Abdul El-Sayed’s mother worked for designated terror group IARA that ‘provided direct financial support’ to Osama bin Laden, Taliban, Hamas
Victor Skinner
The Midwesterner
August 18, 2026
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From 1999 through at least 2004, Elkomy worked for the Islamic American Relief Agency, also known as the Islamic African Relief Agency, which operated over 40 offices throughout the world ostensibly focused on health care, orphans, and disadvantaged people in areas of conflict.
In October 2004, the U.S. Department of Treasury designated the worldwide network, along with five senior officials, as an organization supporting terrorism, including support for Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda that killed nearly 3,000 Americans.
According to a 2004 Treasury announcement:
IARA is identified as a non-governmental organization (NGO) formerly affiliated with Maktab Al-Khidamat (MK), which was co-founded and financed by UBL (Usama Bin Laden or Osama bin Laden) and is the precursor organization of al Qaida.
Information available to the U.S. indicates that international offices of IARA provided direct financial support for UBL. IARA, MK and UBL commingled funds and cooperated closely in the raising and expenditure of funds. IARA engaged in a joint program with an institute controlled by UBL that was involved in providing assistance to Taliban fighters.
In 2000, one of IARA’s Afghanistan leaders accompanied the Afghanistan MK leader on a fundraising trip to Sudan and other locations in the Middle East during which $5 million was raised for MK activities.
Information available to the U.S. shows that the overseas branches IARA provided hundreds of thousands of dollars to UBL in 1999.
The announcement alleged IARA also supported Hamas and other terrorist organizations through at least 2003.
In March 2007, the Department of Justice charged IARA-US with a 33-count indictment for illegally transferring funds to Iraq, violating federal sanctions. A superseding indictment followed in January 2008, and in 2010 two of IARA’s board of directors pleaded guilty to conspiring to move more than $1 million to Iraq.
Evidence used to secure those convictions in USA v IARA included 945 exhibits detailing phone calls, faxes, wire transfers, tax forms, emails, bank statements and other documents.
The list of exhibits, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri in May 2010, references Elkomy 14 times, documenting participation in eight wire transfers, and five recorded calls between 1999 and 2002, including an IARA-USA transfer-request form for $24,607.34 to its Iraq office.
Elkomy’s brother and El-Sayed’s uncle, Mohamed or Mohammed Elkomy, was also listed in 19 exhibits involving phone calls between donors, IARA officials, and others.
While neither Elkomy was ever charged with a crime or named as a co-conspirator, and none of the individuals involved in the case were ever charged with terrorism-related crimes, IARA-USA pleaded guilty in court for conspiring to violate sanctions by illegally funneling nearly $1.4 million to Iraq and agreed to dissolve the organization 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 U.S. Attorney’s Office wrote in a July 2016 announcement.
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