Another Al-Qaeda “Charity” Lies About Itself

US freezes assets of Kuwait charity

KUWAIT CITY (AFP): A Kuwaiti Islamic charity whose assets have been frozen by the United States categorically denied on Saturday the allegations that it had links to al-Qaeda. “We are a charity organisation that is recognised and supported by the Kuwaiti government … and our accounts are closely monitored by authorities,” a senior official from the Revival of Islamic Heritage Society told AFP. “The charity is well-known to be against terrorism and against al-Qaeda,” said the official, who requested anonymity. “The allegations are totally baseless and fabricated. There is no evidence to implicate us.”

On Friday, the US Treasury Department froze the assets of the society’s Kuwait headquarters, and specifically any assets the group holds under US jurisdiction. It also barred US nationals from any transactions with the group. “RIHS has used charity and humanitarian assistance as cover to fund terrorist activity and harm innocent civilians, often in poor and impoverished regions,” said Stuart Levey, under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence. The US government applied similar measures to the organisation’s offices in Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2002 “based on evidence of their support for al-Qaeda,” the Treasury statement said.

“At that time, there was no evidence that the Kuwait-based RIHS headquarters knew that RIHS-Afghanistan and RIHS-Pakistan were financing al-Qaeda. Since that time, however, evidence has mounted implicating RIHS-HQ in terrorism support activity,” Levey said. The non-governmental organisation has been operating for about three decades and has branches in several countries around the world, where it provides charity to Muslim minorities. It is run by an ultra-conservative Islamist group, whose political arm, the Islamic Salafi Alliance, holds four seats in Kuwait’s 50-member Parliament. RIHS offices have been closed or raided over suspicions of terror ties by the governments of Albania, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Cambodia and Russia.