In 2003, Mohamad Youssef Hammoud, a Lebanese-American, was sentenced to 155 years in prison on allegations of “providing material support” to the Lebanese organization Hezbollah with funds garnered from cigarette smuggling. Characterized by prosecutors as an “enemy combatant” and “terrorist financier,” he was the first person in the United States to be charged for material support to an alleged terrorist organization. From conviction to release he has maintained his innocence and accused the United States of targeting him for political reasons. Recently, after 23 years behind bars, he was released and has returned to Lebanon, where he joined Rania Khalek to discuss the case against him, his time in prison and how it feels to be back in his native country.
BreakThrough News is building the media arm of the movement. We tell the untold stories of resistance from poor and working-class communities — because out of these stories we will construct a different narrative of the world, as it is and in real time.
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Rania Khalek is a Middle East-based journalist for Breakthrough News. Her work has also appeared at The Grayzone, The intercept, Truthout, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, Al Jazeera, The Nation, Salon, AlterNet, Vice and more.
