**Shoebat Exclusive**
By Walid Sheobat and Ben Barrack
How Abubaker Y. Ahmed Al Shingieti got his position as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Hartford Seminary in Connecticut should raise eyebrows, especially since he has publicly provided his terror-connected background. Aside from the $1 million grant the Seminary received from Muslim Brotherhood front, the Islamic Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), why such a rebel is allowed to sit on the Board of Trustees is difficult to fathom. Shingieti’s bio is littered with very close links to wanted international war criminal, President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan.
Abubaker Y. Al Shingieti: On Hartford Seminary Board after eight years serving State Sponsor of Terrorism.
In 1994, Al Shingieti was interviewed for an extensive article by Arabic publication Al-Wasat (click here and select link if hyperlink does not work). The subject of the article was reports of “ghost houses” that were used to torture detainees in Sudan. Here is the translated excerpt that featured Al Shingieti’s perspective on “People’s Camps” that groomed attendees to become jihadists:
People’s Camps
The topic of public freedom in Sudan is always discussed. There is also the issue of “People’s Camps,” where citizens are receiving different types of training in the use of weapons, as well as lessons that “enlighten and educate” through religious instruction “to grow the citizen’s personality and preparation to defend his homeland ,” said Abu Bakr Shanqeeti, director of external media in Khartoum. The truth is that people I met from the new generation of Sudanese is completely different from the previous generation due to training received in the camps. (The Camp) makes him more patient and grants the ability to endure hardship; he accepts his work in a more active and voluntarily way. Young people, mostly, people with beards trimmed a certain way inconsistent, so they look as a milestone. For girls, traditional Sudanese clothes consisting of a headscarf as in Malaysia. The robe includes a long shirt over tight trousers. Despite the stifling heat, a large number of the women wear black gloves to cover their hands.I did not meet any Sudanese girl that spoke at length about the experience of her military training in one of the camps but much was said about this phenomenon in Khartoum and beyond. “Valmjendh” accompanied the Mujahideen, who are going to defend their homeland in the south and to take care of the wounded and sick while urging the mujahideen to fight “infidels”. A girl named “Q” told me that the training course, which has been a requirement two or three times a day near Khartoum, for hours after the end of the official working hours. The girl did not go into great details about the “military” nature of her experiences. I realized it might be one of the (unintelligible) who accompanied me. “Ahmed” told me that he had received the training session that lasted 45 days and divided the daylight hours between religious instruction and enlightenment lessons about jihad, both old and new, as well as daily periods of training in the use of weapons. He said, “These trained officers from the armed forces are not strangers among us as is alleged in some quarters”.
Several things are clear in that excerpt.
- In his capacity as external media director for al-Bashir, part al-Shingieti’s job was to put a positive spin on these camps.
- These camps taught Muslim fundamentalism and Jihad.
- Part of this Jihad training included grooming students to fight “infidels” in South Sudan, a region al-Bashir has been interested in Islamizing for years.
- Military officers from Sudan were involved in administering the training.
- Mujahideen = al-Qaeda.
In addition to serving as the Executive Director for the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), based in Herndon, VA, Shingieti’s position at the Hartford Seminary in Connecticut is a position he’s held since 2012, when he was welcomed by Seminary President Dr. Heidi Hadsell. A reliable source in the Hartford area tells Shoebat.com that when Al Shingieti’s terror links and history with Sudan were brought to Hadsell’s attention, she acknowledged Al Shingieti’s time as a high-ranking official with al-Bashir but dismissed any significance because Al Shingieti no longer works for al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on several counts relating to crimes against humanity.
International war criminal al-Bashir, who also employs President Barack Obama’s brother Malik, now has a connection to Muslim Brotherhood front group in the U.S. through his former employee, Al Shingieti.
Ismail Raji al Faruqi: Founder of the IIIT.
One of the founders of the IIIT was Ismail Raji al-Faruqi. Prior to his death in 1986, al-Faruqi published a book entitled, The Cultural Atlas of Islam. Faruqi is still very highly regarded by the IIIT. Hadsell delivered a speech at the Al Faruqi Memorial Lecture, an annual IIIT event, in 2012. As Shoebat.com reported previously, former Senior Adviser to George W. Bush, Karl Rove was captured in a photograph in the Texas Governor’s mansion – circa 2000 – with then Governor Bush and a delegation consisting of members from Muslim Brotherhood front groups, to include Abdurahman Alamoudi, who is serving a prison sentence for charges related to terrorism.
Karl Rove carrying book written by IIIT Founder al-Faruqi.
It’s already been made clear that Republican politicians – particularly those belonging to the Republican establishment, like Rove – do not want to expose the problem of Muslim Brotherhood infiltration in the U.S. Doing so would require such individuals to acknowledge some very uncomfortable truths about how grossly they misjudged the Muslim groups they engaged. The desire not to come clean about all of this suggests they knew better at the time. The photo above was taken a year prior to the 9/11 attacks. Bush’s inner circle – to include Rove – didn’t just have their photos taken with Brotherhood leaders in the U.S.; that inner circle embraced such figures with the help of Grover Norquist and Suhail Khan. According to Breitbart, Rove’s PAC gave Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) more than $25 Million in 2012.
According to the Islamic Resource Bank, Shingieti “held key government positions in Sudan during the 1990’s” that made him an arm of Omar al-Bashir. The International Center for Religion and Diplomacy website reports that Shingieti worked for al-Bashir’s Sudan from 1990 – 1998 in various capacities, to include Director of Political Affairs for the Presidency; Councilor at the Embassy of Sudan in the U.S.; and Secretary General of the External Information Council from 1993 – 1995, which squares with an Indianapolis Recorder article from June 3, 1995.
Dr. Heidi Hadsell welcomes Shingieti to Board of Trustees.
According to the Recorder article, Shingieti brokered a meeting between the African-American press and top Sudanese government officials, to include Omar al-Bashir and notorious terrorist Hassan al-Turabi, who was connected to Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman (the “Blind Sheikh”) and Osama bin Laden, the masterminds of both World Trade Center attacks, respectively. The purpose for the meeting was to discuss charges of human rights violations in Sudan.
After the first World Trade Center attack in 1993, Sudan became an intense focus for the U.S. Eight of the “Muslim fundamentalists” (1993 New York Times quote) charged in the attack were carrying Sudanese passports. Just six months after that attack, Sudan was identified by the U.S. State Department as a State Sponsor of Terrorism and remains on that list to this day.
Then, in April of 1994, an official U.S. State Department document entitled, Patterns of Global Terrorism: 1993 referred to its 1993 designation of Sudan as a Terrorist State, saying that the decision to do so was based on “convincing evidence from multiple sources that Sudan provides assistance to international terrorist groups”, to include Hamas and Hezbollah. The report also alleged strong ties between al-Bashir’s Sudan and Iran at the time.
As such, Shingieti was a high-ranking official within al-Bashir’s government both before and for years after Sudan was designated as a State Sponsor of Terrorism.
Speaking of years after, in 2013, three years after Feisal Abdul Rauf, the notorious Ground Zero Mosque imam, was at the center of a huge national controversy over the proposed construction of a mosque near the site where the World Trade Center once stood, he attended a Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) event. Also in attendance was Shingieti; the two men seemed quite cozy with one another.
Shingieti (L) with Feisal Abdul Rauf (R) at CFR event in 2013.
One of the main reasons for the controversy surrounding Rauf in 2010 was that his extremist views in Arabic were diametrically opposed to the moderate views he expressed in English. That Shingieti and Rauf would appear so comfortable with one another speaks volumes as well. Shingieti worked for an extremist, terrorist regime in Sudan and now wants to be perceived as moderate. Rauf’s coziness with Shingieti discredits Rauf’s claims of moderation while Shingieti’s coziness with Rauf shows how an extremist moderates.
In 2012, Shingieti was photographed with then Egyptian President and Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Mursi when the latter visited New York:
Mursi (L) and Shingieti (R) in New York, 2012.
When all of these things are taken together, Americans may begin to question why Shingieti isn’t labeled as an enemy combatant or enemy of the State instead of being afforded a position of prominence.