Groups Seek to Block Justice Department List

Two Muslim groups are working to prevent the U.S. government from disclosing the names of organizations and people it calls unindicted co-conspirators in a case against a Texas charity on trial for allegedly having links to terrorism, reports The New York Times.

The organizations sent a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales asking him to prevent lawyers in the case from disclosing a list of more than 300 Muslim organizations and individuals named as unindicted co-conspirators in the trial against the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development. The charity is accused of directing money to Hamas, a Palestinian group believed to be terrorists, a charge its officials have denied.

The groups — the National Association of Muslim Lawyers and the Council on American-Islamic Relations — say that the list of names serves no legal purpose and would further decrease donations to Muslim charities and encourage more discrimination if made public.

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