Adam Hamawy’s Bosnia Volunteer Work and Links to a Designated Al-Qaida Front

In summer 1994, Adam Hamawy, a recent medical graduate, volunteered with the Chicago-based Benevolence International Foundation (BIF) in Bosnia, spending ten days in Sarajevo and the rest in Zenica delivering medical supplies. BIF’s Bosnian offices were raided in 2002, yielding weapons and bin Laden-linked correspondence; the 9/11 Commission later identified the Sarajevo office as part of a covert Al-Qaida support network.

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Key actors are Hamawy; Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, the “Blind Sheikh,” whose 1995 trial Hamawy testified at; Enaam Arnaout, BIF chief executive who pleaded guilty to racketeering in 2003; and Mohamed Loay Bayazid, a 1994 BIF leader linked to Al-Qaida. Hamawy’s Bosnia stint lasted five weeks; BIF raids occurred in 2002; the group remains on U.S. Treasury and UN sanctions lists.

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Hamawy’s campaign calls his Bosnia work a “volunteer mission” distinct from his eight-year Army service and highlights his military record. The campaign has not answered media questions about BIF ties or any referral from Saffet Catovic; several Democratic lawmakers have declined comment.

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Reporters note Hamawy’s 1995 testimony for Abdel-Rahman and his 1996 BIF interview, stressing the organization’s later Al-Qaida designation. Critics cite the 2002 raids, which uncovered weapons and bin Laden correspondence, to question his judgment.

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Historian Marko Atila Hoare says the Bosnian war’s chaos let charities like BIF operate with little oversight, noting that “a lot of them wanted to defend Muslims” but “not every volunteer … was a hardcore jihadist.”

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Hamawy’s 1996 interview places his Bosnia service in summer 1994, while a later local-station comment says he was there “early on in ‘95.” The Star-Ledger cites work “under the United Nations High Command for Refugees,” an agency that does not exist; the UN has not confirmed any BIF partnership. Catovic’s referral remains unverified.

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• “I worked in Sarajevo for 10 days and then the rest in Zenica, a large regional center in central Bosnia,” — Adam Hamawy, 1996 Newark Star-Ledger interview

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• “a completely benign civilian hospital with no tunnels underneath it.” — Adam Hamawy, Jacobin interview

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• “A lot of them wanted to go and defend Muslims from non-Muslims persecuting them,” — Marko Atila Hoare, Sarajevo School of Science and Technology

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• “BIF was used in the early 1990s by Usama Bin Laden as a means to transfer money to bank accounts, generally held by purported relief organizations, in countries where al Qaeda members or associates were conducting operations,” — FBI Agent Robert Walker (affidavit)

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These revelations may shape voter judgments of Hamawy’s suitability amid a competitive primary.

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As the New Jersey primary nears, Hamawy’s record will stay under scrutiny; no new BIF action is pending.

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