El-Sayed’s mother worked for group designated by US as supporting terrorism: report

El-Sayed’s birth mother, Fatten Fathy Elkomy, worked for the Islamic American Relief Agency (IARA) from 1999 until at least 2004, according to documents reported by The Midwesterner. The Treasury Department designated IARA in October 2004, blocking its assets over alleged connections to terrorist organizations.

The organization, also known internationally as the Islamic African Relief Agency, presented itself as a humanitarian group assisting orphans, impoverished communities, and people living in conflict zones.

However, the Treasury Department alleged that branches of the organization had provided money directly to bin Laden. “Information available to the U.S. shows that the overseas branches IARA provided hundreds of thousands of dollars to UBL in 1999,” the Treasury Department said at the time.

Federal officials also alleged that the organization’s international network provided support benefiting Hamas and the Taliban. IARA-USA was prosecuted over sanctions violations involving money transferred to Iraq. The organization eventually pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate US sanctions by transferring nearly $1.4 million to Iraq. It agreed to dissolve in 2016.

“The plea agreement acknowledges that, due to its designation as a specially designated global terrorist and the subsequent blocking of all its property, IARA has no funds readily available to it to pay any fine,” the US Attorney’s Office said when announcing the plea.

Elkomy publicly defended her work with the organization after the Treasury designation, telling the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 2004 that her role involved helping vulnerable children. “I’ve been working there serving orphans and children with at least one deceased parent, and it breaks my heart they’re not going to get any help,” Elkomy said.

El-Sayed’s parents separated after immigrating to the United States and later remarried. According to The Midwesterner, El-Sayed has frequently discussed his father, Mohamed El-Sayed, and stepmother, Jacqueline El-Sayed, during his political career while rarely publicly discussing his birth mother.

Elkomy later returned to the Middle East before moving back to the United States and currently works as a nurse practitioner in Missouri, according to the reports.

El-Sayed’s father-in-law, Dr. Jukaku Tayeb, has held leadership positions with CAIR-Michigan and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). Both organizations were named as unindicted co-conspirators in the federal government’s 2007 prosecution of the Holy Land Foundation, a case that resulted in convictions for funneling millions of dollars to Hamas. ISNA has also been identified in federal court records as having historical ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.