Santa Monica Daily Press, May 01, 2009

Page 1

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Volume 8 Issue 152

Santa Monica Daily Press GUESS WHO CAME TO SMC? SEE PAGE 3

We have you covered

THE BRINGING IT HOME ISSUE

Local pleads guilty to funding terrorism BY ASHLEY ARCHIBALD Special to the Daily Press

SANTA ANA Seven individuals, including one Santa Monica resident, pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal charges of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization. The seven allegedly raised funds for the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), an Iranian-dissident group that was designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the United States in 1997. Each is charged with one count of con-

spiracy to provide material support and one count of actually providing support to the group. The defendants signed a plea agreement to dismiss over 100 other charges against them. Even so, they each face up to 20 years in prison. The plea bargain will allow the defense to argue on appeal an additional issue brought up during the discovery period, namely that since the defendants were indicted, the United States government has given protection and aid to the MEK despite its terrorist

organization status. “The court found on the record that the U.S. government is providing food, shelter and other humanitarian support for the MEK members and supporters at Camp Ashraf [in Iraq] where MEK refugees live,” said Ahilan Arulanantham, an ACLU lawyer representing one of the defendants. The court also found that the U.S. government had provided military protection to the camp and the State Department had extended consular services to the residents. “There’s a serious constitutional problem

for punishing people for giving humanitarian aid when the U.S. is doing the same thing,” Arulanatham said. The seven individuals, six men and one woman, solicited funds from MEK supporters as well as unwitting donors at public locations such as the Los Angeles International Airport. Those approached were told they were giving to a charity called the Committee for Human Rights. The defendants allegedly raised several SEE TERROR PAGE 6

Residency requirement for cemetery may be lifted BY MELODY HANATANI Daily Press Staff Writer

COOL DUDE

Brandon Wise brandonw@smdp.com Gumball 3000 founder Maximillion Cooper (left) stands next to his Jaguar XJ220 in front of the Puma store on the Third Street Promenade on Wednesday night during a party celebrating the new Gumball 3000 sport-racing shoe by Puma. Tonight, Gumball is producing a free concert on the promenade to kick off its cross-country rally. The rally, which will include a number of celebrities, will conclude in Miami.

CITY HALL A 112-year-old cemetery where more than 60,000 Santa Monica residents have been laid to rest could soon be open to outsiders. City officials plan to change an old ordinance that limits interment at Woodlawn Cemetery to only current residents or former Santa Monicans who lived in the city for at least five years, making it the only known municipality in the state with such a restriction. The recommendation by Woodlawn staff came at the City Council meeting on Tuesday during a presentation about a new business plan aimed at making the cemetery financially sustainable, listing measures that include increasing the number of available burial spaces and raising the contribution amount for each sold plot toward the care and maintenance of the mausoleum and burial grounds. While the council greenlighted its staff to SEE CEMETERY PAGE 10

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