Groups battle federal freeze on charity assets
WASHINGTON -- The Treasury Department faces a legal challenge over its use of an emergency power to freeze the assets of U.S. charities based on suspicions — and without formal charges — that their money aids groups tied to terrorism.
Four charities have had operations "blocked pending investigation" by Treasury under authority granted by President George W. Bush after the 9/11 attacks. The authority, provided under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, lets Treasury freeze a charity's operations indefinitely if officials have "reasonable basis" to suspect its money or activities benefit terrorists.
For the first time, a federal court in Ohio will hear arguments May 1 on whether that authority is constitutional. The challenge, backed by civil liberties and open government groups, focuses on Treasury's actions against KindHearts, a Toledo, Ohio-based relief group that works in the Middle East.
"The government is saying it can take a U.S. corporation and shut it down indefinitely … without any due process," says Hina Shamsi, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer representing KindHearts. "No one's saying 'don't go after terrorist financing' … but this has the opposite consequence. It has a tremendously chilling effect on humanitarian aid in areas where the United States has a strong interest in changing public opinion about itself."
KindHearts' assets were frozen "pending investigation" in February 2006. Treasury said in a statement at the time that the freeze was based on unspecified reports that KindHearts gave support to Hamas, a designated terror group, under the guise of providing aid to Palestinian causes.
Treasury also said KindHearts was a successor to two other charities shut down for supporting terrorists: the Holy Land Foundation and the Global Relief Foundation.
Treasury has not listed KindHearts as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist organization — the formal finding that usually is the basis for sanctions. Treasury spokeswoman Heather Wong said the department could not comment, noting the litigation.
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