4/13/23 Reposted from memri.org
In April 2023 Video, Muslim Legal Fund Of America – Whose Chairman Is American Muslims For Palestine (AMP) Head Hatem Bazian, And Which Represented Hamas-Funding Holy Land Foundation – Warns Of Undercover FBI Agents Seeking To Entrap Muslims, Citing Legal Case Of Woman Who Supported Syrian Jihadi Group Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham
On April 13, 2023, the Muslim Legal Fund of America (MLFA) posted to its YouTube channel a short video titled “FBI Agent Posing as a Muslim to Entrap You.” In the video, the narrator warned viewers that the FBI may be using undercover agents posing as Muslims to entrap Muslims with terrorism-related charges, and he gave the example of Georgianna Giampietro from Sparta, Tennessee. He said that the MLFA’s work in support of Giorgianna resulted in the shortening of her sentence from 40 years to 5.5 years, and he called on viewers to donate to the MLFA.
According to a DOJ press release on Giampietro’s case, she had pled guilty to concealing material support and resources intended for a Foreign Terrorist Organization, after having provided an undercover agent with instructions on how to travel to Syria, avoid law enforcement, and join the Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) terrorist group.
The Muslim Legal Fund of America (MFLA) is headed by Hatem Bazian, who is also Chair of American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), co-founder of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), and a professor at UC Berkeley (see MEMRI TV clips nos. 12040, 12014, 11822, 11947). MFLA represented the Holy Land Foundation, which has been investigated for funneling funds to Hamas, and five of its members served prison sentences for their terror-linked activity. It also represented Al-Qaeda operative Aafia Siddiqui. MFLA has been praised by Rep. Ilhan Omar, Imam Yasir Qadhi, chairman of the Fiqh Council of North America, anti-Israel activist Linda Sarsour. In a February 2025 webinar, the organization’s attorneys recommended “donating internationally” to bypass the recent terror designations of groups like PFLP-linked Samidoun.
Narrator: “Picture this: you confined in a friend, only to find out that they were never really your friend at all. In fact, they were an FBI agent posing as a Muslim to gather information with the intention of entrapping you!
“That’s what happened to Georgianna, a mother of two who found herself targeted by the FBI for four years. Based on her social media activity, the USA initiated an investigation. The investigation relied on at least five different undercover operatives that targeted her. The government charged our client with attempted material support of terrorism. The government entrapped her by coercing her to share personal information to an FBI agent posed as her ‘friend.’ As soon as our client shared this personal information with her ‘friend’ she was immediately arrested and charged.
“With MLFA’s criminal legal defense her original 40-year sentencing was reduced to 5.5 years. On the record, the judge praised the defense in this case, nothing that the client was ‘well represented’ making a significant difference in convincing the judge of the over-prosecution in this case. Thus giving a lower-than-expected sentence. By litigating in this case, MLFA created due process for this client and took important steps in convincing the judiciary around the country of the unfair sentences regularly imposed on Muslim defendants. This isn’t just about one person’s case it’s about an entire systemic structure targeting the vulnerable in our communities. Give courageously to help us do this hard work.”
