by KEN HECHTMAN

“America is the nation of freedom, democracy and the rule of law,” says Khaled Al-Odeh from his home in Kuwait. He says this despite the fact that his son, Fawzi, has been incarcerated for nearly a year in Camp X-Ray, the American military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. “They are good people. I don’t understand.”

The senior Al-Odeh is the spokesman for the families of 12 Kuwaiti prisoners who claim their relatives are charity workers mistakenly captured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan. On Dec. 2, the families’ application for habeas corpus [request for a court to examine the legality of a prisoner’s detention] will be heard in Washington, D.C.’s Federal Court of Appeal, challenging a July decision that stated that the prisoners had no rights under either criminal law or the laws of war. Their lawyers have collected documentary evidence of the prisoners’ history of charitable work overseas, in some cases going back 17 years. These include affidavits from two Kuwaiti-based charities, Heritage Society and Society of Charitable Work, describing the men’s participation in well-digging, orphanage-building and food distribution projects in Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. The Dec. 2 hearing won’t determine whether the prisoners are aid workers or terrorists. First, they have to win the right to present that evidence, something denied them due to their limbo-like status as Camp X-Ray inmates.

CKUT radio host Samaa Elibyari, of the Citizens’ Committee for Respecting the Rights of Afghan Prisoners of War, believes this case is part of a general trend of criminalizing Muslim charities. Elibyari listed charities such as the Benevolence International Foundation, Human Concerns and the Al Rasheed Trust, which have had accounts seized, offices closed and executives jailed.

“For a year I said this was not a war on Islam,” she says. “Now, after understanding the attack on the charities, I say it is, because they’ll only let us practice our religion the way they see fit.”

Al-Odeh says he has met with the Kuwaiti Minister of the Interior over the matter, and his government has vouched for nine of the 12 prisoners. But he acknowledges the cloud that’s fallen over Muslim charities since the Sept. 11 attacks. “In very few agencies, somebody misused charitable money and these few create a general suspicion that affects everybody,” he says.

Dutiful giving

That is especially troubling considering the importance charity holds among Muslims. “Zakat [the Muslim practice of tithing] is not optional, not debatable,” Elibyari says. “We believe wealth belongs to God, we only hold it in trust. Who is the government to say we can’t give it back?”

She’s also more ready to defend what Al-Odeh obliquely calls “misuse,” explaining, “The Koran lists the uses of zakat [as help for] the poor, the needy… to free slaves and debtors, and ‘in the cause of Allah.’” That last can mean missionaries, schools, hospitals and even water wells, but it can, according to some interpretations, also mean armed jihad.

“We believe charity should not be given publicly,” she adds. “No receipts, no donors lists—giving charity for recognition devalues it. Ironically, the organizations who keep books and follow the rules are the ones being wiped out. The ones who work in the traditional way—you’ll never know who they are.”

Isam Faik, president of the McGill Muslim Students’ Association, knows something about that. Last Saturday, the National Post accused his club of donating “several thousand dollars to a Muslim charity linked to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terrorist network.”

“Benevolence International is a known, respected charity organization,” Faik says. “They run refugee camps and hospitals and provide food aid in Afghanistan and Palestine [and] Bosnia during the war 10 years ago. If they do anything else, we don’t know. It doesn’t concern me what the accusations are. BIF was legal in 2000 when we made the donation and it’s legal in Canada now.” He believes the Post acted irresponsibly. “Linking us to al-Qaeda is something that can cause harm. They can’t play with this,” he says.

“Squeezing the Islamic charities will only exacerbate the situation of millions, denying them even that shred of hope, and driving them to violent acts of despair,” says Elibyari. “The only way to security is addressing the issues of justice in the Arab and Muslim world.” :