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Brothers guilty in Charlotte terror trial

Mohamad Hammoud

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (CNN) -- Two brothers accused of being part of a Lebanon-based Hezbollah cell in Charlotte were found guilty on all charges Friday.

Mohamad, 28, and Chawki Hammoud, 37, were charged with conspiracy involving immigration fraud, money laundering, credit card fraud and cigarette smuggling.

Mohamad Hammoud also faced two counts of providing material support for a designated terrorist organization -- in this case, Hezbollah, which was named a terrorist group by the United States in 1997.

The jury deliberated for three days before reaching verdicts.

"It does say that there is no witch hunt out to get people, otherwise we would have had a verdict in three hours," said Deke Falls, attorney for Mohamad Hammoud.

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The defense attorney for Chawki Hammoud -- Jim McLoughlin -- said his client was "bitterly disappointed" by the verdicts.

But federal district attorney Robert Conrad said, "today the United States' war on terrorism took a step forward."

The trial was the first courtroom test of a 1996 U.S. law prohibiting support of any kind -- including financial -- for organizations labeled by the United States as terrorist. The next person to face such charges will be John Walker Lindh, an American accused of fighting for the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The seven-man, five-woman jury returned its verdicts a few hours after telling the judge it was deadlocked on one count. The judge sent them back to consider further. The jury began its deliberations Wednesday morning.

Mohamad Hammoud could be sentenced to up to 150 years in prison, while Chawki Hammoud could be sentenced to 75 years.

Falls said Mohamad Hammoud, who took the stand during the four-week trial, admitted to immigration fraud and cigarette smuggling but testified he was not a member of Hezbollah. He said there was no direct evidence that Hammoud had given the organization any material support except for a check of $1,300 written before Hezbollah was put on the terrorist list.

McLoughlin contended that Chawki Hammoud was innocent of all charges and that there was a climate of suspicion that made it difficult for Middle Easterners to get the benefit of the doubt.

Federal prosecutor Ken Bell, however, said there was a pattern of evidence from witnesses, wiretaps and letters and videos seized from the Hammouds that showed not just sympathy for Hezbollah, but active fund-raising.

Bell pointed specifically to a $6,500 check that he said Mohamad Hammoud gave to another defendant with instructions to give to Hezbollah. That man, Said Harb, pleaded guilty and testified against the brothers. As part of his deal, his family will be brought to the United States from Lebanon.

More than 20 people were charged nearly two years ago in the case, many relatives of the brothers who have since pleaded guilty to lesser charges. Five other men, all Lebanese, have been charged but are fugitives.

One of them is Sheik Abbas Harake, identified as Hezbollah's military commander in the suburbs of Beirut.

Neither of the Hammouds is charged with planning or carrying out a terrorist act.