Somali Swedes Challenge Terrorism Freeze Procedures

The international community, counterterrorism officials, and the international human rights community are closing watching the case of the freezing of assets against the Somali Swedes. The assets of Abdirisak Aden, Abdi Abdulazziz Ali, and Youssef Ali, all Somali-born persons living in Sweden have been frozen because the U.S. Government and the U.N. have listed them as transnational terrorists. In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, the U.N. adopted the U.S. procedure of listing and freezing assets of not only governments, but individuals as well. The U.N. has rejected requests by Mr. Aden?s counsel to remove his name and the Security Council can only act by unanimous vote. The U.S. Government has opposed removing the names of the Somali Swedes. The Treasury Department refuses to provide much of its evidence against the three because it does not want to risk compromising its continuing investigation financing. Thomas Olsson, one of their counsel, speculates they were listed because of their operation of the al Barakaat franchise in Sweden and their second business, selling discount phone cards to immigrants in Sweden. In February Mr. Olsson visited the U.S. Treasury and was unable to obtain evidentiary support for the listing of the Somali Swedes. With Sweden?s sponsorship Mr. Olsson has complained to the Security Council about his client?s inclusion on the sanctions list. In February 2002 12, of the council?s 15 permanent and rotating members voiced no objection to removing the men. However, the U.S., Britain and Russia objected and blocked their removal.