FBI Charges 8 Libyans on Misusing Funds for Protest

FBI agents today arrested six members of a student committee set up by the Libyan government and two officials of a travel agency on charges of illegally diverting funds to support pro-Libyan demonstrations, the FBI announced.

Agents from the bureau’s Washington field office arrested six members of the People’s Committee for Libyan Students of McLean, Va., in addition to the owner of Manara Travel Agency, which has offices in downtown Washington, and a travel agent for the company.

No Diplomatic Ties

The United States has no diplomatic relations with Libya but in 1981 allowed the establishment of the committee as a nonprofit organization. The Reagan Administration has accused Libya of sponsoring terrorist groups and Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi of fomenting terrorism.

All eight of those arrested were accused of violating provisions of a license authorizing the student organization to provide financial support for Libyan students in the United State and Canada, FBI Agent W. Douglas Gow said in the announcement.

The bureau alleges that present and former officers of the organization diverted funds for several disallowed purposes, including the payment of travel expenses for non-Libyans to participate in demonstrations in the United States in support of Libya and for travel to Libya. Federal law prohibits such travel.

The violations carry a possible penalty of 10 years imprisonment and up to a $50,000 fine, the FBI said.

The FBI said those arrested included the student committee’s chairman, Milad Shibani, 34, and former chairman Salem Omar Zubeidy, 39.

Those from the travel agency were identified as Mousa Hawamda, 42, owner, and travel agent Manhal Ben Mohamed, 23.

The others arrested were Saleh Mohomed Guima Rajhi, 32; Mahdi Mohammad Abousetta, 35; Ramadan Taher Belgasem, 33, and Adel Ali Sennosi, 30. All were listed as Washington-area residents except Sennosi, who is described as a Libyan government-sponsored student at the University of Colorado and a former committee director.