MIAMI AP – A Muslim cleric who raised money for a charity linked to the Hamas militant group testified Tuesday in the Jose Padilla terrorism support trial that fundraising done at a Florida mosque where he was imam was focused on providing aid to oppressed Muslims, not violence or terrorism.
The imam, Raed Awad, testified that Padilla’s travel to Egypt in 1998 was paid for by donations collected at the Masjid Al-Iman mosque in Fort Lauderdale, where Padilla’s co-defendant and alleged recruiter Adham Amin Hassoun also worshipped.
