al-Haramain Foundation

The Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation was founded in the Pakistani city of Karachi in 1988 with the aim of religious propagation and charity, but moved its headquarters to Riyadh in 1992. It set up a branch in Somalia in 1992 also. In September 2001 AHIF was named a Specially Designated Terrorist Entity by the US government.{{cite book|last1=Alterman|first1=Jon B.|last2=Von Hippel|first2=Karin|title=Understanding Islamic Charities|date=2007|publisher=CSIS|page=158|isbn=9780892065134|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1QbC2rFxr24C&pg=PA158|access-date=21 May 2015|archive-date=5 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240105145818/https://books.google.com/books?id=1QbC2rFxr24C&pg=PA158#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}

In 2002 the US and Saudi Arabia "jointly designated the Bosnian and Somalian branches of AHIF as financiers of terror, although as of 2008 critics have raised questions as to whether the Saudi government "actually closed the offshore branches of AHIF".{{cite book|last1=Gurul|first1=Jimmy|title=Unfunding Terror: The Legal Response to the Financing of Global Terrorism|date=2008|publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing|page=108|isbn=9781848446069|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tYHi5qBaM7MC&pg=PA268|access-date=20 May 2015|archive-date=5 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240105145707/https://books.google.com/books?id=tYHi5qBaM7MC&pg=PA268#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}} According to author Jimmy Gurul, the US government had evidence that "AHIF offices and representatives operating throughout Africa, Asia, and Europe provided financial and logistical support" to groups "designated foreign terrorist organizations by the US State Department", including al-Qaeda, Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Jemaah Islamiyah, Al-Ittihad Al-Islamiya, Lashkar e-Taibah, and HAMAS.

In 2004 the US "designated" 11 other branches including the US branch in Ashland, Oregon.{{cite book|last1=Gurul|first1=Jimmy|title=Unfunding Terror: The Legal Response to the Financing of Global Terrorism|date=2008|publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing|pages=126–7|isbn=9781848446069|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tYHi5qBaM7MC&pg=PA268|access-date=21 May 2015|archive-date=5 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240105145707/https://books.google.com/books?id=tYHi5qBaM7MC&pg=PA268#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}} Finally, later in 2004 the US designated the entire entity, including its headquarters in Saudi Arabia. At the time of its closing, AHIF had been operating in 50 countries and employed 5,000 workers.{{cite news|title=Al-Haramain charity founder cleared of all charges|url=http://www.arabnews.com/news/668481|agency=Sabq News Agency|publisher=Arab News|date=2 December 2014|access-date=26 January 2015|archive-date=2 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141202142550/http://www.arabnews.com/news/668481|url-status=live}}

The foundation undertook religious activities such as sponsorship of orphans, preachers, imams and teachers as well as publishing and distributing Islamic books, like translations of the Qur'an, Hadith and other religious writings in Muslim countries.{{cite web|title=Sirah|url=http://islam.uga.edu/primsourcisl.html#sirah|website=The Qur'an, Hadith, and the Prophet Muhammad|access-date=26 January 2015|archive-date=15 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150115163752/http://islam.uga.edu/primsourcisl.html#sirah|url-status=live}}

The foundation also undertook building and supervising mosques, schools, Islamic centers, scholarships for students in poor Muslim countries, organizing Shariah courses, distribution of Ramadan breakfasts and blankets in the winter. As part of its activities, the foundation also distributed food, clothes and medicine for victims of wars and natural calamities all over the world.{{Better source|date=November 2015}} The closure of the charity led directly to the closure of a number of orphanages supported or run by the foundation in Somalia.{{cite web|last1=Kroessin |first1=Mohammed R. |title=Islamic charities and the 'War on Terror': dispelling the myths |url=http://www.odihpn.org/humanitarian-exchange-magazine/issue-38/islamic-charities-and-the-war-on-terror-dispelling-the-myths |website=Humanitarian Practice Network |access-date=26 January 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150531055516/http://www.odihpn.org/humanitarian-exchange-magazine/issue-38/islamic-charities-and-the-war-on-terror-dispelling-the-myths |archive-date=31 May 2015 }}

According to the Associated Press, Al-Qaeda provided funds to a suspect in the November 2002 bombing of an Israeli hotel in Kenya, using sympathizers inside Al-Haramain and other Islamic charities.

A wholesale fish business financed with Al-Haramain funds used some of its profits to help the al Qaeda cell behind the August 1998 bombings of the U.S. Embassies in East Africa.

According to the UN Security Council Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee, the foundation funded the 2002 Bali bombings that killed over 200, mostly foreign tourists.

Using a variety of means, Al-Haramain Foundation provided financial support to Al-Qaida operatives in Indonesia and to Jemaah Islamiyah (JI). According to a senior Al-Qaida official apprehended in South-East Asia, Al-Haramain Foundation was one of the primary sources of funding for Al-Qaida network activities in the region. JI has committed a series of terrorist attacks, including the bombing of a nightclub in Bali on 12 October 2002 that killed 202 persons and wounded over 300 others.{{cite web|title=Security Council Committee pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999) and 1989 (2011) concerning Al-Qaida and associated individuals and entities. QE.A.103.04. AL-HARAMAIN FOUNDATION (INDONESIA)|url=https://www.un.org/sc/committees/1267/NSQE10304E.shtml|publisher=UN|access-date=21 August 2014|archive-date=27 June 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627100942/http://www.un.org/sc/committees/1267/NSQE10304E.shtml|url-status=live}}(QE.A.4.01).

{{Main|NSA warrantless surveillance (2001–2007)}}

The U.S. branch of AHF was established in 1997. As of 2004 it had headquarters in Ashland, Oregon and an office in Springfield, Missouri. (In a 2000 US taxation form the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation reported its "prayer houses are located in Ashland, Oregon and Springfield, Mo."Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, Inc, 2000 Form 990.

The U.S. government accused Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation of Ashland, Oregon of sending $150,000 through Saudi Arabia to fund terrorist activities and support Chechen mujahideen under the guise of humanitarian aid. It also was accused of receiving money from Osama bin Laden in August 1998 and providing funding to an American imam who attended a training camp run by a terrorist organization in Pakistan.{{cite web|last1=Denson|author1-link=Bryan Denson|first1=Bryan|title=Ashland Islamic charity seeks removal from U.N. list of entities associated with al-Qaida|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2013/08/ashland_charity_seeks_removal.html|publisher=The Oregonian/OregonLive|access-date=21 May 2015|date=30 August 2013|archive-date=22 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150622092356/http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2013/08/ashland_charity_seeks_removal.html|url-status=live}}

On 19 February 2004, the assets of the U.S. branch were blocked by the US Treasury Department pending investigation, the results of which showed "direct links between the U.S. branch and Usama bin Laden". On 9 September 2004 Treasury announced "the designation" of the U.S. branch of Al Haramain along with one of its directors, Suliman Al-Buthe. The Office of Foreign Assets Control of the United States Department of the Treasury had already banned various branches of this organization at various times.[http://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/js1895.aspx U.S.-Based Branch of Al Haramain Foundation Linked to Terror, Treasury Designates U.S. Branch, Director ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140816072648/http://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/js1895.aspx |date=16 August 2014 }}, FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, US Department of the Treasury, 9 September 2004

On 19 June 2008, U.S. Department of the Treasury "designated" the Al Haramain Islamic Foundation (AHF) "for having provided financial and material support to al Qaida, as well as a wide range of designated terrorists and terrorist organizations." As a consequence, an "assets held by any office of the AHF organization under U.S. jurisdiction [were] frozen and U.S. persons [were] prohibited from engaging in any transactions with AHF."{{cite web|title=Treasury Designates Al Haramain Islamic Foundation|url=http://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/hp1043.aspx|website=U.S. Department of the Treasury|publisher=19 June 2008|access-date=21 August 2014|archive-date=15 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140815030258/http://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/hp1043.aspx|url-status=live}}

On 28 February 2006 the American branch of the foundation filed a lawsuit against President George W. Bush, the NSA, FBI, and several other US officials.{{cite web|title=IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF OREGON|url=https://fas.org/sgp/jud/statesec/ahif090706.pdf|website=fas.org|access-date=21 August 2014|archive-date=18 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131018001057/http://www.fas.org/sgp/jud/statesec/ahif090706.pdf|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/01/AR2006030102585.html?nav=most_emailed|title=Saudi Group Alleges Wiretapping by U.S.: Defunct Charity's Suit Details Eavesdropping|newspaper=Washington Post|date=2 March 2006|author=Carol D. Leonnig|access-date=23 April 2010|archive-date=20 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020175138/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/01/AR2006030102585.html?nav=most_emailed|url-status=live}} The suit asserted that the Bush administration had circumvented the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act by authorizing warrantless wiretaps. They asserted that the President lacked the authority to authorize wiretaps that circumvented the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Three individuals whose conversations were intercepted, Suliman al-Buthe, Wendell Belew and Asim Ghafoor, learned of the eavesdropping when U.S. officials accidentally delivered logs of phone calls to them. Al-Buthe, who had traveled intermittently to the United States but who has always resided in Saudi Arabia, had been one of the directors of the Ashland chapter. Belew and Ghafoor were two of the Foundation's U.S. lawyers.

The foundation filed another suit in August 2007, challenging the Department of Treasury's 2004 designation of Al Haramain as a "specially designated global terrorist" and the seizure and freezing of all of its assets.{{cite web|title=Al Haramain v. Department of Treasury|url=http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2011/09/23/10-35032.pdf|publisher=U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit|access-date=27 September 2011|archive-date=8 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111108201353/http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2011/09/23/10-35032.pdf|url-status=live}} In September 2011, an appeals court ruled that United States officials correctly designated the charity as supporting terrorism, but found the Treasury department's Office of Foreign Assets Control improperly seized the charity's assets using a "blocking order" to freeze them without a warrant supported by probable cause, violating the Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable seizures, and that they also violated the charity's procedural due process rights by failing to give a post-seizure explanation of the basis for the seizure.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/24/us/officials-improperly-seized-assets-of-islamic-charity-court-finds.html?tntemail1=y&emc=tnt&pagewanted=print|title=Officials Improperly Seized Assets of Islamic Charity, Court Finds|work=The New York Times|date=23 September 2011|agency=Reuters|access-date=24 February 2017|archive-date=22 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150622131525/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/24/us/officials-improperly-seized-assets-of-islamic-charity-court-finds.html?tntemail1=y&emc=tnt&pagewanted=print|url-status=live}}

In 2010 the charity's founder Pirouz Sedaghaty, also known as Pete Seda, was convicted of tax fraud and conspiracy against the United States for allegedly filing a false tax return in order to conceal Al-Haramain's funding of Islamic militants in Chechnya.{{cite news |url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2011/08/14/no-new-us-trial-for-chechen-backer-a8876 |title=No New U.S. Trial for Chechen Backer |date=14 August 2011 |newspaper=The Moscow Times}} However, his conviction was overturned by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in 2013 after the court found that prosecutors had withheld exculpatory evidence, provided inaccurate summaries of classified material, and paid a key witness to testify against Seda.{{cite news |url=https://www.theskanner.com/news/northwest/19755-pete-seda-case-highlights-importance-of-new-oregon-law-2013-08-30 |title=Pete Seda ‘Terrorism’ Case Highlights Importance of New Oregon Law |newspaper=The Skanner News |date=30 August 2013 |first=Helen |last=Silvis}} In August 2013, the group filed a petition with a committee of the United Nations Security Council to remove the nonprofit from its list of entities associated with al-Qaida.

In 2013, Al-Buthe (who was one of the directors of the Ashland chapter and who had been wiretapped by the US government) was taken off a United Nations list of people subject to sanctions for ties to Al-Qaeda but remained on a similar US list. His attorney Tom Nelson said the UN action is some vindication for his client, but that Al-Buthe is a victim of the post-9/11 anti-terrorism paranoia.{{cite news|title=UN takes charity founder off Al-Qaeda list|url=http://www.arabnews.com/saudi-arabia/un-takes-charity-founder-al-qaeda-list|access-date=26 January 2015|agency=AP|publisher=Arab News|date=12 February 2013|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304000237/http://www.arabnews.com/saudi-arabia/un-takes-charity-founder-al-qaeda-list|url-status=live}}

Thomas H. Nelson of Welches, Oregon, another Foundation lawyer, filed the lawsuit. Court records show he filed a motion to place the relevant material under seal.

On 31 March 2010, US District Court Judge Vaughn R. Walker ruled that the Bush administration should have gotten warrants for its wiretaps of Al Haramain.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/01/us/01nsa.html?hp=&pagewanted=print|title=Federal Judge Finds N.S.A. Wiretaps Were Illegal|work=The New York Times|date=31 March 2010|author=Charlie Savage, James Risen|access-date=26 April 2010|quote=A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the National Security Agency’s program of surveillance without warrants was illegal, rejecting the Obama administration’s effort to keep shrouded in secrecy one of the most disputed counterterrorism policies of former President George W. Bush.|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100406025240/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/01/us/01nsa.html?hp=&pagewanted=print|archive-date= 6 April 2010 | url-status= live}}

In June 2020 the court dismissed the indictment and arrest warrant of Al-Buthe on motion of the United States Department of Justice, which stated that such dismissal was "in the interests of justice." Docket sheet, US v. Al-Haramain, 6:05-cr-60008, U.S. District Court, District of Oregon

Al-Haramain funded and supported a Bosnian mujahideen battalion in Zenica Bosnia. ImIn Albania, a member of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Ahmad Ibrahim al-Najjar, joined al-Haramain's Tirana office in 1993. He was apprehended in Albania and extradited to Egypt in June 1998 for an attempted bombing of the Khan el-Khalili Souq (market) in Cairo in 1997.{{cite book|last1=Gunaratna|first1=Rohan|title=Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror|date=2002|publisher=Columbia University Press.|page=[https://archive.org/details/insidealqaedaglo00guna/page/133 133]|isbn=9780231126922|url=https://archive.org/details/insidealqaedaglo00guna|url-access=registration}}

Although not necessarily alleging attacks against civilians, the Russian FSB (Federal Security Service) accused Al-Haramain (among other charities) of operating for years in Chechnya (see Arab Mujahideen in Chechnya) and Dagestan, financing Wahhabi based training for emigrant would-be Jihadists.{{cite news|last1=Ginsberg|first1=Marc|title=A Field Guide to Jihadi Dagestan and Chechnya|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amb-marc-ginsberg/a-field-guide-to-jihadi-d_b_3134852.html|access-date=20 May 2015|agency=huffingtonpost|date=22 April 2013|archive-date=13 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150413063909/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amb-marc-ginsberg/a-field-guide-to-jihadi-d_b_3134852.html?|url-status=live}} The FSB accused Al-Haramain of wiring $1 million to Chechen rebels in 1999 and of arranging to buy 500 heavy weapons for them from Taliban units.{{cite news|last1=LaFraniere|first1=Sharon|title=How Jihad Made Its Way to Chechnya|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2003/04/26/how-jihad-made-its-way-to-chechnya/5b941796-ed50-4f65-9a2b-18a90155e571/|agency=Washington Post|date=26 April 2003|access-date=20 August 2017|archive-date=21 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170821003123/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2003/04/26/how-jihad-made-its-way-to-chechnya/5b941796-ed50-4f65-9a2b-18a90155e571/|url-status=live}} Russia designates Al-Haramain as a terrorist organization since 2003.{{cite web|url=http://www.fsb.ru/fsb/npd/terror.htm|script-title=ru:Единый федеральный список организаций, в том числе иностранных и международных организаций, признанных в соответствии с законодательством Российской Федерации террористическими|language=ru|date=2 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240514033426/http://www.fsb.ru/fsb/npd/terror.htm|archive-date=14 May 2024|url-status=live}}

On 22 January 2004, in a joint press conference, U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow and Adel al-Jubeir, Foreign Affairs Advisor to then Crown Prince Abdullah, called upon the United Nations Sanctions Committee to designate four branch offices of the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation as financial supporters of terrorism. As a result, Al-Haramain was folded into the National Commission.{{cite web|title=Public Affair: Reports|url=http://saudiembassy.net/affairs/reports/|website=The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia|access-date=26 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090519095712/http://www.saudiembassy.net/affairs/reports/|archive-date=19 May 2009|url-status=dead}} Aqeel Al-Aqeel was then removed from his position of the chairmanship of the foundation. In 2014, Aqeel Al-Aqeel was acquitted of all charges brought personally against him by the Riyadh Appeal court, though the foundation is still banned.

{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20051030134520/http://saudiembassy.net/Index.asp Foreign Affairs ministry reports on status of Al-Haramain Foundation], Saudi Embassy, Washington DC, 5 May 2003
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060925013414/http://www.treasury.gov/offices/enforcement/key-issues/protecting/fto.shtml Designated Charities and Potential Fundraising Front Organizations for FTOs], {{Dead link|date=July 2022}} US Treasury
• [https://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2007/07/haramain_appeal NSA Snooped on Lawyers Knowing Spying Was Illegal], Wired, 10 July 2007

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Category:1988 establishments in Saudi Arabia

Category:Organizations established in 1988

Category:Charities based in Saudi Arabia

Category:Organizations based in Asia designated as terrorist

Category:Organizations designated as terrorist by Iraq

Category:Organisations designated as terrorist by Pakistan

Category:Organizations designated as terrorist by Russia

Category:Islamic charities

Category:International charities

Category:United States civil forfeiture case law

Category:Islamist front organizations

Category:Al-Qaeda activities

Category:Jihadist groups in India

Category:Organizations designated as terrorist by the United States

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