Olajuwon stands by his donations

WASHINGTON — Hakeem Olajuwon said Tuesday he was funding legitimate humanitarian projects when he gave tens of thousands of dollars to charities which the government later accused of having links to al-Qaida and other terror groups.

But Olajuwon refused to say whether he supports the militant version of Islam espoused by several of the groups he supported through his Houston mosque.

The former NBA MVP held a conference call with reporters Tuesday to respond to a report by The Associated Press last week revealing his mosque gave more than $80,000 to charities the U.S. government later shut down because of alleged terrorism ties. He said the news coverage unfairly suggested he supports terrorism.

"I have difficulty accepting when my name can be linked to anything like terrorism or supporting it," Olajuwon said from Jordan, where he is studying Arabic.

Olajuwon said he was careful to make sure his mosque's donations went to the humanitarian projects promised by the groups getting the money. He said he was comfortable making the donations because the groups had not yet been shut down by U.S. authorities.

"We are always conscious, to make sure that ... the money goes to the work," Olajuwon said. "What we don't have control over, now, is to say, 'OK, are you suspected of linking to terrorists?' How would we know that?"

Tax returns from Olajuwon's Islamic Da'Wah Center mosque show it gave more than $80,000 to the Islamic African Relief Agency and more than $2,000 to the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development. Federal authorities shut down IARA last year and HLF in 2001, saying they were fronts for al-Qaida and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.

"At the time they were raising money in 2000, we didn't know anything about terrorism," Olajuwon said. "It wasn't an issue until after 9/11."

Olajuwon's mosque gave $20,000 to the Islamic African Relief Agency in 2002, the year after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The U.S. Agency for International Development had cut off grants to IARA in 1999, citing national security concerns.

The Islamic African Relief Agency-United States Affiliate changed its name in 2000 to the Islamic American Relief Agency. The U.S. group claims it is completely unrelated to the Islamic African Relief Agency based in Africa, a contention federal authorities say is not true.