The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump\u00a0imposed restrictions on the international Muslim Brotherhood organization\u00a0by cutting off one of the group\u2019s main sources of funding\u2014including individuals and entities\u2014in a move that observers viewed as a blow to the financial structure of its global networks.<\/p>\n
A few days ago, the\u00a0U.S. Department of the Treasury\u00a0confirmed the imposition of sanctions on the\u00a0leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mahmoud Al-Abyari, a resident of Great Britain, along with three individuals and three entities that provided financial and material support to Hamas.<\/p>\n
The sanctions targeted two organizations in\u00a0Indonesia and Gaza, which Washington accused of raising funds under the guise of charitable work and transferring them to the movement\u2019s military wing, as well as a company in\u00a0Turkey, its owner, and shareholders, for transferring hundreds of thousands of dollars and providing traditional and digital financial services to\u00a0Hamas.<\/p>\n
The Trump administration and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent\u00a0pledged to continue relentlessly pursuing terrorists and those who finance them. Whether they operate under the guise of charities, businesses, or secret financial networks, anyone who supports Hamas will be exposed, sanctioned, and held accountable.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Treasury Department\u2019s statement\u00a0noted that the measures taken further reveal a multi-tiered model through which entities associated with the\u00a0Muslim Brotherhood\u00a0operate, as well as organizations that serve merely as fronts for the activities of the international organization\u2019s branches, with the aim of managing cross-border fundraising channels, using charitable fronts and secret banking networks to transfer money and conceal its sources across multiple countries.<\/p>\n
The Treasury Department said it took action following cooperation and coordination with the\u00a0FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, all of which contributed to uncovering key elements of the Brotherhood\u2019s financial structure.<\/p>\n
Sensitive File<\/p>\n
Intelligence analyst Tony Seruga\u00a0says in a post on his X account, commenting on the U.S. sanctions: The U.S. sanctions bring an end to the era of deception practiced by the Muslim Brotherhood after its frontmen and money-laundering networks were hit with harsh sanctions; pointing to the dismantling of\u00a0a network stretching from London to Gaza and Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Seruga warns that following a field investigation by investigators, banks are legally obligated to freeze any funds suspected of financing the Brotherhood, and any donor considering sending money to one of these sanctioned entities should be aware that the U.S. government already has an open file on them.<\/p>\n
The significance of the U.S. decision is clear in an interview with\u00a0analyst Kamel Kamel during an appearance on the Egyptian channel Extra News,\u00a0during which he confirmed that the Muslim Brotherhood built a financial empire over decades based on cross-border economic networks, external institutions, and companies, in addition to financial deductions imposed on members.<\/p>\n
Kamel emphasizes that the financial file has remained one of the most sensitive within the group, as external funding networks and economic investments have been a major pillar for the organization\u2019s continued activity over the years, although these resources have simultaneously become a direct cause of worsening differences among leaders, with accusations flying back and forth regarding the seizure and management of funds outside of regulations.<\/p>\n
The Third Man<\/p>\n
As for the Brotherhood\u2019s leader, Mahmoud Al-Abyari\u2014the primary target of U.S. sanctions\u2014a report on the Hafrat platform\u00a0states that Washington\u2019s recent sanctions against Al-Abyari have reopened the issue of the organization\u2019s financial structure by highlighting the figures who manage funding networks and cross-border activities away from the political front.<\/p>\n
The platform believes that the content of the decision indicates that the focus is no longer solely on traditional organizational structures, but\u00a0extends to those who manage the movement of funds and resources,\u00a0which represent one of the most important elements for the organization\u2019s survival and continuity.<\/p>\n
But in general terms, the U.S. decision reflects\u00a0a clear move to dismantle the Muslim Brotherhood\u2019s financial network, especially since Washington\u2019s action is not directed at any particular individual so much as it seeks to besiege and dismantle an integrated and secretive cross-border financing structure. Al-Abyari manages the secret cells that carry out money transfers through multinational companies in Europe and Africa.<\/p>\n
Returning to the U.S. Treasury Department\u2019s statement, the UK-based Brotherhood leader, Mahmoud Al-Abyari, is one of the Muslim Brotherhood\u2019s top leaders, who was previously designated by the\u00a0Office of Foreign Assets Control\u00a0last January as a specially designated global terrorist group.<\/p>\n
According to the statement, Al-Abyari serves as secretary-general of the Muslim Brotherhood and has a long history of holding leadership positions within the group; however, it is worth noting that he supported the collection of donations for institutions that the United States has already placed on sanctions lists, and he also worked with groups affiliated with the organization to provide financial support and assistance to Hamas.<\/p>\n
Al-Abiari is an Austrian citizen, was born on June 5, 1952, and is nicknamed the\u00a0\u201cmysterious man within the organization.\u201d\u00a0He assumes administrative and financial responsibilities for the Brotherhood in Europe and Africa and oversees the activities of the group\u2019s companies and institutions under the authority of the international organization. He also oversees the sponsorship of group members fleeing Egypt to other countries, particularly in Europe and Latin America.<\/p>\n
Media reports indicate that Al-Abiari is responsible for the group\u2019s postal system and for conveying instructions and assignments issued by the General Guide\u2014or acting on his behalf\u2014to the rest of the Brotherhood\u2019s leaders through a special group comprising a close circle of leaders.<\/p>\n
What do these sanctions mean?<\/p>\n
The U.S. Treasury\u00a0states that, under these sanctions, \u201call property and financial interests of the listed individuals and entities within the United States or under the possession or control of U.S. persons are frozen and must be reported to the Office of Foreign Assets Control.\u201d<\/p>\n
It also refers to the freezing of any entity owned, directly or indirectly, by one or more listed individuals at 50% or more, stating that \u201cexcept in authorized or exempt cases, the Office\u2019s regulations generally prohibit all transactions conducted by U.S. persons or carried out within or through the United States if they relate to the property or interests of sanctioned individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Washington warns\u00a0that violation of U.S. sanctions may lead to the imposition of civil or criminal penalties on U.S. or foreign persons, and civil fines may be imposed under the principle of strict liability, confirming that financial institutions and other entities may also be subject to sanctions if they engage in certain transactions or activities with listed persons or entities, including the provision or receipt of funds, goods, or services for their benefit.<\/p>\n
\u201cNon-U.S. persons are prohibited from causing or conspiring to cause U.S. persons to violate sanctions, whether knowingly or unknowingly, or from engaging in conduct intended to circumvent U.S. sanctions,\u201d and it also warns that \u201cconducting certain transactions with listed persons or entities may expose foreign financial institutions to secondary sanctions, as the\u00a0Office of Foreign Assets Control\u00a0has the authority to prohibit or impose strict conditions on the opening or maintenance of correspondent or payment accounts with foreign financial institutions that knowingly facilitate or conduct large transactions for the benefit of sanctioned persons.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last January,\u00a0the United States announced the inclusion of the branches of the terrorist organization the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Lebanon, and Jordan on the global terrorism list,\u00a0in a move that extends beyond its legal dimension to broader political and media dimensions, reflecting Washington\u2019s transition from a phase of restraint to one of open confrontation with the transnational organization, and paving the way for a coordinated media campaign to support this process and enhance its legitimacy at the regional and international levels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump\u00a0imposed restrictions on the international Muslim Brotherhood organization\u00a0by cutting off one of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":798017,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,60628,338640,338641,3,27990,338639,1049,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-798016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-estados-unidos","tag-etats-unis","tag-le-royaume-uni","tag-news","tag-portada","tag-reino-unido","tag-united-kingdom","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=798016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/798017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=798016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=798016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=798016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}