Politico's Josh Gerstein wrote a curious article about an appeals case involving the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT) which was argued before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans beginning yesterday. But, the judge closed the proceedings to the public.
"...The legal battle stems from federal prosecutors’ decision in 2007 to place NAIT and two other prominent Islamic organizations, the Council on American-Islamic Relations and Islamic Society of North America, on a publicly filed list of about 300 unindicted co-conspirators in a Dallas trial of a defunct Islamic charity accused of being a front for Hamas, the Holy Land Foundation....But the secrecy applied in the middle of the process, after briefs on the issue were filed publicly by both sides, seems like an effort to close the barn door after the horse has escaped. The closed-door proceedings are also likely to fuel both the widespread suspicion about Islam that many Americans have expressed in recent polls triggered by the New York mosque controversy and the perception among many Muslims that they aren’t being dealt with fairly or forthrightly by the justice system.
...Expected to be on hand for today's closed-door arguments are Vijay Shanker and Elizabeth Shapiro of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, NAIT counsel Tim Maggio and Kevin Wisniewski, NAIT Executive Director Mujeeb Cheema and trustee Bassam Osman..."
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