Charity's funds, use of UN link raise questions

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=3 height=55 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" background="060085a3.jpg"> <div> <B>Charity's funds, use of UN link raise questions</B></div> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Welcome"><B>Home</B></A><B>    </B>-    <A HREF="id61.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Added"><B>Updates</B></A><B>    </B><B>-</B>   <B> </B><A HREF="id137.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Meta Index"><B>Index</B></A>    <B>-    </B><A HREF="id33.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><B>Links</B></A><B>    -    </B><B>Contact</B><B>    </B> <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="id108.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Login In"><B><IMG SRC="04e0e0e0.png" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALT="Up" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></A><B>   </B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="14" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="14"><B>   </B><A HREF="id99.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Nabil Sayadi on BigEye "><B><IMG SRC="04d0e0e0.png" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALT="Previous" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></A><B>   </B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="14" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="14"></FONT></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="2" width=155 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="061d2e83.jpg"> <div> <A HREF="id99.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Nabil Sayadi on BigEye ">Nabil Sayadi on BigEye </A></div> <div> Charity's funds, use of UN link raise questions</div> <bR> <div>  <STYLE> </STYLE>  </div> </td> <td valign="top" height=408 width="100%" colspan=2 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <bR> <div> <B>Jump to relevant points in this text: click the hyperlinks here:</B></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><I>Sayadi </I><B>: </B></FONT><A HREF="#charityfun_saya1" TITLE="Charitys funds, use of UN link raise que"><B>(1)</B></A><B>   </B><A HREF="#charfun_saya2" TITLE="Charitys funds, use of UN link raise que"><B>(2)</B></A><B>    </B><A HREF="#charfun_saya3" TITLE="Charitys funds, use of UN link raise que"><B>(3)</B></A><B>    </B><A HREF="#charfun_saya4" TITLE="Charitys funds, use of UN link raise que"><B>(4)</B></A></div> <bR> <div> <B>Date of publication: </B>Juny 1, 2002</div> <div> <B>Country:</B> USA (With aid from a correspondent in Jerusalem).</div> <div> <B>Comments from Nabil Sayadi:</B> - Soon available -</div> <bR> <div> <B>Detained cleric's account has gaps </B></div> <div> <I>Charity's funds, use of UN link raise questions </I></div> <div> <I>July 1, 2002</I> </div> <div> <B>BY DAVID ZEMAN, TAMARA AUDI AND NIRAJ WARIKOO</B></div> <div> FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS</div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.freep.com/news/mich/haddad1_20020701.htm" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="http://www.freep.com/news/mich/haddad1_2">http://www.freep.com/news/mich/haddad1_20020701.htm</A></div> <div>  </div> <div> Since the December arrest of Ann Arbor cleric Rabih Haddad on immigration charges, his supporters have argued he's the victim of a post-Sept. 11 witch-hunt. But as he fights deportation, new questions have emerged about his candor in court and the overseas programs of the Global Relief Foundation, the Islamic charity he cofounded. </div> <bR> <div> Three high-ranking UN officials say the United Nations never contracted with Global Relief, despite the organization's claims that it did. </div> <bR> <div> In addition, the Free Press has obtained documents showing Haddad has twice vouched that he received a salary from Global Relief -- this despite swearing in court he was not on its payroll.</div> <bR> <div> As the questions mount, Haddad, 41, remains an enigma. </div> <bR> <div> He is both a passionate missionary for destitute Muslims overseas and a mystery. He has turned over his life to humanitarian causes, yet the United States has alleged his charity funds terrorism. </div> <bR> <div> Haddad, who had been held at a federal prisonin Chicago before recently being returned to the Monroe County Jail, could not be reached for comment. His lawyer, Noel Saleh of Detroit, said Haddad is a victim of overzealous prosecutors. Mohammad Chehade, executive director of Global Relief, said claims that the $5-million-a-year charity funds terrorism are "just nonsense." </div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Question of salaries</U></B></div> <div> When Haddad was arrested at his Ann Arbor apartment Dec. 14, federal agents raided Global Relief's headquarters in suburban Chicago and froze its assets. Since his detention, Haddad has won support from thousands of Arab Americans who say he has not been charged with a crime, and argue that his immigration offenses -- he overstayed a tourist visa -- are minor. </div> <bR> <div> Haddad has been a moderate voice in the Muslim community since moving to Ann Arbor in 1999 with his wife and four children. He has given speeches and raised cash nationally for what Global Relief says are projects to alleviate the effects of war and famine in the Muslim world. He has said repeatedly, including in court, that his income comes from community donations and relatives. </div> <bR> <div> But a thousand-plus pages of government court filings portray Haddad as something more than an itinerate do-gooder. The government sees a man who moved seamlessly through regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan where Muslim extremism flourished. It sees a charity that spent millions overseas, but revealed little about the programs it funded. Of more immediate concern to Haddad are government efforts to deport him, his wife Salma Al-Rushaid, and three of their four children. </div> <bR> <div> He overstayed a tourist visa in 1999, and waited until the following year to seek permanent residency. And, as his immigration hearings have revealed, he has sometimes skirted the truth. </div> <bR> <div> Most damaging, Haddad wrote on an application for federally subsidized housing in Ann Arbor in 2000 that he earned $29,500 at Global Relief. The application has caused Haddad headaches on two fronts. First, it contradicted his claims that he lived on handouts. Second, receiving a salary from Global Relief would have violated his now-expired tourist visa. </div> <bR> <div> In court testimony, Haddad said he did not intend to mislead his landlord. He insists he was not on Global Relief's payroll and that the $29,500 figure was what he expected to earn once he gained U.S. residency. </div> <div> Still, this is not the first time Haddad claimed a Global Relief salary. In 1994, he applied for an apartment in Justice, Ill., near the charity's headquarters. </div> <bR> <div> Haddad wrote then that he drew a $40,000 salary from Global Relief, according to apartment records reviewed by the Free Press. On Nov. 11, 1994, Chehade, the charity's cofounder, confirmed Haddad's $40,000 salary in a letter on Global Relief stationery, files show. </div> <bR> <div> Asked recently of Haddad's 1994 salary claim, Chehade said: "I'm not aware of this issue." Told he confirmed the salary, Chehade said he didn't recall the letter. </div> <bR> <div> And there's the rub. Before Sept. 11, such discrepancies may have been overlooked. Now, small fictions take on a darker cast. Questions about Haddad and Global Relief have spawned unease among some donors, even as others defend the charity. </div> <bR> <div> "It looked like they were doing a good job," said Dr. Safwan Malas, an East Lansing pediatrician who gave $18,700 to the charity. </div> <bR> <div> "Sometimes you'd get a picture of an actual hospital, or ambulance or library. You feel like that's a hard asset, but you don't really know," he said. "You have no way to prove or disprove what they're really doing, or what the government is saying. It would be nice to know the facts." </div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Cash and assistance</U></B></div> <div> Rabih Haddad was born in 1960 to a Christian, middle-class family in west Beirut in Lebanon. Fearing he would be drafted by Christian militias, his parents sent him to the University of Nebraska in 1980, where he converted to Islam. </div> <bR> <div> While in Nebraska, Haddad and his new wife, Salma Al-Rushaid, were captivated by a Muslim leader's lecture on charity. They soon traveled to Pakistan, where they saw Afghan refugees living in filth. </div> <bR> <div> "He was totally distressed," Al-Rushaid said. "But the moment he was there, he knew it was the place for him." </div> <bR> <div> Global Relief was founded in 1992. Though Chehade did not know Haddad, he said they shared friends interested in helping Afghan refugees. The group settled in Bridgeview, a thriving community of Arab Americans near Chicago. </div> <bR> <div> Haddad's family lived simply in apartments near the charity, apartment records show. </div> <bR> <div> There were overdue balances on their credit-card record. In an undated, hand-written note in the apartment file, the Haddadsapologized for a late payment. "With family in hurricane-stricken Florida, it's really made us tight with money the past few months," the note explained. </div> <bR> <div> As chairman and chief fundraiser for Global Relief, Haddad talked to any mosque or Islamic center that invited him. </div> <div> For a money man, he rarely spoke about cash. Instead, he described suffering in refugee camps and reminded the faithful of their duty to poor people. </div> <bR> <div> He spoke in clear English to college students in Ann Arbor. He told audiences across the country of starving orphans overseas. Millions in donations followed. </div> <bR> <div> Before the government shutdown, tax records show Global Relief spent more than $11 million, nearly all of it overseas -- largely in areas synonymous with poverty and terrorism. Among them: Kosovo, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kashmir and Chechnya. </div> <bR> <div> Chehade said mosques generally collected cash from members and wrote Haddad a check. Sometimes, Haddad simply received stacks of cash, usually in small bills, Chehade said. </div> <bR> <div> According to Chehade, that would explain why agents spotted bricks of cash in Haddad's briefcase in December. </div> <div> Chehade said Global Relief went to great lengths to assure donors their money was spent legally. Safeguards included sending field workers to the scene of programs and directly buying supplies like ambulances, rather than trusting others to do so. </div> <bR> <div> Officials at some programs confirmed Global Relief's good works. The Makassed hospital in east Jerusalem, for instance, received a blood-analysis machine. "The machine is vital to our neonatal intensive care unit," said Dr. Hatem Khammash<B>.</B> </div> <bR> <div> Global Relief bought a $15,000 ambulance and $60,000 in medicine for the Al Ahli hospital in the West Bank city of Hebron, said a hospital spokesman. But other Global Relief claims are sharply disputed. </div> <bR> <div> A Winter 2001 Global Relief newsletter tells donors it "signed a contract" with the UN World Food Program to distribute $380,000 in wheat to Afghans. </div> <bR> <div> The charity also produced a letter from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees office as proof that it partnered with that program in Kosovo. The letter, dated Oct. 4, 1999, identifies Global Relief as a humanitarian organization operating in Kosovo. </div> <bR> <div> But UN officials from both programs flatly deny the claims. </div> <bR> <div> "I have asked around, and nobody seems to know the organization," Alejandro Lopez-Chicheri, a UN food program officer in Kabul, Afghanistan, wrote in an e-mail. </div> <bR> <div> Khaled Mansour, a spokesman for the food program's Middle East and Asia operations, wrote that his office "has NOT signed any contracts" with Global Relief. </div> <bR> <div> Mansour said Global Relief sought to work with the United Nations before Sept. 11, but its bid "was rejected due to the fact that they were not known to us and they did not seem to have the required expertise or credentials required." Mansour said he will ask Global Relief "to stop putting out these claims." </div> <bR> <div> Asked about the discrepancy, Chehade changed his story, saying another agency, the Canadian Relief Foundation, actually signed the UN contract. But he insisted Global Relief was party to it. </div> <bR> <div> Meanwhile, Ron Redmond, a spokesman for the UN refugee office, said it, too, never contracted with Global Relief.</div> <div>  </div> <div> Redmond said the United Nations coordinated hundreds of agencies that entered Kosovo in 1999. The note to Global Relief was "a pro forma" letter that likely went to all agencies, he said. </div> <bR> <div> "We never tasked them to do work," he said. </div> <div>  <A NAME="charityfun_saya1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> Nabil Sayadi, Global Relief's European director in Belgium, insists the 1999 letter, and UN registration papers, prove otherwise. </div> <bR> <div> But Susan Manuel, a UN spokeswoman in Kosovo, said the papers "do not stand as proof of any kind of contractual relationship with the UN." </div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>The allegations</U></B></div> <div> Then there are allegations of the charity's ties to terrorism. </div> <bR> <div> Though much of the U.S. government's evidence is classified, prosecutors say: </div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Global Relief once sold a fund-raising video featuring Abdullah Azzam, terror suspect Osama bin Laden's mentor, and promoted "martyrdom through jihad" in newletters. </div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Haddad held meetings outside the United States with groups tied to Al Qaeda. </div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Global Relief had links to Wadih El Hage, bin Laden's former personal assistant. </div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">El Hage, convicted in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, spoke frequently during the 1990s with Sayadi, the Global Relief worker in Belgium, as Sayadi concedes. <A NAME="charfun_saya2"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">At least three Global Relief donors have come under scrutiny. Care International Inc. of Boston, which gave more than $180,000, reportedly has ties to a bin Laden charity in Pakistan. The Holy Land Foundation, based in Dallas, has been designated by the government as supporting terrorism. </div> <bR> <div> A third donor, Syrian-born Mohammed Galeb Kalaje Zouaydi, was arrested by Spanish officials in April and accused of financing Al Qaeda. Spain said Zouaydi was linked to a German cell that helped carry out the Sept. 11 attacks. One of Zouaydi's money transfers -- more than $200,000 -- was traced to Sayadi.  <A NAME="charfun_saya3"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <bR> <div> In an interview, Sayadi, 36, conceded he did business with bin Laden aide El Hage and Zouaydi, the financier in Spain, but said the contacts involved charity and he was unaware they had ties to terror. </div> <bR> <div> "We Muslims have a lot of contacts, especially in humanitarian organizations," he said. "No . . . I don't have any connections with any terrorists." </div> <bR> <div> Chehade said he has faith in Sayadi's integrity.  <A NAME="charfun_saya4"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <bR> <div> "We're usually thankful to people who donate to us. We don't usually check the background of our donors,<B>"</B> he said.</div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <I>Contact DAVID ZEMAN at 248-586-2604 or </I><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="mailto:zeman@freepress.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:zeman@freepress.com"><I>zeman@freepress.com</I></A></FONT><I>. </I></div> <div> <I>Deborah Blachor, a correspondent based in Jerusalem, contributed to this report. </I></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> Comments? Questions? You can reach us at <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="ms sans serif" ><A HREF="http://www.freep.com/help/webmizz.htm" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="http://www.freep.com/help/webmizz.htm">The Freep</A></FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="733" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER BGCOLOR=#C0C0C0 HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="729"><div> <B>SUPREME COURT AND OPEN HEARINGS </B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER BGCOLOR=#C0C0C0 HEIGHT= 228 WIDTH="729"><div> Rabih Haddad's ongoing deportation hearings, open to the public since April by court order, may not remain open much longer. </div> <div> On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court in a separate case granted a Justice Department request to keep deportation hearings relating to Sept. 11 closed for now. </div> <div> While the ruling has no immediate effect on Haddad's case, it suggests the U.S. high court is willing to give broad leeway to government claims that opening such hearings threatens national security. </div> <div> In April, U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds of Detroit agreed to open Haddad's hearings, ruling that the government failed to prove that doing so would compromise its terror investigation. </div> <div> "Openness is necessary for the public to maintain confidence in the value and soundness of the government's actions," Edmunds said in her ruling. </div> <div> The government's appeal of that ruling is to be heard by the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati on Aug. 6. </div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="http://www.freep.com/news/mich/haddad1_20020701.htm" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="http://www.freep.com/news/mich/haddad1_2">http://www.freep.com/news/mich/haddad1_20020701.htm</A></div> <div> <I>July 1, 2002</I></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id137.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Meta Index"><B>INDEX</B></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id90_articles__index_.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Articles">Articles</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id33_link_index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links">Link Index</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id36.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Index of Letters">Index of Letters</A></div> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Welcome">Homepage</A><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Welcome"> (Welcome)</A></FONT></div> <div> Additional information</div> <div> <A HREF="id91.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Books Movies">Index of Books & Movies</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id61.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Added">More recently added information</A></div> <div>  <STYLE> </STYLE>  </div> <div>  <script language=JavaScript>  </script>  </div> <bR> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=17 BGCOLOR="#003366" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <A HREF="id98_m.htm" TARGET="TRLX_Middle" TITLE="Charitys funds, use of UN link raise que"><B>Top</B></A><B>     </B>    <B>     </B><A HREF="id99.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Nabil Sayadi on BigEye "><B>Previous</B></A><B>     </B><A HREF="id137.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Meta Index"><B>Index</B></A><B>     </B><A HREF="id33_link_index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><B>Links</B></A><B>     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Welcome"><B>Home</B></A><B>     </B><A HREF="id107.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Added"><B>Updates</B></A><B>     </B><B>Contact</B><B>     </B><A HREF="id143.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Pointer"><B>Pointer</B></A></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>