Crackdown on Al Qaeda-Linked Charity

Fri, Jan 23, 2004 at 4:27:07 pm PST

One link in the Golden Chain of terrorist financing that runs through Saudi Arabia is finally coming under attack—the Islamic “charity” known as Al-Haramain: U.S., Saudi Arabia Fettering Charity Linked to Terrorism.

U.S. officials yesterday released pages of declassified intelligence about Al-Haramain in the four countries. The documents allege that the charity was a major financier of terrorists in Indonesia, that a Tanzanian employee of the organization helped plan the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa and that Kenyan employees planned assassinations of American officials.

One former Al-Haramain employee in Pakistan “was identified as an alleged al Qaeda member who reportedly planned to carry out several devastating terrorist operations” in the United States, according to a statement released by the Treasury Department yesterday.

U.N. designation of Al-Haramain branches will force Kenya, Tanzania, Pakistan and Indonesia to move against the high-profile foundation even though officials there have resisted doing so for some time, in part out of fear of appearing to do the United States’ bidding, officials said. Operating through the United Nations “gives political cover” to those nations to act against the charity, one U.S. official said.

U.S. and Saudi investigators continue to investigate Al-Haramain’s several dozen branches around the globe and are expected to announce more terrorist designations soon. The crackdown is controversial in Saudi Arabia because Al-Haramain, which takes in tens of millions of dollars a year, is “in effect the Saudis’ United Way,” according to one U.S. official.