Community under fire
Abdurahman Al-Amoudi's arrest is a serious blow to the American Muslim community,
writes Jaideep Mukerji
The already troubling situation facing American Muslims took a turn for the worse with the 29 September arrest of prominent Muslim leader Abdurahman Al-Amoudi.
Al-Amoudi, 51, is a respected activist within the American Muslim community and has been a driving force in giving American Muslims an active voice in American politics. A founding member and one-time president of the American Muslim Council (AMC), Al- Amoudi is also the founder and current president of the American Muslim Foundation (AMF). Both organisations promote Muslim culture and the participation of American Muslims in politics.
Al-Amoudi's problems began in August after he was stopped by British customs officials at London's Heathrow Airport. According to an affidavit submitted by Brett Gentrup, a United States Customs and Immigration Enforcement special agent, Al-Amoudi was preparing to board a flight to Syria when British customs agents found $340,000 in one of Al-Amoudi's suitcases. Al-Amoudi was then handed over to members of Britain's National Terrorist Financial Investigations Unit.
Al-Amoudi told British officials that he had received the money while on a trip to Libya in August 2003. He said the money was a donation from a Tripoli-based organisation called the Islamic Call Society and had been delivered in conjunction with the Libyan government. Al-Amoudi said a man who spoke Arabic with a Libyan accent came to his hotel room and gave him a briefcase containing the money. Al-Amoudi also told officials that he did not converse with the man and did not know his identity.
Asked by investigators why he knowingly engaged in financial transactions with a country that had sponsored terrorism, Al-Amoudi said that Libya had since renounced terrorism and that he felt it was his duty to help "bridge the gulf" between the US and Libya.
Upon his return to the US, Al-Amoudi was arrested in Virginia on 29 September for violating the US International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The legislation was put in place in 1986 as a response to Libya's alleged support of terrorist bombings. The act prohibits US citizens from visiting Libya without expressed consent from the US government and "prohibit[s] the receipt or any other dealing by a US person in funds or other property in which the Government of Libya has an interest". So far, Al-Amoudi has been charged with illegally travelling to Libya and accepting a $5,000 donation from the Libyan Permanent Mission to the United Nations in 1999. Officials have yet to charge Al-Amoudi in connection with the $340,000 he received from the Islamic Call Society.
US officials have since conducted searches of Al-Amoudi's house looking for more evidence. In particular, US authorities are looking into allegations that Al-Amoudi was trying to divert the Islamic Call Society's money to groups in Syria which the US considers to be terrorist organisations.
May Kheder, Al-Amoudi's attorney, told reporters that her client requested she not comment on the case.
Al-Amoudi's arrest is the latest in a string of setbacks for the American Muslim community. American authorities are currently holding three more American Muslims in connection with a probe into possible security breaches at the Camp Delta detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The AMC and AMF are both under investigation on suspicion of funding groups the US has designated as terrorist organisations.
Al-Amoudi's respect within the community and moderate views make him an important spokesperson for American Muslims -- he has met with both the Clinton and Bush administrations to discuss issues relating to the Middle East and has been featured on numerous television networks as an expert on Islam and American Muslims. Despite his political visibility and substantial contributions, Al-Amoudi has drawn criticism in some quarters for his support of groups like Hamas and Hizbullah. Al- Amoudi has defended the groups saying that they are in a legitimate struggle against the Israeli occupation of Palestine. The US however has labelled the two groups terrorist organisations and some of Al-Amoudi's political connections, including Hillary Clinton and George W Bush, have cut ties with him and returned previously accepted political contributions.
Kamal M Nawash, a US citizen of Palestinian descent who is currently running for a seat in the US Senate, told The Washington Post that Al-Amoudi's arrest was a "serious blow" for the American Muslim community. Khaled Toorani of the American Islamic Organisation for Jerusalem went one step further, telling Islam Online that Al- Amoudi's arrest was "a general case of targeting Muslim activists in the US" adding that the arrest "pulled back the country to the stage of political detention that had occurred some 50 years ago".
As for Al-Amoudi, he says that he condemns violent acts against the US and encourages Muslims to effect change from within America.
