Slightly Less of a Shocker: Wahhabi Institute That Sponsored Sami Al-Arian Is Funding Gitmo Lawyers

In the previous post I noted that Gitmo detainees such as Majid Khan are represented by lawyers from the non-profit, far-left Center for Constitutional Rights, and I explained why I think that is preferable to the trend of representation by pro-bono lawyers in big firms.

One reason I forgot to mention: transparency. The Center for Constitutional Rights' annual report for 2007 is available on their website, and it includes some interesting information about the CCR's donors. Besides George Soros' Open Society Institute and Yoko Ono, the CCR received a gift somewhere in the $25,000-$49,999 range from the International Institute for Islamic Thought (IIIT). They're not CCR's largest sponsor, but they are a major one.

The IIIT was the Herndon, VA charity raided by federal agents in 2002. Their close relationship with Sami al-Arian is described by the St. Petersburg Times here. But a more thorough analysis of the IIIT is given at Discover the Networks--which includes links to commentary on IIIT by Robert Spencer and Joel Mowbray. Here's some of what Discover the Networks says about IIIT:

IIIT is also named as a defendant in two class-action lawsuits brought by victims of the 9/11 attacks. One alleges that the Institute received the bulk of its operating expenses from the SAAR network, whose component groups are accused in another class-action suit of being “fronts for the sponsor of al Qaeda and international terror.” The same suit lists IIIT and nearly all of its officers as supporters of the SAAR network.

Moreover, IIIT's 2003 tax-exempt IRS filing lists a $720 donation to the al-Haramain Islamic Foundation of Ashland, Oregon, which was designated as a terrorist-funding entity by the U.S. government in 2004.

When this story broke, the soon-to-be-resigned DoD lawyer Cully Stimson mused about the Gitmo Lawyers' funding in a radio interview:

When asked in the radio interview who was paying for the legal representation, Mr. Stimson replied: “It’s not clear, is it? Some will maintain that they are doing it out of the goodness of their heart, that they’re doing it pro bono, and I suspect they are; others are receiving moneys from who knows where, and I’d be curious to have them explain that.”

Lawyers expressed outrage at that, asserting that they are not being paid and that Mr. Stimson had tried to suggest they were by innuendo. Of the approximately 500 lawyers coordinated by the Center for Constitutional Rights, no one is being paid, Mr. Ratner said.

Well, no one's paying the CCR, per se. But that's a mighty interesting donation to cover their operating expenses they received this year from the IIIT, ain't it? Those operating expenses will have go a long way, since the CCR does so much more than defend Gitmo inmates. For example, they're also suing over NSA wiretaps.