US to seize mosques linked to Iran
US Federal prosecutors are seeking to take over four US mosques and a New York City skyscraper owned by a Muslim organisation suspected of being controlled by the Iranian government, in one of the biggest counter-terrorism seizures in American history.
Prosecutors on Thursday filed a civil complaint in federal court against the Alavi Foundation, seeking the forfeiture of more than $500m in assets.
The assets include bank accounts; Islamic centres consisting of schools and mosques in New York, Maryland, California and Houston; more than 100 acres in Virginia; and a 36-story Manhattan office tower.
Confiscating the properties would be a sharp blow against Iran, which the US government has accused of bankrolling terrorism and trying to build a nuclear bomb.
John D. Winter, the Alavi Foundation’s lawyer, said it intends to litigate the case and prevail. He said the foundation has been co-operating with the government’s investigation for the better part of a year.
“Obviously the foundation is disappointed that the government has decided to bring this action,” Mr Winter said.
It is extremely rare for US law enforcement authorities to seize a house of worship, a step fraught with questions about the First Amendment right to freedom of religion.
The action against the Shiite Muslim mosques is sure to inflame relations between the US government and American Muslims, many of whom fear a backlash after last week’s Fort Hood shooting rampage, blamed on a Muslim American major.
“Whatever the details of the government’s case against the owners of the mosques, as a civil rights organisation we are concerned that the seizure of American houses of worship could have a chilling effect on the religious freedom of citizens of all faiths and may send a negative message to Muslims worldwide,” said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
It is unclear what will happen to the properties if the government ultimately prevails. But the government typically sells properties it seizes through forfeiture and sometimes distributes the money to crime victims.
US attorney’s office spokeswoman Yusill Scribner said there are no allegations of any wrongdoing on the part of the tenants or occupants of the properties, which will remain open.
Prosecutors said the Alavi Foundation managed the office tower on behalf of the Iranian government and, working with a front company known as Assa Corp, illegally funnelled millions in rental income to Iran’s state-owned Bank Melli.
A US Treasury official has accused Bank Melli of providing support for Iran’s nuclear programme, and it is illegal in the United States to do business with the bank.
US officials have long suspected the foundation was an arm of the Iranian government. A 97-page complaint details involvement in foundation business by several top Iranian officials, including the deputy prime minister and ambassadors to the United Nations.
“For two decades, the Alavi Foundation’s affairs have been directed by various Iranian officials, including Iranian ambassadors to the United Nations, in violation of a series of American laws,” US Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement.
There were no raids as part of the forfeiture action on Thursday. The government is simply required to post notices of the civil complaint on the properties.
As prosecutors outlined their allegations against Alavi, the Islamic centres and the schools they run carried on with normal activity. The mosques’ leaders had no immediate comment.
Parents lined up in their cars to pick up their children at the schools within the Islamic Education Centre of Greater Houston and the Islamic Education Centre in Rockville, Maryland. No notices of the forfeiture action were posted at either place as of late Thursday.
At the Islamic Institute of New York, a mosque and school in Queens, two US marshals rang a doorbell repeatedly, taped a forfeiture notice to the window and left a large document on the ground. A group of men came out and took the document after the marshals left.
