Jordan Intervenes in U.S. Terror-Funding Suits

The WSJ reports that Jordan is stepping up efforts to shield its biggest bank from several lawsuits in New York that claim it helped fund terrorist operations, cases that are stirring tensions between the U.S. and one of its closest Middle East allies. A set of related U.S. civil suits filed in federal district court [...]

European Commission adopts internal security strategy

The “EU Internal Security Strategy in Action” adopted today comprises 41 actions to be regulated in the coming four years and is imed at implementing the extra powers in the field of home affairs acquired by the EU once the Lisbon Treaty came into force. It also responds to requests from the European Parliament to [...]

Federal prosecutors charge 3 men with funding Somalia terrorist organization

The US District Court Eastern District of Missouri unsealed an indictment charging three men with providing material support to Somali-based Islamic terrorist organization al Shabaab. The October 21 indictment charges Mohamud Abdi Yusuf, Duane Mohamed Diriye and Abdi Mahdi Hussein with funding and providing materials to a known terrorist organization. The federal grand jury charged [...]

Brief in US v El Mazain Argues Material Support Conviction Should Require Knowledge of Terror Connection

On Oct. 26, 2010, a diverse group of U.S. organizations filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit arguing that individuals may not be convicted under a statute barring “material support” to “designated terrorist groups” if they have not knowingly supported any designated terrorist group. Under the lower court’s ruling, [...]

Al-Shabab bans mobile phone money transfers in Somalia

BBC reports that Somali Islamist group al-Shabab has ordered mobile phone companies to stop their popular money transfer services, saying they are “unIslamic”. Mobile phone banking was introduced in the northern Somaliland region in 2009 and has now spread across the country. Al-Shabab and its allies control much of southern Somalia and one mobile phone [...]

Bruguiere report on SWIFT-TFTP Agreement

Statewatch just released the second report on the processing of EU-originating personal data by the US Treasury Department for counter-terrorism purposes by Judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere. This report by the Judge took place under the previous SWIFT-TFTP agreement with the USA on the transfer of data on all financial transactions recorded by the EU-based SWIFT system. [...]

New proposed US money transfers regime undermines EU-US swift agreement

The Obama administration wants to require U.S. banks to report all electronic money transfers into and out of the country, a dramatic expansion in efforts to counter terrorist financing and money laundering. Financial institutions are now required to report to the Treasury Department transactions in excess of $10,000 and others they deem suspicious. The new [...]

Political Science academic theses on counterterrorism

Ahrnens, Anette.  Lund University, Sweden; 2007 A Quest for Legitimacy: Debating UN Security Council Rules on Terrorism and Non-proliferation. Alienated: A Reworking of the Racialization Thesis after September 11th Using the Qur’an to Justify Terrorist Violence: Analysing Selective Application of the Qur’an in English-Language Militant Islamist Discourse Berger, Michael Andrew. St Andrews University, U.K.; 2010 [...]

Indonesia: The Dark Side of Jama’ah Ansharut Tauhid (JAT)

The International Crisis Group has published an overview on Jama’ah Ansharut Tauhid (JAT), the organization led by Indonesia’s best-known radical cleric Abu Bakar Ba’asyir founded in 2008. Quote: An ostensibly above-ground organisation, it has embraced individuals with known ties to fugitive extremists. It has welcomed many members of the militant Jema’ah Islamiyah (JI) but clashed [...]

ACLU testifies before House on anti-terrorism financing laws

At a hearing before a House Committee on Financial Services subcommittee today, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) testified about the need for greater transparency and due process in the Treasury Department’s enforcement of anti-terrorism financing laws and its effect on charitable organizations. The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearing was aimed at examining how [...]