Washington detains al-Amoudi under the charge of receiving assets from Libya
An American judicial source announced the detention of the renowned American Islamic intellectual Abdul Rahman al-Amoudi on charge of violating sanctions imposed by Washington on Libya since 1986 and accepting money from Tripoli.
Al-Amoudi, who is considered one of the most prominent figures of the American Muslim community was detained at Dallas International airport in Washington on Sunday evening as he was coming back from London after a long journey abroad.
Al-Amoudi was presented on Monday before the investigation judge at the federal court in Alexandria, Virginia. The assistant for the FBI office director Michael Maysson said that detention of al-Amoudi is considered an important step, noting that "he has been investigated since some time."
An accusation by one officer at the customs department said that the officials in charge of implementing the law raided al-Amoudi's house in Virginia in March in the context of investigation of finance operations of "terrorist groups." Al-Amoudi was in particular accused of violating the law of international economic emergency authorizations which bans the American citizens from visiting Libya without a special consent. He was also accused of violating part of the law banning American citizens from receiving sums from Libya.
The written accusations said that al-Amoudi visited Libya ten times at least using a Yemeni passport and two American passports. The testimony said that British customs officials held al-Amoudi at Heathrow airport in August when he tried to travel to Damascus and found with him 340,000 dollars and interrogated him.
The accusations said that during the investigation al-Amoudi said he was seeking to get funding for the American Islamic council, which he presides over and contributed to its foundation from groups linked to the Libyan government. The accusations said Al-Amoudi told the British officials he had got a sum of 340,000 dollars in London from a person who speaks Arabic of a Libyan accent. He explained he wanted to deposit the sum in banks in Saudi Arabia and then transfer it into accounts in the USA.
The accusations alleged that al-Amoudi received also assets from the Libyan mission at the UN some of which linked to his flights to Libya.
The accusations mentioned statements made by al-Amoudi in a massive meeting in front of the White House in October 2000 in which he expressed his support for the Lebanese Hizbullah party and the Islamic Hamas movement.
However, the American Islamic council stresses that its aim is to increase the participation of American Muslims in the American political scene.
Worthy mentioning that al-Amoudi was received for several times at the White House and he is one of the cofounders of a group called the American Islamic armed forces, and the council of the old warriors affairs. Al-Amoudi also contributed to preparing a program for the US defense department ( Pentagon) for the Muslim minority in the USA.