Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed faces fresh scrutiny following a report that his birth mother, Fatten Fathy Elkomy, worked for the Islamic American Relief Agency (IARA) from 1999 through at least 2004, years before the organization was designated by the U.S. Treasury Department as a supporter of terrorism.
IARA, also known as the Islamic African Relief Agency, operated over 40 offices throughout the world ostensibly focused on health care, orphans, and disadvantaged people in areas of conflict. In October 2004, the U.S. Department of Treasury designated the worldwide network, along with five senior officials, as an organization supporting terrorism, including support for Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda.
While neither Elkomy nor her ex-husband were ever charged with a crime or named as a co-conspirator, IARA-USA pleaded guilty in court for conspiring to violate sanctions and illegally funneling nearly $1.4 million to Iraq, and agreed to dissolve the organization in 2016.
The revelation, reported by The Midwesterner on August 18, comes two weeks after El-Sayed won Michigan's Democratic primary with 48.5 percent of the vote. It raises questions about El-Sayed's family background as he campaigns to become the first Muslim senator in U.S. history.
El-Sayed has made little mention of his birth mother as he campaigns, though his real name is Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed. He has consistently spotlighted his connections to his stepmother Jacqueline El-Sayed's family, including ads featuring her parents.
In a 2004 interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Elkomy defended her work at IARA. "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.
Elkomy eventually moved back to the United States and has worked as a psychiatric nurse practitioner in Missouri. El-Sayed discussed his birth parents during a 2017 speech before the Islamic Foundation, saying they "ended up getting divorced" and that his mother "remarried a gentleman who was working as a translator in the Middle East and moved back to the Middle East."
The issue adds to existing questions about El-Sayed's family ties. His father-in-law, Jukaku Tayeb, serves on the board of CAIR-Michigan, an organization that pro-Israel groups have scrutinized. El-Sayed's campaign has emphasized his stepmother's family background rather than elaborating on his birth mother's employment history.
