Swede Removed From Terror Suspect List

Stockholm, August 17, 2006 – The United States has removed a Swedish man from its list of people suspected of links to terrorism, almost five years after he was placed on the terror suspects list and had his assets frozen.

The Swedish foreign ministry has criticized the fact that it’s taken so long to remove Ahmed Yusuf from the list. It said an effort has now been launched to have   Yusuf’s name removed from the U.N. and EU sanctions lists.

The sanctions were imposed on Yusuf and two other Somali-born Swedes after the U.S. accused them of being linked to terrorists through the Somali money transfer operation Al-Barakaat. U.S. authorities say the network funneled money to al-Qaida.

The other two Swedes were removed from sanctions lists a year later, but U.S. authorities at the time said there were still questions about Yusuf.

Yusuf’s lawyer Thomas Olsson on Thursday said he had been informed by an office in the U.S. Treasury Department that it had decided to lift the sanctions against Yusuf. No reason was given for the decision.

Hans Dahlgren, of the Foreign Ministry, said Yusuf’s case highlighted flaws in the U.N. sanctions system.

”What has happened illustrates that the U.N. sanctions need to be reformed ... and that it must become easier to remove people from the sanctions list who obviously don’t belong there,” he said.

Source: Radio Sweden, Aug 17, 2006

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