The biological mother of Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed worked for a Missouri-based Islamic charity that the U.S. government later designated a terrorist-supporting organization over alleged financial links to Osama bin Laden, Hamas and the Taliban, according to newly surfaced records.
Fatten Fathy Elkomy worked for the Islamic American Relief Agency (IARA) from 1999 through at least 2004, The Midwesterner reported this week.
There is no allegation that Elkomy herself participated in terrorism or other wrongdoing, and she was never charged in the federal criminal case that eventually brought down the organization.
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But IARA’s history with the federal government was extensive.
In October 2004, the Treasury Department designated IARA’s worldwide network under Executive Order 13224, freezing its U.S. assets and barring financial support for the organization.
Treasury said information available to the U.S. government indicated IARA’s international offices had provided “direct financial support” to bin Laden and that its overseas branches sent him hundreds of thousands of dollars in 1999 — during the period Elkomy reportedly worked for the organization.
The department also said IARA participated in a program with an institute controlled by bin Laden that assisted Taliban fighters and acted as a conduit for money destined for Hamas-related terrorist activity.
IARA, which operated under several names including the Islamic African Relief Agency, portrayed itself as a humanitarian organization with more than 40 offices worldwide.
Elkomy defended her work there after the federal crackdown in 2004, saying her job involved helping vulnerable children.
“I’ve been working there serving orphans and children with at least one deceased parent, and it breaks my heart they’re not going to get any help,” she told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch at the time.
The organization’s legal problems continued long after its shutdown.
In 2016, IARA pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, conspiracy to commit money laundering and obstruction of federal tax laws.
Federal prosecutors said the organization secretly funneled $1.375 million to Iraq in violation of U.S. sanctions and knowingly conducted transactions with a deputy to specially designated global terrorist Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.
The Department of Justice also said an IARA fundraiser purchased a satellite phone in 1997 that was later used by al-Qaeda operatives in connection with the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
IARA was formally dissolved after the criminal case concluded.
The resurfaced history comes at a politically sensitive moment for El-Sayed, who narrowly captured Michigan’s Democratic U.S. Senate nomination earlier this month and now faces Republican Mike Rogers in November.
More over at The New York Post:
Abdul El-Sayed’s mom worked for ‘global terrorist’ group accused of funding bin Laden, Hamas and Taliban: report https://t.co/ycLailaXwK pic.twitter.com/HAyxPHgFCL
— New York Post (@nypost) August 19, 2026
