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Daily Press - June 2 2004
Muslim charity says volunteer wrongly charged
By MATTHEW BARAKAT
ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- The U.S. branch of a controversial Saudi-based charity said Wednesday that the arrest of one of its volunteers last week on immigration charges is unfounded.
Federal agents on Friday raided the offices of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth in Alexandria as part of its investigation into immigration charges against Ibrahim Abdullah, an Alexandria resident and Saudi citizen who last month earned his doctorate from George Mason University.
Abdullah allegedly violated his student visa by accepting "wages or other compensation" from WAMY since 1999.
Fadel Soliman, executive manager of WAMY's U.S. branch, said Abdullah was a volunteer board member for WAMY and was never paid. He also said Abdullah had been prepared to return this week to Saudi Arabia and would have been a goodwill ambassador there for the United States.
"This is so bad. ... I am sad because we are harming ourselves," Soliman said of the treatment by the U.S. government of Abdullah and other Muslims living in America.
Asim Ghafoor, a spokesman for WAMY, said the federal agents who conducted the raid were not targeting WAMY, but were looking for information related to Abdullah.
"To WAMY's knowledge there is no terrorism investigation," Ghafoor said. "If this raid and arrest was in fact part of a terrorism investigation, then the government has made false statements and the arrest is purely pretext."
Ghafoor also said authorities searched Abdullah's home without a warrant.
Dean Boyd, a spokesman for the Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said Wednesday that the department still had Abdullah in custody and that no hearing had yet been scheduled in immigration court. He declined to comment on the specifics of the case.
WAMY's U.S. branch, which was once run by a nephew of Osama bin Laden, has been criticized at times along with other Saudi charities for allegedly promoting an intolerant brand of Islam and for alleged links to financing of designated terrorist groups like Hamas.
Ghafoor said it's wrong to assume that Abdullah bin Laden's connection to WAMY should cause any suspicions, noting that Osama bin Laden's family has disowned him.
WAMY has denied any support for terrorism, and Soliman said the group seeks to promote understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims. …
http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/virginia/dp-va--islamiccharity-ra0602jun02,0,7301209.story?coll=dp-headlines-virginia
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