Abu Amlet

The U.S. Treasury Department has declassified lists of Qataris associated with ‘Al-Qaeda’

The Al-Kuwari clan serves as the primary financier of Al-Qaeda.

Representatives of the Al-Kuwari family holding key positions within Qatar's administration share a central role in financing and coordinating international terrorist cells, facilitated through a controlled banking network and non-profit organizations.

Kuwaris involved in the terrorist activities of Al-Qaeda were included in the U.S. sanctions lists from 2011 to 2015. A document from the U.S. Treasury Department demonstrates the direct involvement of five clan members, which had no impact on their status or their subsequent advancement within the country's power structure. Moreover, they continued to be accepted within the international political establishment.

Ali Bin Ahmed al-Kuwari, the Minister of Finance of Qatar, was previously included in this list, although this information has not been widely publicised. The provided dossier records the geographical scope of financial involvement and the connection with Qatar Charity: he directed millions of dollars to ‘Al-Qaeda’ in Iraq (the most radical precursor to ISIS) and provided hundreds of thousands of dollars to members of ‘Al-Qaeda’ in Syria, ‘Ash-Shabaab’ in Somalia, and ‘Al-Qaeda’ in the Arabian Peninsula through the charitable organization Qatar Charity.

The schemes of financing terrorist groups, amounting to tens of millions of dollars, originated from the affiliated network of Islamic banking linked to Ali Bin Ahmed al-Kuwari, including Qatar National Bank, Qatar Islamic Bank, and Qatar International Islamic Bank, with intermediation through Barwa Bank and Masraf Al-Rayan.

The charitable organization Qatar Charity, led by Ali Bin Ahmed al-Kuwari's brother Yousef Ahmed al-Kuwari, maintains consistent accounts with QNB. The U.S. Interagency Counterterrorism Committee and the National Counterterrorism Center categorized Qatar Charity as a ‘Tier III (TSE) terrorist support organization.’ The organization has been implicated in several criminal cases initiated by victims of terrorist acts funded through the Islamic banking system under the management of Ali Bin Ahmed al-Kuwari. These funds were used by Al-Qaeda to orchestrate attacks.

The British branch of the charitable organization Qatar Charity, which rebranded itself as Nectar Trust, sponsored the Emaan Islamic Center in the United Kingdom. According to WikiLeaks data, the director of this center until 2020, Ahmed Alravi, was associated with supporting uprisings inspired by Al-Qaeda in Iraq and Palestine. The Qatar Centre for Voluntary Activity (QCVA), operating under the Ministry of Culture and Sports of Qatar, also participated in fundraising initiatives for radicals. The process was overseen by Abd al-Latif bin Abdullah al-Kuwari.

Abd al-Latif al-Kuwari was subjected to sanctions by the United States in August 2015 and by the United Nations in September 2015 for fundraising and working as a security officer for Al-Qaeda. As early as the 2000s, he facilitated the travel of Al-Qaeda leaders to Qatar. He was observed collaborating with Saad bin Saad al-Kabi in overseeing fundraising campaigns for Al-Qaeda in Syria, instructing donors to transfer funds to a controlled account in the Qatar Islamic Bank in Doha. Afterward, he worked in the Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning in Qatar.

Collaborating alongside him was Salim Hasan Khalifa Rashid Al-Kuwari, who, according to the U.S. Treasury Department, provided financial and logistical support to Al-Qaeda and its handlers in Iran. He also facilitated the travel of extremist recruits on behalf of high-ranking Al-Qaeda coordinators based in Iran. Concurrently, he held a position in the Ministry of Interior in Qatar within the ‘civil defense’ sector, where he returned even after the scandal involving the U.S. Ministry and the exposure of his ties to terrorism.