by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE, July 15 – Reda Mazen Rida Sabassi, the founder of a San Diego nonprofit called Ikram – The Arab Charity Foundation, appeared in Manhattan federal court on Wednesday afternoon on charges including providing material support to Hamas. Inner City Press was there, the only media in the courtroom, and live tweeted.
It emerged that the Federal Defenders have been representing Sabassi for years. He has been under investigation since March 2024. Initially, he filed a complaint when money he said he meant to send to Gaza did not go through. But that is not why the FBI went to his house in San Diego.
His Federal Defender said he has only left the US since to a car shop in Tijuana, Mexico. But the judge put weight on that his wife is not a US citizen and that both of her parents are in Morocco.
A visa was sought to move her to the US, but it was denied during the investigation.
After a break, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Magistrate Judge Valerie Figueredo ordered detention.
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