Abdul Rahman al-Amoudi facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Abdul Rahman Al-Amoudi
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Abdul Rahman Al-Amoudi in 1995
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| Occupation | Lobbyist and fundraiser |
| Criminal status | USA |
| Conviction(s) | Illegal financial transactions with Libyan government, unlawful procurement of citizenship, impeding administration of Internal Revenue Service, and role in Libyan conspiracy to assassinate Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah (October 2004) |
| Criminal charge | Illegal financial transactions with Libyan government, unlawful procurement of citizenship, impeding administration of Internal Revenue Service, and role in Libyan conspiracy to assassinate Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah |
| Penalty | 23-year prison sentence |
Abdul Rahman Al-Amoudi (
i/ɑːbˈduːl rɑːˈmɑːn ɑːlɑːˈmuːdiː/), better known as Abdurahman Alamoudi, is a former American Muslim activist known for founding the American Muslim Council. He pleaded guilty to financial and conspiracy charges in 2004, which resulted in a 23-year prison sentence.
Biography
Al-Amoudi was born in Eritrea.
He moved from Yemen to the United States in 1979, and became a U.S. citizen in 1996. Al-Amoudi was automatically stripped of this citizenship by the U.S. after his conviction on terrorism-related charges.
Al-Amoudi lived in Falls Church, Virginia.
Organizations
According to The Washington Post, before his arrest and guilty plea, was Alamoudi was "one of America's best-known Muslim activists" and "met with senior Clinton and Bush administration officials in his efforts to bolster Muslim political prominence." Al-Amoudi founded and was the executive director of the American Muslim Foundation and "was an influential member of other Islamic political and charitable organizations." Al-Amoudi also played a role in establishing a U.S. Department of Defense Muslim chaplain program. Alamoudi met with President George W. Bush and contributed $1,000 to his campaign; Al-Amoudi donated the same amount to the U.S. Senate campaign of Hillary Clinton. Both Bush and Clinton later returned the money. Al-Amoudi was invited by the Bush White House to speak at a Washington National Cathedral prayer service in memory of victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Al-Amoudi was a founder of the Islamic Society of Boston (ISB). He signed the Society's articles of incorporation and served as the first president of the Society's Cambridge, Massachusetts mosque, which was also attended by the Boston Marathon bombers (Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev), as well as by convicted terrorists Aafia Siddiqui and Tarek Mehanna.
Controversial statements
During an interview with a Middle East television channel in March 1997, Al-Amoudi declared: "I really consider him (Hamas deputy political leader Musa Abu Marzook) to be from among the best people in the Islamic movement," and added that he worked with Marzook and Hamas.
In a phone call intercepted by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent and recounted in a court affidavit, Alamoudi lamented that the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Africa did not kill any Americans and suggested that more attacks should be carried out similar to the 1994 Jewish cultural center bombing in Buenos Aires.
In their PBS documentary miniseries America at a Crossroads, Newsweek journalists Mark Hosenball and Michael Isikoff report that Al-Amoudi was "an influential [Muslim] Brotherhood supporter described as an 'expert in the art of deception' by an FBI insider" for expressing moderate, pro-American sympathies in his lobbying and public relations work with Americans, but then expressing support for Hamas and Hezbollah at an Islamist rally.
