Document text
Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend October 16, 2005 Jonah Sedaghaty, 21, walks by Qurans stacked in the garage of his father Pete Seda�s former home in Ashland. The house remains part of the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation�s assets frozen by the federal government as part of a terrorism case. Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Cleaning up after Al-Haramain A wanted fugitive’s son says his father is the target of an overzealous government By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune ASHLAND — Picking through the remnants of his fractured family’s former home, Jonah Smith Sedaghaty rues the day Al-Haramain came to town. The Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation bought this Siskiyou Boulevard house in 1998, when Sedaghaty first called it home. It also published hundreds of copies of the Quran that Sedaghaty’s father, arborist and peace activist Pete Seda, mailed to prison inmates. Soliman Al-Buthe, a Saudi national and Seda’s Al-Haramain partner, was like an uncle to Sedaghaty. "They were good people," said Sedaghaty, 21. "They weren’t all bad." But people who the federal government said promoted terrorism on behalf of Al-Haramain put the chapter, and Seda, under a spotlight so intense that no one could escape unburned, Sedaghaty said. Advertisement Now Seda is an international fugitive accused of money laundering and tax cheating. The Ashland-based Al-Haramain chapter and Al-Buthe are designated agents of terror. They are the product, Sedaghaty believes, of an overzealous government that paints terror on anything and everything associated with Al-Haramain. "Without Al-Haramain, I know I wouldn’t be standing here," Sedaghaty said. "I’d be hanging out with my dad, showing him my apartment and my car. Now, I don’t even know when I’m going to see my dad. "None of this would have happened without Al-Haramain," he said. Sedaghaty spent Saturday pulling the last pieces of his family’s Ashland existence out of the house. The house remains part of Al-Haramain’s assets frozen by the federal government as part of its terrorism case against Al-Buthe and the Ashland chapter. Under the watchful eye of an Office of Foreign Assets Control agent, Sedaghaty along with a handful of friends and Portland attorney Tom Nelson packed whatever family heirlooms and valuables they could find into two semi-trailers. They are making way for the federal government to sell the house and 4.13 acres as the government and Nelson move toward dissolving the chapter. The two-story wooden house stands largely untouched from February 2003, when FBI agents stormed the house as Sedaghaty was putting on his best suit for a job interview at an Ashland bank. But raccoon dung is everywhere now, a dead bird lies in the living room and the refrigerators are full of food that rotted when the electricity was turned off. Blackberry vines have overtaken the long asphalt driveway. Items such as books and clothing remain strewn where tossed by agents during the search, Sedaghaty said. "Just seeing this place makes me sick, depressed," Sedaghaty said. "What use to be a nice place is horrible." Sedaghaty and Nelson, Al-Buthe’s personal attorney who also has a federal license to serve as an agent of the chapter, drove Saturday from Portland for this final collection of personal items from Ashland. Thurman Taylor, the Washington D.C.-based OFAC agent, made sure the pair did not take any of the Al-Haramain property, which includes dozens of copies of Qurans translated into English. Contractors hired by the Department of Treasury were expected to clean up the property, and a Chicago realty firm has a federal license to handle the sale, Nelson said. "We’ll just get all the stuff that’s salvageable," Nelson said. "This is a crime." The indictment against Seda and Al-Buthe charges the pair with financial crimes dug up by Internal Revenue Service agents as part of the terrorism investigation that also culminated with terror labels on Al-Buthe and the chapter, but not Seda. The indictment alleges that Seda and Al-Buthe illegally laundered a $150,000 donation wired by an Egyptian doctor to Al-Haramain’s Ashland bank in March 2000. The pair allegedly transferred the money into traveler’s checks and a cashier’s check, which Al-Buthe took to Saudi Arabia without properly reporting the money to the federal government. Seda is accused of trying to hide the transaction from the IRS by claiming the money was used to help pay for a mosque in Missouri. "He did blow it on his taxes," Sedaghaty said. "When you put it all down on paper, maybe it looks bad." The indictment does not mention terrorism, and Sedaghaty believes his father is a man of peace and in no way tied to terror. "They have nothing on him," Sedaghaty said. "It’s a big mistake." Seda remains in his native Iran, which has no extradition treaty with the United States. A naturalized citizen, Seda left the country for the United Arab Emirates prior to the FBI raid. At the time, Seda planned to be gone two years and wanted out of the United States because "he felt like a target" in the post-9/11 world, Sedaghaty said. "He doesn’t want to have injustice," Sedaghaty said. "He wants a just trial and he doesn’t feel like he can get that now." Sedaghaty said he has spoken "recently" with Seda, who he describes as depressed. "He’s angry," Sedaghaty said. "He hates himself for this." Sedaghaty said he last visited Seda in the UAE in January 2004, a month before the indictment. Sedaghaty lives in Portland, where he attends Portland Community College. His brother, Jacob, also lives in Portland. They don’t know what the future holds for their father. "It’s gone way further than I ever thought it would go," Sedaghaty said. "I hope it will work out," he said. "I think it will work out. But I have no guarantee that I’ll ever see my dad again." Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail Cleaning up after Al-Haramain ">[email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback www.bingo.com Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker dvd-r Distance Education Computer Security Ztech Media Hosting Sports Equipment Student Loans Online Pharmacy tcg student loan consolidation Online Casino Reviews Myspace Home Equity Loans Windermere Van Vleet Deep Muscle Stimulator Discount Hotel Reservations Southern Oregon Loans Online Casino News Online Bingo Entertainment Guide Salvia Divinorum Online Casino Fundraisers Advertisement s