INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC RELIEF ORGANIZATION --

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 JEDDAH 000084 NOFORN SIPDIS DEPT FOR NEA/ARP, IO; TREASURY FOR TFI U/S E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/25/2019 TAGS: KISL PGOV PHUM SCUL SOCI PREL PINR SA SUBJECT: INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC RELIEF ORGANIZATION -- DESIGNATED BY UN 1267 AND US TREASURY -- ISSUES LETTER OF CONGRATULATIONS TO PRESIDENT OBAMA REF: A. 07SECSTATE146856 ¶B. 06JEDDAH00643 ¶C. 06SECSTATE134081 ¶D. 07SECSTATE13869 JEDDAH 00000084 001.2 OF 003 Classified By: CG Martin R. Quinn for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (S/NF) Summary. Consulate General Jeddah received a letter through the post dated February 15 directed to President Obama from the Secretary General of the International Islamic Relief Organization(IIRO) in Saudi Arabia. IIRO Philippine and Indonesian branches, along with IIRO Saudi Arabia Eastern Province Director, were designated in 2006 under UN 1267 and by US Treasury Department(details para 6). The full text of letter, with cover addressed to CG, are given below. Saudi press have reported that IIRO officials met February 14 with the Jeddah-based OIC to discuss Gaza assistance. See action request para 7. End Summary. ¶2. (U) The text of the cover letter follows: (BEGIN TEXT) Honorable Consul General Consulate General of the USA Jeddah, K.S.A. Your Honor, The Secretariat General of the International Islamic Relief Organization, Saudi Arabia (IIROSA) has the pleasure of conveying its best compliments to your Honor, the Consulate staff and the intimate people of the USA and would like to congratulate you all on the occasion of inauguration of H.E. Barak Obama as the 44th President of your friendly country. Moreover, I would like to request Your Honor to kindly deliver the attached letter of congratulation to H.E. President Barak Obama on this blessed occasion with the best wishes of myself, IIROSA's staff, donors and beneficiaries around the world. The Secretariat General of IIROSA avails itself of this opportunity to express to the esteemed Consulate General of the USA in Jeddah its renewed assurances of highest regards and consideration. Your Sincerely, Dr. Adnan Khalil Basha Secretary General, IIROSA (END TEXT) ¶3. (U) The body of the main letter follows: (BEGIN TEXT) A Letter of Congratulations H.E. President Barak Hussein-Obama The United States of America On behalf of the International Islamic Relief Organization, Saudi Arabia (IIROSA) and hundreds of thousands of the beneficiaries of its services, including the widows, the orphans, the poor, the students, the famine victims(etc, I am very glad to congratulate Your Excellency on the occasion of your unique and historical inauguration as President of the United States. I do appreciate the balanced and numerous valuable statements you gave suggesting that your era will no doubt revitalize and restore the well-established American traditions, which are based on the values of justice, equity and non-segregation among people on the basis of race, color or religious belief. Furthermore, those values are generally consistent with those adopted by our relief organization and integrated in its articles of association and bylaws. Our organization, which provides food, medicine and clothes, also secures suitable accommodation and other urgent humanitarian assistance to JEDDAH 00000084 002.2 OF 003 millions of victims of natural disasters, wars,(etc. around the world regardless of religion, race, or color. The value of justice, which our organization shares with you, is a cornerstone the lack of which coupled with hunger, ignorance and disease will create and environment conducive to insecurity, rancor and feeling of deprivation, which will eventually develop into a breeding site for extremism, terrorism and violence. However, our attention has been particularly and interestingly drawn to the statements you gave during the interview conducted with your Excellency by Al Arabiya Satellite Channel, in which you have revealed that you had spent a part of your life in Indonesia, the largest Islamic country, that many of your relatives are Muslims and you acknowledge that Muslims, like other peoples on this earth, like to live in peace, tranquility and mutual understanding with other peoples. Furthermore, you have declared that your dealing with Muslims will be based on dialogue and persuasion and not on dictation or imposition of viewpoints. We consider this as a hope and a challenge: a hope for everlasting peace, which can prevail in our third world and a challenge that requires us to stand together in order to prevent the world from sliding back into chaos, wars and instability. When justice prevails and or three major sectors, i.e. public, private and civil society, function as planned for them; we can look forward to fruitful economic, social and cultural development. That is the role to be played and shared by NGOS like our organization in order to consolidate the grounds of sustainable development and avoid vulnerability to fanaticism, terrorism and violence. Only when this happens, can people breathe real freedom and practice true democracy. This predicts a positive development in the American relationships wit the Muslim World at your Excellency's hands. We, in IIROSA, one of the largest relief organizations in the Muslim World, in the light of the many memberships we enjoy in the international agencies and organizations and in consideration of our long history of involvement in charity and relief work around the world ) which extends to tens of years, are quite ready ) within the limits of our resources and authority ) to cooperate with you Mr. President and your respectable Administration in whatever assists to achieve the desired positive development in the relationships between America and the Muslim World or in the implementation of any other project for the benefit of humanity, at large. With my best regards and consideration. Sincerely Yours. Dr. Adnan Khalil Basha Secretary-General, IIROSA (END TEXT) BACKGROUND ON IIRO -------------- ¶4. (SBU) ABOUT IIRO: The IIRO is an international relief organization that works through the collection of Zakat and other donations to provide immediately needed funds to Muslims throughout the world. The IIRO is an affiliate of the Muslim World League (MWL),an international organization based in Mecca charged primarily with the global propagation of Islam. According to the Muslim World League website, the League maintains observer status at the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC),which allows the league to attend the Islamic Summit and the Foreign Ministers conference. While the OIC does not list the Muslim World League as one of its observer NGOs, OIC officials regard the MWL as a less moderate Muslim organization. ¶5. (SBU) RECENT IIRO MEETING WITH THE OIC: Saudi media reported a February 14 meeting between IIRO Secretary General Basha and the OIC Director General for Political and Humanitarian Affairs, Ambassador Atra Al-Mannan Bakhit in which the officials discussed greater cooperation between the two bodies and examined ways of expediting assistance to Gaza. JEDDAH 00000084 003.2 OF 003 ¶6. (S/NF) TERRORISM LINKS: In August of 2006, the UN 1267 Sanctions Committee designated the International Islamic Relief Organization(IIRO)'s branches in Indonesia and the Philippines, as well as Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province Branch Director, Abdulhamid Al-Mujil(ref A). A February 23, 2009 check of the UN 1267 list of organizations and individuals with links to Al Qaida continues to list the Indonesia and Philippine branches of IIRO. Post's last known meeting with Secretary General Basha was September 18, 2006 and focused primarily on relief efforts, but did not address the UN 1267 designation of the head of IIRO's Eastern Province Branch or allegations of terrorist financing (ref B). On July 28, 2006, Treasury Department Terrorism and Financial Intelligence(TFI)U/S Levey and then-Saudi Ambassador Prince Turki Al Faisal met, and SAG promised to close down the organization(ref C). However, evidence later in the year suggested that money continued to be funneled overseas from the Eastern Province Branch(ref D). Treasury Department also designated IIRO and on August 3, 2006 issued a press release found at www.treas.gov/press/releases/hp45.htm which reads: "The US Department of the Treasury today designated the Philippine and Indonesian branch offices of the Saudi-based International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO) for facilitating fundraising for Al-Qaida and affiliated terrorist groups." ¶7. (S/NF) ACTION REQUEST: While a meeting in Jeddah of senior officials of two Saudi Arabia-based Islamic organizations such as OIC and IIRO may not in itself be significant, it is worth noting that such a meeting was publicly reported and dealt with Gaza assistance. Since ConGen's last contact with IIRO was more than two and half years ago(August 2006),we would appreciate an update on the organization's current designation status. To our knowledge only the Indonesian and Philippine branches of IIRO were designated along with the Eastern Province Branch Director. IIRO's headquarters in Jeddah is located in Saudi Arabia's Western Province. QUINN