Report: U.S.-Designated Charity Incorporates in Florida

A Saudi charity and Islamic propagation group whose foreign branches were designated as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist organization by the U.S. Treasury seems to have opened a new office in South Florida. The Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Report notes that the International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO) has registered as a non-profit in Florida.

The IIRO has branches in Indonesia and the Philippines. Florida corporate records show that the new entity is headed by Adnan Khalil Basha, the group's Saudi Arabian based Secretary-General, and that it is intended to be the IIRO's American branch.

The IIRO previously operated in Falls Church, Virginia and was run by Sulaiman bin Ali Al-Ali, who has been described as a wealth and well-connected figure in Saudi Arabia. He also directly solicited donations from the Saudi royal family.

Under Al-Ali, the IIRO operated an American branch called the International Relief Organization (IRO) and a D.C. corporation called Sana-Bell. Sana-Bell was designed to generate funds for the IRO. Sana-Bell also shared its address with the now defunct SAAR foundation, a network of businesses connected to Saudi banking interests and the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT).

Al-Ali received $10 million dollars from IIRO headquarters in Saudi Arabia, with the intention of investing it through Sana-Bell to provide a stable income for its American branch. According to the Global Muslim Brotherhood report, a complaint in a civil lawsuit revealed that $3.7 million of this fund was invested into a group with the generic name of Bait ul Mal (BMI – "Treasury House"). BMI was headed by Solomon Biheiri, an Egyptian immigrant who has served on the advisory board of the American Muslim Council. The Global Muslim Brotherhood report also includes court documents that state BMI played a role in conducting financial transactions for Specially Designated (Global) Terrorists, Yassin Kadi, Mousa Abu Marzook, and Mohammad Salah, the latter two being part of Hamas' leadership.

In March of 2002, a U.S. government task force raided the SAAR entities and the Muslim World League, which shared IIRO US' address. In 2006, the Treasury Department designated the Philippine and Indonesian branches of IIRO as terrorist organizations, based on their funding of Al-Qaeda and its affiliates.

Although the organization went dormant in 2002 and had its DC corporate registration revoked, the Global Muslim Brotherhood report says that IIRO has resurrected itself with connections to the Muslim World League. Additionally, the same address is registered to a Florida non-profit organization known as Motamar Al-Alam Al-Islami (Muslim World Congress), which is headquartered in Karachi, Pakistan. The Motamar claims to have Consultative Status with the UN in New York, through the ECOSOF and UNICEF, and Observer Status with the OIC.

For more information, see the Global Muslim Brotherhood report's full write-up here.

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