Qatar Activist Rejects U.S. 'Qaida' Funding Charges
A Qatari activist pledged on Monday to challenge his U.S. Treasury designation last week as an al-Qaida supporter, insisting his organization focuses on rights violations.
Abdul Rahman al-Naimi, the founder and head of the Geneva-based Alkarama Foundation, told reporters in Doha he was "innocent" and that he would take "legal measures to counter the U.S. accusations".
The U.S. Treasury said on Wednesday it imposed sanctions on Naimi and Abd al-Rahman al-Humayqani, describing them as "two al-Qaida supporters based in Qatar and Yemen".
They were named as Specially Designated Global Terrorists.
Naimi was designated for "providing financial support" to al-Qaida and organizations linked to the jihadist network in Syria, Iraq, Somalia and Yemen, the Treasury said.
Alkarama website says the group was founded in 2004 to help those in the Arab world subjected to or at risk of extra-judicial executions, disappearances, torture and arbitrary detention.
Humayqani was accused of providing financial support and acting on behalf of the Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, which Washington considers the jihadist network's deadliest affiliate.
Source: Agence France Presse
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