Former Congressman Indicted in Terrorism Conspiracy
January 17, 2008
Mark D. Siljander, a former Congressman from Michigan (1981-1987) and delegate to the United Nations, was indicted today on charges of money laundering, conspiracy, and obstruction of justice in connection with terrorist activities. The obstruction charges are based on allegations that he lied “about being hired to lobby senators on behalf of an Islamic charity that authorities said was secretly sending funds to terrorists” (AP).
James R. Hobbs, Siljander’s attorney, said in a statement Wednesday, “Mark Siljander vehemently denies the allegations in the indictment…. [he is] internationally recognized for his good faith attempts to bridge the gap between Christian and Muslim communities worldwide.”
The Islamic American Relief Agency (IARA) is accused of paying Siljander $50,000. That money was later found to have been stolen from the U.S. Agency for International Development. The IARA is also accused of using stolen funds to support al Qaeda in Afghanistan, including $130,000 that supposedly went to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who the Justice Department claims “has vowed to engage in a holy war against the United States and international troops in Afghanistan.” The organization has been under investigation since 2004, when the U.S. Treasury Department designated it as a “suspected fundraiser for terrorists.” Shereef Akeel, the IARA’s attorney, defended the organization, saying, “For four years I have not seen a single piece of a document that shows anyone did anything wrong.”
According to the indictment, in 2004 the IARA paid Siljander “to lobby the Senate Finance Committee to remove the charity from the panel’s list of suspected terror fundraisers.” Siljander denies that he did any lobbying; claiming that the money the IARA paid him was a donation for a book he was writing about the relationship between Islam and Christianity.
