FBI Probing Man With Ties to Islamic Charity

BOSTON (AP) - Prosecutors have asked a judge to halt citizenship proceedings for a businessman who headed an Islamic charity so the FBI can continue investigating whether he lied about his ties to organizations that include one linked to Osama bin Laden. snip

When Muntasser applied for permanent U.S. residency in 1992, he listed among the organizations he had been involved with "Alkifah Refugee Center, Boston Chapter."

Known by various spellings, the al-Khifa Refugee Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., was a recruitment office for Mektab al Khidmat, or MAK, which bin Laden co-founded in the 1980s to recruit mujahideen to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan, according to an independent commission that investigated the 2001 terrorist attacks.

The U.S. government has called MAK the "precursor organization to al-Qaida." Some people involved in the first World Trade Center bombing were connected to the Brooklyn center. President Bush designated MAK/al-Khifa a global terrorist organization soon after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

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