WASHINGTON, October 24 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Few hours after the U.S. Justice Department released an 18-count indictment carrying a maximum penalty of 105 years' imprisonment if convicted, prominent U.S. Muslim political activist dismissed the whole case as "politically and personally motivated".

A prominent U.S. Muslim political activist, who helped the Pentagon set up its Islamic chaplain program, was charged Thursday, October 23 with having had financial dealings with Libya, the Justice Department said.

The indictment was handed down by a federal grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia, said U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Paul J. McNulty

McNultly was quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP) as saying the charges against Abdel-Rahman al-Amoudi include prohibited financial transactions with Libya, money laundering, misuse of a passport and unlawful procurement of U.S. naturalized citizenship - all had been vehemently denied by the 51-year-old native of Yemen.

"Upon seeing the indictment, he was disappointed and called the case wholly motivated by personal and political agendas," Al-Amoudi's lawyer Maher Hanania told IslamOnline.net by phone Friday, October 24.

Hanania quoted Amoudi as further saying that "the whole case plays into the hands of what he called self-proclaimed pro-Israel Zionist attorney.

"The U.S. Justice Department had placed those attorneys available to go after and insinuate Islamic leaders in the United States," he argued.

The Department had appointed for Amoudi's case Gordon Kromberg, a "self-proclaimed Zionist known for making visits to Israel and supporting its settlement activities in Palestinian territories," according to the lawyer.

Al-Amoudi had earlier provoked the ire a few years ago when he hailed Palestinian group Hamas and Lebanon's Hezbollah, organizations designated by the U.S. as "terrorist groups" for their anti-Israeli attacks.

Although Al-Amoudi had retracted the statements, Kamal Nawash, a lawyer and a 10-year-old friend to him, had said that the support for the two groups was mentioned in the indictment as “background factual information”.

Hanania said the defense team is confident that "Amoudi will prevail in the case, as all charges in the indictment are baseless with no evidence whatsoever".

Asked about the U.S. media's intensive coverage of the case, Hanania suspected foul play.

"It is only an attempt to create an atmosphere conducive to allegations that every single Arab or Muslim leader in the country is terrorist," he charged.

An energetic advocate of Islamic causes, Amoudi founded the American Muslim Council, the American Muslim Foundation as well as the American Muslim Armed Forces

Admitting al-Amoudi's unauthorized visits to Libya and his receiving donations during the London visit, Hanania said the money are only channeled for "charitable activities".

U.S. citizens are banned from any financial dealings with or travel to Libya under sanctions imposed by former president Ronald Reagan in 1986 in response to terrorist bombings in Rome and Vienna, in which the North African nation was accused of playing a role.

"But under the U.S. law it is not illegal to receive money for charities, Amoudi had led several of which. He received the money as donations. Nothing more, nothing less," the lawyer said.

"We can prove that," he added defiantly.

The indictment, which carries a maximum penalty of 105 years' imprisonment on conviction, alleges that "from November 1995 to September 2003, Alamoudi devised a scheme to obtain money from Libya and other sources overseas".

That money, it alleges, was intended "for transmission into the United States without attracting the attention of various federal agencies, including the Treasury Department, Internal Revenue Service, Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization.

Amoudi had denied the charge, with his lawyer just commenting: "He is just a humanitarian activist, helping Muslims in the States, and everyone of the community is standing by him".

Al-Amoudi led Armed Forces Veterans Affairs Council, a group that helped create an Islamic chaplain program in the U.S. military.

The chaplain program has come under intense scrutiny since the September 10 arrest on suspicion of espionage of US Army Captain James Yee, a Muslim chaplain allegedly worked with al-Qaeda and Taliban suspects at the US prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Amoudi had denied any links to the chaplain.

Hanania said the U.S. authorities have recently convicted a Muslim American, Hanania only named as Al-Beheri, whom the U.S. attorney want the judge, under unsubstantiated terrorist claims, to sentence him to 10 years instead of the maximum for the immigration fraud charges.

"This suggests a pattern of a surge targeting Muslims in the country under claims of terrorist links."

The defense team had fielded a motion to get Amoudi a bond hearing last week, it was delayed for Wednesday morning.

The detention triggered a furor in the Muslim community, given Amoudi’s role in funding some of the Muslim American groups and serving on their boards.