ALEXANDRIA, Va., 31 July 2004 — A US Muslim activist admitted to being involved in a Libyan plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and pleaded guilty yesterday to illegal financial dealings with Libya. Abdurahman Al-Amoudi, a naturalized US citizen born in Eritrea, pleaded guilty to three charges as part of a plea deal with the government.
Under the deal, Al-Amoudi faces a maximum sentence of 23 years in prison and the remaining 31 charges against him are dropped. In court documents detailing the plea Al-Amoudi, 52, the founder of the American Muslim Council and president of the American Muslim Federation, disclosed details of a 2003 plot by Libya to assassinate Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah.
Amoudi admitted to contacting Saudi dissidents in London on behalf of some Libyan government officials who wanted them to kill Prince Abdullah, the documents showed. Al-Amoudi said he had been summoned to Tripoli by a Libyan official who said he was upset at how Abdullah had treated Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi during an Arab League Conference in March 2003.
In Tripoli, two weeks after the summit, the Libyan official told Amoudi he wanted to punish the Saudis and cause disruption and “headaches” in Saudi Arabia.
At later meetings in the spring of 2003 with various officials including one referred to in the court documents as a “high-ranking Libyan government official”, Al-Amoudi was told to have the Saudi dissidents arrange to assassinate Abdullah.
FBI officials have said that Amoudi told them the plot was approved by Qaddafi even as the Libyan leader was working to improve ties with the United States. Libya has denied accusations of the assassination plot.
The United States has said it is investigating the plot allegations. Al-Amoudi’s statements regarding the plot were part of a plea bargain to avoid a trial. His accusations were similar to those made by a Libyan intelligence officer in Saudi custody. The US government had originally accused Al-Amoudi of being involved in a number of groups that provided financial assistance to Hamas and Al-Qaeda — which the US government has labeled “foreign terrorist organizations.”
Instead Al-Amoudi pleaded guilty to illegally receiving and attempting to export $340,000 in cash while in London in August 2003. The money was from the World Islamic Call Society, a group controlled by the government of Libya.
