Dundee-born Muslim convert James McLintock has “categorically denied” allegations made by the US Treasury that his Pakistani orphanage is providing money for extremist groups.
Ex-Lawside Academy pupil James McLintock, 52, who changed his name to Yaqoob Mansoor Al-Rashidi, is the president of the Al Rahmah Welfare Organization (RWO) which the US Treasury has alleged is providing money for al Qaida, the Taliban, Lashkar-e-Taiba and other Afghan extremist groups under the guise of helping orphans.
Sanctions imposed by the US Treasury mean McLintock is on the department’s “specially designated global terrorist” list which freezes any property he has within US jurisdiction and bans Americans from doing business with him.
McLintock told The Courier: “RWO and I categorically deny all accusations made by the US.
“We have not been involved in the funding of terrorist organisations.
“We are currently seeking legal advice and will respond in due course.”
The US Treasury said on Thursday that as early as 2010, McLintock used RWO and the cover of providing stipends to Afghan orphans to finance the Taliban’s militant activities in Kunar Province, Afghanistan.
It said he recruited Afghan insurgents to obtain photos of children, Afghan identity documents and mobile phone numbers which were used to “create falsified dossiers” to help “obtain donations for RWO, which were funnelled to support al Qaida”.
However McLintock said his organisation’s help “reaches all those in need crossing possible sectarian, racial and ideological divides”.
In a statement on the RWO website, he said: “Our activities range from the direct support of orphan through regular financial support, the building of orphanages, the digging of wells, the building of mosques, improving education, emergency relief after the Kashmir and Ziarat earthquakes and several floods and many more humanitarian works.
“Al Rahmah has no affiliation with any political organisation and our help reaches all those in need crossingpossible sectarian, racial and ideological divides, our activities are being done in all poverty stricken parts in Pakistan.
“We utilise the local population in our construction efforts thus boosting the local economy. We conduct our efforts in concert with the local authorities and local dignitaries because of their understanding of the situation and the needs of their region.
“The donors for our project are mostly native Pakistanis living in the UK who donate through our sister organisations.
“They often feel a strong attachment with the country they left behind and they want to do something for the country they or their parents were born and grew up in.
“We strongly believe that our work is in the best interest of Pakistan and her people.”
The US Treasury said McLintock received about $180,000 from donors in Britain between April 2011 and April 2012 and also received money from charities in the Persian Gulf and the UK.
He also is suspected of smuggling cash to insurgents in Afghanistan and moving parts for improvised explosive devices between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
McLintock is thought to have converted to Islam in his 20s and had become a devout Muslim since then.
He settled in Bradford after fighting with the Mujahideen against the Russians in the 1980s where he lived a “spartan, modest and simple life” with his wife and children.
McLintock was detained in 2009 by Pakistani authorities before being released after several days.
In 2001, he was arrested in the tribal belt while crossing from Afghanistan as US forces hunted terror mastermind Osama bin Laden.Model student who took violent pathThe son of a maths teacher and achemistry lecturer, there was nothing in James McLintock’s upbringing to suggest he would be a candidate for radicalisation, writes Stefan Morkis.
Growing up in Dundee, he was raised a Catholic and attended Lawside Academy.
But it was while studying atEdinburgh University in the early 1980s that he embarked on the path that would see him fightingcommunists in Afghanistan and Serbs in Bosnia.
Although he had been a modelstudent, in his early 20s he began obsessively reading the Bibleand effectively dropped out ofuniversity.
He then read the Koran after finding a copy on a friend’s bookshelf. A year later he had converted to Islam and changed his name to YakubMcLintock.
McLintock spent the next 18 months studying his new religion before, he claims, a chance encounter on a plane set him on a more violent path.
He claimed he only decided to train as a fighter after speaking to SaudiArabians on a flight to Pakistan.
He had been going to visit a fiend but decided to follow the Saudis to atraining camp after they said they were going to make jihad in Afghanistan.
The next 40 days were spent at an Arab-run training camp and he fought in the war between the Soviet Union and Afghanistan.
In 1994 he decided to take up arms again, this time against the Serbs in Bosnia.
However, it was not until 2001 that he earned the nickname the ‘Tartan Taliban’.
He was arrested on Christmas Eve at a checkpoint near Afghanistan’s border and held until he had been interrogated by intelligence services.
McLintock was released when it was proved he had been working for acharity.
However, Wikileaks documents released two years ago suggested he had links with al Qaida leader Ali Muhammad Abdul Aziz al-Fahkri and had helped to run terror training camps in Afghanistan.
Then, last week, he was added to the US Treasury’s lost of “global terrorists” and has now been accused offunnelling money from the Pakistani charity he runs to terror groups.‘Tartan Taliban’ actions condemned by ministerScotland’s International Development Minister branded images of James McLintock grinning behind children he is allegedly using to draw in terror cell cash “deeply disturbing”, writes Political Editor Kieran Andrews.
Humza Yousaf hit out at after The Courier obtained pictures of theDundonian in the Pakistani orphanage which is said to be a front for extremist groups.
He said: “This deeply disturbingpicture shows the lengths to which extremists are willing to go in order to fund their activities.
“As has recently been revealed, James McLintock has been usinginnocent children as pawns to attract financing for terror activities for some time, which is absolutely disgusting.”
Conservative North East Scotland candidate Alex Johnstone joined the condemnation.
He said: “Using charity as a front of funding terror is as despicable as it gets. This kind of behaviour can’t be tolerated we need to come down on people like this like a ton of bricks.
“I’m glad The Courier is unmasking him in this way.”
The United States and SaudiArabian governments announced a new series of sanctions on four people and two organisations tied to al Qaida, the Taliban and the Lashkar-e-Taiba extremist groups last week, including McLintock.
McLintock denies the allegations and insists his organisation is alegitimate charity operator.