  © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com The Muslim imam who gave a closing benediction at the Democratic National Convention in Boston also served as a character witness to Sami al-Arian, the Florida professor indicted by the U.S. Justice Department on 50 counts of terror-related charges. On the second day of the Democratic National Convention, Imam Yahya Hendi said the closing prayer of the night with some verses from the Quran. Yet, last July, the 9-11 commission heard testimony from terrorism expert Steven Emerson that Hendi, one of the top Islamic clerics in the U.S., backed al-Arian – head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in North America. On Feb. 20, 2003, the Justice Department released a 50-count, 121-page federal indictment of al-Arian, a University of South Florida professor who's awaiting trial on charges of funneling money and support to Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Al-Arian's close ties to both PIJ and Hamas go back to at least 1995. Al-Arian used a group he founded, the Islamic Committee for Palestine, to plead for funds for PIJ and Hamas.
Conferences organized by ICP featured Islamic Jihad founder Abdel Aziz-Odeh, Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman (spiritual leader of the 1993 World Trade Center bombers), leading Hamas official Mohammed Sakr and high-ranking Sudanese terrorist Hassan Turabi, a close ally of Osama bin Laden. -- Why does this not surprise me that the Dems would let this vile person speak at their convention. This is wrong in every sense. I am can no longer look at the Dems with an objective eye. Andrew B. 
