By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Prosecutors asked a federal judge to bar the public, including the news media, from the court if Israeli security agents agree to testify at a hearing in the case of a man accused of being a fundraiser for the Palestinian terror group Hamas.
Prosecutors also on Thursday asked US District Judge Amy St. Eve to allow any members of the Israeli Security Agency who testify to do so under aliases and wearing disguises to protect them from possible reprisals by the terrorist group.
The hearing is scheduled for March 6 in the case of Muhammad Hamid Khalil Salah, who served nearly five years in an Israeli prison after he was arrested there in 1993 and later pleaded guilty to helping to funnel $650,000 to Hamas.
Salah, 51, of the Chicago suburb of Bridgeview, now says he was tortured into pleading guilty.
He is charged with taking part in a 15-year racketeering conspiracy to launder money and pay for Hamas terrorist attacks that have taken place in Israel.