Free Republic

One of the most influential Arab journalists in the world, Jamal Khashoggi, went missing after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last week. Turkish authorities have blamed the Saudis, but Riyadh has denied harming the veteran reporter.Jamal Khashoggi, 59, was born in Medina, Saudi Arabia, one of the holiest cities in Islam. Like many Saudis at the time, Khashoggi left to study abroad. He earned a business administration degree in 1983 at Indiana State University in the United States.Career in journalismKhashoggi began his career as a reporter for the English language newspaper Saudi Gazette. He went on to work for...

"Sanction profiteering" Iranian multi-billionaire Babak Zanjani has been arrested, Fars News Agency quoted Iran Judiciary spokesman Mohsen Ejei as saying on Dec.30. Before, the Central Bank of Iran announced on Dec. 28 that Zanjani has not paid any sold oil's money to the Central Bank of Iran. Zanjani who is the owner or shareholder of at least 70 companies and banks including Bank Arzesh in Tajikistan and First Islamic Bank had been involved in Iran's oil sell and transferring the sold oil's money to the country to bypass the imposed western sanctions on the country. Zanjani's name also was mentioned...

An unfolding corruption scandal in Turkey has uncovered transactions that may have allowed Tehran to circumvent harsh U.S. and E.U. sanctions—a revelation that could destabilize Obama’s nuclear deal and threaten the government of Prime Minister Erdogan. A massive unfolding corruption scandal in Turkey—which has already forced the resignations of three government ministers and threatens to upend the Islamist government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan— is fast acquiring an international dimension amid accusations that Iran is enmeshed in Ankara’s political crisis. What started out as a domestic scandal involving shady real estate deals and allegations of bribery and kickbacks among...

Saudi elite linked to bin Laden financial empire Special Report by Jonathan Wells, Jack Meyers and Maggie Mulvihill Sunday, October 14, 2001 Saudi Arabia, whose leaders had until yesterday refused to join U.S. efforts to freeze terrorist assets, may be an ongoing source of financial support for Osama bin Laden, the reputed mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. Some of Saudi Arabia's richest families, including at least one member of the ruling al-Saud family, have had dealings with banks, charitable organizations and other financial institutions linked to bin Laden's complex funding network, according to public records, intelligence ...

Saudi businessman Yasin al-Qadi de-listed by sanctions monitoring committee, following recommendation by ombudsman UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The UN Security Council committee monitoring sanctions against al-Qaeda removed a Saudi businessman from its blacklist Friday. The committee chairman, Germany’s UN Ambassador Peter Wittig, said that Yasin al-Qadi had been de-listed, following a recommendation by the blacklist’s ombudsman to remove him. Al-Qadi filed a lawsuit in 2009 in Washington, DC to be removed from a US list of people accused of financing al-Qaeda. Al-Qadi’s charitable Muwafaq foundation was identified by the US Treasury department as an al-Qaeda front and placed on a...

AL QAIDA-REPORT ON ILLEGAL FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES AND TERRORISM FINANCING ON THE TERRITORY of BiH

REPORT ON ILLEGAL FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES AND TERRORISM FINANCING ON THE TERRITORY OF THE FEDERATION OF BOSNIA I HERZEGOVINA PART I/I/ABIHBQ – 08/2003 by JEAN-CHARLES BRISARD, LEAD INVESTIGATOR, 911 LAWSUIT :

ISTANBUL, Turkey, Nov 24, 2001 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- Turkey's government has frozen company shares belonging to a Saudi businessman suspected of helping fund Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, a Turkish newspaper reported Saturday. The man's lawyer, however, insisted his client had no connection to bin Laden. Tax inspectors ordered Yasin al-Qadi's controlling shares in two Istanbul-based companies to be frozen pending further investigation, after finding that the two firms owed $1.5 million in unpaid taxes, the daily newspaper Hurriyet reported. Government officials could not be reached to confirm the report. Al-Qadi's assets in the United States and Britain ...

Istanbul, 23 June (AKI) - Turkish prosecutors are to look into a report linking a close aide to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to a Saudi businessman whose name appears on a US government list of financial supporters of terrorism, Turkey's finance minister, Kemal Unakitan, has annoucned. According to the report, first compiled in 2004, the aide, Cuneyd Zapsu, in 1997 transferred 60,000 US dollars to the Muvaffak Foundation owned by the Saudi businessman man, Yasin al-Qadi. The report - compiled by Turkey's Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) and parts of which were published on Friday by the mass...

TIRANA, Albania: The Albanian government said Friday that it has seized assets of a man who allegedly worked with Osama bin Laden to provide support to terror networks in Albania. The Finance Ministry said it ordered authorities to block four apartments, a house, four bars and shops, and more than 2 hectares (about 5 acres) of land belonging to Yasin al-Qadi, a Saudi businessman whom the United States accused of being a terrorist in October 2001 and who is on a U.N. sanctions list requiring all U.N. members to impose a travel ban on him and block his assets, according...

One of Turkey’s largest-ever corruption investigations is underway. A public bank CEO, an Iranian businessman and the sons of the freshly resigned interior and economy ministers are among the 24 suspects arrested so far, pending trial. The Iranian businessman allegedly circumvented sanctions against Iran and sent millions of dollars to the country via Halkbank by bribing the CEO as well as the ministers through their sons. /// In a series of daily speeches after the operation began, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan blasted the probe and the investigators. He branded the probe a “dirty operation” and the policemen in charge...

<p>A whistle-blower from Ptech Inc. told the Boston FBI in October 2001 that the company was being financially backed by Yasin al-Qadi, a Saudi businessman whose US assets were frozen after the Sept. 11 attacks amid allegations that he has funded terrorist groups, including Al Qaeda and Hamas, a Bush administration official and a former Clinton administration official involved in the case said yesterday.</p>

In Albania, where almost anything goes, the hunt for al-Qaida intensifies Sun Aug 11, 8:17 PM ET By WILLIAM J. KOLE, Associated Press Writer TIRANA, Albania - They could hear him moving around the house, but when Albanian commandos stormed in, the suspected Iranian terrorist was nowhere to be found. Exasperated after a room-to-room search, an officer flung open the lid on a washing machine. Gunfire exploded from inside. The suspect wounded the officer, only to die in a hail of police bullets. The little known 1998 raid on the gritty outskirts of Tirana points up long-standing suspicions about the...

Philanthropist, or Fount of Funds for Terrorists? By JEFF GERTH and JUDITH MILLER hey are the elite of Saudi society — wealthy, respected men with investments that span the globe and reputations for generosity. Yasin al-Qadi is among the prominent Saudis who those in need of charity or shrewd business advice could turn to. But the United States government now says that Mr. Qadi and many other well-connected Saudi citizens have transferred millions of dollars to Osama bin Laden through charities and trusts like the Muwafaq Foundation supposedly established to feed the hungry, house the poor and alleviate suffering. ...

CHRONOLOGY The Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism Washington, DC November 29, 2001 Comprehensive List of Terrorists and Groups Identified Under Executive Order 13224 Executive Order 13224, signed by President Bush on September 23, blocks the assets of organizations and individuals linked to terrorism. There are now 153 such groups, entities, and individuals covered by the Executive Order. Following is a complete listing. Original Annex: September 23, 2001 Al-Qaida/Islamic Army* Abu Sayyaf Group* Armed Islamic Group (GIA)* Harakat ul-mujahidin (HUM)* Al-Jihad (Egyptian Islamic Jihad)* Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU)* Asbat al-Ansar Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC) Libyan Islamic ...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.  WASHINGTON (AP) — A Massachusetts software company whose clients include the FBI, Air Force and Navy was searched by federal agents looking for links to a Saudi businessman who in turn is believed to be connected to al-Qaida, government officials said Friday. Agents from the Customs Service, FBI, Internal Revenue Service and other agencies, armed with a search warrant, went to the offices of Ptech Inc. late Thursday to look for information on Yasin al-Qadi. He is on the Treasury Department's list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists whose assets should be...

The US is planning to confront Saudi Arabia with evidence that funds from the country are flowing to terrorist organisations. Despite pressure from the US, the Saudi Government is believed to have done little to stanch the flow of funds to the al-Qaeda terrorist network. Washington has till now not presented evidence to merit a crackdown but US diplomat Bill Burns would soon go to Saudi Arabia taking with him intelligence data linking some of the kingdom's leading money-men and charities to Osama bin Laden. The data will include sensitive intercepts, human intelligence and wire transfers to back up American ...

October 13, 2001 U.S. Lists Targets for Freezing of Assets By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS he Bush administration designated 39 men and organizations with suspected terrorist ties who are to have assets frozen. Individuals MAMOUN DARKAZANLI, wanted in the 1998 bombings of two American embassies in East Africa. BILAL BIN MARWAN, senior bin Laden associate. SAD AL-SHARIF, Saudi-born, believed to be the head of Mr. bin Laden's financial network. DR. AMIN AL-HAQ, Mr. bin Laden's security coordinator. An Afghan-born doctor practicing in Pakistan. HAJI ABDUL MANAN AGHA, a large-scale money broker in Quetta, Pakistan. MUHAMMAD AL-HAMATI, owner of Al Hamati ...

A BBC investigation has revealed that the United Nations funded the work of a charity believed by the United States to be a front organisation for Osama Bin Laden. The UN donated more than $1.4m to a consortium of charities working in the Sudan in 1997, one of which was the Muwafaq (Arabic: blessed relief) Foundation. The US Treasury believes wealthy businessman Yasin al-Qadi set up the charity. In a crackdown following the 11 September plane attacks on the US, Mr al-Qadi's assets were among those frozen by the Treasury for alleged links with terrorism. 'Charities vulnerable' According to Treasury ...

TIRANA, Albania (AP) — They could hear him moving around the house, but when Albanian commandos stormed in, the suspected Iranian terrorist was nowhere to be found. Exasperated after a room-to-room search, an officer flung open the lid on a washing machine. Gunfire exploded from inside. The suspect wounded the officer, only to die in a hail of police bullets. That little-known 1998 raid on the gritty outskirts of Tirana points up long-standing suspicions about the presence of terrorist elements in Albania. Although the Iranian was not a member of al-Qaida, Albania is among 34 countries listed in a post-Sept....