FBI PROBING LIBYAN AID TO BLACK ACTIVISTS

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP90-00965R000302450010-0
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
2
Document Creation Date: 
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date: 
October 4, 2012
Sequence Number: 
10
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
May 8, 1984
Content Type: 
OPEN SOURCE
File: 
AttachmentSize
PDF icon CIA-RDP90-00965R000302450010-0.pdf152.63 KB
Body: 
S I Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/04: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302450010-0 TAT APPEARON Legality at Issue WASHINGTON POST 8 May 1984 FBI Probing Libyan Aid to Black Activists By John M. Goshko and Joe Pichirallo .0.a.shin!,111 Po Staff Writers The FBI is investigating whether Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi's radical government has tried to in- fluence American domestic affairs illegally by giving money and other assistance to some black community activists and black nationalist groups in this coumry, according to U.S. government officials. The officials, who declined to be identified. said the investigation grew out of close FBI surveillance of Libya's mission to the U.N. in New York. The surveillance began in 1981, they said. after U.S. security officials received reports of a possible Liby- an-inspired assassination plot against the United States' ambassa- dor to the United Nations, Jeane J. ? Kirkpatrick. Libya's U.N. mission was headed until early last month by Ali Treiki, who is now Qaddafi's for- eign minister. The FBI has evidence from inter- ceptions of communications and ob- servations of Treiki's contacts with _ Americans that he was using the U.N. mission to pass money to black activists who exhibited sympathy for Libya's radical goals for Third World revolutionary movements, the officials said. However, the officials did not identify American individuals or or- ganizations that received money from Libya. It is permissible and not uncom- mon for foreign governments to do- nate money to American organiza- tions if the funds, are given openly for educational, cultural or philan- Ihropic purpoes. However, the For- eign Agents Registration Act re7 quires individuals or groups receiv- ing money from a foreign govern- ment to register with the Justice De- ;partment if the funds are used to 'influence U.S. policy for the benefit of the donating nation. _ Depending on the nature of the violation, failure to register could be prosecuted either as a felony or a Fivil offense. Robert W. Thabit, a New York attorney who is the legal adviser to 'Libya's U.N. mission, said yesterday that Libyan officials have assured 'him that their representatives have "no intention of violating the laws of the United States or of trying to af- tect internal domestic policies." ? Thabit added that Treiki, before is return home April 4, had con- tacts with "people of all classes and all colors and religions." Because of Libya's support for Palestinians in the Middle East and for blacks in _ South Africa, Thabit said; American blacks have visited the U.N. mission to thank Treiki for his country's stands. Attorneys for the Libyans also said that the Qaddafi government has donated money to Islamic cen- ters in various parts of the United States and that there is nothing in- appropriate about a Moslem country helping coreligionists. The U.S. officials were unable to specify whether the information col- lected by the FBI is sufficient for the Justice Department to seekS indict- ments against any Americans or for the State Department to charge Lib- ya with abusing its U.N. personnel's ? diplomatic immunity. But they said the probe had increased in intensity .in recent months. They said details of the probe have been restricted to a small num- ber of officials in the FBI and the Justice and State departments. But they added that Kirkpatrick, Secre- tary of State George P. Shultz, CIA - Director William J. Casey and the White House have been kept in- formed of its progress. The inquiry is regarded as ex- tremely sensitive because of both its international and domestic implica- tions, according to the officials. They said the administration appears to be moving xery cautiously out of _ concern that public accusations without ironclad proof might subject President Reagan to charges that his administration is increasing black- white tensions for partisan purposes. They also cited the damage done to the FBI's reputation by past rev- elations of its surveillance and ha- rassment of the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and other black civil rights leaders during the 1960s. The investigation is -being con- ducted against a background of in- ternational pressure by the Reagan administration for concerted action by the United States and other west- ern countries to force the Qaddafi government to stop sponsoring in- ternational terrorism. The United States asked all Americans to leave Libya in Decem- ber, 1981, following still uncon- firmed reports that Qaddafi had dis- patched a "hit squad" to assassinate Reagan and other senior U.S. offi- cials. As a result of reports of threats against her, officials said, Icirkpa: trick has had a 24-hour guard since March 31, 1981. Subsequently, the officials said, the FBI developed information, pri- marily through telephone wiretaps, of Libyan contacts with what the ? officials described as "black separat- ist" and "black activist" groups in New York and elsewhere , in the United States. According to the officials, the ap- parent Libyan aim, was to enlist the aid of these groups in unspecified ways to help defeat Reagan's bid for reelection. One official, referring to "transcripts" he had seen, said they indicated a Libyan belief that every- Declassified in in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/04: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302450010-0 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/04: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302450010-0 2, thing possible must be done to de- feat Reagan because, in Libya's view, he represents a major danger to world peace and security. A delegation of Americans, includ- ing representatives of some black nationalist organizations, attended a Libyan government-sponsored con- ference in Libya in April, 1983. Libyan attorney Thabit also noted that a group of residents of Engle- wood, N.J., led by a black minister, publicly supported Treiki during a controversy last year about Treiki's purchase of a mansion in that city. There was no indication yesterday that these incidents were among the activities under FBI investigation. The Rev. Walter S. Taylor, min- ister of a United Methodist Church in Englewood and publisher of the Torch Bearer, a weekly newspaper, said in a telephone interview yester? day that he helped organize citizen opposition to the city of Englewood's effort to deny tax-exempt status for ? the mansion purchased by Treiki. Taylor, a former mayor of Engel- wood, said he sponsored a 'meeting . at his church, which Treiki attended, supporting the Libyan position and also published stories in his newspa- per about the controversy. Taylor said the Libyan govern- ment later gave him a "small dona- tion" around $5,000, which he used to help defray costs of putting out his newspaper. Preston Wilcox, who runs AFRAM, a black information service in Harlem, said yesterday that he attended the 1983 conference in Lib- ya with Akbar Muhammad, formerly known as Larry X, who is a top aide to Nation of Islam leader Louis Far- rakhan. Wilcox said representatives of the All African Peoples Revolu- tionary Party, the Republic of New Africa and the American Indian Movement also attended. Staff writer Mary Thornton con- tributed to this report. Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/04: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302450010-0