Homeless widow fights terrorism charge

NEW YORK, July 8 (UPI) -- Attorneys for a homeless New York widow accused of being a leader of an Iraqi militant group say she is being prosecuted because she taught English.

Zeinab Taleb-Jedi, 53, a U.S. citizen, is out on bail and living in a Manhattan homeless shelter. She is facing terrorism charges stemming from accusations brought merely because she was teaching English to members of a banned group, her attorneys told ABC News Tuesday.

Federal prosecutors say Taleb-Jedi's actions in Iraq provided material aid to Mujahedin-e Khalq, a group advocating the overthrow of Iran's government and which was designated by the U.S. State Department as a terrorist organization in 1997, well before the Iraq war. The group is now considered by some a U.S. ally.

Taleb-Jedi was arrested at Kennedy Airport in 2006, released on $500,000 bail later that year and now suffers from what her lawyers say is malnutrition and severe digestive problems. She has spent most of the time since then living at a women's shelter, ABC News reported.

The case has spawned legal challenges on what constitutes "material support" of terrorism. A U.S. district judge in Brooklyn is considering whether to dismiss the charges, the network said.