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Jun 18, 2008 4:03 pm US/Central

ACLU Seeks To Clear 2 Charities In Holy Land Case

DALLAS (AP) ―

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a motion in federal court Wednesday seeking to clear two groups named as unindicted co-conspirators in a terrorism-financing case.

The Islamic Society of North America and the North American Islamic Trust were among about 250 Muslim individuals and groups named by the government in its case against the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development.

The case against five former Holy Land officials accused of helping finance Hamas, which the U.S. government designated as a terrorist group, ended in a mistrial last year. Another trial is set for September.

The U.S. Attorney's Office declined comment on the suit Wednesday.

Naming groups as co-conspirators gave government lawyers a way around hearsay, second-hand information from witnesses that isn't allowed as evidence, the ACLU said.

The ALCU said the government conceded that it had no evidence that the groups named in Wednesday's filing had engaged in a criminal conspiracy. The ACLU is asking the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas to declare the government's actions a violation of the Fifth Amendment right to due process.