KarunaNews Story

Filmmaker Justin Mashouf, keen to help his incarcerated friend Hamza (not his real name) who wanted to send money to help civilians in Gaza, was stunned to see a pay stub that showed all $17.74 of Hamza’s 13-cent-an-hour wages were marked for charity. After Mashouf shared the story, people began asking how they could help Hamza, 56, who is set to be paroled this month after 40 years in prison. A GoFundMe page raised more than $102,000. Mashouf first contacted Hamza in 2009 when working on a documentary. Hamza, sentenced to 15 years to life in 1986 after accidentally firing a gun at an uncle, was denied parole 13 times between 1995 and 2023.