Abdul Rahman al-Amoudi

Abdul Rahman Al-Amoudi

Abdul Rahman Al-Amoudi in 1995
Born Eritrea
Occupation Lobbyist and fundraiser
Criminal charge Illegal financial transactions with Libyan government, unlawful procurement
of citizenship, impeding administration of Internal Revenue Service, and role
in Libyan conspiracy
to assassinate Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah
Criminal penalty 23-year prison sentence
Criminal status USA
Conviction(s) Illegal financial transactions with Libyan government, unlawful procurement
of citizenship, impeding administration of Internal Revenue Service, and role
in Libyan conspiracy
to assassinate Saudi
Crown Prince Abdullah (October 2004)

Abdul Rahman Al-Amoudi, ( pronunciation  ahb-duh-rah-MAHN ahl-ah-MOO-dee ; also known as Abdurahman Alamoudi is an American former Muslim activist known for founding the American Muslim Council. He pleaded guilty to financial and conspiracy charges in 2004, which resulted in a 23-year prison sentence.[1]

Biography

Al-Amoudi was born in Eritrea, raised in Yemen, and later immigrated to the United States.

He founded the American Muslim Council, a lobbying group to advocate on behalf of Muslims in the United States, in 1990. The Council's aim was to inform and influence both Republicans and Democrats.

Al-Amoudi became a U.S. citizen in 1996. He was stripped of this citizenship by the U.S. after his conviction on terrorism-related charges.

Political connections

Until 1998, Al-Amoudi was involved with the selection of Muslim chaplains for the U.S. military (through the American Muslim Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs Council, which he co-founded in 1991), and acted as a consultant to The Pentagon for over a decade.

During this time Al-Amoudi served as an Islamic adviser to President Bill Clinton and a fundraiser for both the Republican and Democratic parties.[2] More recently, Al-Amoudi worked with leading conservatives, such as Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform. Together with Norquist, Alamoudi worked to form the Islamic Free Market Institute. Alamoudi wrote 2 checks to the Institute in 1999 in the amount of $10,000 each. He also paid a total of $50,000 to a Norquist linked lobbying firm in 2000 and 2001.[3] The Free Market Institute quickly gained endorsements from top Republican officials and Norquist, along with Alamoudi’s closest aide, Khaled Saffuri, became involved in George Bush’s campaign for president in 2000.[3] Al-Amoudi and other Muslim leaders met with then-presidential candidate George W. Bush in Austin in July 2000, offering to support his bid for the White House in exchange for Bush's commitment to repeal certain anti-terrorist laws.After the September 11, 2001 attacks, Al-Amoudi spoke at the Washington National Cathedral prayer service held to honor the memory of the victims.

Organizations

He founded the American Muslim Council, a lobbying group to advocate on behalf of Muslims in the United States, in 1990. The Council's aim was to inform and influence both Republicans and Democrats. Alamoudi is also a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and his work with both Democrats and Republicans is often called one of the most successful Brotherhood influence operations in support of the Brotherhood’s phased plan for North America.[4]

Alamoudi also founded the American Muslim Foundation and was an influential member of numerous other Islamic political and charitable organizations.[5]

Alamoudi is also a founder of the Islamic Society of Boston (ISB) which has been the subject of controversy since the Boston Marathon Bombing.[6] The two brothers who carried out the attack occasionally attended the Islamic Society of Boston.[7] Radical cleric Yousef Qaradawi was also a trustee of ISB.[6]

Positions

On several public occasions during the 1990s he expressed his endorsement for Hamas, which he did not repute a terrorist organization.[2][8] In 1996, he declared his support for Hamas deputy political leader Musa Abu Marzook, who was deported after the U.S. designation of Hamas as a terrorist entity in 1997.[2] During an interview with for a Middle East television channel in March 1997, Alamoudi famously declared: “I really consider him to be from among the best people in the Islamic movement," and added that he worked with Marzook and Hamas.[9]

Al-Amoudi and other Muslim leaders met with then-presidential candidate George W. Bush in Austin in July 2000, offering to support his bid for the White House in exchange for Bush's commitment to repeal certain anti-terrorist laws.

In October 2000, during the anti-Israel protest outside the White House he attended, Alamoudi declared himself a proud supporter of Hamas and “a supporter of Hezbollah.”[10]

In an intercepted phone call, Alamoudi lamented that the 1998 US Embassy Bombings did not kill any Americans and suggested that more attacks should be carried out similar to the Argentine Jewish Mutual Aid Association cultural center in Buenos Aires.[11]

Al-Amoudi was described as an "expert in the art of deception" in a report by Newsweek journalists Mark Hosenball and Michael Isikoff, for expressing moderate, pro-American sympathies in his lobbying and public relations work with Americans, but then expressing support for Hamas and Hezbollah at an Islamist rally.[11]

After the September 11, 2001 attacks, Al-Amoudi spoke at the Washington National Cathedral prayer service held to honor the memory of the victims.

Criminal charges

Alamoudi was arrested in September 2003 for illegal dealings with Libya that included his involvement in a complex plot financed by the Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi to have then Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah killed by two U.K. based al-Qaeda operatives.[12]

He was initially stopped by British customs agents at Heathrow Airport in August 2003 before boarding a flight to Damascus with $340,000 in Libyan money in his possession. The money was seized by the UK government.[5] He was then arrested in September 2003 at Dulles Airport for accepting $10,700 from the Libyan Mission to the United Nations while Libya was listed as one of the seven state sponsors of terrorism.[11] Alamoudi had made at least 10 trips to Libya of varying lengths and participated in meetings with Libyan government officials. Their initial plans included producing disruptions in Saudi Arabia and Alamoudi later learned that the plot included assassinating then Crown Prince Abdullah. Alamoudi recruited participants for this plot in London and facilitating the cash flow to finance the plot.[5]

He was convicted of being a senior al-Qaeda financier who “had funneled at least $1 million into the coffers of that terrorist organization”, but also for tax evasion and immigration fraud.[8]

In 2004 he pleaded guilty to three charges of illegal financial transactions with the Libyan government, unlawful procurement of citizenship and impeding administration of the Internal Revenue Service, as well as a role in a Libyan conspiracy to assassinate then-Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah. More specifically, he plead guilty to one count of violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which imposes terrorism-related sanctions prohibiting unlicensed travel to and commercial dealings with Libya; one count of falsifying statements made in his naturalization application; and a tax offense for a long term plot to conceal his financial transactions with Libya and his foreign bank accounts from the IRS and to omit material information from tax returns filed by his charities.[5] He agreed to cooperate in ongoing investigations in return for prosecutors dropping 31 other counts and possible reduction in a pending 23-year sentence and $750,000 in fines.[13][14] He was sentenced to 23 years in October 2004 and stripped of his citizenship.[1][6]

The September 2003 affidavit against Alamoudi also alleged that his money not only went to al Qaeda, but also to Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). In addition, the affidavit states that he was granted power of attorney for 22 family members of people detained in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for suspicion of ties to Al Qaeda.[11]

The U.S. Department of the Treasury cited Alamoudi on the occasion of the July 2005 terrorist designation of the Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia as providing support to al-Qaeda.[15] Alamoudi also appeared on the list of “unindicted co-conspirators” and “joint venturers” who had contributed to fundraising on behalf of Hamas released by the U.S. authorities after the 2007 Holy Land Foundation trial.[16]

Al-Amoudi was described as an "expert in the art of deception" in a report by Newsweek journalists Mark Hosenball and Michael Isikoff, for expressing moderate, pro-American sympathies in his lobbying and public relations work with Americans, but then expressing support for Hamas and Hezbollah at an Islamist rally.[17]

References

  1. 1 2 28 Fall from grace, Al-Ahram Weekly, October 28 – November 3, 2004 Issue No. 714.
  2. 1 2 3 "Hamas - Discover the Networks". www.discoverthenetworks.org. Retrieved 2016-01-06.
  3. 1 2 "Grover Norquist & Co. Build Islamist Influence in GOP". Center for Security Policy. Retrieved 2016-03-13.
  4. ↑ Center for Security Policy. Shariah: The Threat to America. 2010. Washington, DC. Pg. 138.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "#698: 10-15-04 ABDURAHMAN ALAMOUDI SENTENCED TO JAIL IN TERRORISM FINANCING CASE". www.justice.gov. Retrieved 2016-03-13.
  6. 1 2 3 "Treasury Department Tars Alamoudi, Founder of the Islamic Society of Boston - Foundation for Defense of Democracies". www.defenddemocracy.org. Hambo Development. Retrieved 2016-03-13.
  7. ↑ Shane, Scott (2015-06-15). "Boston Muslims Struggle to Wrest Image of Islam From Terrorists". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-03-13.
  8. 1 2 "Abdurahman Alamoudi - Discover the Networks". www.discoverthenetworks.org. Retrieved 2016-01-06.
  9. ↑ Kushner, Harvey W. (1998). The Future of terrorism. Violence in the New Millenium. Sage Publications. P.54
  10. ↑ "Rally at Lafayette Park: Alamoudi". The Investigative Project on Terrorism. Retrieved 2016-01-06.
  11. 1 2 3 "The al-Amoudi terror charges". The Washingtion Times. Retrieved 2016-03-13.
  12. ↑ "Abdulrahman Alamoudi - Head of American Muslim Council goes to jail for 23 years: "Militant Islam is the enemy - even it's slickest adherents must be viewed as such" - Militant Islam Monitor - Militant Islam Monitor". www.militantislammonitor.org. Retrieved 2016-01-06.
  13. ↑ U.S. Muslim admits guilt in plot; Conspired to kill Saudi prince, Washington Times, July 31, 2004.
  14. ↑ Rasha Saad , Libyan quandary, Al-Ahram Weekly, 5 – August 11, 2004 Issue No. 702
  15. ↑ "Treasury Designates MIRA for Support to Al Qaida". www.treasury.gov. Retrieved 2016-01-07.
  16. ↑ Attachment A: List of Unindicted Co-conspirators and/or Joint Venturers. United States of America v. Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development. In the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division. CR No. 3:04-CR-240-G. Retrieved 2016-01-07 —via cair.net
  17. ↑ "America at a Crossroads . Inside the Muslim Brotherhood". PBS. Archived from the original on 11 October 2007. Retrieved October 29, 2007.

External links

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