BBC News
-
VIDEO: Al Jazeera journalists 'very happy' September 23, 2015
Two Al Jazeera journalists jailed in Egypt for 'broadcasting false news' have been freed after receiving pardons from President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi.
-
VIDEO: The world's most Instagrammed place? September 23, 2015
A snapshot of popular photo-sharing app Instagram's growing membership
-
VIDEO: How do you test a car's emissions? September 23, 2015
BBC News visited Emission Analytics in London to find out about one common method of doing a detailed measurement.
-
VIDEO: Bangladesh cricketer still on run September 23, 2015
Mystery continues to surround the disappearance of Bangladeshi cricket's star bowler, Shahadat Hossain, who has been missing for more than two weeks, as Akbar Hossain reports.
-
VIDEO: Red Peak joins New Zealand flag vote September 23, 2015
A fifth design is added to New Zealand's referendum on a new flag, after tens of thousands of people signed a petition.
-
VIDEO: The man behind 'It ain't over till it's over' September 23, 2015
The legendary US baseball player Lawrence "Yogi" Berra has died at the age of 90. BBC News looks at some of his catchphrases
-
VIDEO: Cars washed away in Turkey flash floods September 23, 2015
Heavy rains prompt flash floods in the Turkish resort town of Bodrum.
-
VIDEO: Drone footage shows migrants' arrival September 23, 2015
Matthew Price looks at one of the Greek hotspots for migrants entering Europe.
-
VIDEO: The Olympian who never gave up September 23, 2015
In 1992, 400m medal hopeful Derek Redmond pulled up injured in the semi-final of the Barcelona Olympics, but still finished the race.
– MAHMOUD YOUSSEF KOURANI
* Mahmoud Youssef Kourani, a former Hizbullah fighter, was born in 1971 in Lebanon. He entered USA in 2001, after he bribed the Mexican consul in Lebanon, through the Mexican border and settled in Detroit. As he came to USA Mahmoud Kourani shaved his beard, avoided local mosques and blended in.
Mahmoud Kourani was put under surveillance after the owner of Cafe La Libanesa in Tijuana, Mexico, Salim Boughader Mucharrafille, was arrested in 2002 by US agents on charges of smuggling people.
His brother, Haydar Kourani, was Hizbullah’s chief of military security for South Lebanon and his operator in US.
Mahmoud Kourani was used, on regular basis, to raise money and volunteers for Hizbullah and to hold meetings for that purpose in his Detroit apartment. He was arrested in 05/2003 and was convicted in a plea bargain on 06/14/2005. Mahmoud Kourani admitted spending part of his time in the United States raising money to support Hizbullah and sent at least $40,000 to the organization in Lebanon. He was sentenced to 4.5 years in jail and deportation from USA back to Lebanon.
Another Lebanese, Elias Mohamad Akhdar, a neighbor of Mahmoud Kourani in Dearborn, a suburb of Detroit, pleaded guilty on 07/30/2005 to a charge of conspiring to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. The government argued in court documents that Elias Mohamad Akhdar and his associate Hassan M. Makki, 42, of Dearborn, tried to transfer hundreds of thousands of dollars to Hizbullah.
Akhdar and Makki were among 11 suspects, nine Detroit-area men and two women living on an Indian reservation in New York, arrested after an indictment was published on 04/02/2005
Hassan M. Makki, who was sentenced in 12/2004 to four years and nine months in prison, acknowledged providing more than $2,000 to Hizbullah after it had been designated an international terrorist organization by the USA State Department.
Another associate of Mahmoud Kourani, Mohamad Ahmad Krayem was also sought for sending $200,000 to Hizbullah to buy night-vision goggles from UN peacekeepers in South Lebanon’s buffer zone. He also smuggled 20 to 30 Hizbullah operatives from Canada to the U.S. before fleeing to Lebanon.
**********************
Read more ;