Tuesday is the day that has been looming on Shakir Hamoodi’s calendar since May.
Hamoodi, an Iraqi-born U.S. citizen, will begin a three-year sentence in federal prison for illegally sending money to family, friends and charitable organizations in his homeland of Iraq between 1991 and 2003. During those 12 years, U.S. sanctions outlawed monetary transfers to Iraq.
In 2006, FBI investigators and other federal agents raided Hamoodi’s house in Columbia and collected evidence with a sealed warrant.
After five and a half years of investigations, Hamoodi pleaded guilty to charges of violating sections against Iraq and sending money to the Arab nation. He was sentenced to three years in federal prison with an additional three years of probation.
“The extensive investigation concluded that there was no evidence that any penny Dr. Hamoodi sent to his family or the families of other Iraqis in Columbia went to any wrong hands,” stated [www.helphamoodi.org](www.helphamoodi.org), a website managed by the Hamoodi Family Benefit Trust. “Every single was accounted for, yet a technical violation occurred.”
Hamoodi immigrated to the United States in 1985 with his wife, Namya Najem, to pursue a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from MU. He worked as a research assistant professor at MU from 1992 to 1998. He also owns World Harvest Food, a grocery store in southern Columbia.
Many Iraqis thought highly of the U.S. before the investigation, said Husam Hamoodi, one of Shakir Hamoodi’s sons.
“Now that (the Iraqis) hear that (Shakir Hamoodi) is going to prison, they are in shock,” Husam Hamoodi said. “They were under the assumption that (money sent to Iraq) was something the U.S. government approved of. They believed it was against rich people.”
Owais Abdul-Kafi, another one of Shakir Hamoodi’s sons, began a petition on Change.org that attempted to commute his father’s sentence. Abdul-Kafi is sending the petition to President Barack Obama. At the time of press, the petition has 3,852 signatures with a goal of 5,000.
Supporters of Shakir Hamoodi held a potluck Wednesday at Rock Bridge Christian Church to increase attention toward the case.
In addition to online signatures, about 1,000 written signatures have been collected that will be sent to Obama on Wednesday, Husam Hamoodi said. Commuting sentence requests must be sent after one day of prison has been served.
“He’s the best father I could wish to have,” Husam Hamoodi said. “My father should be rewarded, not punished.”