Michigan Senate hopeful linked to mother’s work for designated terrorist charity
Campaign donor Jukaku Tayeb is Abdul El-Sayed’s father-in-law, and El-Sayed’s mother, Fatten Fathy Elkomy, previously worked for IARA-USA, a charity the Treasury labeled a terrorist front.
Abdul El-Sayed’s Senate campaign has drawn scrutiny over family links to organizations accused of supporting terrorism. His father-in-law, Jukaku Tayeb, serves on the board of CAIR-Michigan, which the article claims functions as a Hamas front. More controversially, El-Sayed’s mother, Fatten Fathy Elkomy, worked for the Islamic American Relief Agency (IARA-USA) between 1999 and 2002, handling large overseas money transfers.
The Treasury Department designated the Sudan-based network behind IARA-USA in 2004 for financing Osama bin Laden, Hamas, the Taliban and al-Qaida. In 2016 the charity pleaded guilty to moving almost $1.4 million to Iraq in breach of sanctions, with Elkomy allegedly facilitating many of those transactions. The article notes that CAIR donated over $100,000 to El-Sayed’s campaign and endorsed him, suggesting a pattern of extremist support. It concludes by urging authorities to investigate the candidate’s connections and consider legal action.
Why it matters
Voters need to know a candidate’s family ties to a charity designated for terrorist financing.
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