“Participants slammed attempts to exploit loopholes in international laws to crack down of charities,” Man'a said

By Lotfi Abdul Lattif, IOL Riyadh Correspondent

RIYADH, January 17 (IslamOnline) – The Paris conference on charity and humanitarian societies, which  concluded Thursday, January 16, reiterated opposition to the declared war on all charities under the pretext of terror combat.

In exclusive statements to IslamOnline Friday, January 17, the conference spokesman Hesham Man'a said participants pressed for drafting agreed-upon by-laws to define organizations working in the humanitarian and charity field and to secure judicial protection for such societies.

“They also lashed out at attempts to exploit loopholes in international laws to crack down of charities without taking the case to court,” he recalled.

“The conference endorsed the international declaration on the rights of people and groups working in the charity and humanitarian field and appealed to the United States to approve and enforce the declaration,” Man'a said.

“Participants lambasted repressive measures taken against charities worldwide, including in the west, and cautioned against the repercussions on curbing charity and humanitarian activities,” he added.

The conference was called by the Paris-based Arab committee in defense of human rights and was attended by 220 activists representing 151 humanitarian, charity and law societies.

The main focus of  the conference with the impact of September 11 attacks on charity and humanitarian activities.

Washington Stymies Saudi Participation

“The aim of the conference was to show solidarity with Islamic relief societies in the face of U.S.-led campaign against its humanitarian activities,” said el-Wehibi

The French Embassy in Riyadh had refused to give entry visas to members of a Saudi delegation to attend the conference.

Defying the French move, participants appointed Saleh Bin Soliman el-Wehibi and Adel el-Salim, members of the Saudi delegation, as members of the conference follow-up committee.

Man'a underlined that French foreign ministry officials bluntly told members of the French Green Party that Paris had received a request from Washington to prevent the 13-member Saudi delegation from partaking in the conference.

“Green Party officials left no stone upturn in their attempt to coax the French authorities to defy the American request but in vain,” he added.

For his part, el-Wehibi dismissed the French decision as unreasonable and unjustifiable.

The Saudi delegation included well-known, particularly to the west, academics and relief figures, he said, asserting that they all had their degrees from the west.

"The French foreign ministry should have admitted the mistake and offered an official apology to the Saudi delegation instead for looking for contradicting justifications and then confess the American request upon which the ban was taken," el-Wehibi charged.

He made it clear that Islamic charity societies were only 30 percent of  participants, denying that the Paris conference was for Islamic relief agencies only.

El-Wehibi underlined, however, that the aim of the conference was to show solidarity with Islamic relief societies in the face of U.S.-led campaign against its humanitarian activities.