| Submit your comments on this article |
| Europe |
| Al-Qaeda financier wants to testify before Congress |
| 2005-06-22 |
| An Italian national of Egyptian origin, designated by the White House and the US Treasury Department for his alleged financial support of terrorist activities, says he is willing to appear before the U.S. Congress in an attempt to clear his name. Prosecutors in Switzerland, where Youssef Nada's company al-Taqwa - also on Washington's blacklist - is based, were forced earlier this month to drop their criminal case against him after failing to meet a Swiss court's deadline to produce new evidence. Nada, in an interview posted on Wednesday on the Swiss internet portal, TicinOnline, again denied any wrongdoing, and said he had appealed directly to U.S. President George W. Bush to launch a probe into why he and is company had been linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network. 74-year-old Nada, who lives in Campione d'Italia, an Italian enclave in Switzerland, was, together with his company, was among the first names to be added to a list of designated individuals and companies compiled by Washington in 2001, in the aftermath, of the 11 September attacks. "The injustice continues. The UN Security Council cannot remove my name from its terrorist 'black list' and un-freeze my bank accounts without Washington's consent," he said. US authorities allege al-Taqwa, which has been renamed Nada Management Organisation, was established in 1988 with backing from the Muslim Brotherhood and was involved in financing radical groups including the Palestinian Hamas, Algeria's Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) and Armed Islamic Group (GIA), Tunisia's an-Nahda as well as the international al-Qaeda network. Nada says the charges against him and a business partner, Ali Ghaleb Himmat, an Italian citizen of Syrian origin, are based on false evidence provided by police informants. Claiming that he has always worked for "peace and against injustice," Nada said in the interview that he had visited Saddam Hussein shortly before the Gulf War of 1991 to try to persuade the Iraqi leader to withdraw his forces from Kuwait. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |