Two former officers of a defunct Muslim charity in Massachusetts face federal charges related to their organization’s alleged ties to Osama bin Laden.

Emadeddin Z. Muntasser, 40, and Muhammed Mubayyid, 40, the former head and treasurer of Care International, Inc., respectively, were arrested on May 12 and charged with concealing the charity’s activity and giving false information to law enforcement officials.

Each of the accused is charged with “engaging in a scheme to conceal material facts from the United States” and “conspiring to defraud the United States,” according to the indictment.  Muntasser, a Libyan national, is also charged with making false statements; Mubayyid, a Lebanese national, is also charged in three separate counts with making and filing false tax returns.

According to the indictment, Care was operating as a branch of a Brooklyn-based organization, Al Kifah Refugee Center, which recruited mujahideen (“holy warriors”) for Osama bin Laden to fight the Soviet army in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Care also published Al Kifah’s militant newsletter Al Hussam (“The Sword”).  Care is not affiliated with the international humanitarian organization CARE International.

Muntasser, whose petition for citizenship is pending, first founded Al Kifah’s Boston Chapter in the 1990s; he later incorporated Care.  According to the indictment, by 2001, Care had raised about $1.7 million in tax deductible donations.  Care allegedly defrauded the government since it never disclosed the fact that it “was in fact engaged in the solicitation and expenditure of funds to support the mujahideen and promote jihad,” according to the indictment.       

Mubayyid and Muntasser were both released on bond.