International Islamic Relief Organization

International Organization for Relief, Welfare and Development (Welfare; الهيئة العالمية للإغاثة والرعاية والتنمية), formerly known as the International Islamic Relief Organization or International Islamic Relief Organization of Saudi Arabia (IIROSA), is a charity based in Saudi Arabia founded by the Muslim World League in 1978. It is a full member of The Conference of NGOs, where it serves on the board. The IIRO is included in a list of some of the UNHCR's major NGO partners and has been involved in many joint programmes with UN Agencies and intergovernmental (such as the World Health Organization) and non governmental organisations. It was the first Islamic NGO to gain observer status with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). It used also to be a member of the International Humanitarian City based in Dubai, UAE. Following the 9/11 terror attacks, it was alleged that one of Osama bin Laden's brothers in law had utilised the IIRO Philippines and Indonesian branches to work with terrorist organizations worldwide, and that a brother of Al Qaeda official Ayman al Zawahiri working for the IIRO in Albania had brought a number of members of the terror group Egyptian Islamic Jihad to work for IIRO in that European country. IIRO denies any wrongdoing. (ECOSOC) and links to Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) among many others. IIRO maintains an up to date website in both Arabic and English. In 2012/2013 approximately SAR 127 million riyals was spent on 1,294 projects which benefited 7,056,349 individuals in 58 countries. IIROSA's seven main programs received:
Emergency Relief Program: SAR 54.5 million riyals. Community Development & Seasonal Projects Program: SAR 25 million riyals. Educational Welfare Program: SAR 12.4 million riyals. Social Welfare Program: SAR 11.8 million riyals
Engineering Department: SAR 9.9 million riyals. Health Care Program: SAR 7.8 million riyals. Holy Qur'an and Da'wa Program: SAR 4 million riyals. IIRO activities during this period were based in 58 countries, as follows:

Middle Eastern and Asian Countries: Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Jordan, Syria, Palestine, Afghanistan, United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Philippines, China, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen. African Countries: Uganda, Chad, Tanzania, Comoros, South Africa, Lesotho, South Sudan, Mozambique, Niger, Benin, Djibouti, Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Cameroon, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Togo, Gambia, Ghana Kenya, Mali, Egypt, Mauritania and Nigeria. European Countries: Germany, Switzerland, Albania, Bulgaria, Bosnia Herzegovina, Kosova and Macedonia. South American Countries: Brazil.

In the wake of the 9/11 destruction of the World Trade Centre twin towers, it was alleged that one of Osama bin Laden's brothers in law (Mohammed Jamal Khalifa who was subsequently murdered in Madagascar in 2007) utilised the IIRO Philippines and Indonesian Branches to work with terrorist organizations in the Philippines, Indonesia and elsewhere. According to researcher Zachary Abuza, Khalifa established several charities and Islamic organizations in the Philippines ostensibly for charity and religious work but which channeled money to extremist groups. in early 1995.) A Philippines intelligence report claimed that while the IIRO "claims to be a relief institution" it "is being utilized by foreign extremists as a pipeline through which funding for the local extremists" travels. On August 3, 2006, the U. S. Treasury Department designated the Philippines and Indonesian branch offices of IIRO as terrorist entities. – and then after a petition had been made to the UN Ombudsperson, delisted them in 2014. At the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, Steven Emerson, identified IIRO as a major radical Islamic institution, in part, "responsible for fueling Islamic militancy around the world", and, Rohan Gunaratna, Institute for Defense and Strategic Studies, Singapore, stated, " Mohammed Jamal Khalifa is the brother in law of Osama bin Laden. He arrived in the Philippines in 1988 and he became the founding director of the International Islamic Relief Organization of Saudi Arabia. He used the IIRO to funnel al Qaeda funds to the Abu Sayyaf group and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front." As well as being designated by the US Treasury in 2006, The Philippines and Indonesian branch offices of IIRO were also delisted by the US Treasury Department on the 16 August 2016. and several Egyptian Islamist accused of terrorist activities were arrested in 1998, particularly after the 1998 United States embassy bombings. It has also been alleged that Abd al Hamid Sulaiman Muhammed al Mujil, who was the regional manager of the eastern office of IIRO in Saudi Arabia between 1986 and 2006 was involved in financing terrorism via both the Philippines and the Indonesian branches of IIRO. The accuracy, reliability and veracity of this accusations has always been strongly denied both by IIRO and by Abd al Hamid Sulaiman Muhammed al Mujil – who after presenting a petition to the UN Ombudsperson was removed from the UN Security Council Al Qaida Sanctions Committee's Sanctions List on the 1 July 2013, more than 6 years after he had ceased to be employed by IIRO. IIRO has always maintained that it has only ever been solely concerned with providing humanitarian aid wherever it is most needed irrespective of ethnic background, nationality, social status or belief.

In 2009, IIRO petitioned the Security Council for removal of these two branches from the list in January 2010, and as a result on January 6, 2014, the Security Council Committee removed the IIRO offices in Indonesia and the Philippines from this Al Qaida Sanctions List after concluding its consideration of the delisting requests for these names submitted through the Office of the UN Ombudsperson established pursuant to Security Council resolution 1904 (2009), and after considering the Comprehensive Reports of the Ombudsperson on these delisting requests. As a result of the UN delisting, the EU also delisted the Indonesia and Philippines Branch Offices of IIRO. and the United Kingdom HM Treasury Financial Sanctions Notice (dated 14 January 2014) confirmed the deletion of IIRO Philippines and Indonesia branches from its consolidated list of persons and entities having a connection with Al Qaida. None of the member states represented on the Committee appears to have objected to the de listing. Subsequently, the Philippines and Indonesian branch offices of IIRO were delisted by the US Treasury Department on the 16 August 2016.