Imprisoned U.S. Muslim Brotherhood Leader Testifies That Muslim American Society Is Muslim Brotherhood

The Investigative Project has reported that imprisoned U.S. Muslim Brotherhood leader Abdurrahman Alamoudi has testified that the Muslim American Society (MAS) is, in fact, a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. According to the IP report:

IPT News March 14, 2012 The Muslim American Society (MAS) was created as a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in America, and continues to serve that function today, a man who once was one of the most influential Muslim political leaders testified in a Virginia courtroom Wednesday. ”Everyone knows that MAS is the Muslim Brotherhood,” Abdurrahman Alamoudi told federal investigators in a January interview from a federal correctional facility. On the witness stand, Alamoudi claimed not to remember everything he said, but accepted that he had made the statement after government lawyers showed him records of the interview. Alamoudi promised “to testify truthfully and completely at any grand juries, trials or other proceedings in the United States” as part of a 2004 guilty plea. He admitted engaging in illegal transactions with Libya and facilitating a Libyan plot to assassinate then-Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah. His testimony Wednesday came as part of a civil suit brought by Jamal Abusamhadaneh against the government demanding he be naturalized as an American citizen. His application was denied after officials learned he lied about being associated with the Muslim American Society, failing to disclose the association on his naturalization application. In a subsequent interview, an immigration official further pressed him to reveal his connection to MAS or the Brotherhood, but he repeatedly denied ties to each. Alamoudi, who had signed a work visa for Abusamhadaneh, was the original source for information about the plaintiff’s Brotherhood ties. Abusamhadaneh claims he was following the advice of his attorney at the time, Ashraf Nubani, who told him affiliations with religious organizations do not need to be disclosed to the government. He also says he never was a dues paying MAS member, although he acknowledges attending many of the organization’s events. Nubani testified that neither the Muslim Brotherhood nor MAS were political organizations, so he didn’t think his client had any reason to disclose such ties, were they to exist. Rather, he claimed that both organizations were simply non-violent religious organizations that believed “Islam should not be confined to one aspect of life” and “in Islam church and state aren’t separate.”"

In July 2011, a post reported that a federal judge had reduced the prison sentence for Alamoudi by six years. Alamoudi had been convicted for his role in a Libyan plot to assassinate King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. A Hudson Institute report had earlier identified Alamoudi as a leader of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood and explains how a 1988 U.S. Brotherhood document included him as one of the heads of its committees:

The same spreadsheet identifies a number of committees, focusing on such issues as finance, politics, social issues, curricula, security, and Palestine. Those identified as heads of committees may include individuals mentioned throughout this report: Mohamed Hanooti, Jamal Badawi, Bassam Othman, Abdurahman Alamoudi, and Hammad Zaki.The spreadsheet also identifies several organizations as being part of the U.S. MB. These groups were AMSS, AMSE, IMA, ISNA, MAYA, MSA, MISQ, and NAIT.

The Hudson report goes on to explain how Alamoudi played a role in important U.S. Muslim Brotherhood organizations such as the Muslim Student Association (MAS) and  Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) before going on to form the American Muslim Council (AMC) which would play a leading role in U.S. Brotherhood affairs:

ISNA announced in November 1987 that it had formed is own PAC (ISNA-PAC), with Abdurahman Alamoudi as the “leading force” of the ISNA-PAC. Alamoudi had been the ISNA regional representative for the Washington, DC, metropolitan area (and was previously president of MSA and executive assistant to the president of SAAR). He would later go on to form the American Muslim Council (AMC) with Elkadi’s father-in-law Abu-Saud in July 1990. The AMC was designed to encourage Muslims to become involved in politics and other civic activities. Alamoudi immediately began serving as the group’s director.

The AMC largely disappeared after Alamoudi’s conviction.