Saudi High Commission for Relief of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Founded1993; 31 years ago (1993)
FounderSalman of Saudi Arabia
Dissolved2001; 23 years ago (2001)
Area served
Bosnia and Herzegovina

The Saudi High Commission for Relief of Bosnia and Herzegovina was an aid agency operating in Bosnia and Herzegovina funded by Saudi Arabia.[1] Set up in 1993 during the Bosnian War to assist Bosnian Muslims, it was forced to close in 2001 after being linked to Islamist terrorism.[1]

Founded by Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz with support from King Fahd, it reportedly spent $600 million in aid,[2] and was awarded the King Faisal International Prize in 2001.[3] In 2001, after the September 11 attacks, the commission's Sarajevo office was raided by NATO forces, who found material relating to those attacks and the bombings of USS Cole and US embassies in Africa, along with materials for forging US State Department badges. An employee, Sabir Mahfouz Lahmar, was detained in Camp X-Ray for an alleged plot to attack the US embassy in Sarajevo[4] and released without charge in 2009.[5] In 2002 U.S. authorities said $46 million of the commission's funds was unaccounted for.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b David Pallister "Terrorist material found in Sarajevo charity raid" The Guardian 23 February 2002. Retrieved 21 November 2013
  2. ^ Saudi Charity Dropped From Suit over Sept. 11 Attacks Law
  3. ^ "King Faisal International Prize". Archived from the original on 11 August 2013.
  4. ^ a b Harvard International Review: Eradicating Evil Archived 20 June 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ William Glaberson (20 November 2008). "Judge Declares Five Detainees Held Illegally". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 May 2010.
Categories