Judge: US wrong to freeze Ohio charity's assets

The federal government must have probable cause to seize an organization's assets even when it involves national security, a federal judge ruled in a case involving an Ohio-based charity accused of having ties to the militant Islamic group Hamas. U.S. District Judge James Carr said Tuesday the government has an obligation to tell an organization why it is freezing its assets and to give it a chance to respond. Attorneys for KindHearts for Charitable Humanitarian Development sued the government after it refused to say why the charity was essentially shut down three years ago. The U.S. Treasury Department in 2006 ordered U.S. banks to freeze the Toledo charity's assets, saying it was funneling money to a terrorist organization. KindHearts officials have denied being connected to any terrorist group. The judge said the treasury department wrongly froze KindHearts' assets because it failed to first get a probable cause warrant...AP