The unfolding probe into the activities of Muhammad J. Fakihi, who until recently served as acting chief of the Islamic Affairs section of the Saudi Embassy in Berlin, is being watched closely in Washington as a test of how aggressively the Saudi government is willing to root out Osama bin Laden loyalists within its own ranks. Interrogated by Saudi investigators, two sources told NEWSWEEK, Fakihi has acknowledged he sympathized with bin Laden and that he steered embassy funds to charities and mosques suggested by Qaeda loyalists. “He confessed that he was told by close friends of [bin Laden] where to give the money,” says one Saudi source familiar with the probe. Another U.S. source familiar with the investigation said Fakihi was “more than just a sympathizer of bin Laden. He was organizationally involved” with bin Laden’s network. Officials say Saudi authorities are also reviewing some $800,000 in funds that were doled out by the Islamic Affairs department after Fakihi assumed control more than two years ago. Officials are trying to determine whether some of those funds may have wound up financing terrorist activities. But a Saudi official told NEWSWEEK that neither German nor U.S. officials had turned over any incriminating evidence against Fakihi, and so far no improprieties have been found.
Concerns about Fakihi first surfaced late last year when German investigators disclosed that Fakihi’s business card had been found in the Hamburg apartment of a Moroccan student, Mounir el-Motassadeq, who has since been convicted of aiding and abetting the 9-11 attacks. El-Motassadeq had traveled to a Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan in the spring of 2000 and had extensive dealings with members of the Hamburg cell. (He managed one 9-11 hijacker’s bank account and was a witness to the bizarre will signed by hijacker leader Muhammad Atta.) But the Saudi Embassy in Germany never responded to a formal request from prosecutors to explain the presence of the business card or an alleged meeting between Fakihi and el-Motassadeq in Berlin shortly before the terrorist’s arrest in November 2001.
The case took a new twist when German police turned up evidence that Fakihi had recently met at a Berlin mosque with the alleged ringleader of another Qaeda cell. Four days after German officials again confronted the Saudi Embassy about him in March, Fakihi flew back to Saudi Arabia, where he was detained for questioning, sources say. The inquiry continues, and one key issue, sources say, is whether other government officials–especially within the Ministry of Islamic Affairs–were aware of his activities. “This is a serious matter,” says one Bush administration official.
