I am glad to see that we are getting these guys.
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U.S. Charges Activist Over Links to Libya
Muslim Leader Lobbied on Sanctions
By Douglas Farah and John Mintz
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, September 30, 2003; Page A01
One of the country's leading Islamic activists, a chief architect of the Pentagon's Muslim chaplain program, was charged yesterday with illegally accepting money from Libya for his efforts to persuade the United States to lift sanctions against that nation.
Abdurahman Alamoudi, who as leader of the American Muslim Council met frequently with senior Clinton and Bush administration officials, was arrested Sunday at Dulles International Airport as he entered the United States from Britain, six weeks after he allegedly attempted to smuggle hundreds of thousands of dollars into Syria. U.S. officials said the final destination of the money is under investigation.
Authorities said the arrest is an important step in the wide-ranging investigation of funding for terrorism in this country, a probe that centers on a cluster of foundations and businesses based in Herndon.
Agents for the Department of Homeland Security alleged that Alamoudi received the $340,000 from Libyan officials as part of a longstanding relationship with that government. In exchange for financial assistance for Muslim activist groups he founded in the United States, authorities said, Alamoudi was trying to help persuade the United States to lift sanctions against that nation.
Doing business with Libya remains illegal under U.S. law because of that nation's role in the 1988 bombing of an airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland. The United Nations removed sanctions against Libya earlier this month, although the State Department still lists it as a sponsor of terrorism.
Alamoudi, 51, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Eritrea, was a senior executive of several of the Herndon charities. They were raided in March 2002 by law enforcement agents seeking evidence that the network of interlocking organizations was funneling money to terrorist groups, according to a search warrant issued at that time.
Kevin Delli-Colli, director of the Washington field office of the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said Alamoudi's home and several of those organizations were searched again by federal agents on Sunday, after his arrest.
"Mr. Alamoudi is a significant figure and has been under investigation for some time," Delli-Colli said in an interview.
An Alamoudi affiliate is among the few Muslim groups that accredit Islamic chaplains for the Pentagon, and he is the second person affiliated with the chaplain's program arrested this month. James Yee, an Army captain and Muslim chaplain at the U.S. Navy prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was arrested Sept. 10 on suspicion of espionage allegedly carrying sketches of the facility and documents related to interrogators and detainees.
Officials said yesterday the timing of Alamoudi's arrest was coincidental with the recent controversy over the Muslim chaplain's program.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Theresa Buchanan ordered Alamoudi detained after a hearing in U.S. District Court in Alexandria yesterday. Alamoudi's attorney, May Kheder, said he "has asked us not to comment."
According to documents unsealed yesterday, Alamoudi was stopped by British authorities in London on Aug. 16, as he prepared to board a flight to Damascus, Syria. The officials found "34 bundles of sequentially numbered $100 bills" in his suitcase.
Alamoudi told British authorities that the money, which was confiscated because it had not been declared, had been delivered to his hotel room by an unidentified Libyan, according to the documents. Alamoudi told officials that he "intended eventually to deposit the money in banks located in Saudi Arabia, from where he would feed it back in smaller amounts into accounts in the United States," according to the documents.
Neither the documents nor U.S. authorities made clear why Alamoudi was trying to take the money into Syria.
U.S. officials said that Alamoudi did not try to recover the money from British authorities. Instead, he changed his travel plans, flying first to Lebanon, then to Syria and Yemen, back to Syria, and on to Egypt and Libya before returning to the United States. He made the trips using a Yemeni passport. He also has two U.S passports, according to court documents.
It is illegal for U.S. citizens to travel to Libya without authorization from the State Department.
Special Agent Brett Gentrup contended in the affidavit that Alamoudi first approached the Libyan ambassador to the United Nations in 1997 to seek financial backing for his U.S.-based organizations. At subsequent meetings, the Libyan official, Abuzed O. Dorda, suggested that Alamoudi would receive an unspecified share of any Libyan assets he succeeded in getting released by the United States.
"Alamoudi then had a series of meetings with White House officials" about the sanctions, Gentrup alleged. Dorda was recalled to Libya on Sept. 17.
Libya's acting representative at the United Nations, Ahmed A. Own, said that he was unaware of any financial arrangement between Libya and the organization, and that he had never heard of Alamoudi before learning about the case on television today. "I have never heard of this matter," Own said.
Friends and associates have portrayed Alamoudi as a moderate Muslim activist, but he has been vocal in his support of both the Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas, and Hezbollah -- Middle Eastern organizations designated as terrorist groups by the U.S. government. At an Oct. 28, 2000, rally at Lafayette Park, Alamoudi proclaimed, "We are all followers of Hamas" and praised Hezbollah, also known as the Party of God.
Yaser Bushnaq, chief coordinator of the Solidarity USA civil rights group, which Alamoudi helped launch, said yesterday that if Alamoudi was trying to improve U.S.-Libyan relations, "it would fit with the man I know, who would try to bring a just solution between the two countries, and for the victims of the Pan Am incident." He said that "Alamoudi believes in reconciliation, and in America."
In June 2001, Alamoudi and 160 American Muslim Council members met with President Bush's senior adviser, Karl Rove, to discuss faith-based initiatives. White House officials did not respond to inquiries about the meeting yesterday.
Alamoudi used the American Muslim Council, which he founded in 1990, to push for creation of the program for Muslim chaplains in the U.S. military. He visited the Pentagon and bases around the country, promoting the plan and recommending young Muslims to serve as clerics in uniform.
In the mid-1990s, the American Muslim Foundation, a closely related group also founded by Alamoudi, created a subsidiary organization called the American Muslim Armed Forces and Veteran Affairs Council to continue this work. That council recommended Yee for his job of Army chaplain.
Ali Khan, a Chicago investment banker who formerly was AMC's treasurer, said yesterday Alamoudi controlled all its affairs. Alamoudi brought in large sums of money from Saudi Arabia but refused to detail their origin, Khan said.
Khan said that for years he sought an accounting of the funds, but Alamoudi refused. Alamoudi has publicly acknowledged bringing funds from Saudi Arabia for his organizations.
Staff writer Colum Lynch at the United Nations and research editor Margot Williams contributed to this report. |
