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The Obama administration approved a grant of $200,000 of taxpayer money to an al-Qaeda affiliate in Sudan, the Middle East Forum (MEF) discovered. The grant was approved ten years after the US Treasury designated the Islamic Relief Agency (ISRA) as an organization which funds terrorists. Government officials also authorized the release of at least $115,000 of the grant after they realized that the Khartoum-based ISRA was on the Treasury’s list of terror organizations. ISRA, also known as the Islamic African Relief Agency (IARA), was designated as terror-supporting organization in October 2004, due to its connection with Osama bin Laden and...

The Baltimore mosque President Obama has chosen as the first U.S.-based mosque to visit during his presidency has deep ties to extremist elements, including to the Muslim Brotherhood. The White House announced on Saturday that Obama will visit the Islamic Society of Baltimore (ISB) on Wednesday. He has visited several mosques overseas as president but has resisted visiting one in the homeland. The purpose of the trip, according to the White House, is to "celebrate the contributions Muslim Americans make to our nation and reaffirm the importance of religious freedom to our way of life." But ISB is a curious...

SPECIAL REPORT: Slam-Dunking Animal RightsPosted On July 28, 2003It's no secret that Leslie and Nanci Alexander, co-owners of the NBA's Houston Rockets franchise, are among the global animal-rights movement's biggest financial backers. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals even acknowledged the couple in 1998 for making "one of the most generous gifts we have ever received." Nanci Alexander personally donated over $225,000 toward the passage of a constitutional amendment that gave legal protection to pigs in Florida. But recently released tax records indicate that the Alexanders have also funded the operations of "Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty" (SHAC), one of...

Ex-NBA star educates police on Islam HOUSTON (AP)— Houston police learned a lesson about Islam from former Houston Rockets center Hakeem Olajuwon as part of a program to educate officers about the city's diverse communities. Olajuwon spoke to officers Wednesday at the Hakeem Islamic Dawah Center, a mosque and Islamic education center built with money provided by the NBA star. Organizers of the Houston Police Department's program said they wanted someone who could put a face on Islam to dispel cultural stereotypes. "This type of program is so important in today's world, where Islam has been so misunderstood by so...

<p>The battle to retake Mali's north from the al-Qaida-linked groups controlling it began in earnest Saturday, after hundreds of French forces deployed to the country and began aerial bombardments to drive back the Islamic extremists from a town seized earlier this week.</p>

Thursday, July 8, 2010 A former congressman pleaded guilty Wednesday to serving as an unregistered agent in Washington for a Missouri-based Islamic charity that the federal government said had ties to international terrorism. It was an odd outcome for Mark D. Siljander, who said he wanted to help bridge the gulf between Muslims and Christians. A Republican who attained one of Michigan's congressional seats from 1981 to 1987 with assistance from the Moral Majority, Siljander was outspoken about conservative social issues. Siljander confirmed in a Kansas City, Mo., court that he contacted members of Congress in an effort to lift...

A former US Congressman pleaded guilty today to obstruction of justice and working as an unregistered agent for a foreign charity linked to global terrorism. Mark Deli Siljander, 59, a former US representative from Michigan, pleaded guilty to charges contained in a 2008 indictment related to his work for the Islamic American Relief Agency (IARA) of Columbia, Missouri. Co-defendant Abdel Azim El-Siddig, a former IARA fundraiser, also pleaded guilty to conspiring with Siljander and others to hire Siljander to lobby for IARA’s removal from a Senate Finance Committee list of charities suspected of having terrorist ties. Siljander, who also had...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A former Michigan congressman accused of accepting stolen funds to lobby on behalf of an Islamic charity alleged to have funded terrorist groups pleaded guilty Wednesday to two charges, including obstruction of justice, but prosecutors said other serious charges were likely to be dropped. Former Republican Rep. Mark Deli Siljander, who served in Congress from 1981 until 1987 and who served a yearlong term as a United Nations delegate, pleaded guilty in federal court in Kansas City to obstruction and acting as an unregistered foreign agent. Money laundering and conspiracy charges would likely be dismissed under...

SNIPPET: "On Friday, Mubarak Hamed, the former director of the now defunct Islamic American Relief Agency-USA (IARA) based in Columbia, Missouri, pled guilty to three counts of a federal indictment charging that he illegally sent more than a million dollars to Iraq in violation of U.S. sanctions, conspiracy, and tax violations. Federal agents raided IARA's offices in 2004, seized its assets, and said it was part of a global network of similar Islamic charities that supported terrorist organizations. As part of his plea agreement, Hamed admitted the U.S.-based charity was part of this international network, with the IARA branch based...

PALOS HILLS, Ill. (AP) A local bank has closed a mosque's account after it donated money to an Islamic charity under federal investigation for allegedly helping terrorists. Family Bank and Trust Co. closed the account of the Mosque Foundation in Bridgeview after the mosque wrote two checks to the Islamic American Relief Agency, according to the mosque's imam, Sheikh Jamal Said. Mosque Foundation president Oussama Jamal said the mosque made its donations in August and September, before the federal government froze the charity's assets and raided its Missouri offices in October. The Treasury Department alleged Islamic American Relief was part...

A former congressman and delegate to the United Nations was indicted Wednesday as part of a terrorist fundraising ring that allegedly sent more than $130,000 to an al-Qaida and Taliban supporter who has threatened U.S. and international troops in Afghanistan.

 A federal grand jury in Kansas City has issued a new indictment against an Islamic charity based in Columbia---and has added a former Michigan congressman to the list of people indicted.The new indictment accuses the Islamic American Relief Agency and several former officers of of engaging in prohibited financial transactions for the benefit of a terrorist. The indictment charges former Michigan Congressman Mark Deli Siljander with money laundering, conspiracy, and obstruction of justice.Federal officials say the charity sent money to Pakistan to benefit a man designated by the United States as a global terrorist. The prosecutor says the man had...

Charity charged with funneling funds to Iraq Columbia Islamic group, now defunct, is accused of sending $1.4 million during Hussein’s reign. By MARK MORRIS The Kansas City Star A defunct Columbia charity and five officers and associates have been charged with illegally sending more than $1.4 million to Iraq while Saddam Hussein was in power. The 33-count federal indictment, unsealed Wednesday in Kansas City, is the latest assault on a charity that in 2004 was designated a supporter of global terrorists, including Osama bin Laden, al-Qaida and Hamas. At its core, the indictment alleges the Islamic American Relief Agency-USA solicited...

Charity accused of funneling funds to Iraq By Mark Morris McClatchy Newspapers (MCT) KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A defunct charity and five officers and associates have been charged with illegally sending more than $1.4 million to Iraq while Saddam Hussein was in power. The 33-count federal indictment, which was unsealed Wednesday in Kansas City, is the latest assault on a charity that in 2004 was designated a supporter of global terrorists, including Osama bin Laden, al-Qaida and Hamas. At its core, the indictment alleges the Islamic American Relief Agency-USA solicited cash from U.S. contributors and sent it to "persons and...

Testimony in the trial of Chicago resident Muhammad Salah and Abdelhaleem al-Ashqar of Northern Virginia, continued yesterday. FBI Agents gave testimony focusing on items found in Ashqar's home during a search of his Oxford Mississippi residence on December 26, 1993, in addition to wiretaps of his phone and fax lines. Special Agent Bradley Benabidez testified that the FBI acquired over 2400 hours of audio during the year that they maintained a wiretap. Benabidez further described the December 1993 search of Ashqar’s home where a team of agents from the FBI photographed over 1600 documents. A few of those documents which...

AP Exclusive: Former NBA Star's Mosque Donated Money to Alleged Terror Fronts, Records ShowBy Matt Kelley Associated Press Writer Published: Feb 9, 2005 WASHINGTON (AP) - A mosque established and funded by basketball star Hakeem Olajuwon gave more than $80,000 to charities the government later determined to be fronts for the terror groups al-Qaida and Hamas, according to financial records obtained by The Associated Press. Olajuwon told the AP he had not known of any links to terrorism when the donations were made, prior to the government's crackdown on the groups, and would not have given the money if he...

The Missouri-based Islamic America Relief Agency, raided this week by federal, state and local law enforcement, is being tied to terror groups internationally, including Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network. Thirteen police agencies, including Columbia, Mo., police, the U.S. Secret Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Joint Terrorism Task Force, joined in the raid. While the IARA maintains it was founded in 1985 to provide health-care services and emergency relief to refugees and orphaned children, the Treasury Department said the group has been tied to some 40 terror organizations worldwide, including al-Qaida and the Taliban. U.S. law enforcement officials...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Almost half of the FBI's domestic field offices have become involved in the broadening criminal investigation of a charity based in Columbia, Mo., that is accused of aiding terrorists, the FBI confirmed Friday. Previously, the investigation of the Islamic American Relief Agency-USA, which originated from the Kansas City field office, appeared confined to regional efforts in Missouri and the search of a home in Wolcott, Conn. Members of a regional terrorism task force raided the charity's office and the home of a former executive director and president, Mubarak Hamed, on Wednesday. Agents returned to Hamed's home...

Irishman linked with al-Qaida By John Breslin A LIBYAN-BORN Irishman has been named by United States authorities as the director of a European al-Qaida cell. Ibrahim Buisir, 43, of south Dublin, who has been questioned by gardaí at least once, has previously denied any involvement with the network. The US government named Buisir as a representative of the Islamic African Relief Agency, a charity banned from raising funds in America. US Treasury Secretary John Snow said the Sudan-based IARA provided financial support to Osama bin Laden, al-Qaida and the Palestinian Hamas group. Mr Buisir has been accused previously of being...