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)

BUENA PARK, Calif. -- A fundraiser for an Islamic charity who was detained for two years on suspicion of ties to terrorism said Tuesday that he had no such connections, and he accused the U.S. government of sidestepping justice in its efforts to prevent another attack like those of Sept. 11, 2001.

Abdel-Jabbar Hamdan, who was never charged with terrorism, was released late Monday on a federal court order.

He said Tuesday that he was a victim of the paranoia that swept the United States after Sept. 11. The fear following the attacks has made it a "hard time" to be a Muslim in America, he said.

"The government is trying to win at any cost," said Hamdan, 46, who spoke with reporters next to his wife outside their home in this Los Angeles suburb. "They seem not to care about what is just or unjust."

Hamdan described his time at the Terminal Island federal detention facility in San Pedro as "depressing," and said he derived strength from family visits and by lending moral support to other detainees.

"No matter how long you have been there, it doesn't get easier," he said.

Hamdan, who founded a mosque in Anaheim, was arrested on immigration charges in July 2004 as 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 foundation's president, chairman and director of endowments were charged with terror-related crimes.

Hamdan, who was convicted of overstaying a student visa issued 27 years ago, has acknowledged traveling around the country as a Holy Land fundraiser.

But "I was never a terrorist fundraiser," said Hamdan, who was born in a Palestinian refugee camp in the West Bank.

During his incarceration, he requested release on bond while he fought the immigration charge, but the request was denied for nearly two years.

U.S. District Judge Terry Hatter ordered him freed last week after a magistrate judge concluded he had been held longer than necessary to complete his immigration case.

After he was released Monday, federal authorities said they would continue to work to have him deported.

Hamdan said he isn't sure what work he plans to do next.

"Right now I'm just trying to get my life together," he said.