenship or a green card because of (legal) charitable donations" they feel obligated to give. Today it's impossible, and nothing under Obama has changed.
The ACLU conducted 120 total interviews, including 115 with prominent Muslims and others directly affected. It found that:
"US terrorism financing policies and practices (have) undermin(ed) American Muslims' protected constitutional liberties and violat(ed) their fundamental human rights to freedom of religion, freedom of association, and freedom from discrimination."
Terrorism Financing Laws Impose Guilt by Association and Punish Legitimate Humanitarian Aid
These laws cover the following:
-- alleged schemes letting the government administratively designate organizations as terrorist and shut them down - with or without criminal wrongdoing charges; and
-- criminally prosecuting targets on terrorist charges or for providing material support to a terrorist organization.
In both cases, guilt by association is imposed and fundamental due process safeguards are lacking. As a result, Muslim organizations and individuals "are unfairly targeted in violation (of their rights under the) First and Fifth Amendment rights and international law."
America's counterterrorism laws are seriously flawed. They:
"effectively impose guilt by association and do not provide guidance about what is and is not prohibited. (They) punish wholly innocent assistance to arbitrarily blacklisted individuals and organizations, undermine legitimate humanitarian efforts, and can be used to prosecute innocent donors who intend to support only lawful activity through (legitimate) religious practice, humanitarian aid, speech, or association."
The material support statute contains no exemption for humanitarian giving, so providing food, medicines and other vital relief to the wrong recipients can run innocent Muslims afoul of the law with no intent whatever to violate it. The statute provisions are so broad that even the ICRC and other agencies like it can be prosecuted.
