Georgetown Security Law Brief

UN drops Muslim Brotherhood figure from 'Terrorist Finance' list

03/19/10: Newsweek reports that the UN Security Council has quietly dropped Youssef Nada, a prominent financial and diplomatic representative of the Muslim Brotherhood, from an international sanctions list directed at curbing the activities of alleged terrorist financiers.

Gaza bank, TV station see US sanctions

03/19/10: CNN reports that the US Treasury put a bank and a television station, both from Gaza, on its terrorist-financing list, saying they were controlled by Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement. Islamic National Bank provides banking to Hamas members who also finance and control Al-Aqsa Television, US officials said. The designation allows the Treasury to prohibit firms from doing business with the companies and freeze their assets in places under US jurisdiction.

Arizona man to be sentenced in terror-funding case

03/04/10: The Miami Herald reports that Akram Musa Abdallah, an Arizona man who admitted lying to the FBI as they investigated a Muslim charity group that raised funds to aid the terrorist group Hamas, is set to be sentenced in Phoenix on Thursday.

Anti-terrorism case not an easy one

02/23/10: SCOTUSblog reports that with a federal government lawyer pushing for a sweeping interpretation of the government’s most-used anti-terrorism law, the Supreme Court on Tuesday at times seemed tempted to conclude that, perhaps, the law may go too far.  Although some of the Justices made it clear they were sympathetic to Congress’ attempts to stop aid to international terrorist groups, a somewhat surprising skepticism set in as the 62-minute argument in the Humanitarian Law Project cases unfolded. The Court was reviewing the cases of Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project (08-1498) and Humanitarian Law Project v. Holder (09-89) as tests of a law dating back to 1996 providing up to 15 years in prison if convicted of providing “material support” to any group designated by the US government as terrorist.

Three men charged in Miami with financing Hezbollah

02/19/10: The Miami Herald reports that three men are being charged in Miami with illegally exporting products to a South American shopping center, which US officials say is a front to finance the Hezbollah terrorist group. An indictment unsealed Friday charges the three with violating a US ban on doing business with the Lebanon-based organization, which is listed as a terrorist group by the US.

Activist's case will test US anti-terrorism law

02/18/10: The Los Angeles Times reports that Ralph Fertig is the lead plaintiff in a Supreme Court case to be heard next week that will test whether speaking out on behalf of an oppressed foreign minority, represented by a group that's been deemed a terrorist organization by the US, can result in a long prison term. In 1996, Congress expanded the anti-terrorism law, imposing a prison term of up to 15 years for providing "training" or "expert advice or assistance" to a designated international terrorist group. The ban on supporting terrorists forbids sending not only money, weapons and fighters, but also charitable funds. Government lawyers say it even forbids filing a legal brief or writing an op-ed essay on behalf of a designated terrorist group.

Iran's central bank sued in DC over rocketing of Israel

02/18/10: Politico reports that a group of Americans, Canadians and Israelis injured in Hezbollah rocket attacks against Israel in 2006, and the estates of others killed in those attacks, have filed what their lawyers say is an unpredecented lawsuit against Iran's central bank. The suit filed yesterday in US District Court in Washington alleges that the Central Bank of Iran "provided Hezbollah with material support and resources ... that enabled, facilitated and caused the Hezbollah Rocket Barrage and thereby caused plaintiffs’ injuries and the murder of the decedents."

UN officials criticize US restrictions on aid to Somalia

02/18/10: The Washington Post reports that UN officials on Wednesday ratcheted up their criticism of US policy in Somalia, declaring that recent restrictions intended to prevent al-Qaeda-linked Somali Islamists from gaining strength are holding up humanitarian aid to some of the world's most desperate people.

Islamic singer agrees to remain jailed in Michigan

01/29/10: The Miami Herald reports that a prominent Islamic singer accused of concealing ties to a terrorist group was duped into believing the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development worked only for needy people, his lawyer said Thursday. Mohamad Masfaka, also known as the singer Abu Ratib, agreed to remain jailed in Detroit while his case moves through federal court. Masfaka, 47, is charged with making false statements to the FBI, perjury and attempted fraud in naturalization proceedings. The government alleges he was the Holy Land Foundation's Detroit-area representative in 1997 and 1998.

British Supreme Court quashes 'draconian' powers that allowed freezing of terror assets

01/27/10: The Times (UK) reports that British ministers’ efforts to combat terrorism were dealt a fresh blow today when the UK’s highest court quashed measures to freeze the assets of terror suspects imposed without the approval of Parliament. In a landmark ruling, seven justices of the Supreme Court ruled that ministers had acted without Parliamentary authority in making two orders that placed sweeping financial restrictions on the five suspects.

Three men indicted on narcotics-terrorism charges

12/31/09: The Miami Herald reports that three men suspected of being al-Qaida associates have been indicted on charges they plotted to ferry drugs through the Sahara Desert to raise money for terrorist attacks. The charges of narcoterrorism conspiracy and conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists were contained Wednesday in an indictment returned in Manhattan.

US charges three in drug case with helping al-Qaeda

12/18/09: The New York Times reports that federal prosecutors in Manhattan unsealed narcotics and terrorism charges on Friday against three West Africans they identified as associates of al-Qaeda and a related terrorist group. The three men — identified as Oumar Issa, Harouna Touré and Idriss Abelrahman — were arrested on Wednesday in Ghana and flown to the United States on Thursday night, law enforcement officials said.

US attacks banks' Iranian ties

12/17/09: The Washington Post reports that the United States on Wednesday escalated a crackdown on illicit banking relations with Iran, winning a half-billion-dollar fine against the biggest Swiss bank as other European financial institutions remain under investigation. The agreement by Credit Suisse Group to pay $536 million to settle a Justice Department investigation comes on the heels of forfeitures of $350 million by Lloyds TSB Bank earlier this year and $80 million by ABN Amro Holding in 2005 for similar violations of US sanctions.

7 suspects charged over Mumbai attacks

11/25/09: CNN reports that seven suspects arrested in connection with last year's attacks on the Indian financial capital of Mumbai were charged in connection with the siege Wednesday. Alyas Saddiqi, the defense attorney representing suspect Jameel Ahmed, said the defendants were charged with acts of terrorism, money laundering, supplying funds for terrorism, and providing tools for terrorism. Saddiqi said all the defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges. The suspects face the death penalty if convicted of committing an act of terrorism.

US rights groups back high court challenge to terrorism support laws

11/25/09: JURIST reports that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Constitution Project (CP), and the Rutherford Institute filed amici curiae briefs Tuesday backing a challenge to a federal law (18 USC § 2339B(a)(1)) that prohibits providing material support to terrorism. The groups supported a Humanitarian Law Project (HLP) argument that the law defines "material support" too broadly.

US youths recruited to fight in Somali militia, authorities say

11/24/09: The Los Angeles Times reports that Federal authorities unsealed criminal charges Monday against eight suspects alleged to be part of a US recruiting network that sent young men to fight in Somalia -- one of the largest militant operations uncovered in this country since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The court documents disclosed how some older members of the Somali American community in Minneapolis are believed to have lured younger ones to fight in Somalia -- some as suicide bombers -- with an Al Qaeda-affiliated group known as Al Shabab, or "The Youth." The charges include providing financial support to fighters who traveled to Somalia, attending Al Shabab training camps and fighting with the group against the US-backed transitional government there, as well as against Ethiopian government forces and African Union troops.

When a warrant isn't warranted

11/17/09: The Investigative Project on Terrorism has a post explaining the implications of two recent, high profile cases – Kindhearts v. Geithner (N.D. Ohio) and al Haramain v. United States Department of the Treasury (D. Or.) on whether the Treasury Department must seek a warrant prior to freezing the assets of those suspected of terrorist financing.

Treasury, Justice target Iranian regime assets

11/14/09: The Investigative Project on Terrorism reports that on November 12, 2009, the Justice Department dealt a major blow to Iranian nuclear ambitions and terrorist financing efforts. The amendment of the civil forfeiture complaint in United States v. ASSA Corp. against the Alavi Foundation has the potential to cut off a significant source of funding to the Iranian government—funding which is absolutely essential as Iran continues to defy international efforts at curbing nuclear proliferation.

11/14/09: The Miami Herald reports that the organization that federal investigators say is a front for the Iranian government has spent millions of dollars over the years on philanthropy: buying property for four US mosques, funding religious schools and language classes, and translating books on Islam. The move to seize assets held by the New York-based Alavi Foundation will cripple the charity's work and put the government in the awkward position of potentially shutting down the houses of worship, which occupy buildings and land that Alavi owns.

Opinion: The European Court of Justice Kadi decision and the future of UN counterterrorism sanctions

10/30/09: The American Society of International Law has a piece by Peter Fromuth, a lawyer and former State Department official, arguing that the UN’s key contribution to anti-terrorism cooperation is to act as the legal trigger for international enforcement action, but that the UN counter-terrorism sanctions regime must find a better balance with the rights of the individuals it targets before the regime can work. The piece highlights how a 2008 decision by the European Court of Justice (ECJ), Kadi & Al Barakaat Int’l Found. v. Council of the E.U. & Comm’n of the E.C., challenged the core framework of UN terrorist sanctions and forced UN member states to tackle difficult legal questions or else face possible collapse of the UN’s terrorist sanctions regime.

Taliban suspected of stockpiling 'missing' Afghan opium

10/22/09: CNN reports that enough Afghan opium to supply world demand for two years has effectively gone missing, with the Taliban suspected of stockpiling supplies in a bid to corner the market, the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has revealed.

Al-Qaeda's finances shaky

10/13/09: The Washington Times reports that government efforts to disrupt al-Qaeda's funding network are working, as the terrorist group is in the worst financial shape it has been in years, a senior Treasury Department official said Monday. Treasury — by targeting donors, fundraisers and facilitators of terrorist groups in the U.S. and abroad — has been able to partially choke the flow of money to such outfits as al-Qaeda, the Palestinian group Hamas and Lebanon's Hezbollah, Mr. Cohen said.

UK Supreme Court deals with al-Qaeda financier as first case

10/08/09: The Lift reports that in its first ruling, the new UK Supreme Court agreed that the media should be able to identify one of four men appealing against orders freezing their assets. Mr al-Ghabra, 29, from Forest Gate, East London, who has British citizenship, has been named by the US as a terrorism recruiter and fundraiser and accused of keeping contact with senior al-Qaeda figures in Pakistan.

Iran banks move to Ecuador to avoid sanctions

09/09/09: Counterterrorism Blog reports that in its latest bid to avoid international banking sanctions for its support of terrorism, Iran has reached an agreement with the Central Bank of Ecuador to allow the Export Development Bank of Iran to operate in Ecuador.

US to prosecute bank over Iran links

09/09/09: The Financial Times (UK) reports that Robert Morgenthau, Manhattan’s district attorney, said on Tuesday he planned to take action within a month against an unnamed financial institution over illicit links with Iran.

Hizbollah hit in the pocket

09/07/09: Asharq al-Alawsat reports that Lebanese businessman Salah Ezz al-Din has defrauded Lebanese terrorist movement and political party Hizbollah out of hundreds of millions of dollars.  HT to Terror Finance Blog.

Court rules government’s freeze of charity’s assets unconstitutional

08/21/09: The Lift reports that a federal court ruled in Kindhearts v. Geithner, for the first time late Tuesday that the government cannot freeze an organization’s assets under a terror financing law without obtaining a warrant based upon probable cause. The court also found that the government must give the organization notice of the basis for freezing its assets and a meaningful opportunity to defend itself.

FBI agents’ role is transformed by terror fight

08/19/09: The New York Times reports that the FBI has doubled the number of agents assigned to counterterrorism duties to roughly 5,000 people, and has created new squads across the country that focus more on deterring and disrupting terrorism than on solving crimes. But the manpower costs of this focus are steep, and the benefits not always clear. Of the 5,500 leads that the squad has pursued since it was formed five years ago, only 5 percent have been found credible enough to be sent to permanent FBI squads for longer-term investigations.

Last defendant sentenced in California terrorist plot

08/18/09: The Miami Herald reports that a man who helped a prison-based Islamic militant group to plot against the US government was sentenced Monday to 70 months in federal prison, prosecutors said. Hammad Samana was sentenced in US District Court in Santa Ana, said US attorney's office spokesman Thom Mrozek. Samana was the last of the four members of the group, Jam'iyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh, or JIS, to be sentenced, and was a "lesser character" in the plot to target Israel supporters, Mrozek said.

Convicted Yemeni cleric to be deported

08/08/09: The Washington Post reports that a terrorism-financing case against Sheik Mohammed al-Moayad, a Yemeni cleric, which the US government once claimed as a major victory against al-Qaeda, came to a murky end Friday as a federal judge ordered him to be released and deported, despite his 2005 sentence to 75 years in a maximum-security U.S. prison.

Minnesota Somali to plead guilty to terrorism charge

07/28/09: The Miami Herald reports that Salah Osman Ahmed, a Minnesota man accused of traveling to Somalia to fight with Islamic militants plans to plead guilty will plead guilty to one count of providing material support to terrorists. As part of a plea agreement, one count of conspiracy to kill, kidnap, maim and injure and two counts of lying to the FBI will be dropped when Ahmed is sentenced.

Iraqi insurgents turn to robbery for financing

07/28/09: Le Monde (France, in French) reports that the night of July 27-28, Iraqi insurgents stole approximately $3.8 million in local currency from a Baghdad bank. The theft of local police payroll funds was only the latest robbery as insurgents try to make up for the decline in foreign cash caused by better policing of terrorist financing.

Saudi efforts to combat terrorist financing

07/21/09: The Counterterrorism Blog reports that Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner, on his first official trip to Saudi Arabia last week, praised the efforts of the Kingdom in combating terrorism financing. In the week prior to Geithner's visit, the Saudis announced that 330 individuals had been convicted of terrorism charges in the first trials involving the kingdom's new specialized terrorism court, including for terrorist-financing-related charges.

Scholarship: Crime, war, and global trafficking

07/20/09: Christine Jojarth of the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law at Stanford University has published Crime, War, and Global Trafficking: Designing International Cooperation. Combining international legal theory and transaction cost economics, the book develops a novel, comprehensive framework which reveals the factors that determine the optimal balance between institutional credibility and flexibility in the role of international organizations in combatting a number of global ills. HT to International Law Reporter.

Nasir gets eight-year term for Qaeda support in Germany

07/14/09: The New York Times reports that Aleem Nasir, a 47-year-old German-Pakistani man, was sentenced Monday to eight years in prison for actively supporting Al Qaeda, a state court in the city of Koblenz said.

Upcoming appeals on "material support" to terrorism policy

07/07/09: SCOTUSblog reports that federal prosecutions since 2001 have pursued “material support” cases against 120 individuals or organizaions (with convictions in about half of the cases).  But the Ninth Circuit Court has struck down several parts of the law, finding them too vague to satisfy the Constitution, and finding that they threaten free speech rights of those who would support non-violent activities of the designated organizations.

US sanctions Pakistani Lashkar-e-Taiba and al Qaeda leaders

07/02/09: The Long War Journal reports that Lashkar-e-Taiba leaders Arif Qasmani, Mohammed Yahya Mujahid, and Nasir Javaid, and al Qaeda operative Fazeel-A-Tul Shaykh Abu Mohammed Ameen Al Peshawari have been designated as terrorists under Executive Order 13224. The designation permits the US to freeze their assets, prevents them from using financial institutions, and allows for prosecution for their terrorist activities.

Arms dealer gets 25 years in NYC terror case

07/02/09: The Miami Herald reports that Tareq Mousa al Ghazi who was convicted in US District Court in New York in March of conspiracy to murder U.S. officers, conspiracy to acquire and export anti-aircraft missiles and conspiracy to support a terrorist group, was sentenced to 25 years in prison by Federal Judge Jed Rakoff.

ACLU says terrorism finance laws hurt charities

06/16/09: The Miami Herald reports that an American Civil Liberties Union report issued Tuesday said many people who want to comply with their faith's tenet of charitable giving have stopped doing that out of worry they could be swept up in a terrorism financing investigation.

Event: Teleconference on terrorism finance laws and American Muslims

06/16/09: The ACLU is sponsoring a teleconference at 11:00 to address the findings of a new report, "Blocking Faith, Freezing Charity." The ACLU conducted 120 interviews with Muslim community leaders and donors in several states, and the result is the first comprehensive report that documents the serious effects of Bush administration terrorism finance laws on Muslim communities. Check the calendar for details.

Four plead guilty in Brooklyn to conspiring to support Sri Lankan rebels

06/10/09: The New York Times reports that four people with connections to Sri Lanka pleaded guilty in federal court in Brooklyn on Tuesday to conspiring to provide support to the Tamil Tigers, the separatist rebels whom Sri Lankan troops defeated last month after more than a quarter-century of fighting for a homeland. The defendants are Karunakaran Kandasamy, Pratheepan Thavaraja, Murugesu Vinayagamoorthy, and Vijayshanthar Patpanathan.

DOJ backs Saudi royal family in 9/11 suit

05/31/09: The New York Times reports that the Obama administration is supporting efforts by the Saudi royal family to defeat a long-running lawsuit seeking to hold it liable for the 9/11 attacks. The DOJ, in a brief filed Friday in the Supreme Court, said it did not believe the Saudis could be sued in American court over accusations brought by 9/11 victims' families that the royal family had helped finance Al Qaeda. The DOJ said it saw no need for the court to review lower court rulings that found in the Saudis’ favor in throwing out the lawsuit. The case is Federal Insurance Co. v. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Holy Land Foundation member gets 65 years in prison for funding Hamas

05/27/09: The Miami Herald reports that a founding member of what was once the nation's largest Muslim charity, the Holy Land Foundation, was sentenced to 65 years in prison Wednesday for funneling millions of dollars to the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Abu Baker and other charity leaders were convicted in a Texas district court on charges ranging from supporting a terrorist organization to money laundering and tax fraud.

Scholarship: Recent articles on terrorist financing

"Microfinancing Terrorism: A Study in Al Qaeda Financing Strategy" (in State of Corruption, State of Chaos: The Terror of Political Malfeasance, M. Cox, ed., 2008) by Tolga Koker (Yale University) and Carlos L. Yordan (Drew University). This article explains why individuals support the work of charities that support jihadist operations, even when they may not agree with these organizations' agenda. It first explains why al Qaeda and other jihadist groups use charities to raise most of their funds. It then introduces a behavioral model, arguing that individual Muslims donate monies to Islamist charities that support jihadist causes as a response to social pressures, in an attempt to avoid social seclusion. It concludes with policy implications in the ongoing global struggle against terrorism. HT to National Security Advisors.

"Bank Liability Under the Anti-Terrorism Act: Dispelling the 'Routine Banking Services' Defense in Material Support Cases"  by Stephen I. Landman (Catholic University of America - Columbus School of Law). This article evaluates civil liability for financial institutions that provide material support to terrorist organizations, analyzing the development of the ATA and related legislation proscribing material support to terrorist groups and highlighting the evolving statutory construction by looking to the body of case law surrounding lawsuits against the terrorist support network. Using the lawsuit filed on behalf of Daniel Pearl as a case study, this article concludes that a broad interpretation of the statute is not only in line with the legislative intent of the ATA, but is also the only way in which it can be effective in halting terrorist financing.

"The Best Tool for the Job: The U.S. Campaign to Freeze Assets of Proliferators and their Supporters" (Virginia Journal of International Law, 2009) by CarrieLyn Donigan Guymon (Golden Gate University School of Law). This article reviews the legal framework in the United States for freezing the assets of individuals and entities engaged in proliferation-related activities. It argues that the United States and the international community must maintain nonproliferation sanctions because these sanctions protect the integrity of the national and global systems and actors within the jurisdictions imposing them. Regardless of their impact on the target, nonproliferation sanctions must be used to send that strong signal of abhorrence for proliferant behavior.

"EU Law, International Law and Economic Sanctions Against Terrorism: The Judiciary in Distress?" (Fordham International Law Journal, Forthcoming) by P. Takis Tridimas (Queen Mary University of London) and Jose A. Gutierrez-Fons (Queen Mary University of London, School of Law). This article examines the relationship between European Union law, international law, and the protection of fundamental rights in the light of Kadi, Al Barakaat, and other recent case law of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and the Court of First Instance (CFI) relating to economic sanctions against individuals.

European parliament releases overview of European and international terrorist financing legislation

04/15/09: The European Parliament released an overview of European and international terrorist financing legislation which examines the different uses and operations of the laws, their differing and similar stipulations, and the processes by which they were adopted. HT to The Lift.

Terrorist financing convictions relatively difficult to obtain in Scandinavian countries

03/13/09: The Jamestown Foundation reports that recent acquittals of members of Muslim Charities in Sweden and Belgium which have been banned from operating in Germany and the Netherlands demonstrates the relative difficulty of securing convictions of terrorism financing suspects in Scandinavian countries. The authors attribute this difference in part to the higher evidentiary threshold of Scandinavian courts as opposed to other European courts in terrorist financing cases.

Scholarship: "Enacting Counter Terrorism Financing Laws in the UAE and Bahrain: The Fusion of Global Pressures, Regional Dynamics, and Local Interests"

"Enacting Counter Terrorism Financing Laws in the UAE and Bahrain: The Fusion of Global Pressures, Regional Dynamics, and Local Interests" (Mediterranean Programme, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute) Carlos L. Yordan (Drew University).  After the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1373, obligating all states to enact new laws that criminalized activities related to terrorism, and making laws against terrorism financing a priority. This paper analyzes the reasons that inform the UAE's and Bahrain's decision to comply with these financial standards. Both are becoming important global financial hubs and their compliance has been used to attract foreign investments. Moreover conformity with these rules, which are similar to the ones found in the USA PATRIOT Act, shows their commitment to Washington's global war on terror, but without having to publicly support America's strategies.  HT to National Security Advisors.

Terrorism financing blacklists at risk

11/02/2008: The Washington Post reports that the global blacklisting system for financiers of al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups is at risk of collapse, undermined by legal challenges and waning political support in many countries, according to counterterrorism officials in Europe and the United States.

Terrorism financing is still big business

8/31/08: Counterterrorism Blog responds to a Washington Post article about the inexpensive nature of terrorist attacks, arguing that terrorism financing is still a big business.

Spain clears two Syrians of terrorist financing

07/22/08: CNN has an article on the recent dismissal by a Spanish court of the indictments of two Syrian-born men for alleged terrorist financing.