- Human Concern International
Human Concern International (HCI) is a Canadian, federally registered, NGO charitable organization that has frequently been accused of having links to terrorism. [http://www.humanconcern.org/ Human Concern International Website] ]
From the HCI website: :"HCI is a non-profit organisation dedicated to help alleviate human suffering through sustainable development projects and emergency relief assistance programs that foster self-reliance and preserves human dignity"
Their focus was largely on Afghan orphans, building schools as well as "Hope Village", a small community comprised almost entirely of orphan children. [
Amnesty International , [http://www.amnesty.ca/english/main_article_home/almalkibio.pdf Abdullah Almaliki: A Brief Biography] ]Alleged ties to terrorism
HCI reportedly began in 1979 to support the
mujahideen in Afghanistan.cite book | author=J. Millard Burr and Robert O. Collins | title=Alms for Jihad : Charity and Terrorism in the Islamic World | publisher=Cambridge University Press | Year=2006 | id=ISBN 0521857309] Dedicated to feeding and schooling orphans, the organisation co-sponsored a Human Rights day atPennsylvania State University in 1986. [Kearney, Susan. Penn State Daily Collegian. " [http://digitalnewspapers.libraries.psu.edu/Default/Skins/BasicArch/Client.asp?Skin=BasicArch&&AppName=2&enter=true&BaseHref=DCG/1986/10/22&EntityId=Ar00201 Human rights stressed today] ", October 22 1986]The charity was put under closer scrutiny after
Osama bin Laden told a 1995 interviewer that "The bin-Laden Establishment's aid covers 13 countries...this aid comes in particular from the Human Concern International Society" [ [http://fl1.findlaw.com/news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/terrorism/burnettba81502cmp.pdf Burnett, et al. v. al Baraka Investment and Development Corp., et al] , Jan. 18, 2005.]Ahmed Said Khadr headed HCI's Pakistan office until his arrest in 1995 for that bombing of the Egyptian Embassy in Pakistan that was allegedly carried out with HCI funds. [http://banking.senate.gov/_files/clarke.pdf Statement of]Richard A. Clarke ,United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs , October 22, 2003] Under his leadership, the "Hope Village Orphanage" was created inAkora Khattak . [Human Concern International, [http://www.humanconcern.org/continent.php?area=south_asia Rehabilitating and Reconstructing a Torn Land, Afghanistan] ]HCI denies its own involvement and describes Khadr as a volunteer from 1988 to 1995, working in
Pakistan andAfghanistan on relief and development projects. [http://action.web.ca/home/sap/media.shtml?x=57414 National Post Apologizes to Human Concern International] , "South Asia Partnership Canada ",April 26 2004 ]In 1996, the Pakistani press accused HCI's Peshawar office of being made up of Al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya members, who supported the overthrow of the secular Egyptian government in favour of a Sharia state. [
Central Intelligence Agency , , 1996]The group lost its status in Canada in 1997, but as of 2000 was still only "under investigation" in the United States. [Miller, Judith,
New York Times , "Some charities suspected of terrorist role", February 19, 2000]In 2003,
Richard A. Clarke testified before the U.S. Congress that HCI "reportedly received at least $250,000 in funding from the Canadian government." The Canadian government ended its financial support to HCI in 1997 for suspicion of terrorist involvement. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9906E2D91F31F93AA25751C0A9669C8B63 Some Charities Suspected of Terrorist Role] ,Judith Miller , February 19, 2000]HCI was one of ten Islamic charities noted by Spanish police in 2002 for allegedly financing Algerian Muslim rebels. [ [http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/12/08/spain.alqaeda/ Spain charity terror link alleged] ,
CNN , December 8, 2002]Apology from the National Post
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