BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: A story today on several Virginia men -- Kurdish immigrants from northern Iraq -- who were put on trial for sending money home. There was no evidence they were helping terrorists, but they were in violation of the Patriot Act. Nevertheless, the prosecution of the men brought an unexpected reaction from the religious community. Lucky Severson reports.

LUCKY SEVERSON: It was a tense time a couple weeks ago at Rasheed Qambari's home in Harrisonburg, Virginia. He had just received a call informing him the prosecutor was going to ask for jail time. Rasheed was to be sentenced later that day for illegally sending money to his homeland in Kurdistan in northern Iraq.

RASHEED QAMBARI: I can tell you, many nights I've been awake until very late mornings and just thinking about why, why me?

SEVERSON: In January, Rasheed was found guilty under the Patriot Act of operating an unlicensed money-transferring business. He faced five years in jail and a huge fine. Rasheed said the money was to help his people.

Mr. QAMBARI: Those people back there are human, too. They need food; they need shelter.

SEVERSON: To prevent further slaughter by Saddam Hussein, the U.S. in 1996 airlifted Rasheed and thousands of Kurds out of northern Iraq. Eventually dozens of families ended up in Harrisonburg, where they became productive citizens. Rasheed holds two jobs.

Mr. QAMBARI: Why I have to go through all this? And I was considering myself a very model citizen in this country.

SEVERSON: Ever since 9/11, U.S. agents have been attempting to close down unlicensed money transfers, called hawalas, to prevent money from going to terrorists. Under the Patriot Act, passed after 9/11, authorities no longer need to prove the money is going to terrorists or that there is criminal intent, only that it is unlicensed. Over 140 individuals have been indicted.

Mike Medley, like many in Harrisonburg, is skeptical of the enforcement of the Patriot Act.

Dr. MICHAEL MEDLEY (Associate Professor of English, Eastern Mennonite University): The question is, is it working? Or is it just getting people like this, getting them convicted as felons, who are no danger to our country?

SEVERSON: U.S. Attorney John Brownlee:

JOHN BROWNLEE (U.S. Attorney): We're trying to eliminate the money that can go to these illegal terrorist groups. Sometimes, as in this case, they use these gentlemen kind of unknowingly, or they could have, and so we have to just shut them all down, and that is what we're trying to do.

AHMED ABDULLAH: We are not the danger. We are not the bad guys.

SEVERSON: In addition to Rasheed, Ahmed Abdullah and Amir Rashid were also awaiting sentencing. A fourth Kurd has a trial upcoming. Together they are accused of sending over $2 million back home for many in the Harrisonburg Kurd community and collecting fees for the transactions. But when they were all charged, something unexpected happened. Members of the religious community stood up -- signed petitions -- people of all faiths like Eileen Magruder, a Japanese American whose family was interned during World War II.