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." -----------------------------------------------