Missouri group subject of FBI probe
http://springfield.news-leader.com/news/today/1017-Missourigr-203050.html
KANSAS CITY — An investigation of a Missouri-based group accused of aiding terrorists has involved almost half the FBI's domestic field offices, a spokesman said.
The FBI office in Kansas City asked 26 of the bureau's 56 field offices to interview from 80 to 90 people as part of the investigation into the Islamic American Relief Agency-USA, FBI spokesman Jeff Lanza said Friday.
Also Friday, the group issued a statement saying it would not accept donations and urging its patrons to contribute to other charities.
Lanza said the interviews took place Wednesday, the same day that search warrants were served at the charity's headquarters in Columbia, Mo. and the Wolcott, Conn., home of an Islamic leader.
Majeed Sharif, president of the United Muslim Mosque in Waterbury, Conn., has acknowledged doing work for the charity.
Magdy Galal, the mosque's vice president, told reporters Friday that Sharif's efforts were entirely humanitarian. He had made several visits to Africa to help feed the poor and build wells for drinking water, he said.
No one has been arrested or charged in what the FBI has described as a criminal investigation.
The Bush administration has accused the Sudan-based Islamic African Relief Agency of helping raise more than $5 million to finance Osama bin Laden and other terrorists. The Treasury Department directed U.S. banks to block any assets found in this country belonging to the Islamic African Relief Agency and five designated officials. The department said the group, headquartered in Khartoum, Sudan, has more than 40 offices worldwide.
THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC ABOUT TO STONING A 13 YEARS-OLD GIRL
PARIS, 16 Oct. (IPS)
Almost two months after having hanged a 16 years-old girl, the ruling Iranian ayatollahs are to commit another human crime by condemning another young girl to stoning.
According to Iranian and foreign press, Zhila Izadi,
a 13 years old girl
from the north-western city of Marivan had been condemned to death by stoning
after being found that she had been pregnant from her 15 years-old brother.
http://www.iran-press-service.com/ips/articles-2004/october/izadi_161004.shtml