Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive candidate in Michigan’s U.S. Senate race, is facing renewed scrutiny after a report said his mother previously worked for an aid organization later designated by the U.S. government as a “global terrorist” group over alleged financial ties to Osama bin Laden, the Taliban and Hamas.
According to The Midwesterner, El-Sayed’s birth mother, Fatten Fathy Elkomy, was employed by the Islamic American Relief Agency, or IARA, from 1999 until at least 2004 — the same year the U.S. Treasury Department publicly linked the organization to terrorism financing.
IARA operated a broad international network of offices and presented itself as a humanitarian nonprofit focused on medical care, assistance for orphans and support for vulnerable communities in conflict zones.
Federal officials, however, said the group — also known as the Islamic African Relief Agency — had “provided direct financial support” to Osama bin Laden, the al Qaeda leader who orchestrated the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
“Information available to the U.S. shows that the overseas branches IARA provided hundreds of thousands of dollars to UBL in 1999,” the Treasury Department said at the time, using an abbreviation for bin Laden.
The Treasury Department also alleged that the organization supported Hamas and other extremist groups, including Taliban fighters.
In March 2007, the U.S. Department of Justice brought charges against IARA-US over allegations that it illegally transferred funds to Iraq.
Elkomy was not accused of wrongdoing, and none of the individuals named in the federal case against IARA were charged with terrorism-related offenses.
But the IARA-USA pleaded guilty to conspiraing to violate sanctions by illegally funnelling nearly $1.4 million to Iraq and agreed to dissolve in 2016.
“The plea agreement acknowledges that, due to its designation as a specially designated global terrorist and the subsequent blocking of all its property, IARA has no funds readily available to it to pay any fine,” the US Attorney’s Office said in a July 2016 announcement.
El-Sayed’s mother denied any connections between the IARA and terrorists in a 2004 interview.
“I’ve been working there serving orphans and children with at least one deceased parent, and it breaks my heart they’re not going to get any help,” Elkomy told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 2004.
El-Sayed’s parents split and each remarried after immigrating to the US in the early 1980s.
Throughout his campaign, El-Sayed has consistently referenced his father, Mohamed El-Sayed and step-mother, Jacqueline El-Sayed — but has made little to no mention of Elkomy, according to The Midwesterner.
Elkomy moved back to the Middle East after remarrying but eventually relocated back to the US where she remains working as a nurse practitioner in Missouri.
The Post has reached out to El-Sayed’s campaign for comment.
