Judge: Reporter Must Testify In Hamas Case

A federal magistrate has ruled that a reporter for the Dallas Morning News must testify as a government witness at an upcoming criminal trial over a defunct Texas charity's alleged ties to a Palestinian Arab terrorist group, Hamas.

Court records indicate that at a Monday hearing, Magistrate Paul Stickney rejected a bid by the journalist, Steve McGonigle, to quash a subpoena to appear at the trial of five officials of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development.

Prosecutors want to question the reporter about an interview he conducted in 1999 with the spiritual leader of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin. Yassin, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in 2004, denied any connection between Holy Land Foundation and Hamas, Mr. McGonigle reported.

In court papers, prosecutors contended that Yassin's denial was false. They called the reporter an "unwitting" participant in an "orchestrated plan to help hide the defendants' connections to Hamas." Prosecutors also want to question Mr. McGonigle about a Gaza journalist who helped arrange the interview.

An attorney for Mr. McGonigle told the court that his life could be endangered and his reporting curtailed if he is forced to testify for the government.

The magistrate's ruling could be appealed to the district judge handling the trial, which is set to begin July 16. There is no clearly established protection for journalists in federal criminal cases, though nearly all states put limits on subpoenas to reporters.

Mr. McGonigle referred an interview request yesterday to a Dallas Morning News editor and an attorney. Neither returned a call seeking comment.