Unable to prove any actual terrorist connection, but with an eye to all that money going to Palestine, they focused on the Elashi's business - the Elashi Brothers sold computers. And they found they'd sold some to Libya, drop shipped through Malta. That's enough, a violation of export laws, and Bayan got 7 years in prison for this. Keep in mind white men break this law every day, and they get their knuckles slapped and pay a $500 fine. Ashcroft needed his test case to prove DHS caught terrorists though, and Bayan was toast.

So get this, we spending a gazillion dollars a day on military aid to help the people of Libya now.

Early adopters of the notion of the now famous "Arab Spring" idea, (arguably perhaps, their version of our reformation that gave us our modern freedoms) did not fare so well though.

To Gadaffi, anybody resisting his efforts to exterminate his opponents is a terrorist. So in some ironic twist of fate the Department of Homeland Security and Gadaffi are aligned in their goals.

So it's ok to mobilize the armed forces for the good of the Libyan people, but ship 7 PCs there - and that'll be 7 years hard time in federal prison in Texas thank you very much.

As of the current writing in 2011 Bayan (and his brothers) are still in prison. No doubt the news to them that the US is aiding the Libyan people is a bittersweet irony. Also ironic is that don't have to be convicted of terrorism to be labeled a terrorist, this sort of thing is usually slander or libel when somebody is accused of criminal activities they were not found guilty of.

• http://www.investigativeproject.org/case/66
• http://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/case_docs/79.pdf

http://www.theittlist.com/ittlist/ind/6001/fbi_agents_accidental_document_dump_underscores_fear_of_antiwar_activists/

"Reminiscent of the May 2009 case against the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation (HLF), the attorney general’s investigation is partly centered on small donations given to Women’s Committee nurseries and healthcare projects."