Canadian media is reporting that the Islamic Society of North America-Canada has been suspended and fined by federal regulators over concerns the group may have financially supported Kashmiri terrorist groups. According to a GlobalNews report:
A major Canadian Islamic organization has been suspended and fined by federal charities regulators following an audit that raised concerns it had “provided resources” that may have been used to support to armed militancy.
The Canada Revenue Agency said it had suspended the Islamic Society of North America-Canada (ISNA-Canada) for a year effective Sept. 12 and ordered the Mississauga-based charity to pay a $550,000 penalty.
Government auditors alleged ISNA-Canada had “failed to conduct any meaningful due diligence” when it transferred $136,000 to the war-torn Kashmir region, where the militant Hizbul Muhajideen has been fighting Indian troops.
By acting as a “conduit” for other organizations, ISNA-Canada “may have, knowingly or unknowingly, provided the benefits of its status as a registered charity to support the efforts of a political party and its armed wing,” the CRA wrote.
“It is the CRA’s view that the society’s resources may have, directly or indirectly, been used the support the political efforts of Jamaat-e-Islami and/or its armed wing Hizbul Mujahideen,” according to CRA documents.
Read the rest here.
The Hizbul Mujahideen has been designated as a terrorist group by the US, the EU, and India. In December 2008, we reported that the head of the Hizbul Mujahideen had attended a 3-day Islamic conference held in Lahore, Pakistan that brought together leaders of the Pakistani Islamist group Jamaat–e-Islami (JEI) with leaders in the global Muslim Brotherhood, closely allied to JEI. Other GMBDW reporting on this topic has included:
- In August 2017, we reported that charity status of the ISNA Islamic Services of Canada was removed after an audit problem with respect to another Pakistani armed militant group.
- In May 2013, the GMBDW reported that money raised by the Canadian branch ISNA may have gone to support the Hizbul Mujahideen.
- In January 2011, we reported that Mohammad Ashraf, long-time leader of the Islamic Society of North America Canada, was at the center of a controversy involving mismanaged charity donations and free perks for family members.
Despite denials in the past, the Islamic Society of North America-Canada is clearly related the US organization by the same name and the 2018 elections for the US group identifies a “Vice-President Canada.” The two groups also share a virtually identical logo.
The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) describes itself as “an independent, open and transparent membership organization that strives to be an exemplary and unifying Islamic organization in North America by contributing to the betterment of the Muslim community and society at large. ISNA emerged out of the early U.S. Muslim Brotherhood infrastructure and documents discovered in the course of the the terrorism trial of the Holy Land Foundation confirmed that the organization was part of the US. Muslim Brotherhood.
For a detailed analysis of ISNA and its recent history, go here.