WASHINGTON (AP) — The Bush administration moved Tuesday to block the assets of two Saudi men accused of providing support to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror network, Adel Batterjee and Saad al-Faqih.
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Batterjee was instrumental in founding the Benevolence International Foundation, an Islamic charity that the United States has previously deemed a a global terrorist group. Al-Faqih has maintained associations with the al-Qaeda network since the mid-1990s, the Treasury Department alleged. The agency submitted the two names to the United Nations for possible inclusion in its list of terrorist financiers. If the names are included, member countries would also have to block financial assets belonging to the two men.
The department said that Batterjee once served as executive director and a member of the board of directors of Benevolence International, which has been accused by the United States of providing financial support to members of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, the Sudan, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Chechnya, the department said. "Adel Batterjee has ranked as one of the world's foremost terrorist financiers, who employed his private wealth and a network of charitable fronts to bankroll the murderous agenda of al-Qaeda," said Stuart Levey, Treasury's under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.
Al-Faqih once shared an office in the late 1990s with Khaled al Fawwaz, who served as an operative for bin Laden in the United Kingdom, the department said. "Al-Faqih worked with and provided assistance to al Fawwaz, who served as the intermediary between bin Laden and al-Faqih," the department said. Al-Faqih, an exiled Saudi physician also leads the London based Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia, or MIRA.
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"While MIRA has issued disclaimers warning users to not attribute postings on MIRA message boards to al-Qaeda, information available to the U.S. and U.K., governments shows that the messages are intended to provide ideological and financial support to al-Qaeda affiliated networks and potential recruits," the department said. |