Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation was a charity foundation, based in Saudi Arabia, alleged to be a front for the international terrorist organization al-Qaeda. Although all charges were dropped by a federal judge, it is now banned worldwide by United Nations Security Council Committee 1267[1].
The Office of Foreign Assets Control of the United States Department of the Treasury had already banned various branches of this organization at various times, including the US branch on 9 September 2004[2]. Under various names it had branches in Afghanistan, Albania, Bangladesh, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Comoros, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kenya, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, Tanzania, and the USA.[1]
The American branches of this foundation were in Ashland, Oregon and Springfield, Missouri. Two directors of those branches, Suliman Al-Buthe ( سليمان البوثي ) and Aqeel Abdul Aziz Al-Aqil ( عقيل عبد العزيز العقيل ), are now personally embargoed worldwide by the UN.[1]
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The United States has held several suspects in the War on Terrorism on the grounds that they had worked for or volunteered for the Al-Haramain Foundation:
| Shaker Aamer | |
| Fahd Muhammed Abdullah Al Fouzan |
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| Zaid Muhamamd Sa'id Al Husayn |
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| Sami Mohy El Din Muhammed Al Hajj |
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| Abdul Al Salam Al Hilal |
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| Abdul Rahman Owaid Mohammad Al Juaid |
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| Abdel Hadi Mohammed Badan Al Sebaii Sebaii | |
| Mohammed Asad |
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| Jamal Muhammad Alawi Mar'i |
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| Laid Saidi |
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| Wazim | Allegation presented at his Combatant Status Review Tribunal. |
| Khalid Mahomoud Abdul Wahab Al Asmr | Allegation presented at his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.[11] |
The U.S. branch of Al-Haramain Foundation filed a lawsuit on February 28, 2006.[12] The suit asserted that the Bush administration had circumvented the US Constitution by authorizing warrantless wiretaps. They asserted that the President lacked the authority to authorize wiretaps that circumvented the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
Three individuals whose conversations were intercepted, Suliman al-Buthe, Wendell Belew and Asim Ghafoor, learned of the eavesdropping when U.S. officials accidentally delivered logs of phone calls to them.[12] Al-Buthe, who had been the Foundations U.S. director, moved back to Saudi Arabia. Belew and Ghafoor were two of the Foundation's U.S. lawyers.
Tom Nelson, another Foundation lawyer, filed the lawsuit.[12] Court records show he filed a motion to place the relevant material under seal.
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