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AMP Report – Sept. 21, 2006
Another American Muslim charity raided
Sept. 21, 2006 - US authorities today raided one of the biggest Muslim charities in the United States, the Michigan-based Life for Relief and Development.
Federal agents also raided the home of the charity's chief executive officer, Khalil Jassemm, and the Dearborn office of Muthanna Alhanooti, a former official of the charity who has ties to an Islamic party in Iraq.
It is a Muslim charity that its officials say has distributed more than $50 million to more than 13 million people since its founding in 1992. Most recently, the group distributed $2.2 million in medicine in August to Lebanese people affected by the conflict between Hizballah and Israel.
Michigan-based charity operates in a number of countries, including Pakistan, Iraq, Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Afghanistan and parts of Africa.
The charity was founded by a group of Iraqi-Americans who said they were concerned about the condition of Iraqis after the Gulf War in 1991. One of the group's founders was appointed in 2004 to be Iraq's ambassador to Japan in the United States.
The charity's head of legal services, Ihsan Alkhatib, said the agents are investigating whether the charity conducted business in Iraq before the 2003 war in violation of legal sanctions against the country.
Official sources said that agents are investigating whether the charity may have illegally distributed money and medical supplies inside Iraq.
Meanwhile, San Francisco Chronicle reported from Baghdad that Life for Relief and Development is one of the few international aid groups that works in Iraq’s most conflicted areas, and it is the only one with a permanent presence in Fallujah. That city has been virtually under control of anti-American guerrillas since U.S. Marines withdrew in April, following three weeks of bloody urban combat.
The group also has opened free medical clinics in Baghdad and other cities and has provided donations of food and medical supplies to needy Iraqis.
The charity has sent food, medical supplies and water purification equipment to the besieged city, using a permit granted for that purpose by the U.S. occupation authorities. But the organization's operations have been virtually suspended since the June 10 raid on its Baghdad office by U.S. troops, who confiscated all its computers and files, Chronicle said.
The paper said that the pressure on Life for Relief and Development is building from the other side, too. Over the past three weeks, the group has received telephone threats in its Fallujah and Baghdad offices. "You are an American organization, you have no place here," the most recent threat said. "If you don't leave, you will regret it."
The Iraq operations budget last year for Life for Relief and Development totaled about $5 million, most of which was in-kind donations from individuals and businesses in the United States and Canada, with other funds coming from UNICEF and private foundations, according to Chronicle.
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, the USl government has cracked down on 25 U.S.-based Muslim charities, freezing their assets. There is no publicly available information suggesting that Life for Relief and Development has been under investigation.
The American-Arab Anti- Discrimination Committee (ADC), a leading civil rights group called on the FBI to provide a public explanation for the coordinated raids against Muslim affiliated locations in Michigan and Missouri.
Life for Relief and Development has an affiliated-status United Nations and US Department of State and Department of Defense authority to operate in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is also the only Muslim-American charity with a permit by the Government of Israel to operate in Israel.
The FBI also raided the home of the charity's CEO in Michigan and the home of a Muslim community leader in Missouri. This came only three days following a community outreach event to strengthen ties between the community and the FBI which was held at a local mosque.
The ADC said that with less than a week before the start of the Holy Month of Ramadan, when Muslims are religiously obligated to give alms to those in need by donating to charity, the timing of these raids could not be more sensitive.
“It serves as a chilling effect on Muslims attempting to fulfill their religious obligation of alms giving. It will also impact other Muslim charities, as this is the most critical financial time of the year. Charities rely on Ramadan donations to continue their vital humanitarian work.” (Media Reports)
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