In accordance with paragraph 13 of resolution 1822 (2008) and subsequent related resolutions, the ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee makes accessible a narrative summary of reasons for the listing for individuals, groups, undertakings and entities included in the ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List.
Al-Haramayn Foundation (Kenya) was listed on 26 January 2004 pursuant to paragraphs 1 and 4 of resolution 1455 (2003) as being associated with Al-Qaida (QDe.004), Usama bin Laden (deceased) or the Taliban for “participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf or in support of” Al-Qaida (QDe.004) and Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya/ AIAI (QDe.002).
Al-Haramayn Foundation (Kenya) provided financial, material and logistical support to the Al-Qaida (QDe.004) network.
Al-Haramayn Foundation (Kenya) was a branch of the Saudi Arabia-based Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation which presented itself as a private, charitable and educational non-governmental organization. When viewed as a single entity, Al-Haramain was one of the principal NGOs active throughout the world providing support for the Al-Qaida network. Funding generally came from individual benefactors and special campaigns which targeted selected business entities around the world.
The Al-Haramain branches in Kenya, Tanzania (QDe.106), Pakistan (QDe.104), Afghanistan (QDe.110), Albania (QDe.111), Bangladesh (QDe.112), Ethiopia (QDe.113), the Netherlands (QDe.114), and the Union of the Comoros (QDe.116) have provided financial, material and/or technological support to the Al-Qaida network, including Jemaah Islamiyah (QDe.092), Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya / AIAI (QDe.002), the Egyptian Islamic Jihad (QDe.003) and Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (QDe.118). These terrorist organizations received funding from Al-Haramain and used Al-Haramain as a front for fundraising and operational activities.
AHF offices in Kenya and Tanzania provided support, or acted for or on behalf of AIAI and Al-Qaida. AIAI has shared ideological, financial and training links with Al-Qaida and financial links with several NGOs and companies including AHF, which it used to transfer funds. AHF, together with three other NGOs, served as fronts of AIAI in Kenya.
As early as 1997, the Kenyan branch of AHF was involved in plotting terrorist attacks against Americans. As a result, a number of individuals connected to AHF in Kenya were arrested and later deported by Kenyan authorities.
In August 1997, an AHF employee indicated that the planned attack against the United States Embassy in Nairobi would be a suicide bombing carried out by crashing a vehicle into the gate of the Embassy. A wealthy AHF official outside East Africa had agreed to provide the necessary funds.
Also in 1997, AHF senior activists in Nairobi decided to alter their (then) previous plans to bomb the United States Embassy in Nairobi and instead sought to attempt to assassinate United States citizens. During this period, an AHF official indicated that he had obtained five hand grenades and seven “bazookas” from a source in Somalia. These weapons were to be used in a possible assassination attempt against a United States official.
Wadih el-Hage, a leader of the Al-Qaida cell in East Africa and personal secretary to Usama bin Laden, visited the Kenya offices of AHF before the 1998 attacks on the United States Embassies in Nairobi and Dar Es Salaam. El-Hage possessed contact information for a senior AHF official who was head of AHF’s Africa Committee, the overseeing authority for AHF’s offices in Kenya and Tanzania.
AHF (Kenya) was deregistered in 1998, following its alleged links with Al-Qaida and the United States embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed over 200 people. However, in 1999, AHF (Kenya) successfully contested deregistration in the courts and resumed operations the following year, in 2000.
In 2004, AHF (Kenya) started disposing of its assets with a view to winding up its operations. In 2005, AHF sold its premises to another organization. Although AHF has reportedly scaled down its activities and closed its offices, some personalities associated with it may be operating other similar organizations in the country.