JEDDAH, 5 June 2004 — A former chief of the Al-Haramain Charitable Foundation, which Saudi Arabia announced it was dissolving, said in press remarks yesterday he would defend himself in court against US allegations he had funded terror while heading the organization.

“I intend to (file) a judicial appeal and be represented by a lawyer in the United States to counter an American decision to carry my name on a list of those who finance terrorism,” Aqeel Al-Aqeel was quoted by Okaz Arabic daily as saying. This measure is “an injustice”, said Aqeel, who headed the charity until the end of 2003.

In a similar statement published in the London-based daily Al-Hayat, Aqeel said he was determined to clear his name in the United States. “These accusations are wrong and we will prove it,” he said, adding that he had “helped the poor, the orphans and widowed, and provided all necessary humanitarian aid” for 25 years of his life.

Adel Al-Jubeir, foreign affairs adviser to Crown Prince Abdullah, said Wednesday that the Al-Haramain charity and other private groups would be dissolved or have their international operations and assets folded into the new Saudi National Commission for Charitable Work Abroad.

US Treasury Secretary John Snow praised Saudi Arabia’s decision to shut down Al-Haramain as part of the financial war on terrorism.

“I think the action they took was an important one. It was far-reaching. It indicates their seriousness of dealing with the issue of terrorism finance,” Snow said.

“I take it as another sign the Saudis are extremely serious about terrorist issues and terrorist finance issues and are making serious, important and good-faith efforts to deal with the problem,” Snow said.

The US Treasury Department announced that 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 Al-Haramain branches are located in Afghanistan, Albania, Bangladesh, Ethiopia and the Netherlands, said Juan Carlos Zarate, a US Treasury Department official charged with neutralizing the sources of terrorist financing around the world.

Al-Haramain figured among a number of Saudi charities accused by Washington of financing terrorism after the Sept.11, 2001 attacks.

Aqeel’s successor as Al-Haramain chief, Dabbas Al-Dabbas, told Al-Hayat yesterday: “We have given up the foundation’s work abroad, and work is exclusively dedicated to inside (Saudi Arabia) at the request of the Saudi government.”