Friend and Ally Alert from The Australian, with thanks to JE:
SAUDI Arabia has been secretly bankrolling the terror group responsible for killing 92 Australians in the two Bali bombings.
US intelligence agencies have confirmed links between a Saudi charity, the International Islamic Relief Organisation, and the Indonesian terror group Jemaah Islamiah.The IIRO is also registered in NSW under the name of Shafiq Rahman Abdullah Khan – a prominent member of Sydney’s Muslim community who helps distribute Saudi government funds to Islamic projects in Australia.
However, Mr Khan insisted yesterday that the IIRO was not active in Australia.
“They never did open an office here and I am not representing them,” he told The Australian.
The IIRO is not listed as a terrorist organisation in Australia, but in 2004 the Federal Government warned Saudi Arabia to alert it about all Saudi funds arriving in the country after ASIO expressed concern about how they might be used.
The US Treasury last Thursday publicly identified the Indonesian and Philippines offices of the Saudi government-sanctioned IIRO as “facilitating fundraising for al Qaeda and affiliated terrorist groups”.
It has also identified a senior IIRO official in Saudi Arabia, Abd Al Hamid Sulaiman al-Mujil, of “using his position to bankroll the al Qeda network in South-East Asia”.
It describes Mr Mujil as a “major fundraiser” for JI, the group that carried out the Bali bombings of 2002 and last year.