Tom Hanson, The
Canadian Press Ahmad Said
Khadr, a former regional director of Human Concern International, lies in
hospital in 1996 for undisclosed reasons. He had been accused of moving
money through the aid agency to pay for a bombing of the Egyptian embassy
in Islamabad by the Al Jihad, the Egyptian wing of the bin Laden
network. |
OTTAWA - As governments fighting the war on terrorism took aim yesterday at the money supporting Osama bin Laden and his followers, the experience of a Canadian charity may offer a glimpse of what is in store for international aid organizations accused of links to terrorism.
Human Concern International, an Ottawa-based Muslim charity, has been contesting allegations of ties to Islamic extremists since 1995, when its regional director in Pakistan was arrested for his suspected role in a terrorist bombing that killed 17 people.
Ahmad Said Khadr was alleged to have moved money through the aid agency from Afghanistan to pay for the attack at the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad. He was later released, but Ottawa suspended funding to the group based on secret intelligence evidence.
Maria Minna, the Minister for International Co-operation, said yesterday Human Concern International is the only Canadian charity to lose its funding over alleged terrorist links. "There were some concerns as to the usage of the money," she said. "We do audits. When an audit poses questions that are not clearly answered by the NGO [non-governmental organization], we cut them off."
George W. Bush, the U.S. President, signed an executive order yesterday freezing the assets of 27 individuals and organizations with suspected links to the bin Laden network. Human Concern International (HCI) was not on the list, but as recently as a month ago, Canadian authorities mentioned the charity in court documents in connection with Islamic terrorism.
Mr. Khadr, an Egyptian-born Canadian citizen, came to the attention of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service following his arrest in Pakistan on Dec. 3, 1995. He was accused of financing the embassy attack by Al Jihad, the Egyptian wing of the bin Laden organization.
He was released by a Pakistani court after three months, but the Canadian International Development Agency cut off HCI's funding based on CSIS evidence. At that point, the charity had already received $300,000 in federal government money.
Government documents concerning HCI make no reference to the financial concerns referred to by the Minister. Rather, they describe how Islamic aid organizations were formed during the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan "as a means of channelling ostensibly humanitarian relief funds to the Arab Mujahedin [rebels] in Afghanistan and Pakistan."
Mr. Khadr left HCI's employ following his release from detention. Marc Duguay, the charity's lawyer, travelled to Pakistan to investigate but found no evidence the group had been involved in terrorism. The agency began lobbying Ottawa to restore its funding, but CIDA refused.
Secret internal memos sent to Don Boudria, then minister for international co-operation, show the federal government believed it would be too risky to fund HCI. The government feared that while there was no solid evidence of the charity's involvement in extremist activity, if proof surfaced, it would prove embarrassing to CIDA.
HCI sued the Canadian development agency in 1999 for the restoration of its federal funding, but was not successful. It continues to operate, but without government grants, relying instead on tax-deductible charitable donations from approximately 20,000 supporters.
The allegations concerning HCI surfaced again last summer, when accused Egyptian terrorist Mohamed Mahjoub was arrested in Toronto. Mr. Mahjoub, accused of being a high-ranking Islamic terrorist leader, admitted he knew Mr. Khadr and had lived with his in-laws after moving to Canada.
Last month, Mahmoud Jaballah, another accused Egyptian terrorist, was arrested in Toronto for his alleged membership in Al Jihad. The government's case against Mr. Jaballah refers to HCI and accusations Mr. Khadr "was alleged to have moved money through the aid agency" to pay for the bombings.
Mr. Jaballah worked for another relief group in Pakistan, the International Islamic Relief Organization. His wife has admitted she was a friend of Mr. Khadr's mother-in-law and visited her home with her husband.
As is routine in such cases, a CSIS spokesman declined to comment yesterday about the charity.
Mr. Duguay said while Mr. Khadr has faced accusations, rightly or wrongly, the charity has never been accused of direct complicity in terrorism. The trouble with the government's treatment of HCI, he said, is walking the balance between the secrecy necessary to protect Canadians versus the right to be presumed innocent.
"What HCI has been up against since the incident in 1995 is there's been always sort of suggestions, innuendo that have never come to the surface in terms of charges or formal allegations of any kind," he said.
"It must be absolutely frightening to law-abiding organizations to think that they could come under some similar innuendo."
