Judge tosses Islamic charity convictions

BOSTON, June 4 (UPI) -- A federal judge in Boston threw out most of the charges against executives with a now-defunct Islamic charity.

Samir Al-Monla, 51, of Brookline, Mass., was released from prison Tuesday after U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV ruled that he had been improperly convicted in January, The Boston Globe reported. Another defendant, Emadeddin Muntasser, 44, of Braintree, Mass., is expected to be free within a few days.

Al-Monla and Muntasser were found guilty of deceiving the Internal Revenue Service about the jihadist connections of Massachusetts Care International. Saylor, in a ruling that took 80 minutes to deliver, said that federal prosecutors did not show that the IRS had been defrauded.

Muntasser was also convicted of lying to the FBI about a visit to Afghanistan, which Saylor let stand. But that carries a maximum sentence of six months.

The group's former treasurer, Muhamed Mubayyid, 43, of Shrewsbury, Mass., remains behind bars. He was convicted of several counts of filing false tax returns, which still stand.

His lawyer said that the convictions involve failing to report statements made by the group in the 1990s, before Mubayyid was treasurer.