|
Trending Topics
|
U.S. Justice Department Appeals Early Release of Hizbullah Financier
(NBC News) Dan De Luce and Michael Kosnar - The U.S. Justice Department is appealing a federal judge's decision to grant an early release to Hizbullah financier Kassim Tajideen, 65, who had pleaded guilty to money-laundering charges and was sentenced in 2019 to five years in prison. Tajideen's lawyers argued their client was "extremely vulnerable" to contracting Covid-19 due to his age and health. In its appeal, the Justice Department said Tajideen's health had not seriously deteriorated and that he was not in any imminent danger from Covid-19 at the medium-security prison in Cumberland, Maryland, where he was being held. Out of 1,214 inmates at the prison, six tested positive for Covid-19, as have two staffers, but all have since recovered and no new cases have emerged at the facility. Tony Badran of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies said it would be "a miscarriage of justice in letting a prominent financier of the premier global terror group, which has American blood on its hands, out of jail before serving out his sentence."