RIYADH: The Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation (AHIF) — a Saudi-based charity whose assets were frozen by Washington — announced yesterday plans to re-submit a lawsuit after a US federal court judge threw out an earlier one challenging the US government’s decision to tap the phones of AHIF officials.

The move comes close on the heels of an important court hearing, which is to take place on Thursday in Oregon, on the decision to freeze AHIF’s assets. “To my knowledge, more than $400,000 of AHIF funds have been frozen so far,” said Tom Nelson, one of the lawyers representing AHIF who is currently visiting Riyadh.

Similar views were echoed by M. Wendell Belew, president of the Friends Of Charities Association (FOCA), at a press conference at the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) here on Sunday night.

“We will be preparing the details of the suit tonight and file it within the stipulated 30-day time frame,” said Belew, who is president of the Washington-based Belew Law Firm.

At the heart of the suit, which was originally filed on Feb. 28, 2006, is a confidential log of calls, proving that the US government’s terrorist hunters listened to telephone conversations between the lawyers and their clients in the Kingdom.

The log was accidentally handed to AHIF’s lawyers by the US Treasury Department.

The lawyers say the Bush administration lacked the authority to authorize wiretaps that circumvented the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Speaking about the hearing on July 10, Belew, who also had his phones tapped, said, “I am very hopeful about the positive outcome. ... A lot of issues will be resolved, if the judge rules in favor of the Al-Haramain on July 10.”

Belew said that there is a strong consensus in the US that charitable organizations are not supporters of terrorism. He added that a fair judicial intervention at this stage would make it clear whether the US administration was correct in suing Islamic charities, especially the AHIF, and whether they are linked to terrorism.

“If nothing happens, the end of the Bush administration alone will improve the lot of Islamic charities,” said Belew, who also spoke about the continued oppression and persecution of Muslim charities in the West.

He said that FOCA, which is based in Washington and has an executive committee in Riyadh, started operation in 2004 to engage in dialogue with US law enforcement agencies.

Belew said the US alleged that the AHIF was a front for Al-Qaeda. Although a federal judge dropped many charges against the charity, the office of Foreign Assets Control of the United States Department of Treasury had already banned various AHIF branches. The AHIF had branches in Afghanistan, Albania, Bangladesh, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Comoros, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kenya, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, Tanzania, and the US.

Besides the AHIF, the assets of Holy Land Foundation, the US’ largest Islamic charity, were frozen by the EU and the US following accusations that it was funding Hamas.