The HLF5

The Holy Land Foundation was an American Muslim charity and non-profit organisation based in Texas. HLF was founded in 1990 and provided relief efforts to a number of Palestinian causes and helped refugee communities in Jordan, Lebanon and other needy people across the world.

At the start of the war on terror, the Bush administration shut down the HLF and seized its assets, restricting their ability to support thousands of orphans. In 2004 federal agents raided the homes of 5 Palestinian American men, who are known as the Holy Land Foundation 5 (HLF5). 

The men were tried twice, each of them faced 32 charges of material support for terrorism. The first trial resulted in a hung jury, whilst the second trial in 2008, marred with corruption, resulted in their conviction. The men received sentences between 15 and 65 years. Two out of the five men are still being held in US Supermax prisons. 

Members who were convicted:

Shukri Abu Baker 

Co-founder & Former President and Chief Executive Officer at HLF

 - Sentenced 65 years

Mr. Abu Baker, is a husband and father to four daughters. He was born in Brazil with both Palestinian and Brazilian heritage. Some of his childhood years were spent in Palestine before migrating several times until he reached the United States in 1980 where he got his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Orlando College. 

His second daughter, Sanabel, inspired him to begin a legacy of charity work as she was born with severe chronic health conditions including cystic fibrosis needing constant medical attention. He said he knew God was preparing him by helping him gain the skills needed to alleviate the pain of others. As a result, Mr. Abu-Baker decided to dedicate his life to helping the needy children in Palestine and elsewhere. This led to the establishment of the Holy Land Foundation in 1990.

Like many people worldwide, Mr. Abu-Baker was devastated when the Bush administration shut down the HLF in 2001 because he knew that thousands of children were left to starve and many widows were left without a home. 

Mr Abu-Bakr said: “I chose to be an agent of change to the better. I chose to lead the distressed out of their desperation. This life is worthless without a moral compass.”

Ghassan Elashi 

Co-founder & Former President and Chief Executive Officer at HLF

– Sentenced 65 years 

Mr Elashi, is a husband and father to six children. He was born in Gaza City and lived there until age 14. In 1975 he got his Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Ain Shams University in Cairo. He eventually migrated to the United States in 1978 where he got his Master’s degree in Accounting from the University of Miami in 1981. 

Mr Elashi was devastated hearing about the Sabra and Shatila massacre in 1982, a three-day war crime that left nearly 3,500 Palestinians dead in a refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon. He was even more distraught when he read about the thousands of Palestinians who died after the First Intifada in 1989. As a Palestinian-American, Mr Elashi felt an obligation to help the people of Palestine. This led to him co-founding The Holy Land Foundation. 

Mr. Elashi said during his sentencing: “We helped Palestinian orphans and needy families, giving them hope and life. We gave them hope and life, and what was the occupation giving them? It was providing them with death and destruction. And then we are turned criminals. That is irony.”

Abdulrahman Odeh 

Former Director of HLF East (New Jersey)

– Sentenced 15 years – released 2020

Mr Odeh, is a husband and father to three children. He was born in Silwad, Palestine but moved to Kuwait when he was one. Spending most of his youth in Kuwait, he did not forget about the suffering of his people. In high school he led a Palestinian student union to help spread the reality of what was going on in Palestine. In 1982 he moved to the United States and finished his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Montclair State College in New Jersey in 1989. He worked in his own vending machine business for nearly a decade and as a limo driver for three years before opening The Holy Land Foundation’s New Jersey office in 1994.

During his time in HLF, Mr Odeh did not only represent HLF in many United Nation events, but also travelled several times to hand-deliver aid for those in need in different parts of the world. Even locally, he opened up a food pantry in Patterson, New Jersey that benefited over 200 needy families. 

To family and friends, Mr. Odeh is a humorous, honest and caring individual. In his own words: “I’ve always liked to help others.”

Mohammed El-Mezain

Former Chairman, Head of Operations in California, and Director of Endowments at HLF

- Sentenced 15 years. Released in 2022 with immediate deportation to Turkey

Mr El-Mezain, is a husband and father to eight children. He was born in Khan Yunus, Gaza and lived there until the age of 19. In 1973 he moved to Egypt and got his Bachelor’s degree in Business from Al-Azhar University in Cairo. After living in several Middle Eastern countries, he finally moved to the United States in 1983. In 1985, he received his Masters degree in Economics from Colorado State University. 

Mr. El-Mezain worked as an Imam, a mosque leader, in Colorado and New Jersey. He worked at the southern-California branch of Holy Land Foundation from 1999 until it was shut down in 2001. 

Described by relatives as kind-hearted, Mr. El-Mezain has always remembered his father’s words: “Never say no to a chance to help the poor and needy.”

Mufid Abdelqader 

Former Top Fundraiser at HLF

– Sentenced 20 years – released in December 2025 

Mr Abdelqader, is a husband and father to three daughters. He was born in Palestine, Silwad but spent most of his time in Kuwait before moving to the United States in 1980 for College.  

He received his Bachelor’s of Science degree in Civil Engineering in 1984 and his Master’s Degree in 1994. Since 1996, Mr. Abdelqader worked for the city of Dallas as a Senior Project Manager in the public works and transportation departments. Mr Abdelqader also served as a volunteer counselor in his community and volunteered for the HLF.

The Injustices 

In December 2001, the Bush administration shut down the HLF under the guise of the ‘War on Terror’. HLF was designated as a specially designated global terrorist and all their assets were frozen including over $5 million dollars worth of funds raised from donations that are frozen to this day. This sum may be forfeited to the government.

All legal attempts made to challenge the terrorism designation in court were denied. In 2004, the FBI raided the homes of five of its members and their respective families without any warrants or time given for the women in the households to cover themselves. They immediately arrested the five men and did not allow a single moment for the families to speak to them. One of the men’s daughter recalls how, as a child, she was grabbed and hurt by one of the guards as she tried to speak to her father. 

The families did not hear back from their loved ones for 10 days. Afterwards they were released under house arrest with ankle monitors until their hearing date.

First trial 

The first trial took place in July 2007 after several procedural delays. The HLF5 were accused of supporting Hamas. 

During the trial, the government made use of secret evidence and two Israeli agents that were allowed to testify anonymously in a closed courtroom. One of the jurors noted that the case seemed “strung together with macaroni noodles. There was so little evidence.”

The jury issued not-guilty verdicts on nearly every one of the 197 charges. Yet instead of accepting the not-guilty verdicts, the judge ordered a mistrial stating there were too many problems with the trial. 

Retrial

In the retrial, the judge allowed in a lot more evidence that was excluded in the first trial as hearsay, in order to overwhelm the jury. This included graphic videos of suicide bombings to sway the jury’s emotions despite the fact that Holy Land Foundation was never accused of funding any violent activities. The two Israeli agents were allowed to testify again anonymously and the defense team was not even allowed to probe into their credentials let alone cross-examine them. According to the HLF5 defense team, this use of anonymous witnesses  “had no precedent in the history of the US judicial system”. 

A fundraiser who briefly fundraised for the Holy Land Foundation in the past, also testified against the HLF5 saying that everyone in Palestine knew that their organisation was connected to Hamas, even though he had never been to the West Bank himself. Later, it became known that he was actually convicted in early 2007 for embezzlement of $600.000 and as part of a plea bargain, had agreed to co-operate with the FBI. 

In the end, the jury handed down guilty verdicts for all five men even though just a year prior the jury failed to reach a verdict. The five men were detained immediately and not allowed back to their homes due to claims they were a flight threat. They were literally given seconds to say goodbye to their loved ones. One of the daughters of HLF5 recalls: “I didn’t know that would be the last time I would see my father”

Sentencing 

After 5 months in prison, the HLF5 were given lengthy prison sentences. Shukri Abu Baker and Ghassan Elashi were sentenced to 65 years in prison each, Mufid Abdulqader to 20 years, and Mohammad El-Mezain and Abdulrahman Odeh to 15 years each.

At this point one of the jurors started crying, saying “we all thought they would be sentenced three to four years at most”. 

All legal options to appeal or challenge the outcome of the re-trial have been exhausted. The only remaining option is a presidential pardon. 

Prison  

Mr. Odeh was incarcerated in a low-security prison, however Mr. Elashi, Abdulqader, El-Mezain and Abu Baker were transferred in 2010 to Communication Management Units. In CMUs people are completely banned from any physical contact with visiting family and friends. Other types of communications are also severely limited including interactions with non-CMU prisoners and phone calls with friends and family members. 

One of the daughters of the HLF5 said they were only allowed to speak twice every week for 15 minutes. The prisons are also more than 10 hours away from their families, making it difficult to travel for visitation, especially with young children. 

Sanabel, Abu Baker’s daughter, got more ill after her father went to prison. In May 2013 she passed away and Abu Baker was not allowed to visit or attend her burial.

Only two of the HLF5 remain in prison, Shukri Abu Baker and Ghassan Elashi. 

Call to Action 

CAGE International demands the immediate release of Shukri Abu Baker and Ghassan Elashi. We ask our community to show solidarity with these men and write a letter of support to those still imprisoned. 

Writing to prisoners is an important part of showing solidarity and building morale. Your letters show the men that they are not forgotten, abandoned or isolated despite all attempts by the U.S. to do so. 

Please note that mail is opened and inspected by staff for contraband and the content of the letter, so please don’t mention anything that could compromise the brothers.

Please remember that any letters sent to the HLF5 are liable to be opened and read by prison staff. Avoid writing anything sensitive that could be read into by guards and prison officials. Make sure to include both their name and their register number on the envelope.

Postal addresses can be found below: 

SHUKRI ABU BAKER 32589-177

USP BEAUMONT

U.S. PENITENTIARY

P.O. BOX 26030

BEAUMONT, TX 77720

GHASSAN ELASHI 29687-177

USP MCCREARY

U.S. PENITENTIARY

P.O. BOX 3000

PINE KNOT, KY 42635