American Muslim Council (AMC)

American Muslim Council (AMC)

Overview

* Its Chairman, Abdulrahman Alamoudi, was imprisoned for terror-related convictions in 2003
* Supported Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah
* Defended terror suspect and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative Sami Al-Arian
* Now defunct


Established in 1990 as a charity designed to protect the political and civil rights of Muslims in the United States, the American Muslim Council (AMC) developed rapidly into one of the most prominent Islamic organizations in the United States.

In 1999, a number of AMC’s board members and former staffers helped to establish the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID).

AMC’s importance declined after its founder and former Chairman Abdurahman Alamoudi was imprisoned in October 2003 on terrorism-related charges. Alamoudi was a supporter of such terrorist groups as Hamas and Hezbollah, and of such notorious individuals as Musa Abu Marzook (founder of the Islamic Association for Palestine, or IAP) and Omar Abdel Rahman (leader of the Islamic Group). Alamoudi also conducted business with Libya’s “World Islamic Call Society,” a sponsor of terrorism. Not long after Alamoudi’s arrest, AMC essentially ceased all its operations.

AMC’s ties to Islamic terror were not limited to Alamoudi. In December 2000, the organization’s Dallas chapter presented an award to IAP official Ghassan Dahduli, who would be deported eleven months later because of his connections to al Qaeda and Hamas.

In January 2002, AMC’s then-Executive Director Eric Vickers publicly defended University of South Florida professor Sami Al-Arian, whose involvement with the terrorist group Palestinian Islamic Jihad had recently been uncovered. In June 2002, Vickers was asked on Fox News and MSNBC to denounce Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, and al Qaeda by name. He refused, asserting instead that al Qaeda was “involved in a resistance movement” against outside aggressors.

In 2003 Vickers was replaced as AMC Executive Director by M. Ali Khan. The organization’s subsequent President and Vice President were Raied N. Abdullah and Nedzib Sacrebey, respectively.

In March 2002, federal authorities raided the Virginia house and business of AMC Board member Jamal Barzinji in an anti-terrorism investigation. Moreover, according to a U.S. prosecutor, AMC Advisory Board member Soliman Biheiri served as “the Muslim Brotherhood‘s financial toehold” in the United States.

In November 2002, AMC publicly urged American Muslims to give money to Islamic relief organizations to aid refugees who had fled their homes in response to America’s post-9/11 invasion of Afghanistan. Included in AMC’s list of recommended charities was the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF), whose assets had recently been seized by the FBI and the Treasury Department because of its activities as a fundraising front for Hamas. AMC, which lauded HLF for its “strong global vision,” called Bush’s action against the charity “particularly disturbing … unjust and counterproductive.” AMC also exhorted Muslims to send money to the Global Relief Foundation, another charity that was shut down by the U.S. government for having “provided assistance to Usama Bin Ladin, the al Qaeda Network, and other known terrorist groups.”

In February 2003, AMC formed a coalition with the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the American Muslim Alliance, and the Muslim Public Affairs Council to repeal and amend the Patriot Act — alleging that it violated the civil liberties of Americans. AMC also endorsed the Civil Liberties Restoration Act of 2004, which was designed to roll back, in the name of protecting vital freedoms, national-security policies that had been adopted after the 9/11 attacks. In the aftermath of 9/11, AMC’s website linked to a document titled “Know Your Rights,” which advised: “Don’t Talk to the FBI.”

AMC was a member organization of the National Coalition to Protect Political Freedom (NCPPF), established in 1997 by Sami Al-Arian to litigate against U.S. counter-terrorism laws, to provide legal counsel to terrorist suspects, and to help overturn terrorist convictions. Fellow NCPPF members included the National Conference of Black Lawyers, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and the National Lawyers Guild.

Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin (the former H. Rap Brown), a one-time President of AMC’s Executive Board, has been listed twice on the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” list. Today he is in prison, serving a life sentence without parole for murdering a policeman.

Another notable former AMC member is Bill Aossey, Jr., who once sat on the organization’s Board of Directors and is currently a representative of Muslim Youth Camps of America.

AMC created the National Islamic Prison Foundation, which has contributed to the proselytizing by radical Wahhabist Imams in U.S. prisons. 

AMC was a longtime supporter of Sudan’s National Islamic Front (NIF) government, which was (and still is) on the State Department’s list of terrorist organizations. In 1992, AMC hosted the NIF leader during his visit to the United States.

The American Muslim Council’s national headquarters were located in Chicago. The organization also maintained branch offices in California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

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