Far-left Michigan Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed’s mother once worked for an organization that was desginated a “global terrorist” group and accused of funneling funds to Osama Bin Laden, the Taliban and Hamas, according to a new report.
El-Sayed’s birth mother, Fatten Fathy Elkomy, worked for the Islamic American Relief Agency (IARA) from 1999 until at least 2004, when the US Department of Treasury linked the group to terrorism, The Midwesterner reported.
IARA had dozens of offices across the globe and billed itself as a humanitarian organization focusing on health care, orphans, and disadvantaged people in areas of conflict.
But the organization, also known as the Islamic African Relief Agency, “provided direct financial support” for the mastermind behind the 9/11 terror attacks, Osama Bin Laden, the Treasury Department alleged in 2004.
“Information available to the U.S. shows that the overseas branches IARA provided hundreds of thousands of dollars to UBL in 1999,” the Treasury said, referring to bin Laden.
The global group also allegedly supported Hamas and other terrorist groups like the Taliban fighters.
IARA-US was charged in March 2007 by the Department of Justice for illegally transferring funds to Iraq.
Elkomy was never accused of any wrongdoing and nobody cited in the federal case against IARA were ever charged with terrorism-related crimes.
But the IARA-USA pleaded guilty to conspiraing to violate sanctions by illegally funnelling nearly $1.4 million to Iraq and agreed to dissolve in 2016.
“The plea agreement acknowledges that, due to its designation as a specially designated global terrorist and the subsequent blocking of all its property, IARA has no funds readily available to it to pay any fine,” the US Attorney’s Office said in a July 2016 announcement.
El-Sayed’s mother denied any connections between the IARA and terrorists in a 2004 interview.
“I’ve been working there serving orphans and children with at least one deceased parent, and it breaks my heart they’re not going to get any help,” Elkomy told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 2004.
El-Sayed’s parents split and each remarried after immigrating to the US in the early 1980s.
Throughout his campaign, El-Sayed has consistently referenced his father, Mohamed El-Sayed and step-mother, Jacqueline El-Sayed — but has made little to no mention of Elkomy, according to The Midwesterner.
Elkomy moved back to the Middle East after remarrying but eventually relocated back to the US where she remains working as a nurse practitioner in Missouri.
The Post has reached out to El-Sayed’s campaign for comment.
