Ex-Holy Land official released Prosecutors in N.J. say personal recognizance bond too lenient 09:10 PM CDT on Tuesday, August 10, 2004 By STEVE McGONIGLE / The Dallas Morning News A federal magistrate ordered the release of the Holy Land Foundation's New Jersey representative Tuesday after concluding that the accused terrorism supporter posed no flight risk or danger to the community. Despite a request from prosecutors for stricter conditions, U.S. Magistrate Judge Irma Ramirez granted Abdulrahman Odeh a personal recognizance bond. She required him to wear an electronic monitor and remain primarily at his home in Paterson, N.J. Mr. Odeh, 45, is the former manager of the Newark office of Holy Land Foundation, the now-defunct Richardson charity the Bush administration has accused of being the primary U.S. fund-raiser for Hamas, which the administration says is a terror group. Holy Land Foundation, which described itself as the largest Muslim-American charity, was closed by government order in December 2001. At the hearing, Mr. Odeh's attorney, Hamdi Rifai, portrayed his client as a midlevel employee of Holy Land Foundation who had never committed any crimes. Prosecutors said that Mr. Odeh knew his work was aiding Hamas. Mr. Odeh was indicted July 26 with six other employees and officers of the foundation on charges of providing at least $12 million to Hamas. He was the fourth defendant to be released without being required to post a monetary bond. A fifth man, Mohammad El-Mezain of San Diego, appeared briefly before Judge Ramirez on Tuesday and was ordered held pending a detention hearing Wednesday. Mr. El-Mezain was a co-founder and former board chairman of Holy Land Foundation. Also Tuesday, attorneys for the families of 10 alleged terrorist victims amended a lawsuit they filed last month to add assertions that a New York-based bank had helped Holy Land Foundation supply funds to families of Palestinian terrorists. Dallas attorney Mark Werbner, lead counsel for the plaintiffs, said he had amassed evidence showing that the New York branch of Arab Bank conspired with Hamas to distribute donations from wealthy Saudis interested in creating an Islamic state. Bank officials have previously denied any connection to terrorism.