2 Islamic charities found liable in killing

November 11, 2004|Associated Press

CHICAGO -- A federal judge yesterday found two US-based Islamic charities and an alleged fund-raiser for the Palestinian militant group Hamas liable for damages in the 1996 shooting death of an American teenager in Israel.

A jury trial is set to start Dec. 1 to determine the amount of damages in the $300 million lawsuit filed by the parents of David Boim, 17, who was gunned down while waiting for a bus in the West Bank.

In a 107-page opinion, Magistrate Judge Arlander Keys held Texas-based Holy Land Foundation and another charity, the Islamic Association for Palestine, liable for damages in the shooting.

Keys also held Mohammed Salah, a Chicago man currently under indictment in an alleged Hamas fund-raising conspiracy, liable for damages in the May 13, 1996, shooting.

"This is a huge win for victims of terrorism," said Stephen J. Landes, lawyer for Stanley and Joyce Boim, former New Yorkers now living in Jerusalem, who brought the suit on behalf of their son and his estate.

The Boims maintain that the charities funded Hamas and therefore financed the violence that led to the death of their son.

Landes said the Boim lawsuit was the first to be brought against institutions based in the United States for allegedly supporting terrorism.

A previous case in Rhode Island was brought against the Hamas organization itself but not against US-based institutions, he said.