WASHINGTON'U.S. authorities arrested the Syrian-born head of an international Islamic charity Tuesday, alleging that his group has funded terrorist activities for years and has ties to militants who have tried to acquire nuclear and chemical weapons for Osama bin Laden.
Enaam Arnaout, 39, executive director of the Benevolence International Foundation, was taken into custody at his home in the Chicago suburbs and charged with lying under oath in documents his group had filed in federal court.
Arnaout, now a U.S. citizen, appeared in court in Chicago on Tuesday afternoon and was being held without bond. He is to be arraigned next week, and the government indicated that it intends to fight any effort for his release on bail.
The arrest prompted angry denials from representatives of the Palos Hills, Ill.-based group, which is one of the largest and most prominent Muslim charities in the United States, with offices in Bosnia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Yemen, Turkey, Georgia and China. It also infuriated Islamic leaders in the United States, who said Arnaout's apprehension fit a pattern of Justice Department harassment against Muslims since the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
\If you've got evidence of him having breakfast with Osama bin Laden, then charge him with terrorism, not perjury,' said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. ""Bring the evidence into court and let him rebut it.'
Matt Piers, an attorney for Benevolence International, said the charges against his client are an unjustified effort by the U.S. government to make the public believe it is successfully cracking down on terrorists. He scoffed at the notion that Arnaout is an associate of bin Laden, and said Arnaout's efforts to cooperate with the FBI were rebuffed.
U.S. authorities, however, said Arnaout has been a personal friend of bin Laden's for more than a dozen years, and that al Qaeda has long used Benevolence International for logistical support, including the movement of money to fund its terrorist operations.
