UN and EU 'terrorist' lists - asset freezing of innocent victims' wealth

[MikeWB]

This is getting insane. UN is now starting to freeze people's assets!

UN and EU 'terrorist' lists - asset freezing of innocent victims' wealth

From: "Dick Eastman" <olfriend@nwinfo.net>
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:12:48 -0700

Britain's financial Guantanamo

By Ben Hayes

http://www.statewatch.org/news/2008/apr ... tanamo.htm

This Thursday [24 April 2008], Mr Justice Collins of the High Court will deliver his judgment the case of 'G', 'K', 'A', 'M', and 'Q' v. H.M. Treasury. In the words of Rabinder Singh QC, "the facts of the case are reminiscent of an Austro-Hungarian novel". At issue are two 'Orders in Council' adopted under the 1946 United Nations Act. This Act allows the government to introduce domestic law to implement UN agreements - in this case a series of Security Council Resolutions dealing with the financial sponsors of terrorism - without consulting parliament.

Since '9/11' the UN has maintained a list of 'individuals and entities associated with al-Qaida or the Taliban' whose assets must be frozen by member states, a list that now stands at 482 entries. The EU also maintains a 'terrorist' list. Senator Dick Marty, who headed the Council of Europe's investigations into 'extraordinary rendition', recently described the lack of legal safeguards for those affected by these regimes as a 'scandalous abuse of human rights'. The EU Courts have concurred (see <http://www.statewatch.org/terrorlists/terrorlists.html> Statewatch 'terrorist list' site).

In addition to the UN and EU 'terrorist' lists, the UK government, via the Treasury, also 'designates' persons suspected of involvement in terrorist-related activity. This regime, the terms of which have not been debated by MPs, provides for the freezing of funds of anyone suspected of involvement in terrorism, however tenuously and regardless of whether they have been named by the UN or EU sanctions committees.

'G', 'K', 'A', 'M' and 'Q' are among those 'designated' by the Treasury pursuant to the <http://www.opsi.gov.uk/SI/si2006/20062657.htm>Terrorism Order 2006. They received identical letters informing them that: 'The Treasury has reasonable grounds to suspect that you are, or may be, a person who facilitates the commission of acts of terrorism' [emphasis added]. But, 'in the light of the sensitive nature of the information on which this decision was taken we are unable to give you further details'.

'G' then received another letter saying he had been designated by the UN Sanctions Committee. This letter said that he could petition the UK government to seek his removal from the UN list, but it failed to mention that it was actually the UK government that had secured his inclusion in the first place. For those designated by the UN Sanctions Committee there is no independent appeals procedure, nor right to know the reasoning behind the decision. The <http://www.opsi.gov.uk/SI/si2006/20062952.htm>Al Qaida and Taliban Order 2006 gives effect to UN designations in the UK.

Once informed of your 'designation', you have 14 days to provide the Treasury with full details of all your assets - properties, rental income, bank accounts, employment status, the employment status of your wife, any benefits either of you receive, and any other 'economic resources' held by you or on your behalf. Failure to provide this information is a criminal offence. All of your assets are then frozen by the Treasury. After this, you and your family can apply to the Treasury for a licence to permit access to your assets or income for 'basic expenses' only.

It is now a criminal offence, punishable by up to seven years in prison, for anyone who knows of your designation to provide you with any funds or economic resources outside the terms of a Treasury licence. The details of around 40 people designated by the Treasury have been published, whilst an unknown number of designations remain entirely secret. These designations are known only to those affected, to financial institutions with access to a password controlled Treasury website, and to other individuals and organisations who the Treasury decides to notify in writing - typically family members, friends, associates, employers and social services. If you have the misfortune to have been personally notified of a designation, it is a criminal offence to disclose the details to anyone else, even your partner. In cases where designations have been publicised via the Treasury website, anyone providing funds or economic resources to a designated individual will be presumed to know of the designation, and therefore liable to prosecution.

Following designation, there is no immediate provision for the now obviously destitute designees, or their families, to access any funds at all. Entitlement to welfare benefit suddenly stops. Unless a designated individual understands what are extremely complex procedures, only a solicitor can lawfully prevent them starving, by petitioning the Treasury for a licence. These licences typically permit designated individuals who are married to receive a maximum of

[Anonymous]

This is what happens when we slaves join their system and become dependent on paper money system and the Hollywood life.