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7 of 8 DOCUMENTSCopyright 2003 The Washington Post

TheWashington PostDecember 7, 2003 Sunday

Final Edition

SECTION: A Section; A01LENGTH: 842 wordsHEADLINE: U.S. Revokes Visa of Cleric at Saudi Embassy;Monarchy to No Longer Be Islamic Institute's SponsorBYLINE: Susan Schmidt and Caryle Murphy, Washington Post Staff WritersBODY:

U.S. authorities have revoked the diplomatic visa of an influential Islamic cleric, and the Saudi government hasdecided it will no longer sponsor an Islamic institute in Virginia where he sometimes lectured, moves that reflect bothnations' increasing efforts to curb the spread of extremist Islamic rhetoric, according to U.S. and Saudi officials.

Jaafar Idris, who was affiliated with the Fairfax-based Institute for Islamic andArabic Sciences inAmerica, leftthe United States two weeks ago after his visa was revoked, U.S. officials said. Idris is a native of Sudan, but wassponsored as a diplomat here by the Saudi embassy and had an office in that embassy's Islamic affairs section,according to a lawyer associated with him.

Idris's departure follows a decision by the Saudi government to stop providing diplomatic status to Islamic clericsand educators teaching overseas, according to a senior Saudi official who declined to be identified. The official said thatin the future, only staff with legitimate diplomatic business at Saudi embassies around the world will be givendiplomatic visas, part of a larger effort to get Saudi embassies out of the business of promoting religion.

"W e are going to shut down the Islamic affairs section in every embassy," the officials said. "That's the objective."Referring to the Institute in Fairfax, which is a satellite campus of a prominent university in Riyadh, the Saudiofficial also said: "We're going to sever its ties with the embassy.... They will no longer be sponsored by the

embassy."Such a move could complicate the institute's future because its staff, lacking diplomatic status, will be required to

obtain visas and work permits to teach in the United States, something that U.S. authorities may be unwilling to providein some cases.Officials at the institute could not be reached for comment.The Saudi action is part of that government's increased vigilance toward expressions of religious extremism afterthe deadly May terrorist attack in Riyadh that shocked the oil-rich nation and its ruling family. The government has

dismissed hundreds of imams from Saudi mosques for allegedly using extremist rhetoric, and has moved to deletelanguage denigrating non-Muslims from school texts and curriculum.

The Saudis also have cracked down on violent Islamic extremists operating in the desert kingdom. In addition, U.S.law enforcement agencies are trying to learn whether hundreds of millions of dollars spent by the embassy here eachyear have aided extremists in the United States.


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The Washington PostDecember 11, 2003 Thursday

Final Edition

SECTION: A Section; A24LENGTH: 632 wordsHEADLINE: Saudi Group's Leader Critical of ClericsBYLINE: Susan Schmidt, Washington Post Staff WriterBODY:

The director of a U.S. group that seeks democratic reform in Saudi Arabia complained yesterday about anupcoming conference in Texas that will feature addresses broadcast from Riyadh by clerics who have praised holy waran d Osama bin Laden.Ali Ahmed, head of the Washington-based Saudi Institute, also noted that instructors at a Virginia Islamic institutewh o hold diplomatic credentials issued by the Saudi Embassy are scheduled to speak at the gathering.Keynote speakers at the three-day event in Houston, scheduled to begin Dec. 24, have espoused intolerance for

Christians, Jews and Shiite Muslims. One of them, Sheikh Allamah Ibn Jibreen, has publicly urged young Saudis to joinal Qaeda an d fight U.S. forces in Iraq an d Afghanistan, according to the Saudi Institute.Ahmed said he believes it is outrageous that the Saudi government is allowing the clerics to espouse their viewswhile repressing groups, such as his, that urge reform.Saudi Embassy officials declined to discuss the upcoming conference. "The embassy has no comment on

something that hasn't happened yet," said Michael Petruzzello, whose public relations firm represents the embassy. "Thepreaching of incitement or extremism is prohibited in Saudi Arabia. If that's what happens, they'll deal with it after theconference."

Last week, a Saudi official said that the embassy would cease sponsoring the Fairfax-based Institute for Islamicand Arabic Sciences in America (IIASA), as part of Riyadh's recent efforts to curb the spread of extremist Islamicrhetoric.

Th e diplomatic credentials of 16 clerics and instructors at IIASA who are accredited with the Saudi Embassy arebeing withdrawn, the official, who asked not to be identified, said this week.

Among IIASA instructors on the conference schedule are Yusef Shebaili and Saleh as Sawi. Two others havecanceled, according to an updated list of conference speakers. They are the IIASA's Islamic Studies director, FuadGhanem, and Ibrahim bin al-Kulaib, who is also president of the Islamic Foundation of America in Springfield.

Jibreen, who is to speak via video hookup from Saudi Arabia, is an influential cleric whose Web site is linked tothe IIASA site. Ahmed said Jibreen praised bin Laden in a speech recorded in Saudi Arabia as recently as two monthsago.

"Osama is a man who fought in the path of God for a long time," Jibreen said, according to a translation providedby the Saudi Institute. "May God aid him and bring victory to him and by him."


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The Washington PostJanuary 29, 2004 Thursday

Final Edition

SECTION: A Section; A10LENGTH: 878 wordsHEADLINE: U.S. Revokes Visas of 16 at Islamic Institute;Order Is Part of Ongoing CrackdownBYLINE: Caryle Murphy and Susan Schmidt, Washington Post Staff WritersBODY:

The State Department recently revoked the diplomatic visas of 16 people affiliated with an Islamic institute inVirginia, the latest step in ajoint U.S.-Saudi crackdown that has led to an exodus of Riyadh's diplomats from the UnitedStates in recent months, a senior Saudi official said yesterday.

The 16 staffers at the Fairfax-based Institute for Islamic and Arabic Sciences in America are among two dozenSaudi personnel whose diplomatic credentials were revoked in recent weeks, a senior U.S. law enforcement officialsaid. Th e revocations, the official said, were part of "an ongoing effort to protect the homeland." He said the Saudishave been told that they must leave within two weeks.

In all, about 70 people with Saudi diplomatic credentials about have left the United States in the past four months,the Saudi official said.The most recent revocations are part of the attempt by both countries to curb the spread of extremist Islamic

rhetoric in this country and ensure that all Saudi Embassy employees are engaged in legitimate diplomatic activity,U.S. and Saudi officials said.

The joint effort is part of Riyadh's increased cooperation with Washington in the war on terrorism, which beganwhen Saudi Arabia was hit last May by the first of two deadly suicide bombings. The attacks are believed to be thework of terrorists linked to al Qaeda.

The State Department's move to revoke the diplomatic status of institute staffers came after Riyadh decided thatthe institute and its staff would no longer be attached to the embassy. That decision followed accusations that theinstitute, a satellite campus of al-Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh, was promoting a brand ofIslam that critics say is intolerant of other strains of the religion as well as Christianity and Judaism.

In December, the Saudi official added, the embassy informed institute employees of its decision, advising them toapply to U.S. authorities for work permits or leave the United States. Last week, the State Department informed theSaudi Embassy that the staffers would lose their diplomatic status in 30 days, the Saudi official said.

Attempts yesterday to reach some of the institute staffers were unsuccessful.Of the 16 institute staffers, 11 are Saudis and five are non-Saudis, the Saudi official said. One has already returned

to Saudi Arabia and another, Ibrahim bin al Kulaib, had applied for and received a U.S. work permit, which wouldallow him to remain here, he added.


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washingtonpost.com: Bank Data For Saudi Embassy Subpoenaed Page 1 of3

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Bank Data For SaudiEmbassy SubpoenaedFB I Investigating Riyadh's Spending for Terrorist TiesBy Douglas FarahWashington Post Staff WriterSunday, November 23 , 2003; Page A22The FBI, in an unprecedented move that has strained relations with a closeally in the war on terrorism, has subpoenaed records for dozens of bankaccounts belonging to the Saudi Embassy, part of an investigation intowhether any of the hundreds of millions of dollars Riyadh spends in theUnited States each year end up in the hands of Muslim extremists, U.S. andSaudi officials said.The wide-ranging investigation into the $300 million a year the SaudiEmbassy spends here was launched this summer, just as the U.S. and Saudigovernments were hailing a new era of cooperation in the fight againstMuslim terrorism. Earlier this year, U.S. an d Saudi officials established thefirst-ever joint task force to track terrorist financing in Saudi Arabia.U.S. officials said the FBI's Washington field office subpoenaed the records ofdozens of Saudi bank accounts to determine whether Saudi governmentmoney knowingly or unknowingly helped fund extremists in the UnitedStates. Although many Saudi entities have been investigated in the past, U.S.officials said this was the first investigation to directly probe Saudigovernment funds.Senior U.S. officials said they do not recall an y other time when the bankrecords of an embassy were subpoenaed.The probe, U.S. officials said, was approved by the National Security Councilworking group on terrorist financing at the request of several congressionalleaders. The investigation focuses on the financial activities of the Islamic andcultural affairs office of the embassy as well as the activities of Saudi consulates around the UnitedStates, officials said.The subpoenas outraged Saudi officials, who believe they were unnecessary."W e became aware of the subpoenas in August, and we immediately said to the American authorities, 'ifyou want this information, why didn't you just ask us? We would have given it to you,' " one seniorofficial said.In fact, the official said, the Saudi government subsequently turned over embassy spending records forthe past 20 years, including records of Saudi payments for educational expenses an d medical attentionfor Saudi nationals here."W e have nothing to hide," the official said. "If there is something suspicious, we want to know. But ifthere is nothing, they owe it to us to say publicly they found nothing."

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A6898-2003Nov22?language=printer 11/24/2003

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