Recently translated documents indicate that that the new head of the Eastern Europe for the Muslim Brotherhood umbrella group in Europe has links to an Albanian charity designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government. A 2005 Wall Street Journal article reported on transfers of money from the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) to the Albania branch of Taibah International, an Islamic charity whose Bosnian branch was designated as a terrorist entity by both the U.S and the U.N in 2004. U.S. government agencies and officials have argued that WAMY, in turn, has helped spread Islamic extremism around the world as well as sponsoring terrorism in places such as Bosnia, Israel, and India. According to the Journal report, the money was transfered by two officials of the Federation of Islamic Organization in Europe (FIOE), an umbrella group comprised of Muslim Brotherhood organizations in Europe:
Federation officials also have helped channel money to Islamic groups in the Balkans. A key figure in this effort is Ibrahim el-Zayat, who as head of the Islamic Community of Germany, a founding group in the federation, is one of Europe’s most prominent Muslims. In 2002, German federal police launched an investigation of Mr. Zayat. According to copies of a report reviewed by the Journal, he allegedly transferred more than $2 million on behalf of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth, a Saudi-run organization that propagates Wahhabist fundamentalism, which isn’t part of the federation. Some of that money, according to the report, was sent by Mr. Zayat and another federation official, Ayman Sayed Ahmed Aly, to an Albanian charity, Taibah. Taibah’s Bosnia branch last year was designated a terrorist organization by the US. government. Its Albanian branch was raided last year by the government there.”The constellation of accounts, money flows and persons indicate that the accounts in Germany of Ibrahim El-Zayat and Ayman Sayed Ahmed Aly were used for carrying out fundamentalist Islamic activities in Europe,” the report said. Mr. Rawi [head of FIOE} said his federation has nothing to do with the activities of Mr. Zayat or Mr. Aly. “It is hard to prevent our members from working for charitable organizations,” Mr. Rawi said.
Ayman Aly was previously the head of FIOE’s Eastern Europe Department but, according to recently translated FIOE documents, has been replaced by Muhammad Abd al-Zaher from Albania who is also the contact person for FIOE’s Albanian member organization. The telephone number listed for Mr. al-Zaher was also the number identified in the German investigation referred to in the Journal article as that of Taibah International in Albania, formerly headed by Ayman Aly. In spite of Mr. Al-Rawi’s protestations, these relationships appear to indicate a close relationship between FIOE and Taibah.