Abbreviation | HIF |
---|---|
Formation | 1988 |
Extinction | 2004 |
Type | NGO |
Legal status | Foundation |
Headquarters | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |
Region served
|
Worldwide |
President
|
Aqeel Abdulaziz Aqeel al-Aqeel |
Website | alharamain.org |
Remarks | UN Banned worldwide by the United Nations Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee, for "participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf or in support of" Al-Qaida. |
Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation (AHIF) was a charity foundation, based in Saudi Arabia. Under various names it had branches in Afghanistan, Albania, Bangladesh, Bosnia, China, Comoros, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, Tanzania, and the United States, and "at its height" raised between $40 and $50 million a year in contributions worldwide. While most of the foundation's funds went to feed poor Muslims around the world, a small amount went to Al-Qaeda, and that money (and money from other Islamic charities) was "a major source of funds" for the terrorist group. As late as 2004 U.S. and Saudi government efforts "to cut the flow have largely failed".
On 7 June 2004, the founder and former leader of AHIF, Aqeel Abdulaziz Aqeel al-Aqeel, was listed on a INTERPOL-United Nations Security Council Special Notice for being associated with Al-Qaeda, Usama bin Laden or the Taliban for "participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing or perpetrating of acts of activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf or in support of" Al-Qaeda.
In September 2004, the U.S. Department of the Treasury alleged that its investigation had found "direct links" between the foundation and Osama bin Laden. Between 2004 and 2010, fourteen branches of the charity were listed on the UN Security Council Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee list of "individuals, groups, undertakings and other entities associated with Al-Qaeda" and subject to "sanctions measures (assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo) imposed by the Security Council".