Government Settles Lawsuit by Charity Tied to Milwaukee Islamic Society Leader

An Ohio-based charity for whom a Islamic Society of Milwaukee leader once worked will be removed from the U.S. government's list of organizations with terrorist ties, and the charity donate its nearly $1 million in assets to organizations in the Middle East.

In a settlement announced Tuesday by the American Civil Liberties Union which represented the charity KindHearts, the government will un-freeze the organization's assets and allow them to be distributed among the U.N. World Food Programme, UNICEF and Mercy Corps for humanitarian work in Pakistan, West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The Islamic Society of Milwaukee's religious director, Zulifiqar Ali Shah, worked for KindHearts in 2005 before it was targeted by the government in 2006. Shah has said he raised money through KindHearts for its earthquake relief work in Pakistan, but quit after the government accused it of terrorism ties.

But of the Islamic Society's request to build a second Milwaukee-area mosque on industrially zoned land in Brookfield.

From 5 to 8 tonight, the city is holding a public informational session about the mosque proposal, days before Monday night's formal public hearing before the city Plan Commission before it votes on the project.

The U.S. government alleged KindHearts had ties to the Hamas-affiliated Holy Land Foundation and the al-Qaida-affiliated Global Relief Foundation, according to the Associated Press. The charity said it is a nonprofit charitable organization, providing up to $6 million a year in humanitarian aid to the world's poor.

KindHearts sued the government in 2008, alleging it was wrongly accused and won a federal ruling in 2009.

• For more on the mosque, see Patch's past stories.

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