Senior Amnesty International Employee Linked To UK Muslim Brotherhood/Hamas Organizations; Amnesty Also Found To Work With UK Taliban Supporter

The Times of London has published a series of three articles detailing an investigation into the relationship of a senior Amnesty International employee to a group of organizations and individuals tied to the Muslim Brotherhood and/or Hamas in the UK. The summary article begins:

A senior employee of Amnesty International has undeclared private links to men alleged to be key players in a secretive network of global Islamists, The Times can reveal.

The charity was unaware that the husband of its director of faith and human rights featured in documents released after a criminal trial at which connections were revealed between British supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and Arab Islamists accused of plotting to overthrow a Gulf state.

Yasmin Hussein was also linked to a Yorkshire-based aid agency that was banned by Israel for its alleged funding of Hamas terrorism; and criticised by colleagues for holding a private meeting with a Muslim Brotherhood government official during an Amnesty mission to Egypt, and staying overnight at his family’s home.

Ms Hussein, 51, was until recently the charity’s head of international advocacy and among its leading voices at the UN, where the organisation seeks to operate a strict policy of not siding with any government or political party.

Amnesty staff are asked to declare any links that may generate a real or perceived conflict of interest with its independence and impartiality.

The Brotherhood is banned as a terrorist organisation in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, but not in Britain. An inquiry into its role and influence in this country was ordered by David Cameron last year. The findings have yet to be published.

Read the rest here (paywall)

 The second article in the series details the key persons and organizations involved in the investigation and begins:

Converted Victorian villas on opposite sides of a Bradford street link Amnesty International’s Yasmin Hussein to a complex network of Brotherhood-linked individuals, companies and charities.

One is the HQ of a community trust that shares its address with a large Arab mosque and Islamic centre. Much of the funding for the complex was provided by Qatar.

Across the road is the head office of Human Relief Foundation (HRF), a global Islamic charity that in 2008 was outlawed by Israel owing to its alleged membership of Union of Good, a group said by the US government to have been “created by Hamas to transfer funds to the terrorist organisation”.

Part owner of both buildings is Nabeel al-Ramadhani, 61, who was born in Iraq. He is HRF’s founder and president, a trustee of the mosque and the chairman of Claremont community trust.

Read the rest here (paywall)

 The Human Relief Foundation (HRF) was profiled in a 2009 report authored by the GMBDW editor.

The third article the series focuses on the relationship between Amnesty International and the UK organization known as CAGE whose outreach director is a former Guantanamo Bay detainee who has been described as Britain’s most famous supporter of the Taliban. The report begins:

Amnesty International is no stranger to criticism of its ambivalence towards Islamism. Attention has focused on its willingness to work with organisations whose beliefs — including the imposition of Sharia — are said to make them unsuitable partners for a charity seeking to defend women’s rights and freedoms of expression and religion.The Times has learnt that as recently as March this year an Amnesty employee defended such partnerships and voiced sympathy for those whose “only crime is to be soft on Islamic militants”

It came after criticism of the charity’s relationship with Cage, an Islamist advocacy group that campaigns for “victims of the war on terror”. Outreach director for Cage is Moazzam Begg, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee who has been described as Britain’s most famous supporter of the Taliban.

Amnesty has campaigned alongside Cage and Mr Begg to highlight “UK complicity in torture abroad”. The relationship led to the acrimonious departure from the charity of Gita Sahgal, who headed its gender unit but was suspended after condemning Cage as apologists for jihadists.

Read the rest here (paywall)

In March 2014, the GMBDW reported that UK Muslim Brotherhood leader Anas Altikriti was the lead speaker in a demonstration held  in support of Moazzam Begg.

 (Note; For readers unable to access the Times articles fully, the Russia Today website has published an accurate summary that is openly accessible)