INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC RELIEF ORGANIZATION (IIRO)

INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC RELIEF ORGANIZATION (IIRO)
Ar-Riyadh, Saudi Arabia	Phone :+966-1-4930033 URL :http://www.arriyadh.com
Charity organization headed by Osama bin Laden’s brother-in-law Has ties to international terrorist organizations Headed by Osama bin Laden's brother-in-law, the International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO) is a Saudi-funded entity that was created in 1978 through another Saudi-based, self-described charity, the Muslim World League. IIRO’s stated mission is “to provide [medical, educational, and social] assistance to victims of natural disasters and wars all over the world,” focusing largely on Muslim victims. Headquartered in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, IIRO has branch offices in more than 20 countries in Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. It is subdivided into various departments, including: the Department of Urgent Relief & Refugees; the Department of Health Care; the Department of Orphans & Social Welfare; the Department of Education; the Department of Agricultural Affairs; the Department of Architectural & Engineering Consultancy; and the “Our Children” project. Most of IIRO's funding is derived from private donations in Saudi Arabia. An endowment fund (known as Sanabil Al-Khair) has also been established to generate a stable source of revenue to finance IIRO’s various activities. IIRO and the closely related Muslim World League were both part of a Herndon, Virginia-based terror network, discovered by the United States government to have had connections to such organizations as al Qaeda (a.k.a. al Qaida), Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Hamas. IIRO is also an "assisting organization" to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, which has numerous ties to terrorist groups. The New York Post records that the families of the 9/11 victims filed a lawsuit against IIRO and other Muslim organizations for having "played key roles in laundering of funds to the terrorists in the 1998 African embassy bombings," and for having been involved in the "financing and 'aiding and abetting' of terrorists in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing."  On August 3, 2006, the U.S. Treasury Department designated the Philippine and Indonesian branch offices of IIRO as terrorist entities “for facilitating fundraising for al Qaida and affiliated terrorist groups.” The Treasury Department added: “Abd Al Hamid Sulaiman Al-Mujil, a high-ranking IIRO official [Executive Director of its Eastern Province Branch] in Saudi Arabia, has used his position to bankroll the al Qaida network in Southeast Asia. Al-Mujil has a long record of supporting Islamic militant groups, and he has maintained a cell of regular financial donors in the Middle East who support extremist causes.” This action by the Treasury Department was taken pursuant to Executive Order 13224, which seeks to disrupt the flow of money to terrorist organizations. Al-Mujil was also a major fundraiser for the Abu Sayyaf Group and Jemaah Islamiyah, both of which are affiliated with al Qaeda.