As they say, "What a surprise."
 
Bruce
 
 
Saudi-funded charity linked to Bali bombs

Cameron Stewart 
August 08, 2006
SAUDI Arabia has been secretly bankrolling the terror group responsible for
killing 92 Australians in the two Bali bombings.
US intelligence agencies have confirmed links between a Saudi charity, the
International Islamic Relief Organisation, and the Indonesian terror group
Jemaah Islamiah. 

The IIRO is also registered in NSW under the name of Shafiq Rahman Abdullah
Khan - a prominent member of Sydney's Muslim community who helps distribute
Saudi government funds to Islamic projects in Australia. 

However, Mr Khan insisted yesterday that the IIRO was not active in
Australia. 

"They never did open an office here and I am not representing them," he told
The Australian. 

The IIRO is not listed as a terrorist organisation in Australia, but in 2004
the federal Government warned Saudi Arabia to alert it about all Saudi funds
arriving in the country after ASIO expressed concern about how they might be
used. 

The US Treasury last Thursday publicly identified the Indonesian and
Philippines offices of the Saudi government-sanctioned IIRO as "facilitating
fundraising for al-Qa'ida and affiliated terrorist groups". 

It has also identified a senior IIRO official in Saudi Arabia, Abd Al Hamid
Sulaiman al-Mujil, of "using his position to bankroll the al-Qa'ida network
in Southeast Asia". 

It describes Mr Mujil as a "major fundraiser" for JI, the group that carried
out the Bali bombings of 2002 and last year. 

The Australian and US governments have long been concerned about the role
played by the Saudi charities in funding terrorist groups, but the US has
not openly accused Saudi Arabia of funding JI until now. 

American academic Zachary Abuza said it was clear that the IIRO was
"complicit in killing Australians". 

"Saudi charities in Southeast Asia have been the primary conduit of Wahabism
and other intolerant interpretations of Islam into the region," Dr Abuza
told The Australian yesterday. 

"In Indonesia, the IIRO funded many projects of KOMPAK, a charity that at
the very least JI penetrated. 

"At the time of the (first) Bali bombing, four of the 13 branch officers
were JI members." 

The IIRO is an enormous Saudi charity with branch offices in more than 20
countries. It is funded by the Saudi Government and by donations from
wealthy private Saudi citizens. Although it also provides genuine charity
services, the IIRO is also a vehicle to spread extremist Wahabist
interpretations of Islam around the globe. 

The Saudi Government denies deliberately sponsoring terrorism through the
IIRO, but many terror experts and some Western governments believe the
Government is complicit in its funding of terror groups. 

"I really cannot imagine that they do not know about this - it is a systemic
problem," Dr Abuza said. 

Speaking about the IIRO, US Under-Secretary for Terrorism Stuart Levey said:
"It is particularly shameful when groups that hold themselves out as
charitable or religious organisations defraud their donors and divert funds
in support of violent terrorist groups." 

There are at least two Saudi charities in Australia: the World Assembly of
Muslim Youth and the Muslim World League. 

Mr Khan said he registered the IIRO in NSW in 1989 at the request of the
Saudi charity on the expectation that it would set up an office in
Australia. 

But he said the charity never followed up and so it was not active in this
country. 

Australian terror expert Clive Williams said the US decision to name and
shame the IIRO in Indonesia and The Philippines may not achieve anything
because it was almost impossible to control how the charity's funds were
used.

 <http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20054517-2702,00.html>
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20054517-2702,00.html
 
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