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Global Relief Foundation
Foundation Secours Mondial
AbbreviationGRF
FSML
Formation1992(1992)
DissolvedNovember 14, 2001;22 years ago(2001-11-14)
TypeNGO
HeadquartersBridgeview, Illinois,U.S.
ServicesHumanitarian aidto Muslims in conflict zones (ostensibly)
Key people
Rabih Haddad(Chief executive)
Nabil Sayadi(European director)
Main organ
Al Thilal
Affiliations
Budget(1992)
$700,000USD

TheGlobal Relief Foundation(GRF), also known asFoundation Secours Mondial(FSML), was anIslamiccharitybased inBridgeview, Illinois,until it was raided and shut down on December 14, 2001, and listed among the "Designated Charities and Potential Fundraising Front Organizations for Foreign Terrorist Organizations" ( "DCPFFOFTO" ) by theUnited States Treasury Departmentin 2002. According to the US Treasury, "The Global Relief Foundation (GRF)… and its officers and directors have connections to, and have provided support for and assistance to,Osama bin Laden(OBL),al Qaeda(aQ), and other known terrorist groups (OKTG). "[1]It was one of the few organizations registered with theTaliban.[2]

Mission[edit]

GRF described itself as a not-for profit (NFP), non-governmental organization (NGO) established to provide humanitarian and charitable relief to Muslims in conflict zones such as Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechnya, Kashmir, and Lebanon. In addition to undertaking charitable work, however, GRF served as an organization issuing propaganda for globaljihad.The magazine,Al Thilal,published by the GRF, did not spread messages of a humanitarian organization but rather served asanti-AmericanandAnti-Semiticpropaganda, calling for jihad throughout the world, especially in Palestine, Bosnia, and Kashmir.[2]

History[edit]

The GRF began operations in the United States as a tax-exempt, non-profit, charitable organization in 1992 and quickly became the largest Islamic charity in the U.S. The organization initially had a budget of $700,000. By the end of the 1990s GRF was reporting $5 million in annual donations, and 90% of that money was shipped abroad. Some materials distributed by GRF at this time glorify martyrdom through jihad and state that donations will be used to support the Mujahedin. GRF had overseas offices in Islamabad, Pakistan; Brussels, Belgium; Sarajevo, Bosnia; Zagreb, Croatia; and Baku, Azerbaijan.[2]

TheFBIstarted investigating GRF prior to9/11on the basis that it supported radical Islamic interests like that ofal-Qaeda.In 2000, FBI agents found that while a majority of the funding from GRF goes to legitimate relief organizations, a significant amount goes to terrorist groups like theArmed Islamic Group of Algeria,theEgyptian Islamic Jihad,al-Jama'a al-Islamiyya,and KashmiriHarkat-ul-Jihad al-Islamiin addition to Al-Qaeda. The FBI reported that there were two types of donors to GRF, those that thought they were donating to humanitarian causes and a select few who knew that the purpose of their donations was to support global jihad. After 9/11, the U.S. Government froze GRF's assets and started a criminal investigation into its activities; the government arrested and ultimately deported GRF's chief executive,Rabih Haddad.[2]

The FBI and Treasury Department have asserted links between Global Chevra Foundation founderRabih HaddadandMakhtab al-Khidamat.[3] Makhtab al-Khidamat was founded byOsama bin Laden's mentorAbdullah Azzam. In 2002, it was reported thatNabil Sayadi,the group's European director, was "a close collaborator" withWadih el-Hage.[4]

Wadih el-Hage is alleged to have been a personal aide to Osama bin Laden, who was convicted of involvement in the American embassy bombings.

Sayadi claimed that El-Hage had approached the foundation about funding a malaria abatement program in Africa, which was refused as it was out of the foundation's scope. Sayadi maintains that any contact with El-Hage was "absolutely innocent."[5]

Haddad was arrested by theINSon immigration charges when the group's offices were raided, and later deported toLebanon.[6][7] Lawyers representing the organisation accused the US government of a "disregard for civil rights and constitutional rights" in the wake of9/11and believed the connection between Global Relief and terrorism to be "weak", criticised the "guilty by association" policy and the use of "secret evidence rules" granted under thePatriot Act.[5] Supporters of the foundation claimed that it was unfairly targeted, denied due process and closed before any evidence linking it to terrorism had been produced.[8][9]

According to the Treasury Department, GRF helped fund a number of al Qaeda-sponsored activities, includingbombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzaniaand armed action against groups perceived to be un-Islamic.[1]

Global Relief sued the Treasury Department for release of its assets in January 2002.[10]GRF sought redress in Federal court, challenging the government's authority to shut the charity down and seeking an injunction to stop the seizure of its money and assets.[2]On December 31, 2002, theU.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appealsdeclined to reverse the Treasury seizure.[11]

In November 2001, the GRF suedThe New York Times,theAssociated Press,ABC,andThe Boston Globefor defamation after various news outlets reported on GRF ties to terror financing and fundraising.[2]Lawyers for Global Relief sued a number of news organizations for libel for publishing FBI and Justice Department charges.[12]The suit was dismissed by the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals on December 1, 2004. The court's opinion stated that "All of the reports were either true or substantially true recitations of the government's suspicions about and actions against GRF." In 2004, a federal appeals court found that the GRF's case against these media outlets was without merit.[2]

Terrorist activity[edit]

According to the U.S. Treasury, a set of photographs and negatives discovered in 1997 in a trash dumpster outside of GRF's office in Illinois depicts large shipping boxes displayed under a GRF banner. The boxes were full of sophisticated communications equipment, including approximately 200 handheld radio transceivers, long-range radio antennas, and portable power packs, with an estimated total value of $120,000. Other photographs depict fighters armed with automatic rifles, a sand bagged bunker with a radio antenna mounted outside, and mutilated corpses with the name "KPI" (Kashmir Press International) printed alongside. Yet another photograph displays two dead men with the caption "Hizbul Mujahideen," a known terrorist organization operating in the Kashmir region. On the reverse side of the photograph was handwritten in Arabic, "two martyrs killed by the Indian government."[1]

GRF has stocked and promoted audio tapes and books which glorify armed jihad, including "The international conspiracy against Jihad" and "The Jihad in its present stage."[1]

GRF published several Arabic newsletters and pamphlets that advocate armed action through jihad against groups perceived to be un-Islamic. For example, one 1995 GRF pamphlet reads "God equated martyrdom through JIHAD with supplying funds for the JIHAD effort. All contributions should be mailed to: GRF." Another GRF newsletter requested donations "for God's cause – they [the Zakat funds] are disbursed for equipping the raiders, for the purchase of ammunition and food, and for their [the Mujahideen's] transportation so that they can raise God the Almighty's word... it is likely that the most important of disbursement of Zakat in our times is on the jihad for God's cause...."[1]

In November 2001, during the airstrikes in Afghanistan, a GRF medical relief coordinator traveled to Kabul, against the advice of theU.S. Department of State,and engaged in dealings and negotiations with Taliban officials until the collapse of the Taliban regime.[1]

GRF received $18,521 from theHoly Land Foundation for Relief and Development(HLF) in 2000. HLF, a Dallas, Texas-based Islamic charitable organization, was designated under E.O. 13224 on December 4, 2001, and under the European Union's Regulation (EC) No. 2580/2001 on June 17, 2002, for its ties to terrorism.[1]

References[edit]

  1. ^abcdefg"Treasury Department Statement Regarding the Designation of the Global Relief Foundation".www.treasury.gov.Archivedfrom the original on 2019-07-02.Retrieved2016-02-19.Public DomainThis article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.
  2. ^abcdefgEmerson, Steven (2006).Jihad Incorporated: A Guide to Militant Islam in the US.Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books.ISBN978-1-61592-055-6.
  3. ^Mintz, JohnUS Labels Muslim Charity as Terrorist Group; Treasury Cites Ties to...Washington Post, October 19, 2002
  4. ^Carlta Vitzthum and Keith Johnson,Spain Detains al Qaeda Financier In Flurry of Europe Terror ArrestsWall Street Journal Online, April 25, 2002
  5. ^ab"Global Relief Foundation tied to 1998 terrorist".Michigan Daily.2002-05-08.Archivedfrom the original on 2011-05-25.Retrieved2009-02-18.
  6. ^Roxane Assaf (March 2002),Global Relief Foundation assets seized as Chairman is arrested on visa violation,Washington Report on Middle East Affairs
  7. ^"CAIR and Terrorism, July 23, 2004".Archivedfrom the original on March 11, 2011.RetrievedJuly 31,2009.
  8. ^Donohue, Laura K. (2008).The Cost of Counterterrorism: Power, Politics, and Liberty.Cambridge University Press. pp. 174, 175.ISBN978-0521605878.
  9. ^Gill Donovan (2002-03-29)."Muslim charity asks judge to bar 'secret evidence".National Catholic Reporter.Archived fromthe originalon 2005-01-30.Retrieved2009-02-18.
  10. ^ Allan Dodds Frank (2002-01-28)."Islamic charity fights asset freeze".CNN.[permanent dead link]
  11. ^U.S. Circuit Court 315 F.3d 748,Global Relief Foundation, Inc, v. Paul H. O'Neill, Secretary of the Treasury, et al.[1][permanent dead link]
  12. ^Josh Gerstein (2004-12-02)."Newspapers Cleared in Libel Case".New York Sun.[permanent dead link]

Further reading[edit]

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