Three days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Mohammed Salah
gathered with hundreds of fellow Muslims at a rally outside of the
Bridgeview mosque where he would worship.
Perched on his shoulders, his 3-year-old son grasped an American flag in
his right hand and waved the red, white and blue in the autumn breeze.
Salah said he was sickened by the attacks and the massive loss of life
ordered by Osama bin Laden, calling the destruction of that day "inhuman"
and contrary to the precepts of his Islamic faith.
But in the eyes of the U.S. government, bin Laden and Salah share common
cause in the world of terror.
In 1995, two years after he moved to Bridgeview, the U.S. Treasury
Department labeled Salah a "Designated Terrorist," his name listed in the
same column of suspect terrorists as that of bin Laden.
The government froze Salah's assets and severely restricted his ability to
live a normal American life.
Last week, after more than 10 years of investigation, federal agents took
the 51-year-old Bridgeview man into custody during a traffic stop in Oak
Lawn, accusing him of money laundering and recruiting young men for
terrorist activities.
Members of Salah's family say they are tired of what they call biased and
politically motivated attacks on their community leaders.
Salah's nephew Abdullah Salah described the indictment as "the same tired
allegations we heard from the U.S. attorney's office 15 years ago."
Before Friday, however, Salah hadn't been charged with a crime in the
United States.
"We know that there was an open investigation, everyone knew that,"
Abdullah Salah said. "Why (the indictment) is now, we have no idea."
Muslim and Arab community leaders said they have learned to be skeptical of
any terrorism-related criminal cases brought to court since Sept. 11.
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