In the United States, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the Treasury Department announced sanctions on Tuesday, June 10, targeting five individuals and five foreign-based charitable organizations accused of financing Hamas's armed wing and its terrorist activities. Among them is an Algerian NGO, El Baraka. According to the Treasury Department, «El Baraka Association for Charitable and Humanitarian Work, based in Algeria, diverted funds intended for humanitarian causes to fund Hamas. As President of El Baraka, Ahmed Brahimi worked to ensure that funds raised by the charity, including some by unwitting donors who thought they were helping Palestinian civilians, were instead diverted to Hamas». «All property and interests in property» of the El Baraka Association and its president in the United States «are blocked and must be reported to OFAC», the statement added. El Baraka is highly active in the Tindouf camps. Under the cover of humanitarian programs for «Sahrawi refugees», NGO representatives regularly visit the Polisario Front. These sanctions, imposed by the Trump administration, come as the European Union recently added Algeria to its list of high-risk countries for money laundering.
