(Straits Times-Singapore) Shefali Rekhi - "Saudi charities have been the primary vehicles for the spread of Wahhabism in Southeast Asia," says Zachary Abuza, the Boston-based author of Militant Islam in Southeast Asia: Crucible of Terror. But it is their links to terrorist groups such as the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) and Moro Islamic Liberation Front and paramilitary groups like the Laskar Jundullah that are worrying, he said. An arrested JI militant, who is in prison in the Philippines after being convicted for possessing explosives and suspected of being involved in bombings there, was the regional field officer for the Indonesian Islamic charity Kompak. Kompak received funding from at least two Saudi charities, the Al-Haramain Foundation and the Islamic International Relief Organization.
2003-11-18 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive