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U.S., Saudis crack down on charity group

U.S. and Saudi officials moved Wednesday to block the assets of a Saudi charity they believe channeled funds to al-Qaida and other militant groups.
/ Source: Reuters

U.S. and Saudi officials moved Wednesday to block the assets of a Saudi charity they believe channeled funds to al-Qaida and other militant groups.

Saudi Arabia also announced that it would dissolve the Riyadh office of the charity, Al-Haramain, and fold its assets, as well as those of other Saudi charitable groups, into a new Saudi entity that would channel all such contributions overseas.

Specifically, the assets of Al-Haramain’s branches in Afghanistan, Albania, Bangladesh, Ethiopia and the Netherlands would be blocked, Saudi and U.S. officials said.

The crackdown reflected stepped-up Saudi efforts to combat militant groups and their funding sources since the attacks on residential compounds in Riyadh that killed at least 35 people on May 12, 2003, and galvanized Saudi cooperation on counterterrorism.

Before the suicide attacks last year, which killed nine Americans, U.S. officials had privately criticized Saudi Arabia for not doing enough to combat terrorism in general or to go after its funding sources in particular.

“This is very important,” said Dennis Lormel, who until recently was the head of the FBI’s terror financing section. “It’s significant because all along previously the Saudis were dragging their heels on Haramain.

“The symbolism that the Saudis have finally stood up and are joining in some type of action speaks volumes,” he said.

22 killed in most recent attack
The announcement followed the killing last weekend of 22 people in a hostage-taking and shooting spree by suspected al-Qaida gunmen in the eastern Saudi city of Khobar. It was the second attack in a month on the Saudi oil industry.

Washington added the Al-Haramain affiliates to its list of people or groups believed to have committed, threatened or supported terrorism under an order President Bush signed shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.

The order requires U.S. banks to check their records and freeze the assets of listed entities. The U.S. and Saudi officials said they would ask for the affiliates to be added to a similar U.N. list, triggering a global search.

In addition, U.S. officials added the name of the former head of Al-Haramain, Aqil al-Aqil, to the U.S. list, seeking to block his assets, as well. A Saudi official said Riyadh had not taken the same action because it did not want to prejudice a Saudi investigation into Aqil’s activities.

Saudi Arabia has dismissed Aqil from Al-Haramain, which has denied charges that it is linked to militant groups.

Suspected for two years
Al-Haramain was first added to the U.S. list on March 11, 2002, when its Bosnian and Somali branches were designated. The United States announced Jan. 22 that it had added its local branches in Indonesia, Kenya, Tanzania and Pakistan.

Saudi Arabia said it would close the Riyadh-based Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation and shift its assets into a new entity called the Saudi National Commission for Relief and Charity Work Abroad.

The Saudi Embassy said in a statement that the new entity would “take over all aspects of private overseas aid operations and assume responsibility for the distribution of private charitable donations from Saudi Arabia.”