Islamic Charity Fundraiser Released

Shakeel Syed, executive director Islamic Shura Council, left, lifts the hand of Holy Land Foundation top fundraiser Abdel-Jabbar Hamdan, right, as he is released Monday, July 31, 2006, after a two year detention at the Terminal Island federal detention facility in San Pedro, Calif. A court rejected a government request to keep incarcerated a top fundraiser for an Islamic charity the government alleges has ties to terrorism, his attorneys said. The move by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals came days after U.S. District Judge Terry Hatter ordered the release of Abdel-Jabbar Hamdan, 45, according to one of his attorneys, Ranjana Natarajan of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) (Damian Dovarganes - AP)

LOS ANGELES -- The top fundraiser for an Islamic charity that the government claims has ties to terrorism was released Monday from a federal detention center where he had been held for more than two years.

Abdel-Jabbar Hamdan, 45, left the Terminal Island detention facility in San Pedro shortly after 9:30 p.m. after an emotional reunion with his wife and five children inside the prison gates. Earlier Monday the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a last-ditch government request to keep him locked up.

"No words can describe how I'm feeling right now. I'm ecstatic," Hamdan said as he left the center with his family. A few dozen supporters celebrated as he exited the terminal gate.

Hamdan, who founded a mosque in Anaheim, was arrested on immigration charges in July 2004 when federal authorities unsealed an indictment against the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development. The government charged that the Texas-based charity funneled millions to the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The Holy Land Foundation's president, chairman and director of endowments were also charged with terrorism-related crimes.

Hamdan himself was never charged with terrorism. Instead, he was convicted of overstaying a student visa he got 27 years ago. The month after the Holy Land Foundation was charged, he was ordered deported on the immigration charge.

His requests to be released while he fought the charge were denied until U.S. District Judge Terry Hatter ordered him freed last week. He was released without bond Monday but must wear an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet and check in regularly with authorities.

"I've renewed my faith in the justice system in this country," he told The Associated Press moments after his release.

But he also railed against what he said was a wave of fear that has swept the country and jeopardized people's freedoms in the process. He had particularly harsh words for the USA Patriot Act, which he called "a hate crime."

"The Constitution is being compromised right now in the name of protecting this country," Hamdan said. "They are putting this country in fear ... and this country can remain great only by preserving the Constitution."

In the wake of his release, it wasn't immediately clear whether the government might appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"We're aware of the court's ruling and we're reviewing our options," Virginia Kice, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said shortly before his release.