Qatar activist rejects US "Al-Qaeda" funding charges

Qatar activist rejects US "Al-Qaeda" funding charges

A Qatari activist pledged on Monday to challenge his US Treasury designation last week as an Al-Qaeda supporter, insisting his organization focuses on rights violations.

Abdul Rahman al-Naimi, the founder and head of the Geneva-based Alkarama Foundation, told reporters in Doha he was "innocent" and that he would take "legal measures to counter the US accusations".

The US Treasury said on Wednesday it imposed sanctions on Naimi and Abd al-Rahman al-Humayqani, describing them as "two al-Qaeda supporters based in Qatar and Yemen".

They were named as Specially Designated Global Terrorists.

Naimi was designated for "providing financial support" to Al-Qaeda and organizations linked to the jihadist network in Syria, Iraq, Somalia and Yemen, the Treasury said.

Alkarama website says the group was founded in 2004 to help those in the Arab world subjected to or at risk of extra-judicial executions, disappearances, torture and arbitrary detention.

Humayqani was accused of providing financial support and acting on behalf of the Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, which Washington considers the jihadist network's deadliest affiliate.