Religion News in Brief
By The Associated Press – 2 hours ago

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) β€” The former chief executive of an embattled kosher slaughterhouse who has been charged with fraud, money laundering and other crimes is asking a judge to plan court proceedings so they don't conflict with Jewish holidays.

In the notice filed Monday, attorneys for Sholom Rubashkin said their client has "carefully reviewed his faith calendar" with his rabbi. The list includes about 30 days for religious observance or preparation during which he asked that court proceedings not be held.

Rubashkin, 49, is scheduled to stand trial in September.

The former manager of Agriprocessors Inc. in Postville faces 97 counts of immigration violations, bank fraud, money laundering and other charges.

He and three other defendants, along with the company, were indicted after 389 people, most from Mexico and Guatemala, were arrested in an immigration raid at the plant last year.

The raid put a spotlight on claims of worker abuse at the plant, once the nation's largest kosher meatpacker. Agriprocessors and its top managers, including Rubashkin and his father, Abraham Aaron Rubashkin, have been accused of more than 9,300 violations of Iowa's child labor laws.

The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is producing only at a limited capacity.

This is not the first time Rubashkin's religion has been a focal point of court proceedings.

Attorneys for Rubashkin and the plant sought a dismissal of charges saying grand jury proceedings were tainted by anti-Semitism and improper comments about religion and race. A federal judge rejected the motion this month.

Federal prosecutors had argued that Rubashkin should remain in jail because they worried he would flee to Israel, where the country's Law of Return, which gives Jews citizenship, would make it difficult to extradite him. Jewish groups complained that Rubashkin was being treated differently than other defendants because he's Jewish. He was eventually released on bond.
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