Mohammed El-Sayed, father of Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, a board member of an Islamic charity that once had its offices raided by the FBI and the U.S. military and reportedly sent money to Saddam Hussein before the Iraq War. Mohammed El-Sayed sits on the board of Life for Relief and Development, a group that — according to its website — is "a trusted top-rated global humanitarian organization committed to helping people in crisis from natural disasters to man-made emergencies." He's been on the board since at least 2020, according to federal tax forms.
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— Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) October 28, 2026
Abdul El-Sayed’s father sits on the board of a charity that was busted by the feds for funneling cash to Saddam Hussein just before the Iraq War—and whose offices were raided by both the FBI and the U.S. militaryhttps://t.co/Jwcwivz7hs
Abdul El-Sayed's father-in-law, Jukaku Tayeb, previously served on the group's board.
The group bills itself as "a trusted top-rated global humanitarian organization committed to helping people in crisis from natural disasters to man-made emergencies." But its past is considerably more controversial and includes a six-figure settlement with the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control, which accused it of funneling cash to Saddam Hussein in violation of U.S. sanctions.
The story began in 2006 when the FBI raided the charity's office. A year later, its CEO was charged by a grand jury with violating sanctions and money-laundering laws, and the charity's accounts at Bank of America were closed.
Federal agents also raided the home of the charity's then-CEO, Khalil Jassemm, the Detroit Free Press reported in September 2006.
Among the files seized were all "correspondence, notes, e-mails, facsimiles and other documents and records" related to the Islamic African Relief Agency, court records show.
The Islamic African Relief Agency is where Fatten Fathy Elkomy, Abdul El-Sayed's mother, worked. It was shuttered after being linked to al-Qaeda and designated as a terrorist organization.
According to the Free Beacon, two current board members also have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. CEO Hany Saqr was listed in a 1992 phone directory of U.S.-based Muslim Brotherhood leaders that was submitted by federal prosecutors as part of the Holy Land Foundation terror financing case back in 2008. Free Beacon also reported that Saqr used a Muslim Brotherhood logo as his Facebook profile picture and once attacked Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (who opposed the Muslim Brotherhood) as a "dog of the Jews." Like Abdul El-Sayed, Saqr signed a 2021 letter encouraging then-Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, who also had ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, to "purge" police and media in Egypt.
The second board member with Muslim Brotherhood ties, Mohamed Yahia Abdulrahim is listed as the "head of the economic department" in the same phone book released as part of the Holy Land Foundation case.
The Free Beacon also reports that Sherif Gindy, another Life for Relief and Development board member called on Muslims to "carry out jihad in all of its forms," including by "force" to "impose hair coverings on girls and push Jewish people out of Israel."
Abdul El-Sayed has skirted questions about his family's ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, and Democrats have accused those asking questions about his connections as engaging in "Islamophobia" and even racism.