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Charity director charged with aiding al Qaeda
CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) -- The leader of a Chicago-area Islamic charity was indicted on racketeering charges Wednesday, and the U.S. government accused him of fraudulently obtaining donations to support Osama bin Laden's terrorist network. Enaam Arnaout, 40, of Justice, Illinois, a Syrian-born naturalized citizen, is the first U.S. citizen indicted on charges of transferring money to terrorists. The executive director of Benevolence International Foundation has been in federal custody since his arrest April 30 on other charges. "Arnaout is accused of defrauding charitable contributors by falsely claiming that [BIF] used donated funds solely for humanitarian relief," said Attorney General John Ashcroft. "In fact, funds were being used to support al Qaeda and other groups engaged in armed violence overseas." In addition to taking money intended for charitable work, BIF also served as a conduit for people who wanted to send money to terrorist groups, Ashcroft said. "We will find the sources of terrorists' blood money, we will shut down those sources, and we will ensure that both terrorists and their financiers meet the same swift, certain justice of the United States of America," he said. A BIF spokesman denied the foundation had ever supported terrorism. "If this is our government's idea of a war on terrorism, I suggest to you that as a country, we are in deep trouble," said Matthew Piers. "Because the terrorists, if I can believe what I read in the newspapers, are apparently still on the loose. Instead it looks to me as if our constitutional liberties have been apprehended and executed." BIF's Web site states it is a humanitarian group that provides emergency food distribution to victims of war and natural disasters, runs hospitals and educates widows, orphans and refugees. BIF operates in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bosnia, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan and parts of Russia. The seven counts in the federal indictment handed down by a grand jury include mail fraud, obstruction of justice, money laundering and providing material support to organizations engaged in violent activities. "The indictment describes a multinational criminal enterprise that for at least a decade used charitable contributions of innocent Americans -- Muslim, non-Muslim and corporations alike -- to support al Qaeda, the Chechen mujahedeen and armed violence in Bosnia," the Justice Department said in a written release. Ashcroft said the indictment also describes "an archive of incriminating documents recovered in the Bosnian offices of BIF in March 2002, documents that link Arnaout directly to Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda." Among the documents "were notes summarizing the 1988 meeting in Afghanistan in which the al Qaeda terrorists developed their networks ... notes specifying the text of the original oath of allegiance pledged by all al Qaeda members [and] personnel files of individual mujahedeen fighters trained in Afghanistan under bin Laden's direction," he said.
Ashcroft said the documents also showed that in the mid- to late 1980s Arnaout served as chief of communications at a mujahedeen camp in Afghanistan and that he "was involved in acquiring and distributing hundreds of rockets, mortars and bombs on behalf of a camp in Afghanistan dating to the time period when al Qaeda was founded there." The documents "show the American people and show the world for the first time tangible proof of the founding of the world's most dangerous terrorist network and the oath of allegiance its members pledge. It is chilling that the origins of al Qaeda were discovered in a charity claiming to do good," Ashcroft said. The FBI contends Arnaout has had a decades-long relationship with Osama bin Laden and his associates. Prosecutors also presented evidence that BIF channeled $685,000 to Chechnya during four months in 2000. It said the money went to various terrorist groups, including bin Laden's al Qaeda network. The government froze the charity's assets last year, suspecting it of supporting terrorist activity. After his April arrest, Arnaout was charged with perjury because federal prosecutors said he lied under oath about BIF providing "aid or support" to terrorist groups. The charity itself was also charged with perjury. Those indictments were dismissed on procedural grounds and re-filed last month. The perjury charges stemmed from papers Arnaout and the charity filed in support of a lawsuit BIF filed against the federal government seeking access to its frozen funds. BIF's main office is in Palos Hills, a Chicago suburb. -- CNN Producer Rob Hess contributed to this story.
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