FBI PROBING LIBYAN AID TO BLACK ACTIVISTS
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Collection:
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST):
CIA-RDP90-00965R000302450010-0
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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
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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