Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

FREEZING OF ASSETS/SEQUESTRATION • 205acts of violence that would disrupt the Middle East peace process,and he blocked transactions by U.S. citizens with these foreign persons.Regulations implementing this Executive Order were issued on2 February 1996 (61 Fed. Reg 3,805 [1996]). This Executive Orderblocked the assets of the Islamic Jihad in Palestine, Hamas, andAbu Nidal organizations, among others, as well as assets of variousfront groups that had been established in the United States for thepurposes of gathering funds for such groups under charitable andeducational pretenses.Beyond these Presidential actions, the Congress and presidentpassed the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of1996, which, in Section 302, forbids fund-raising and other materialsupport for organizations designated as terrorist groups or found toengage in activities defined as terrorist activities under U.S. law and,in Section 303, criminalizes knowingly providing, or attempting toprovide, material support to a foreign terrorist group. Section 303also requires financial institutions to freeze the funds of any personor group involved in funding those terrorist groups.Following the World Trade Center and Pentagon Attacks ofSeptember 11, 2001, the administration of President George W.Bush issued Executive Order 13224, allowing the U.S. governmentto designate and sequester the assets of terrorist individuals or groupsthat commit, or pose a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorismor else that provide support or assistance to such people orgroups. This led to the immediate freezing of assets of more than 60individuals and firms believed to have ties to terrorist groups. On 7November 2001 the assets of the al Barakat and al Taqwa financialnetworks were seized as they were believed to have direct ties tothe al Qa’eda network of Osama bin Laden, the alleged principalbehind the September 11 attacks. When an individual or group isdesignated as a terrorist group or financial sponsor of such a groupunder Executive Order 13224, the order applies to all subsidiaries,front organizations, agents, and associates of such groups. Whenevera group is designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) bythe Secretary of State pursuant to Section 219 of the Immigrationand Nationality Act, then all U.S. financial institutions are requiredto freeze the funds of such FTOs.In addition to the sequestering of funds of al-Qa’eda front organizations,such as the al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, Executive