BuzzFeed : U.S. Islamic Group Seeking Clarification From UAE After Terrorist Listing

The Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Muslim American Society were among those listed as terror groups by the UAE. UPDATE: MAS said it was “shocked” by the move and would seek U.S. government assistance, and CAIR said it was calling on the UAE to remove it from the list.

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WASHINGTON — The United Arab Emirates has listed two American Muslim organizations on its list of designated terrorist groups, according to an announcement released on state media on Saturday.

The UAE has classified the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim American Society as terrorist groups, according to a story on the website of WAM, the official news agency.

Also reportedly designated as terror groups were the Muslim Brotherhood, the Muslim Association of Britain, and the charity Islamic Relief.

The list also covers groups widely thought of as terrorist groups, like ISIS, al-Qaeda, and the Taliban.

The new American additions to the list are not categorized as terrorist organizations by the U.S. government. The Muslim American Society is a non-profit founded in 1993 in Illinois by Muslim Brotherhood members. The UAE also designated other Muslim Brotherhood affiliates as terrorist groups, including some in the Emirates.

The Muslim American Society said it was "shocked" by the announcement. "The Muslim American Society is a religious community service organization that serves people in the United States. We have no dealings with the United Arab Emirates, and hence are perplexed by this news," it said in a statement.

The society said it would ask the UAE government for clarification on the listing, and "would also like to seek the help of our government to address this issue."

CAIR is a well-known American Muslim advocacy group, based in Washington. The FBI listed it as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 2007 trial of the Holy Land Foundation, which was later convicted of giving millions of dollars to Hamas. A federal judge later ruled that the government should not have included CAIR, which was never charged with a crime, in the list of unindicted co-conspirators.

Ibrahim Hooper, CAIR's communications director, said the designation was "news to me" when asked by BuzzFeed News for comment this morning.

"May take a few days to check veracity of this," he said.

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