Democratic Senate candidate El-Sayed's mother worked for Hamas, Taliban-linked group

The birth mother of Democratic US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed worked for a designated terror-financing group, The Midwesterner reported Tuesday, a finding independently verified by The Jerusalem Post.

Fatten Fathy Elkomy, El-Sayed's mother, was employed by the Islamic American/African Relief Agency (IARA) from 1999 to 2004. While IARA claimed to provide aid in conflict zones, the US Department of the Treasury designated the organization in October 2004 for its joint programs with an institute supporting Taliban fighters and for moving funds to the Palestinian territories for terrorist activities, notably serving as a conduit to Hamas.

Further Treasury revelations linked IARA's international offices to Maktab Al-Khidamat (MK), an organization co-founded by Osama Bin Laden and the precursor to al-Qaida. These offices reportedly provided direct financial support to Bin Laden, and a former lieutenant of his led IARA's operations in Afghanistan.

Evidence surfaced in a 2010 court filing for USA v IARA, detailing the organization's illegal transfer of funds to Iraq. Elkomy was mentioned 14 times within 945 exhibits, relating to eight wire transfers, five recorded phone calls, and a specific transfer request of over $24,000 to IARA's Iraq office. Her brother, El-Sayed's uncle, was also mentioned dozens of times. Neither Elkomy nor her brother were charged as co-conspirators, and while no individuals were charged with terrorism, IARA pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate financial sanctions and dissolved in 2016.