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Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > Miniaci Theater at Nova SU venue for fund- raiser for group with Jihad ties 12/4/04 WND article - MIM Press release -Islamic Relief

Miniaci Theater at Nova SU venue for fund- raiser for group with Jihad ties 12/4/04 WND article - MIM Press release -Islamic Relief

Public is urged to call Miniaci theater to express their concert at 'terrorist linked' fundraiser
December 3, 2004

HOMELAND INSECURITY
College concert for terror-supporting charity
Nova Southeastern University hosts
fund-raiser for group with jihad ties


Posted: December 3, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=41752

By Aaron Klein


© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com

The Miniaci Center of the Performing Arts at Nova Southeastern University's is hosting a fundraising concert tomorrow for an Islamic charity that has reportedly been under investigation for accepting a contribution from a front group for Al-Qaida and is connected to several organizations that support terrorism.

Pending performers include a vocal supporter of the terrorist group Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.

The Islamic Relief, in conjunction with the Medina Foundation/Islamic Foundation of Central Florida, is holding the concert to benefit "Islamic Relief orphans" at NSU's Rose and Alfred Miniaci Performing Arts Center in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Guests are invited to enjoy "an evening filled with Hamd (praise) and Dhikr (remembrance) of Allah Most High, His Last Messenger (peace be upon him), and His Deen (Islam). Among the most popular and loved artists from the UK and U.S. will be here in South Florida for the first time ever."

The Islamic Relief, headquartered in Burbank, Calif., has come under repeated fire in the U.S. and Britain.

In her book "Invasion," syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin reports the Islamic Relief accepted $50,000 from an alleged bin Laden front-group at its UK office.

"Data from the United States Department of Labor reveals that four Muslim charities under federal investigation for ties to terrorism applied for high tech, or H1-B visas, on behalf of at least sixteen workers over the past years. Three of the charities ... had their assets frozen by the Treasury Department after the September 11 attacks. The fourth, Islamic Relief Worldwide in Burbank, California, accepted $50,000 from an alleged bin Laden front group at its British office, according to Treasury officials," wrote Malkin.

The military journal Jane's Intelligence Review states: "At the height of the foreign Arab and Muslim influx into Pakistan-Afghanistan from 1984-1986, bin Laden spent time traveling widely and raising funds in the Arab world ... The banks channeled funds to 20 non-governmental organizations, the most famous of which was the International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO). Both IIRO and the Islamic Relief Agency functioned under the umbrella of the World Islamic League."

An Islamic Relief founder, Hanni Al Banna, is also a trustee and fundraiser for Muslim Aid, a charity created in London by singer Cat Stevens, now known as Yusuf Islam, which according to Spanish police used funds to send mujahadeen fighters to Bosnia and has held events at which speakers have boasted of supporting al-Qaida terror activities. Stevens has been subsequently banned from entering the U.S.

The Islamic Relief last month held a fundraiser at Britain's Birmingham Central Mosque, which the FBI has said is a central location for jihad recruitment in the UK. Al-Muhajiroun, an Islamic fundamentalist organization, has held regular meetings at the mosque at which leaflets have been distributed urging congregants to fight in Bosnia, Afghanistan, Israel and Iraq. Two British men who carried out a suicide bombing at Mike's Place pizza shop in Tel Aviv in 2003 were reportedly recruited at the mosque.

The Islamic Relief has also been connected to the International Solidarity Movement, an organization outlawed in Israel that calls for the destruction of the Jewish state, held activities in which several men who later became suicide bombers participated, and has been caught harboring known terrorists in its Mideast office – including members of Islamic Jihad.

Thom Saffold, a leader of the International Solidarity Movement, recently made a public pledge for his supporters to donate to the Islamic Relief.

"Below are three ways by which you can help [the suffering Palestinians.] ... The first is a way as to how you can directly serve as a human shield for the Palestinians against the racist Zionists ... The second way is to make a direct donation to Islamic Relief ... The third way is to join the increasing number of demonstrations underway in the U.S. and the world against the Zionist aggression," wrote Saffold in an open letter.

Saffold urged his supporters to send money to Islamic Relief's Burbank office.

Although Saturday's concert is billed as an event to "raise money for orphans," Islamic Relief on its website defines "orphans" as "children whose fathers have died or have been killed. Their mother, a relative or a recognized institution cares for most orphans." This allows the group to raise money for families of suicide bombers and mujaheeden fighters, says Beila Rabinowitz of Militant Islam Monitor.

"It's the old 'orphans' ploy. They use the codeword 'orphan' to stave off any scrutiny or accusations of terrorist fund-raising, and to hide that they are raising money for families of suicide bombers and mujahedeen. It is a travesty of the war on terror that Nova Southeastern is allowing its theater to be used by Islamic Relief to raise money for fictitious 'orphans,'" said Rabinowitz.

For the majority of "orphans" from Bosnia featured on the group's website, for example, only the date in which the father was killed is listed. In many cases the date is within months of the listed birthday of the child in question.

Fauzia Mohamed, one of the event coordinators, told WorldNetDaily: "We don't know who the orphans are. I am telling you they are orphans."

Performers at Saturday's concert include Muslim singers Native Deen, Qari Abdul Jaleel, Qari Asif and Shaam. According to Jaleel's personal website, singer Abu Ratib may also perform with him. Ratib is a vocal supporter of the terrorist organization Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which has perpetrated many suicide bombings against Israeli civilians. Ratib regularly performs wearing an Al Aqsa scarf, considered in the Islamic world to be a statement of support for the terror group. Ratib's website features several pictures of him in the scarf.

A spokeswoman for NSU told WorldNetDaily the University cleared the charity organization with Homeland Security, the FBI and law enforcement before the theater was rented.

"Part of our theater is that we have a mandate to serve the local community," NSU's theater manager David Harris told WND. "We sometimes rent to nonprofits as a community service."

Universities have in the past cleared organizations they have hosted with U.S. law enforcement only to have the events turn controversial.

In October, Duke University hosted a Palestinian solidarity conference – cleared by the FBI and Homeland Security – in which students were recruited to join the a terror-supporting group. Students attended a workshop led by International Solidarity Movement co-founder Huweida Arraf where brochures for the ISM were handed out and attendees were urged to join the group. Attendees also screened a slide show detailing how to fool Israeli border control, since ISM members are denied entry.

"All too often, university employees apologize for Islamist terrorism and sometimes they even are involved with it," Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum, told WND. "But the university as a place to raise money for Islamist terrorism sounds new to me. It represents another ominous sign of the direction in which institutions of higher education are heading."

Related story:

Terror-harboring group recruits students at Duke


Aaron Klein is WorldNetDaily's special Middle East correspondent, whose past interview subjects have included Yasser Arafat, Ehud Barak, Shlomo Ben Ami and leaders of the Taliban.

------------------------------------------------------

Militant Islam Monitor

Press Release

12/1/04

Miniaci Center of the Performing Arts at Nova Southeastern University venue for Militant Islamist Fundraiser for Islamic Relief 12/4/04

On Saturday December 4th The Miniaci Center for the Performing Arts at Nova Southeastern University is the venue for a fundraiser of the Islamic Relief organization, a known terrorist linked funding front with offices in the UK and the US.

http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/327

The Islamic Relief fundraiser is billed as ‘Muslim Family Entertainment Night Concert" is being sponsored by the Madinah Foundation and the Islamic Society of Central Florida ,is scheduled to take place at the Miniaci Performing Arts Center at NOVA SU on December 5th and the ISCF's Masjid Al-Rahman on December 6th in Orlando.

The president of Islamic Relief, Hanna Al Banna, is also on the Muslim Aid board of trustees . According to a Spanish police report " Muslim Aid ,created by singer Cat Stevens, now know as Yusuf Islam,( which) used funds for recruiting Muhajideen (Al Qaeda), fighters for Bosnia." ..http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/12/08/spain.alqaeda

Islamic Relief cynically claims the money raised by the concert is for ‘orphans' .But on their website they disingenuously define an orphan as ... "a child whose father has died or been killed' …and state that ‘the money also goes to benefit their…mother…and ...family". This designation could also be meant include children of ‘suicide bombers' or ‘muhajideen' . http://www.irw.org/orphans

Many of the fundraisers listed for Islamic Relief event also work together with Yusuf Islam, aka Cat Stevens, who was refused entry into the US because of his terrorism funding.

In her book' Invasion Michelle Malkin wrote that: "…Data from the United States Department of Labor reveals that four Muslim charities under investigation for ties to terrorism applied for high tech, or H1-B visas, on behalf of at least sixteen workers over the past years…"

"...According to US Treasury officials," Islamic Relief Worldwide in Burbank, California, accepted $50,000 from an alleged bin Laden front group at its British office..."

The hosting of an Islamic Relief fundraiser for known terrorist entities and the entry into the US of their UK affiliates is a threat to Homeland Security and is a travesty of the war on terror.

Militant Islam Monitor is calling upon Nova Southeastern University and Minaci Performing Arts Center of to disallow the use of their premises for the event

-------------------

Miniaci Center for the Performing Arts:

Theater Director : 954 262 5480 ext. 5

See:Nova Southeastern University to host Islamic Relief fundraiser for 'orphans'and terrorists billed as "Muslim Family Entertainment Night" http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/327

Note:

Islamic Relief is announcing the purpose of the event is "to raise money for orphans:"

MIM: According to Webster's dictionary an orphan is " a child whose parents are dead" . The Islamic Relief definition of an orphan is someone whose father has died "or has been killed" - which implies that killing one's self in the guise of a human bomb would fit the bill for Islamic Relief as would 'Mujihadeen' .

"The criterion for selection of an orphan is determined by the situation of the child. Children are selected whose fathers have died or have been killed. Their mother, a relative or a recognized institution cares for most orphans. Your monthly contribution will not only benefit the orphan, but his/her family as well".http://www.irw.org/orphans/

MIM: A look at Islamic Relief's aptly termed "Orphan Sponsorship Scheme" reveals that all of the Bosnian children listed are in fact 'one parent orphans' . The website lists the dates when "the father was killed".In many cases this turns out to be within months of the listed birthdate of the child in question! http://www.alyateem.com/#

-----------------------------------------------------

MIM:Why Yusuf Islam was kept out of the US according to Homeland Security:

This is an excerpt from an article which can be found at: http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/293

See:"Local Friends Portrays Islam as Muslim pacifist" by Andrew Herrman

--------------

"...U.S. Homeland Security Department spokesman Brian Doyle said Wednesday the intelligence community had recently obtained information that "further heightens concern" about Islam.

"Yusuf Islam has been placed on the watch lists because of activities that could potentially be related to terrorism," Doyle said. "It's a serious matter."

A second U.S. government official said on condition of anonymity Wednesday that American authorities believed donations from Islam may have ended up helping fund blind sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, convicted for a plot to bomb New York City landmarks, and Hamas, a Palestinian militant group responsible for scores of suicide bombings in Israel that is considered a terrorist organization by the United States..."

----------------

http://www.webstar.co.uk/~musnews/chech108.html

When Chechen president Mashhadov visited the UK in 1999 Islam praised the Chechens for the way they 'stood up to a super power'. This was the year when Islam established a large school in Dagestan which was a center of anti Russian Islamist militants:

Yusuf Islam praised the Chechens on the way they stood up to a super power. Imran Khan praised the courageous people of Chechnya and condemned Muslim leaders for not helping Chechen in their time of need. "Please do not care about the Muslim leaders because Muslim people are with you," he said.

President Aslam Maskhadov thanked the speakers for their support and pledged that the Chechen people would continue to fight for independence and preserve their Islamic identity. "Chechen people will never leave their Islamic identity," he said. The President reminded the meeting that it was Islam that helped them defeat the mighty army of Russia. He said "Victory is with Allah, it was with the blessing of Allah we became victorious." He said his people have not lost hope even though "our cities and towns lie in ruins, many of our people are homeless and wondering when will they have shelter and more than 120,000 have been killed". He made a scathing attack on those who condemned Chechens for enacting Islamic Law. "The greatest love and understanding is in the laws of Shar'iah. The Chechen people and nation were never subdued and lived under no other laws except Shari'ah."

He reiterated the desire of Chechnya to follow Islamic Law during Jum'a prayers on March 13 at the Turkish mosque in Clissold Road, north London. "Chechen nation is an Islamic state and governed under Islamic Law. The West is trying to make it into a threat but it was through Islam that we became victorious," he said. He added: "When we found ourselves totally isolated and forgotten during the war, it was in such a dark hour that we had hope, hope in Allah and felt Him with us. It was not only hope but proof that Allah was helping us." He warned those Muslims who are trying to impose their interpretation of Islam. "We have our own awliyas and we will not accept anyone who say that what we are following is not correct."

--------------------------------------------------

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-cmuslim04dec04,0,724739,print.story?coll=sfla-news-broward

MIM : Florida's notoriously pro Muslim Sun Sentinel wrote this 'puff piece' about the Islamic Relief fundraiser.They could more aptly be renamed 'The Sunni Sentinel'.

Excerpt:

Group Mixes Hip -Hop with Islam


"...Tonight's concert, to take place at Nova Southeastern University's Miniaci Performing Arts Center, also will feature more traditional acts from Great Britain, said organizer Basit Hasan, a board member of the Madinah Foundation, a local Muslim charity. Money raised at the event will go to Islamic Relief.

Raising money for Muslim charities has been tough in recent years, Hasan said, leading him to volunteer that none of the money will go to any organization associated with terrorism.

"The question always comes up," he said. "People are hesitant to give to Muslim charities. Even Muslims who call us want to make sure the money's not going to terrorism."

Islamic Relief is based in Great Britain, and U.S. officials have never alleged ties with terrorist groups. Money raised at tonight's concert will go toward education, housing and food for orphans in Bosnia, Chechnya and other countries.

Rafael Olmeda can be reached at [email protected] or 954-356-4207.

---------------

MIM: Is Islamic Relief next ?

'Terrorist tentacles know no boundaries ' 11/28/04

Details of a how a global charity allegedly is tied to some of the world's terrorists have been illuminated by government documents and a Star analysis

By MARK MORRIS, The Kansas City Star, and JAIMI DOWDELL and AARON KESSLER Special to The Star



http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/10285430.htm

How money raised by charities ends up in the pockets of international terrorists has been the subject of intense investigation since Sept. 11, 2001.

Last month one of those investigations touched Columbia. Federal officials alleged that a nonprofit organization there was part of the Islamic African Relief Agency, a global charity whose officers had raised at least $5 million for terrorists.

Details of how IARA allegedly supported terrorism were packed into a four-page Treasury Department summary, thick with unfamiliar names and organizations.

Using special computer software, The Kansas City Star diagramed the links described in the Treasury summary. They allege:

• At least eight connections between IARA and Osama bin Laden, his organizations or the Taliban.

• Two connections to Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist organizations whose suicide bombings ravaged life in Israel.

• Connections to three other groups that long have been designated as terrorist organizations by federal authorities.

The Star compiled a list of organizations and individuals connected to the charity from the Treasury Department summary and other government documents. That list then was entered into social network analysis software, which produced a visual representation of the network.

Social network analysis is the study of relationships and has been used by criminologists, health-care researchers and academics in the social sciences. By displaying relationships visually and analyzing them with sophisticated mathematics, it is possible to more clearly see the flow and structure of a network of individuals or groups.

The analysis showed that IARA officials allegedly performed services or favors for bin Laden and his organizations. Other times, IARA was alleged to have teamed with bin Laden to support other terrorists.

"The connections are quantitatively and qualitatively significant," said Matt Levitt, a senior fellow in terrorism studies at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "We're not just talking about connections to al Qaida" but to Hamas and other extremist organizations as well.

Spokesmen for the Islamic American Relief Agency-USA in Columbia and IARA in Sudan have vigorously denied any links to terrorism. They also have denied being part of a "global network" that supports terrorism, as the Treasury Department alleged when it froze the charities' assets and bank accounts.

Michigan lawyer Shereef Akeel, who represents the charity in Columbia, acknowledged that the allegations had forced him into crisis management mode, bringing the legitimate relief work the charity has done in Africa, Europe and the Middle East to a halt.

"Right now we're in damage control," Akeel said. "You have practically shut down an organization that's been around for 20 years."

That is exactly what the federal government had in mind when it made its allegations public, one terrorism analyst suggested.

"A … reason why this designation is so specific might be because Treasury has often been criticized for not making its cases," said Lorenzo Vidino, deputy director of the Investigative Project in Washington, D.C. "The more info they release on the designated entity, the less accusations — such as ‘You are shutting us down just because we are Muslims' — they are going to get."

Osama bin Laden

The Treasury Department summary made no allegation that IARA-USA funding had any role in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Still, the document touched on many of the players tied to that day.

The Star's analysis clarified several instances in which IARA allegedly had contact with bin Laden, al Qaida or the Maktab Al-Khidamat, an al Qaida predecessor.

One of the earliest contacts alleged in the summary described IARA's participation in discussions to move bin Laden out of Sudan in the mid-1990s. The Treasury Department alleges that IARA helped scout a possible new home in a country in western Africa. Instead, bin Laden ended up in Afghanistan.

The description is typical among the many in the Treasury Department summary: An international IARA leader networks among bin Laden representatives and then reaches out to an outside organization for help. In this case, the organization was Lajnat al-Dawa, a Kuwaiti charity once run by the brother of top bin Laden deputy Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the planner of the Sept. 11 attacks.

The analysis also illuminated several reported links between IARA and the Maktab Al-Khidamat, sometimes called the MK.

Founded during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the MK served as a recruiting and logistics service for Muslim fighters there. The recent Sept. 11 commission report noted that bin Laden's seminal experience in the MK led directly to his decision to found al Qaida.

In 1997, according to the Treasury Department summary, bin Laden used a third party to contribute money to both IARA and the MK. Later that year, IARA and the MK provided support to terrorists who were planning "unspecified operations" against U.S. military personnel in Saudi Arabia, according to the summary.

"The legacy of Maktab lives on," observed Evan Kohlmann of Global Terror Alert. "There was a brotherhood that was forged there. Unfortunately, this place was the genesis of everything we see today."

How much support, if any, that al Qaida has received from the United States isn't clear from the Treasury Department summary. However, an August report by the staff of the Sept. 11 commission suggests it hasn't been much. The report concluded that, "the United States is not, and has not been, a substantial source of al Qaeda funding."

Spokesmen for IARA-USA have denied any link to terrorism or any other organization supported terrorism.

"IARA is adamantly against any act of terrorism," said Akeel.

The money

The Star also compared the timing of a substantial infusion of U.S. taxpayer money into IARA's finances with alleged IARA contacts with terrorists.

In 1998, IARA-USA officials in Columbia signed the papers on a four-year $4.2 million grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development. The money was to be used for child-health and clean-water projects in western Africa.

The following year, according to the Treasury Department, IARA's international offices showered "hundreds of thousands of dollars" on bin Laden. By December 1999, something made the federal officials so uncomfortable that they cancelled the IARA-USA grant. By then, IARA-USA already had received almost $1 million in U.S. funding.

Federal officials declined to discuss why they had cancelled the agreement.

In an e-mail correspondence with a Columbia reporter now working with The Star, IARA-USA projects officer Omar Moad wrote last year that the charity never received an explanation for the cancellation. He also noted that the U.S. charity's financial controls would have prevented any diversion of funds.

"IARA-USA works in partnership with other organizations on a project-by-project specific basis," Moad wrote. "That means each project has its own itemized budget, and money is never dispersed except under such budget."

Even after the Columbia group lost U.S. funding, international charity leaders maintained contacts with terrorists, the Treasury Department alleged. In 2000, an Afghan IARA leader and a leader of bin Laden's MK visited Sudan and the Middle East, raising $5 million for MK activities, according to the summary.

Akeel stressed that IARA-USA is not the U.S. branch of any overseas charity.

"This is a completely separate organization," he said.

Around the globe

The Star's review also pulled together evidence of one area of federal interest: IARA activities in South Asia.

Treasury officials have focused on as many as four current or former IARA officials responsible for agency programs in Afghanistan or Pakistan. One official mentioned by name, Abdul Aziz Abbakar Muhamad, served in both countries and is alleged to have provided aid to both al Qaida and the Taliban.

The Treasury Department also contends that he provided money, supplies and housing to Egypt's largest militant group, Gammat al Islamya, which killed 58 foreign tourists in a 1997 attack in Luxor.

The charity had contacts with at least one other recognizable terrorist group, according to the Treasury Department.

As recently as 2004, IARA could be linked to the Belgium office of the Al-Aqsa Foundation, a charity sanctioned the year before for being a "vital source of funding" for the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.

Federal investigators contend that IARA served as a conduit for funds raised for Hamas. The Treasury Department summary offered no specifics, but federal court records filed recently in Illinois may provide some context.

A federal judge there recently found the Holy Land Foundation liable in the death of an American who was killed by Hamas in Israel. Federal authorities have contended that Holy Land raised money for Hamas in the United States.

In his order, a U.S. magistrate judge said evidence had shown that Holy Land had provided "significant funding" to 12 organizations, including the "Islamic Aid Committee (a.k.a. Islamic Relief Agency)."

The Treasury Department contends that Islamic Relief Agency is an alias for the IARA.

"The evidence further shows that all of these organizations are either known fronts for Hamas, known supporters of Hamas or entities whose funding is known to benefit the Hamas agenda," the judge wrote on Nov. 10.

IARA-USA has emphatically denied any involvement with Hamas.

U.S. action

Federal action against IARA-USA continues. In addition to the Treasury Department's action against the charity, the Internal Revenue Service suspended its tax-exempt status.

In mid-October, an FBI-led task force also raided IARA's Columbia's offices, the home of a former president and executive director, a storage unit and the home of a contributor in Walcott, Conn.

FBI spokesmen have reported no recent developments in the case and now are declining to comment.

Experts said that any indictments probably are a long way off. They pointed to the case of an unrelated charity that was designated a terrorist sponsor just after Sept. 11, 2001, but was not indicted until last summer.

"It's very complicated, and it takes awhile to investigate," said terrorism analyst Steve Emerson. "The guys who set up these accounts are very good."

Both Akeel and the IARA in Sudan have promised legal action to reverse the Treasury Department terrorism designation, but Kohlmann, who also is a lawyer, said prospects are dim. Two years ago, a sanctioned charity lost its case when it sued in U.S. District Court to have its designation reversed.

"Those actions have been total failures," said Kohlmann. "In appealing a regulatory action, there is a tremendous standard you have to meet. You have to show that something was horribly wrong with this ruling — malfeasance or something like this."

Vidino, however, cautioned that the flood of new allegations about IARA's international activities may not represent all of the government's case against the charity.

"Some of the information mentioned might not be related to the real reason that caused the designation," Vidino said.

To reach Mark Morris, federal courts reporter, call (816) 234-4310 or send e-mail to [email protected].

Jaimi Dowdell and Aaron Kessler are recent graduates of the University of Missouri School of Journalism and members of Investigative Reporters and Editors. As part of their work at IRE and the university, they researched the Islamic American Relief Agency for a year.

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MIM:Proof of payment of $50,000 payment from Al Qaeda to Islamic Relief for funding Chechen 'rebels' aka Muhajideen

http://www.discoverthenetwork.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6625

19 Rea Street South
Birmingham
B5 6LB
United Kingdom
Phone :0121 605 5555
URL :http://www.gm-unccd.org/FIELD/http://www.islamic-relief.com/


  • England-based Islamic aid organization
  • Funds Chechen terrorist rebels in Russia

Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW) is an international Islamic aid organization that was founded in England, in 1984, by Dr Hany El Banna. The group defines itself as "an international relief and development charity, which aims to alleviate the suffering of the world's poorest people."

In 1999, IRW's main office (in England) received $50,000 from a Canadian group that the U.S. Treasury Department called "a(n Osama) bin Laden front." Moscow's Obshchaya Gazeta has reported that IRW has collected and funneled millions of dollars to the Chechen terrorist rebels in Russia, who have ties to al Qaeda.

Jehangir Malik, now working out of IRW's Landoor Street, United Kingdom office, was formerly the Program Coordinator for IRW-USA. While based in the group's Burbank, California office in May 1999, Malik was a featured speaker at an event sponsored by the Muslim Youth of North America (MYNA), a group affiliated with the radical Islamic Society of North America (ISNA).

-----------------------------------
Excerpt from " Muslim charities under scrutiny feel besieged' cites Islamic Relief as one of six Muslim charities on a Treasury Department List for" ties to terrorism".

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/95/story_9508.html

The Holy Land Foundation is one of eight Muslim nonprofit groups under investigation by the Treasury Department for ties to terrorism. In early November, The Los Angeles Times reported that the groups were listed on a confidential letter sent from the Treasury Department to the attorneys general of several states. That list included six charities that collectively raised more than $29 million in 2000 -- Benevolence International Foundation of Palos Heights, Ill.; Care International Inc. of Boston, Mass.; Global Relief Foundation of Bridgeview, Ill.; Holy Land Foundation; Islamic American Relief Agency USA of Columbia, Mo.; and Islamic Relief of Burbank, Calif. The Islamic Association for Palestine of Villa Park, Ill., and the Islamic Center of Tucson, Ariz., were also listed. (see complete article below)

----------------------------------

http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:cdN41_cPmgQJ:www.students.missouri.edu/lists/muslim-l/0618.html+jehangir+malik+burbank&hl=en

From: Muslim Student Organization <[email protected]>
>To:
[email protected]
>Subject: 1 DAY SEMINAR
>Date: Wed, 12 May 1999 13:53:43 -0500 (CDT)
>
>
>In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficient, the Merciful
>
>5th Annual One Day Seminar
>
>RESPECT IN ISLAM
>
>SPEAKERS: Br. Monem Salam -Dallas, TX
> Br. Jehangir Malik -Burbank, CA
> Imam Nur Abdullah -St.Louis, MO
>
>DATE: Saturday, May 22, 1999
>TIME: 9 am - 5 pm
>PLACE: Daar-ul-Islam Masjid
> 517 Weidman rd.
> St. Louis MO, 63011
>Registration fee: $10
>late reg. fee: $12
>Breakfast and lunch will be served
>-----------
>For more Information, please call or e-mail:
>Br.Omar Kadir- [email protected]
>Br.Erbab Moheet (314) 537-3870 [email protected]
>Sr.Lubabah Abdullah (573) 445-0180- [email protected]
>Br.Ruman Kazi (618) 277-5485 [email protected]
>Sr.Zeba Huq (314) 394-1764 [email protected]
>Sr.Uthayla Abdullah (314) 230-8702- [email protected]
>-----------------------------------------------------------------
>
>5th Annual One Day Seminar
>May 22, 1999
>
>Registration due: MAY 16
>
>Name(s) of people attending:_____________
>
>_______________________________________
>
>_______________________________________
>
>Address: ______________________________
>
>City: _________ State: ___ Zip Code: ______
>
>Number of people attending: _______
>
>Please make checks payable to MYNA.
>Send form with money to:
>
>Uthayla Abdullah
>1316 Wickstead
>Ballwin, MO 63011
>Or you can e-mail this back to Uthayla Abdullah at [email protected], and
>just
>pay on the 22nd when you arrive for the seminar.
>
>If you need directions email me, Lubabah Abdullah at this account,
>[email protected].
>Please send this email out to as many people as you can.
>Jazaakum Allahu Khair,
>St. Louis MYNA.

-------------------

Beverly Hills Taliban: Jengahir Malik of Islamic Relief in Burbank announces plans to fund raise for "Afghan refugees'

Los Angeles Times http://light.afgha.com/article.php?sid=4451
Friday, March 16, 2001
Afghanistan: An envoy from Afghanistan's Islamic regime, speaking in Beverly Hills, meets a tough crowd.


By TERESA WATANABE, Times Religion Writer


At the tender age of 24, Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi has one of the tougher sells in the world: trying to launch a major charm offensive on behalf of the ruling Taliban party of Afghanistan.
At a Town Hall forum Thursday, Hashemi, the Taliban's roving envoy, seemed to find very few buyers.

The Islamic regime is accused of harboring suspected terrorist Osama Bin Laden, stripping women of education, jobs and freedom and, most recently, blowing up priceless Buddhist statues in defiance of worldwide appeals. Despite Hashemi's efforts to explain his regime's policies, some audience members were unmoved.

"I just can't begin to put into words how evil, how truly, truly horrific evil, the Taliban militia is," Sarah Bradshaw of the Feminist Majority Foundation told him before a lunchtime crowd at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. "It's as if we've invited Hitler here.'

Unruffled, Hashemi asked Bradshaw not to make assumptions, and claimed media reports of widespread oppression of women were false. He said women were initially barred from leaving their homes because of the chaos in the streets sparked by civil war, but now are studying, working and moving around town freely.

"Instead of criticizing, please come and help," said Hashemi, who was appointed in 1999 as senior advisor to Taliban Supreme Leader Mullah Muhammad Omar.

The Town Hall forum was Hashemi's final meeting in a weeklong visit to California, where he spoke at several universities, including USC, UCLA and UC Berkeley. Later Thursday, he left for New York for another stop on his public relations tour before going to Washington, where he is scheduled to deliver a letter from his party to the Bush administration.

Hashemi said the regime was eager to seek an end to United Nations sanctions, imposed in 1999, and to resolve the deadlock over Bin Laden. But he blamed U.S. demonization of Bin Laden and the retaliatory missile attacks on Afghanistan in 1998 for making the Saudi a folk hero in the Islamic world and therefore politically difficult to simply hand over.

The slim Afghan, dressed in a turban and double-breasted gray jacket over traditional Afghan wear, fled Afghanistan's civil war as a boy and returned in 1995 to join the Taliban. Fluent in five languages, including English, Hashemi said the Taliban decided to launch the public relations campaign because of what he called grossly distorted news reporting about Afghanistan.

In fact, he said, the Taliban has managed to unify a country spent from two decades of war and fractured into five warring Islamic factions. He said the regime has managed to remove the greatest public safety threat--widespread ownership of weapons--by disarming 95% of the country. And, he said, the Taliban has eradicated most of Afghanistan's opium production, which used to provide 75% of the world's supply. But such accomplishments are never mentioned by the world media, he complained.

Nor, Hashemi said, does anyone seem to care about the plight of the Afghan people. The severest drought in 30 years has led to widespread malnutrition. And the U.N. economic sanctions have further crippled the country. "Nobody has helped us," Hashemi said. "They have only isolated [us] and tried to exorcise our government."

As he has all week, Hashemi told the crowd that the Afghan people wanted the statues destroyed because international agencies were spending money to repair them, but refusing to do anything to help dying Afghan children. Islam allows idols to be destroyed when they become harmful, he said in response to one question.

Reminded that Muslim scholars around the world had decried the destruction as violating Islamic tradition and law, Hashemi replied: "That is their own interpretation of Islam."

Some audience members expressed confusion over the conflicting reports about Afghanistan. Salam Al-Marayati of the Muslim Public Affairs Council proposed that a Muslim fact-finding group visit the country to determine such issues as the true status of women.

One Afghan native interviewed by telephone Thursday backed Hashemi's accounts. Maryam Lodin, an Afghan native and Los Angeles microbiologist, said she visited her native country last year and found vast improvement in women's status, as the envoy claimed. In her first visit, in 1994, she said, she was barred from going out without a male escort, mainly because the lawless streets were too dangerous. But last year, she said, she spent three months in the country with the World Health Organization and found women working in hospitals, freely shopping and traveling alone, as she did herself.

Her own relatives and friends have started a school for girls in Khandhar in southern Afghanistan, and many others have followed suit, she said. In addition, she said, the Taliban has brought electricity and phones to the impoverished country.

"The Taliban has brought a lot of changes, I'd say for the better," said Lodin, 25. "Yeah, I had to wear a burqa [the head-to-toe black garment], but it's been that way for generations."

Jehangir Malik of Islamic Relief in Burbank said in an interview that Hashemi's dire accounts of starvation and death were not exaggerated. The relief organization has workers inside Afghanistan who say that 500 people a week are dying. The organization is planning a fund-raiser Saturday to raise money for Afghan refugees.

Some at Thursday's Town Hall speech left as skeptical as they had arrived.

Gary Ratner of the American Jewish Congress said the Taliban should have sold the Buddhist statues if it was so concerned about money for children. And, if leaders are serious about solving the Bin Laden problem, they should give him up to an impartial tribunal led by respected Islamic jurists.

"They are trying to pull the wool over the world's eye by trying to justify what they do at the expense of continuing the carnage, starvation and refugee problems," Ratner said.

-----------------------------------------------------

-

http://www.irw.org/news/inthenews/latimes.asp

Small office with big goals
Islamic relief organization in Burbank coordinates fundraising for worldwide projects.

By Mark R. Madler, The Leader [A Subsidiary of the Los Angeles Times]

MAGNOLIA PARK — Earlier this year, Arif Shaikh was in Darfur in western Sudan, a region torn apart by fighting between government troops and rebels that has driven more than a million people into refugee camps.

As a representative of Islamic Relief USA, Shaikh was there to see for himself the emergency assistance the relief organization provides to the thousands of people who don't have basic necessities and who live in straw huts without roofs.

"When we go there and see what is happening it makes us more aware of what we are about and the needs that are fulfilled," said Shaikh, the charity's media relations director.

The crisis in the Sudan, which the United Nations estimates has caused 50,000 deaths and the displacement of 1.2 million people since 2003, is a top priority for the Islamic Relief USA offices on Magnolia Boulevard. The charity operates three camps in Darfur in cooperation with the U.N.

While the U.S. has labeled actions of the Sudanese military and allied militias against black Africans as genocide, the U.N. has only passed a resolution calling for international inquiry into the acts of violence.

The most shocking sights he saw were the living conditions of the people. Getting aid to them can be hampered because dirt roads in Darfur turn to mud during the rainy season, Shaikh said.

"With emergency relief we are just trying to help people survive," Shaikh added.

The 14-person operation coordinates fundraising that goes to projects in more than 30 countries. The Burbank location opened about seven years ago after having been located in Downey, said Abdel Salam, the information technology director.

"Burbank is a good, safe city," Salam said. "We have a good relationship with our neighbors. We made a good choice with the neighborhood and the people."

In the modest office divided into cubicles by partitions, Islamic Relief gets its message out to primarily Muslim donors through fliers, brochures and the Internet.

In the past few months, the office has put together a fundraising dinner, and participated in conferences where a booth is staffed by employees and other volunteers to get out information about the charity, said May Mineissi, a fundraising coordinator

"Certain times of the year we are busier than others," Mineissi said. "In the next month or two [with Ramadan] is our busiest."

Ahmed Shama, the organization's Web director, is responsible for maintaining its three-year-old website with a subscriber base of 30,000 nationwide.

A challenge for the charity is that its donor base is primarily an older audience and not very technologically savvy and so Islamic Relief must assure them that using the Internet to make donations is safe and secure, Shama said.

"A successful e-mail campaign can bring in over $35,000 in contributions depending on whatever country we are focusing on," Shama added.

Not all the money raised by Islamic Relief goes overseas. About 15 % is spent in the Los Angeles area to assist the homeless and operate community health clinics.

"Our work is primarily focused on Islamic countries but we recognize there is a need here as well,"

---------------------------------------------------

MIM: Excerpt from 'Robbing the poor' the attack on Muslim charities' an article on the Al Talib Muslim student magazine crying victimisation at terrorist 'charity' closures. Note that Life and Relief which is cited here has also come under scrutiny and it's offices were raided in Iraq on suspicion of aiding anti American terrorists.

http://www.al-talib.com/articles/v12_i3_a04.htm When supporters of Islamic Relief, a Burbank, California based Muslim charity, went masjid hopping across the country to raise funds this past Ramadan, they were met by an unprecedented level of anxiety in the Muslim community. "Some people would only donate indirectly through their masjid, and not directly to the relief organization," said Mudafar Al-Tawash, office manager of the Burbank headquarters. Southern California representatives of Life for Relief and Development, an Islamic charitable organization affiliated with the United Nations, also met with a hesitant community in their attempts to raise funds for the needy, said Natiional Special Events Coordinator, Abdul Ghafoor Mahboob. Both organizations have received calls from members asking to be removed from their mailing lists. After the closure of three of the most lucrative American Muslim charitable organizations this past December, many people are simply afraid to give to another Muslim relief agency. In a climate of closed military tribunals, airline profiling, and Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) crackdowns, fear and anxiety are becoming common in the American Muslim community.
For the most part, however, the Muslim community has continued to be supportive and in some cases has simply diverted donations from the closed charities to others. Islamic Relief, for example, experienced a 35 percent increase in revenue over the previous year. Life for Relief has also experienced an increase in donations over the last Ramadan.

------------------------------------------------------

MIM: The Muslim American Society, which is Saudi funded and linked to Al Qaeda recommended Muslims give to Islamic Relief and ICNA. The Islamic Circle of North America merged with MAS in 2000 and they are in effect the same entity. In December 2004 Mahdi Bray protested to the mainstream media about Muslim 'charities' not being included in the list of charities being given for people to send Tsunami aid. Some gullible media outlets took his claims at face value and agreed to include both Islamic Relief and ICNA on the list, and Bray cynically thanked them for "their outstanding coverage".

-----------------------------------------------

http://www.masnet.org/takeaction.asp?id=2149

MAS FREEDOM PUSHES MEDIA TO COVER AMERICAN MUSLIM RELIEF EFFORTS

Seeks to Remedy Lack of Media Coverage of American Muslim Tsunami Aid Efforts

The Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation has been working with various national media outlets addressing the lack of American Muslim charities listed as providing relief services to the Asian tsunami victims and is requesting them to add American Muslim charities to their list of charities working in the region receiving donations to assist victims.

National media in the U.S. had listed and covered the work of both secular and religious charitable organizations assisting victims of the disaster, but, in the effort, failed to list the numerous American Muslim charities assisting in the region.

As a result of MAS Freedom's campaign, not only did CNN agree to list groups like Islamic Relief USA when mentioning relief organizations Americans could send donations, but also featured the group, along with efforts of the Mormon (Church of Latter-Day Saints) community, in special coverage concerning aid from Americans to the victims.

Below is an article by the New Haven Register highlighting the current predicament of Muslim charities:

---------------------------------

Excerpt from :

Muslim Charities in a tough spot

by Mike Zaretsky

http://www.nhregister.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=13805648&BRD=1281&PAG=461&dept_id=517515&rfi=8

The freezing of funds post-9/11 "has been a problem," said Majeed Sharif, a Wolcott real estate agent who is president of the United Muslim Mosque in Waterbury. "A lot of the agencies are closed and funds are frozen. … A lot of Muslims are afraid to give money to the organizations they gave funds to in the past, or even organizations that are working now.

"It really is putting a strain on, shutting down these charities," he said. "A lot of children are in need.

"But still, we've found that Muslims are generous people," said Sharif, who in recent weeks took part in two fund-raising efforts.

One, organized by the Muslim Foundation of America on behalf of members of the Indonesian community in Queens, N.Y., raised about $13,500 for tsunami relief, Sharif said.

Sharif and other Connecticut Muslims, in a bit of interfaith cooperation, also helped raise $5,000 for tsunami relief in a joint effort with the United Methodist Church of Woodbury, he said. The money went to an organization called United Methodist Overseas Relief, said Sharif, who also has helped raised money to aid orphans in Africa.

"I didn't go with them because of any fear or anything," said Sharif, a member of the Waterbury Interfaith Ministries, of the effort. "It's just that we've been working with them on other things."

Sharif pointed out that the list of charities recommended by former Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush did not include any Muslim charities, though it did include several affiliated with other faiths. However, other Muslims have seen some signs of progress since the latest disaster unfolded.

The Falls Church, Va.-based Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation, in an alert dated Jan. 10, informed area Muslims that Executive Director Mahdi Bray had successfully lobbied CNN, which initially had not included Muslim charities on the list of charities it flashed during broadcasts, and the network had agreed to review and list them.

Bray thanked CNN for "outstanding coverage" of the disaster but said he had noticed that, while CNN had listed "numerous charities … both secular and religious," he also had noticed "that you have not listed American Muslim charities."

Bray recommended two charities in particular, Islamic Relief USA, based in Burbank, Calif., and The Islamic Circle of North America, based in Jamaica, N.Y. Islamic Circle has already raised more than $1 million and Islamic Relief USA is aiming for $2 million.

Islamic Relief Worldwide is now listed on CNN's Web site, alongside charities run by Roman Catholics, Baptists, Episcopalians, Hindus, Jews, Latter-day Saints, Lutherans and a host of secular organizations.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MIM: In 2002 MAS organised a 'Palestine fundraiser' together with Islamic Relief . One of the featured speakers was Hatem Bazian a Berkeley professor who called upon Muslims to wage an intifidada in the United States and cited a Koranic hadith which stated " The day of judgement will not happen until the tree and stones will say " ,"O Muslim there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him." http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/1125

Muslim American Society, American Muslims for Global Peace and Justice,
and Islamic Relief present:

http://listproc.ucdavis.edu/archives/msa/log0206/0006.html

PALESTINE EMERGENCY
fundraising dinner

Sunday, June 16th, 2002
6:00pm

Chandni Restaurant
5748 Mowry School Road
Newark, CA 94560

Guest Speakers:

Shaykh Shaker El Sayed
Secretary General of the Muslim American Society

Dr. Hatem Bazian
UC Berkeley

Yousef Al-Yousef
Chairman, American Muslims for Global Peace and Justice

Tickets: $25 adult / $15 students (please reserve your ticket now, as we
are
expecting a full house)

Islamic Relief
P.O. Box 6098
Burbank, CA 91510
(888) 479-4968
<A HREF="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</A>

Tax ID#: 95-4453134

Directions to Chandni Restaurant:

1. From South Bay, take 888 N and from East or North Bay, take 880 S.
2. On 880 S, turn right on Stevenson Blvd. exit, on 880 N, turn left on
Stevenson Blvd. exit.
3. Turn right on Balentine Dr.
4. Turn left on Mowry School Road, enter the Balentine Plaza

Islamic Relief has a full-time office in Gaza, and projects across Gaza
and
the West Bank. We recently began a $1 million food aid program, and have
distributed food and medical aid to people in Jenin, Nablus, and
Bethlehem,
as well as many other surrounding towns and refugee camps.

To view pictures of Islamic Relief's work in Palestine, click on the link
below:

<AHREF="http://www.islamic-relief.com/submenu/Emappeals/Palestinegallery/FrameSet
htm">http://www.islamic-relief.com/submenu/Emappeals/Palestinegallery/FrameSet.
tm</A>

--------------------------------------------

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/95/story_9508.html

Muslim Charities, Under Scrutiny, Feel Besieged
Eight Muslim nonprofit groups under investigation by Treasury Department for ties to terrorism.

By Bob Smietana

(RNS) For the staff at the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development in Richardson, Texas, the month of Ramadan is the busiest time of the year. It's a time when many Muslim pay their zakhat, or alms -- a charitable gift equal to 2.5 percent of their net worth and one of the five pillars of Islam. On Monday, Dec. 3, that meant the staff was working late.

"We are working long hours, from 8 in the morning to midnight just to keep up with all of the donations," said John Janney, the foundation's assistant director for communication. "We have had to hire extra personnel to keep up. It's pretty much business as usual, though there is no such thing as business as usual after Sept. 11."

All of that changed at midnight on Monday, when President George Bush ordered the assets of the foundation frozen and their headquarters in Richardson was closed down, along with offices in Bridgeview, Ill., Paterson, N.J., and San Diego. The foundation, which raised $13 million in 2000, is accused of raising funds for the terrorist group Hamas.

"The Holy Land Foundation claims that the money it solicits goes to care for needy Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza strip," Bush said Tuesday. "Money raised by Holy Land Foundation is used by Hamas to support schools that indoctrinate children to grow up to become suicide bombers."

Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill accused the Holy Land Foundation of masquerading as a charity, "while its primary purpose is to fund Hamas. This is not a case of one bad actor stealing from the petty-cash drawer and giving the stolen money to terrorists. This organization exists to raise money in the United States to promote terror."

Holy Land Foundation president Shukri Abu-Baker denied that the group has any ties to terrorism, or that it had violated any U.S. laws. A statement released by the foundation criticized the government actions as being anti-Muslim, saying "the decision by the U.S. government to seize the charitable donations of Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan is an affront to millions of Muslim Americans who entrust charities like ours to assist in fulfilling their religious obligations." Another statement, from the Council on American-Islamic Relations and other U.S. Muslim organizations also criticized the actions, saying that they "could create the impression that there has been a shift from a war on terrorism to an attack on Islam."

In Bridgeview, Ill., a Chicago suburb with a large Muslim population, passersby watched as federal agents removed documents from the foundation's offices. Mohammad Ibra told the Associated Press that he donated $50 a month to the charity and had gotten thank-you notes from Palestinian families the foundation has assisted. "There's just no way they're involved with terrorists," Ibra told the AP. "They send medicine and clothes and money to poor people in Palestine."

The Holy Land Foundation is one of eight Muslim nonprofit groups under investigation by the Treasury Department for ties to terrorism. In early November, The Los Angeles Times reported that the groups were listed on a confidential letter sent from the Treasury Department to the attorneys general of several states. That list included six charities that collectively raised more than $29 million in 2000 -- Benevolence International Foundation of Palos Heights, Ill.; Care International Inc. of Boston, Mass.; Global Relief Foundation of Bridgeview, Ill.; Holy Land Foundation; Islamic American Relief Agency USA of Columbia, Mo.; and Islamic Relief of Burbank, Calif. The Islamic Association for Palestine of Villa Park, Ill., and the Islamic Center of Tucson, Ariz., were also listed.

Two of the groups have ties to Mousa Abu Marzook, the political leader of Hamas. Marzook was chairman of the Islamic Association for Palestine from 1988-90. He also gave $200,000 to the Holy Land Foundation in 1992. Marzook's wife is an investor in InfoCom, a Texas Internet company with ties to the foundation. InfoCom's offices were raided on Sept. 5 by federal agents and the company has been accused of illegally sending computer technology to Libya and Sudan.

Muslim charities have been under investigation since 1996, under an act passed that year that made supporting terrorism a federal crime. Grand juries in Illinois, Florida, New York and Texas have failed to issue any indictments against Muslim groups.

Last year, while it was still under investigation, the Holy Land Foundation was certified by USAID to distribute U.S. international aid. That certification was dropped before the group received any funds. The Islamic American Relief Agency received contracts to distribute more than $4 million dollars of U.S. aid to Mali in the 1990s. Those contracts were canceled in 2000 after the State Department determined they were "contrary to the national defense and foreign policy interests of the United States."

Still, there has been some evidence of links between Muslim charities and terrorist groups. One of the men convicted in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center was involved with the Alkifah Refugee Center, a Brooklyn charity. The investigation into 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies found a link between Osama bin Laden and a Kenyan charity. This past March, a group of Iranian immigrants was accused of raising funds for charity and then sending the funds to a terrorist group.

For the Global Relief Foundation, news that the charity is under investigation has caused a sharp drop in contributions. Global Relief, which raised more than $4.8 million in 2000, says donations are down by 90 percent. The group denies that it is under investigation or that it has any ties to terrorists.

"We have not heard directly from Treasury, from the FBI, the State Department, the National Security Council or any other federal or local law enforcement agency about our fund-raising or about where our aid goes," says Asim Ghafoor, Global Relief spokesperson.

On Nov. 15, Global Relief filed a $125 million lawsuit against six major news organizations, saying that their "false and outrageous accounts" damaged the group's ability to raise funds. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, names The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Associated Press, ABC News, The (New York) Daily News, and the San Francisco Chronicle as defendants.



"As a result of loose talk and false statements from people that are not careful," said Roger Simmons, Global Relief's lawyer, "what Global Relief has experienced has been a drastic drop off in the willingness of its traditional donor base to support helping Global Relief deal with human misery.

"When that happens, people starve," Simmons added. "It's a very serious thing."

Several of the defendants have published corrections to their stories about Global Relief. ABC News reported on Sept. 23, that Global Relief, the Holy Land Foundation, and other charities, were accused of "getting funds to bin Laden," then posted a retraction on the ABCNews.com Web site. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that it had obtained documents that confirmed that Global Relief was under investigation; that story proved to be inaccurate as well.

Dr. Abdel Noureldin, an emergency room physician from Barrington, Ill., says he has found the staff at Global to be "very honest and trustworthy." Noureldin traveled with Global Relief to Ethiopia and Kosovo this past year as a volunteer on a medical team. He spent two weeks in each country working in mobile clinics and saw Global Relief's work firsthand. While in Gunagado, Ethiopia, Noureldin made house calls on people who were too sick to travel to the clinic. "You would walk in and all you would see was a rag to sleep on, some oil and wheat from the last food shipment from Global Relief."

Each morning, Noureldin said, there were 300 to 400 people waiting to be seen by doctors. Some had walked for miles. "The person who walked the longest was from 150 miles away." Many were children who had infections or other conditions caused by a lack of food and clean water.

Noureldin raised about $29,000 for the trip from friends, coworkers and from the Islamic Foundation of Villa Park, Ill. He said he promised donors that all the funds would be used for helping people; no funds would be used for overhead or other expenses. "Of the $29,000 that I raised -- $23,000 was spent on pharmaceuticals, and the rest was spent on food," Noureldin said. "My son told me that he had seen on the news that GRF was being investigated for having ties to terrorists. I don't believe it. I worked with them and what I saw was honest people working to help people."

-----------------------------------------------

June 2002 A mission of Islamic Relief will be opened in Chechnya

http://felist.com/archive/news.media.chechnyafree/200206/28134418.html

Under an agreement reached with the Deputy Chechen Prime Minister Musa Doschukaev and the head of the organization of Islamic Relief Hani al Banna its mission will be opened in Grozny in July. According to Musa Doschukaev, this was a result of long negotiations on shifting of the humanitarian agencys activity to the Chechen Republic. This will help to expand its activity designed to assist Chechen refugees who return home. The Deputy Prime Minister said that the Chechen authorities are keenly interested in expansion of the activity of humanitarian agencies in Chechnya. He emphasized that many refugees in Ingushetia had no desire to return home since they fear that they lose help from humanitarian agencies. The Islamic Relief that has head offices in Britain and the United States is functioning in more than 20 countries, including the former Soviet Republics. Earlier, Islamic Relief was accused of having links with special services international extremist groups of several countries. Speaking to journalists Chechen Prime Minister Stanislav Ilyasov has admitted that the government had fears concerning such reports. He said that the government was aware that the organization gives humanitarian aid. Islamic Relief plans to help in the construction of prefabricated buildings for schools and hospitals. (more from Chechen diary)

--------------------------

MIM:' Puff piece'biography of Hany el- Banna head of Islamic Relief in the UK

Birmingham-based Hany El-Banna is one of Britain's most experienced professionals in international development and a leading light in the drive to create greater understanding between Christians, Jews and Muslims. Head of the charity, Islamic Relief, he is also a member of the Three Faiths Forum, and speaks and broadcasts on faith and development in Britain and abroad. Hany has recently addressed the House of iCommons on humanitarian aid, and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on open dialogue as part of tolerant foreign policy. He is also actively involved in the peace process in war-torn South Sudan

http://www.guidestar.org/controller/searchResults.gs?action_gsReport=1&partner=networkforgood&ein=95-4453134

----------------------------------------

Book Review : by Konrad Weisner

The War in Our Cities – How Radical Islamists are Infiltrating Germany by

Udo Ulflkotte

Excerpt :(Hany Al Banna and Muslim Brotherhood ) translated by Beila Rabinowitz

???Where one looks: Connections, relationships, memberships, financial dealings,and secret groups. The network of terror is woven internationally, in all cases the Muslim Brotherhood is the impenetrable link which hovers over constantly .

A further intersection of the network lies in British Birmingham.

There since 1984 The Islamic Relief Worldwide a ‘charitable organization' under the leadership of Hany Al Banna, which is openly supported and run by the Muslim Brotherhood. This (Hany) Al Banna is also related to the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood. Islamic Relief appears to be very respectable and innocent.But the first glance is deceptive and hides the secret brotherhood of backers. We must bear in mind what was revealed before about the Muslim Brotherhood. The Egyptian terror group Gamayat Al Islamiah with their former leader Ayman Al Zawahiri who was a close friend of Bin Laden and became a terrorist in his own right. These are the men who killed Egyptian president Anwar Sadat,and massacred tourists at Luxor in 1997.Etc.The situation is surely too serious, but a parody of the same subject comes to mind in response: A well known Muslim was seen in the vicinity of a Papal audience in Rome. People consider the possibility that now also the curates in Rome are becoming tangled in the net of international terrorism, with ties reaching from Rome to Krakow.

http://www.dekomnetz.de/e2/e66/30104.html

„Wo man hinschaut: Beziehungen, Verwandtschaften, Mitglied- schaften, finanzielle Abhängigkeiten, ideologische Geheimbündler. Das Netzwerk des Terrors ist international verflochten, (...). Über allem schwebt die Instanz der Muslimbrüder, deren Verbindungen fast undurchdringlich scheinen. Ein weiterer Knotenpunkt des Netzes liegt im britischen Birmingham. Dort ist seit 1984 die „Islamic Relief Worldwide" beheimatet, eine „Wohltätigkeitsorganisation" unter der Leitung von Dr. Hany Al-Banna, die offenkundig von den ägyptischen Muslimbrüdern gesteuert wird. Auch dieser Al-Banna ist ein Verwandter von Hassan Al-Banna (=Gründer der Muslimbrüderschaft). „Islamic Relief"? Das hört sich eigentlich ganz unverdächtig und seriös an. Doch der erste Eindruck trügt beim Blick auf die geheimbündlerischen Hintermänner. Erinnern wir uns, wer und was bislang schon alles aus der Muslimbruderschaft hervorging. Die ägyptische Terrorgruppe Gamaat al-Islamiya mit ihrem ehemaligen Führer Al-Zawahiri, der ein naher Freund Bin Ladens wurde und als Terrorist von sich reden machte. Jene Männer, die den ägyptischen Prässidenten Sadat töteten...(...) Touristen ermordeten, wie im November 1997 beim Massaker in Luxor." Usw. Die Angelegenheit ist sicher zu ernst, aber es reizt einen, mit einer Parodie gleichen Strickmusters zu antworten: Ein bekannter Muslim wurde in der Nähe einer Papstaudienz in Rom gesehen. Man hält es daher für wahrscheinlich, dass nun auch die römische Kurie in das Terrornetz der Islamisten verwickelt ist, deren Verbindungen bis nach Krakau in Polen reichen sollen.

----------------------------------

http://www.salaam.co.uk/charities/islamicrelief.php

Islamic Relief Worldwide

Name

Dr Hany EL Banna

Address

19 Rea Street
Birmingham
B5 6LB

Telephone

0121 605 5555

Fax

-------------

Governing Document

Memorandum and articles of association incorporated 28 March 1989

Objects

The Relief of poverty in any part of the world.

Area of Benefit

-------------

Area of Operation

Charity operates outside England and Wales
Africa
Asia
Europe-United Kingdom
WorldWide

Registration History

06 Apr 1989 Registered

Registered Number

328158

Financial History

Financial Year Start

Financial Year End

Gross Income

Total Expenditure

01 Jan 1997

31 Dec 1997

£2,540,900

£2,368,876

01 Jan 1998

31 Dec 1998

£3,772,023

£3,028,709

01 Jan 1999

31 Dec 1999

£8,458,754

£4,998,876

Website

www.islamic-relief.com


-----------------------------

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1207808/posts

List of American organisations which support Islamic terrorists in Chechyna

This list of American organizations which provide financial support to the Chechen terrorists was compiled by Russian intelligence agencies and published in the "Rossiya" newspaper.

Muslim American Bar Association, the post address: 1212 New York Avenue, N.W., Washington D.C., ph.: (202 789-2262 and (202 789-2888. At the end of 1999 was engaged in fund raising for the help to the Chechen Republic;

American Muslim Council, the post address: 1212 New York ave., N.W., suite 400, Washington DC 20005. Supports Chechen extremists, carries out constant monitoring a situation in the Chechen Republic, carries out political actions in the USA " in support of struggling people of the Chechen Republic ";

Islamic American Center, is located in Washington. In October, 1999 took part in fund raising for the Chechen extremists;

American Committee for Chechnya, the post address: 2000 P street, N.W., Suite 400 Washington, DC 20036. Supports to the Chechen extremists, carries out constant monitoring a situation in the Chechen Republic, organizes political actions in the USA " in support of struggling people of the Chechen Republic ";

American Friends Service Committee, the post address: 1501 Cherry st., Philadelphia, PA 19102. On the data for August, 2000 supports to the Chechen extremists;

Muslim American Council, the post address: 1212 New York Avenue, N.W., Washington D.C., ph.: (202 789-2262 and (202 789-2888. At the end of 1999 was engaged in fund raising for rendering assistance to the Chechen Republic;

American Muslim Assistance, AMA, the post address: p.o. box 1065, Fenton, Michigan 48430-9935, ph.: 810-714-2296 and 888-278-6624, a fax: 810-629-1770. The nongovernmental charitable organization registered in the Department of state of the USA. The primary goal - " rendering assistance to Muslim brothers all over the world ". The chapter of the organization - sheikh Hisham Muhammad Kabbani (Shaykh Kisham Muhammad Kabbani), chairman of influential Islamic Supreme Council of America, chairman of As-Sunna Foundation of America, the founder and chairman of the Haqqani Islamic Trust for New Muslims, the author of numerous works under the theory of an islam.

AMA assists Muslim communities of Northern Caucasus, conducts active propaganda campaign on discredit of actions of the Russian federal authority on Northern Caucasus. Organized fund raising in support of the Chechen Republic. Has a site on the Internet (http: // Amahelp.com, IP the address - 216.40.55.120). In the beginning of 2000 representatives AMA under Maskhadov's invitation have visited the Chechen Republic.

Work AMA conducts basically under aegis of other Muslim organizations. In particular, the Islamic Supreme body of America, and also of some the Russian nongovernmental organizations. In February - March with. AMA has listed means of the International association of social support of citizens registered in Russia (chairman - Vahid Pirzada) for the help to the Chechen refugees in Ingushetia;

The charitable Islamic fund, headquarters settles down in the USA. On a regular basis organizes performances in mass-media in support of the Chechen extremists, carries out wide propaganda campaign in politologicheskih and the research centers of the USA, initiates hearings in the congress of the USA. Thus actively involves advisers, experts and counselors of administration of the USA;

Benevolence International Foundation, the post address: a. Uort, state of Illinois, the USA, P.O.A. 548 Worth. IL 60482. USA, ph. (708) 233-0062). The proIslamic nongovernmental humanitarian fund, is based in 1987, has a site on the Internet - www.benevolence.org. Purposefully is engaged in fund raising for moslems of the Central Asia, Transcaucasia, the Chechen Republic and Dagestan. On data SVR of Russia, the fund took part in fund raising for the Chechen separatists;

The Islamic charitable organization " the Voice of the Chechen Republic " (Islamic Relief/Chechnya appeal), the post address: p.o. box 6098. Burbank, California, 91510, ph. 1-888-479-4968. It is registered in the Department of state of the USA. At the end of 1999 rendered the various help to Muslim communities in territory of Northern Caucasus;

Islamic Relief, headquarters is located in Birmingham (Great Britain) and in the USA (the address: P.O.A. 3610, W6 TM, Suite 362. Los Angeles. CA, 90020. ph. (818) 509-1014, since August, 2000 - 1919 W.Magnolia BLVD Burbank, CA 91506). Not state organization, is created in 1984. Has branches in Azerbaijan, Albania, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Germany, Italy, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Pakistan, Russia, the USA, Sudan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Finland, France, Croatia, Sweden, Switzerland. The chapter of the organization - Gani the Al-bath which father participated in attempt at the president of Egypt Abdel Nasera and subsequently has been executed.

On operative data SVR of Russia, the key element " Islamic Relief " is supervised and financed by special services of the Great Britain. On the same data, the Al-bath in September, 1997 illegally left to the Chechen Republic and met Maskhadov. At the end of 1999 the branch of the organization operated in Kabardino-Balkariya (16.01.1999 are registered in Ministry of Justice of Russia, reg. ? 3473, it is created on June, 1, 1997, the legal address: Nalchik, street. Kabardian, d. 189a). Nalchikskoe the branch is financed from the Great Britain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

In the beginning of this year " Islamic Relief " has opened mission in Nazran. The chapter of mission - Magomed-Ali, arrived from Saudi Arabia;

The Islamic Supreme Council of America, the post address: 1201 Pennsylvania ave, NW, suite 300, Washington. DC 20004 ph. (202) 661-4654, a fax (202 661-4655. Unites 15 million the moslems living in the USA. Chairman of the organization - sheikh Kabbani. By some estimations, IVSA is the basic channel of financing from the USA to the Chechen Republic. On data SB the Russian Federation, IVSA organizes regular proChechen performances in mass-media, wide propaganda campaigns and the research centers of the USA, initiates hearings in the congress of the USA.

In 1998 on Maskhadov's trip to USA IVSA acted as the inviting party. In December 1999. organization has officially addressed to Gosdepu the USA with the request to render the humanitarian help to the refugees who are taking place in territory of Ingushetia. In particular, all moslems of the USA were offered to list through IVSA donations in size not less $150 .

In February, 2000. IVSA accepted in the USA Minister for Foreign Affairs of Chechen Republic Ahmadova with whom were negotiated for rendering of the financial help to so-called armed forces of Ichkeria. On the available data, now IVSA continues to support to the Chechen extremists;

Islamic-American Zakat Foundation, the post address: 4323 Rosedale av, Bathesda. MD 20814. ph.: 301-907-0997. Influential Muslim public organization. The president of fund - Imad Ahmad. At the end of 1999 on channels of the organization it was assisted by the victim during military actions in the Chechen Republic;

Islamic Action Center, the post address: 1129 20th Street, N.W., Washington D.C., ph. (202) 463-6691. At the end of 1999 was engaged in fund raising for rendering assistance to the Chechen Republic;

Islamic Circle of North America, the post address: 166-26 89 th ave., Jamaica, NY 11432. Supports to the Chechen extremists, is engaged in gathering of the finance and the humanitarian help for the Chechen refugees in Ingushetia, carries out political actions in the USA;

Amnesty International USA - Mid-Atlantic regional office, the post address: 1118 22nd street N.W., Washington D.C., ph. (202) 775-5161; the Helsinki Group - representation in the USA (Helsinki Watch Committee), the post address: 1522k st., N.W., Washington D.C., ph. (202) 371-6592. Both organizations are engaged in financing from the USA to address of " representation of the Chechen Republic " in Krakow through the branches in Poland;

Council on American-Islamic Relations. Forms and the purposes of activity the same, as at Charitable Islamic fund (see above);

Chechen-Ingush Society of America (CISA), other name Chechen relief expenses), the post address: P.O.A. 611, Piscat-way, NY 08855-0611; ph. (908) 247-1989. Has branches with name Chechen Relief (the post address: p.o. box 611, Piscat, n108855-0611, ph. 908-247-1989, a fax 908-247-1574, p.o. box 7615 (7617) North Brunswick, NL08902). The president - doctor Mohammed Musa Adele Shishani (Mohkammed Musa Shishani). Actively participates in gathering financial assets, medicines, etc. for rendering support to " the Chechen business ";

Advantage Associates, inc., the post address: 1850 m street. N.W., Suite 280, Washington, D.C., 20036. It is registered in the Ministry of Justice of the USA as " the foreign agent ". At the end of 1999 conducted in the USA active propaganda and political activity in interests of the Chechen separatists. In the contract, prisoner Aslan Maskhadov and ambassador CHRI in USA Lemoj Osmurovym with Advantage associates, it was stipulated, that Aassotsiatsija will put pressure upon the government of the USA with the purpose of support of efforts CHRI on a gain of independence and branch from Russia;

Al-Ehsan Charitable Relief Organisation, the international Muslim organization, headquarters is located in Washington. On the data for November, 1999, supports to separatists of the Chechen Republic;

Amina Network (Internet-firm), office in Washington. In 1999 of special service marked regular contacts of firm to the Chechen emissaries;

International Relief Association, the address: Dearborn, state of Michigan USA); Islamic Relief Worldwide, the address: a. Berbank, state of California (USA). Both organizations purposefully are engaged in fund raising for moslems of the Central Asia, Transcaucasia, the Chechen Republic and Dagestan;

Islamic City Relief. Took part in campaign on fund raising for the Chechen separatists;

Human Assistance Development International (HADI), the post address: P.O. 45 98-Culver City, Ca 90231, USA; ph. (310) 937, a fax (310 937-9846. The Muslim nongovernmental organization which was taking part in campaign on fund raising for the Chechen separatists. In the beginning of 2000 has opened the Islamic information server (http: // islam.org) for development and distribution of ideas of an islam on the Internet;

Mercy International, the headquarters is located to the address: Plymouth, state of Michigan, the USA. Purposefully was engaged in gathering of financial assets for rendering assistance to moslems of Asia, Transcaucasia and Northern Caucasus;

Ruder Finn inc., the office on public relations, is located in Washington. It is known about the support rendered OAK, and also about occurrence in agency at various times the Chechen emissaries;

The American-Cnechenian Friendship and Economic Association, the post address: 47 Canal run west, Washington crossing, Pennsylvania, 18977. It is registered in the Ministry of Justice of the USA as " the foreign agent ". At the end of 1999 carried out in the USA purposeful propaganda and political activity in interests of the Chechen separatists;

Waterman Associates, inc., the post address: 1700e st., N.W., Suite 405, Washington, D.C., 2006. It is registered in the Ministry of Justice of the USA as " the foreign agent ". In the USA the Association carried out purposeful propaganda and political activity in interests of the Chechen separatists.

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MIM: Islamic Relief is also on the list of partners of the Canadian 'Human Concern International' which had it's assets frozen due to Al Qaeda funding:

PARTNERSHIPS FOR HUMANITY

To increase its reach and effectiveness to the community around the globe, HCI regularly partners with others, such as various international government agencies, organizations and NGOs including the United Nations Specialized funding agencies, local and international partners.

Other notable project partners and/or funders include: Islamic Relief, Canadian Lutheran World Relief, Health Partners Internatinal Canada, Canadian Red Cross, Cardinal Leger Foundation, Hope International, World Accord, University of Missouri, International Medical and Educational Trust, Youth Mines Actions Ambassadors Program (YMAAP) and Japan Helpline.

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MIM:Said Al Khadr a member "Canada's first family of terror' (as they were dubbed by Dr.Daniel Pipes) was the Pakistani regional coordinator for Human Concern International.

http://www.adl.org/Terror/tu/tu_0401_canada.asp

"...Egyptian-born longtime Canadian resident Ahmad Sa'id Al-Khadr left Toronto for Pakistan to become the regional coordinator for the Canadian-based Human Concern International, a charity that has allegedly diverted funds to Al Qaeda. He reportedly became a senior aide to Osama bin Laden. Al-Khadr was detained by Pakistani authorities for his alleged involvement in the 1995 bombing of the Egyptian Embassy in Islamabad but was later released, reportedly, after the personal intercession of Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien. In October 2001, the U.S. froze his assets and in December 2001, the U.S. placed him on a list of nine Al Qaeda members most wanted by the U.S. He is believed to be in Afghanistan.

One of Khadr's sons, Omar Khadr, was arrested in Afghanistan in July 2002 after he allegedly murdered a U.S. army medic with a grenade. He is currently being held in Guantanamo Bay. Another one of his sons, Abdul Rahman Khadr, was captured by Northern Alliance troops in Kabul in November 2001 while allegedly fighting for Al Qaeda and later sent to Guantanamo. In November 2003, against the background of the U.S. releasing a number of detainees from Guantanamo, Abdul Rahman Khadr was freed. On November 30, 2003, Canadian authorities permitted Khadr to reenter Canada..."

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Islamic Relief could be one of the NGO's mentioned as participating with Partners in Humanity at the Jordan conference . PIH was founded by Prince Hassen Bin Al Talal. which states that its mission is "to improve cooperation between the US and the Muslim world".

PIC works together with the 'Search for Common Ground'. They will soon be honoring Mohammed Ali as a Washington DC dinner.

http://www.sfcg.org/sfcg/sfcg_awards2005.html

Date
Thursday, March 17th 2005
6:30pm cocktail reception
7:30pm awards programme

Location
Embassy of Austria
3524 International Court, NW
Washington, DC

Performance
By Mandy Patinkin

Muhammad Ali
Common Ground Lifetime Achievement Award
He has been cited as a "United Nations Messenger of Peace," and has been called "Mr. International Friendship" by former President Carter. In schools across America he has taught children the virtues of tolerance and understanding through his book "Healing". The new Muhammad Ali Center will appeal to the heart, spirit and imagination in areas of personal growth and commitment, integrity and respect for others.

Recently in Amman, Jordan, a three-day conference took place aimed at finding ways to improve understanding and cooperation between the United States and the Muslim world. The meeting was organized in partnership with His Royal Highness Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan and the American-Belgian non-governmental organization Search for Common Ground.

Together, they convened representatives of civil society, clergy, academics, human rights activists, officials of relief and development agencies (including Catholic Relief Services) and media leaders – all catalysts and facilitators of Islamic-Western dialogue – and launched a project called Partners in Humanity to build bridges between the Muslim world and the United States.

Discussions focused on how to promote dialogue between Muslims and the West through various channels in order to obtain mutual respect and understanding. During his opening speech, Prince Hassan set the tone for the meeting, saying, "We must become forceful about the idea of peacefulness. We must promote moderation in an era of extremism and intolerance."

Prince Hassan stressed that, "Cross-cultural dialogue provides a bridge that enables people of different backgrounds to live together," and explained that the ultimate goal of the partnership is to, "Seek to bring about more broadly Islamic-American cooperation based on mutual respect and guided by a sense of shared humanity." http://www.interaction.org/library/detail.php?id=2144

July 26-29, 2003 - Partners in Humanity Working Meeting in Amman, Jordan. Sixty leaders of NGOs, government agencies and international organizations - all catalysts and facilitators of Islamic-Western dialogue - convened for three days in Amman develop an action plan to improve understanding and cooperation between the West and the Muslim world. The meeting was held under the auspices of a unique partnership formed by His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal and Search for Common Ground and was funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

View programme overview for Partners in Humanity


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