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.
23 December 2013, 20:49
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I hope Qatar goes ahead with his execution so it can proceed smartly and with decorum to a full investigation of the allegations once the surrounding furore has died down. Qatari Emir "Ralph" al Thani promised prompt action via his Twitter account on Al Jazeera: "We got this dude, no bout adout it!...consider him taken out". Qatar's acting Minister of Higher Justice, "Flo" al Thani, later clarified the Emir's remarks, saying that His Eminenceness "was suffering from a slight head cold." "He was temporarily out of his mind," she told reporters from a safe-house at 751 Reichstag Pl., Zurich, Die Schweiz, 14395-2691, Latitude 13.413 degrees East, Longitude 41.289 degrees North.
