Prince Saud is tipped to chair the new watchdog commission

By Fawaz Mohammad, IOL Correspondent

RIYADH, June 20 (IslamOnline.net) – Two of Saudi Arabia major's charity organizations are to be dissolved and their assets channeled to a new national watchdog body that will likely be chaired by Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faysal, charity sources told IslamOnline.net.

Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation and Al-Waqf Al-Islami Foundation will certainly be dissolved and its folded into the National Commission for Charitable Work Abroad , said the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity.

They also expected Prince Saud to be assigned with steering the new watchdog body, which was formed on February 29, while continuing to act as the kingdom's top diplomat.

On Wednesday, June 2, Adel Al-Jubeir, foreign affairs advisor to Saudi Crown Prince and de-facto ruler, Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, told a press conference at the Saudi embassy in Washington that the kingdom would dissolve leading charity groups or have their international operations and assets folded into the new body.

Almost simultaneously with the statements, the US Treasury Department said five additional branches of Al-Haramain would be placed on a terrorism blacklist because of "financial, material and logistical support they provided to the Al-Qaeda network and other terrorist organizations."

The five branches are located in Afghanistan, Albania, Bangladesh, Ethiopia and the Netherlands, said Juan Carlos Zarate, a top Treasury official.

In January, the US and Saudi Arabia announced they had taken action against the charity's branches in Indonesia, Kenya, Pakistan and Tanzania.

According to the Saudis, Al-Haramain receives between 40 and 50 million dollars each year in donations.

The Saudi government ordered Al-Haramain to close all of its overseas branches in 2003 but subsequent monitoring has shown several are still in operation.

Educational Charity

Al-Waqf Al-Islami Foundation operates in 20 countries in the fields of education and da`wah.

It has online magazines for family and women, and played a role in launching other Islamic-oriented media outlets. There were no obvious reasons for the closure.

According to the Saudi sources, the World Assembly of Muslim Youth and the Muslim World League will not be dissolved and will continue to carry on with their missions.

The Saudi charities have long worked under the official umbrella, with Saudi king and crown prince showing keen interest in having their work developed.

Following the 9/11 attacks, Washington has been seeking to dry up what it sees as channels funding "terrorist groups."

Many Muslim groups feel they have been singled out for scrutiny by US officials, including the Treasury.

Some charities have accused the government of staging a "witch hunt" against them.

But a monarchial decree on February 29 installed the new commission to "purify the charities of any problems tainting their image".

"The commission will operate according to clear policies to ensure that charitable funds intended to help the needy are not misused," said one source close to relief organizations, on a customary condition of anonymity.

The Saudi embassy in Washington earlier said the commission "will take over all aspects of private overseas aid operations and assume responsibility for the distribution of private charitable donations from Saudi Arabia."