The Saudi-based International Islamic Relief Committee (IIRC) denied Tuesday, October 23 funding terrorism, an accusation leveled at another group that, like it, is affiliated with the Muslim World League.
"The committee's efforts and work are focused in providing charity and humanitarian assistance to all deprived peoples, regardless of their color or creed," IIRC Secretary General Adnan Bin Khalil Basha said in a statement.
"IIRC has extended bridges with most international organizations working in this field, like the World Food Program, German CARE and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees," said the statement, carried by the state Saudi Press Agency.
IIRC is an affiliate of the Muslim World League, also based in Saudi Arabia, and has offices and representatives in more than 50 countries. The Rabita Trust, a Pakistan-based charity fund which belongs to the Muslim World League, appeared on the second list of individuals and groups suspected of funding terrorism published earlier this month by the US treasury. Rabita Trust has denied the charges.
Basha said IIRC raises funds from donations inside Saudi Arabia to spend on charity and humanitarian assistance through official banks inside the country and abroad. IIRC budgets are revised and adopted by its executive committee and board of directors, explained Basha, adding that the organization had a three-tier auditing system to ensure accountability.
He said relief aid is provided only through IIRC offices or Saudi official missions in foreign countries. Assistance provided in countries that have no Saudi missions is restricted to "breaking fast meals" during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, and through "credible societies."
Islamic charity organizations have come under pressure following the September 11 terror attacks on the United States, blamed on Saudi-born Islamist Osama Bin Laden.
Mostly Muslim individuals and organizations appeared on two US lists of 66 names suspected of funding terrorism. All six Gulf Cooperation Council member states said on October 13 they would cooperate with the United States and the United Nations in freezing accounts of individuals and groups suspected of funding terrorists. — (AFP, Riyadh)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
