Political Motive Seen in Closure of Al-Haramain

RIYADH — The spokesman of an American non-governmental organization that works for Islamic charitable organizations hinted yesterday that the closure of the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation might have been politically motivated and linked to the US presidential elections last year.

M. Wendell Belew, Jr., president of the Belew Law Firm and spokesman of Friends of Charities Association (FOCA), also announced that the Dutch government is understood to be unfreezing the assets of Al-Haramain Foundation, since it has not discovered any material evidence that would justify continued freeze on its assets.

Belew was speaking to the media after a press conference at which he spoke about the difficulties FOCA has been facing in representing the cause of the Islamic charitable associations. The press conference was held at the headquarters of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) and attended by Dr. Saleh Al-Wohaibi, secretary-general of WAMY, Dr. Saleh Babaeer, assistant secretary- general, and the representatives of various Islamic organizations in the Kingdom.

Referring to the closure of the Al-Haramain Foundation, Belew said: “Security was an important issue in the election and they wanted to show progress. Now I can’t go into the thoughts of the policymakers, but I can certainly say that there was a temptation to take action that would show the war on terror. The fact that this process is closed and not subject to public scrutiny puts the government in a bad position of people assuming...it as a political motivation.”

He also cited the findings of the 9/11 Commission Report according to which many of the US government’s actions were motivated more by diplomatic reasons than by issues arising out of the war on terror. “My experience would tend to support the conclusions of the 9/11 Commission.”

Significantly, following the closure of the Foundation’s office in Riyadh, Minister of Islamic Affairs Saleh ibn Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh said earlier this year that there were no plans for the closure of any charity and that no imams (prayer leaders) have been sacked this year for having ties with terror cells or helping terrorists.

Published April 08, 2005, Arab News.

http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1&section=0&article=61775&d=8&m=4&y=2005

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