A leading Democratic candidate for Congress in New Jersey is facing new scrutiny after reports revealed that he once volunteered in Bosnia with the Benevolence International Foundation, a Chicago-based charity later designated by U.S. and U.N. authorities as part of Al-Qaeda’s support network.

Adam Hamawy, a Princeton-area plastic surgeon, Army veteran, and progressive contender for New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District, described his Bosnia work in a 1996 Newark Star-Ledger interview. Hamawy said he spent time in Sarajevo and Zenica delivering medical supplies through the Benevolence International Foundation during the Bosnian war.

The issue is that the organization Hamawy worked with was later identified by U.S. authorities as far more than a relief group. The U.S. Treasury designated Benevolence International Foundation and related entities as financiers of terrorism, while the U.N. Security Council says the group engaged in financial transactions on behalf of Al-Qaeda.

Federal authorities said searches of the group’s Bosnian offices uncovered documents linking its leadership to Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda, including material connected to the terror network’s founding. The Justice Department said the charity’s leadership was accused of fraudulently collecting donations under the banner of humanitarian aid while funds were allegedly used to support Al-Qaeda and other violent activity overseas.

The Bosnia revelation lands on top of another controversy already shadowing Hamawy’s campaign, his past relationship with Omar Abdel-Rahman, the “Blind Sheikh,” the radical Islamist cleric convicted in the 1990s in connection with a plot to wage “urban terrorism” against the United States. Reports from The Inquirer and Fox News say Hamawy translated for Abdel-Rahman, traveled with him, and later testified as a defense witness during the cleric’s terror trial.

Hamawy’s campaign has pushed back sharply, calling the allegations politically motivated and bigoted. His defenders point to his military service, his work as a combat trauma surgeon in Iraq, his presence at Ground Zero after 9/11, and his later medical missions in disaster and war zones. The campaign’s argument is that Hamawy was a young medical volunteer helping victims of war, not someone knowingly connected to terrorism.