The European Court of Justice in Luxemburg has declared that the 2005 sentence against the informal Somali bank network ’al-Barakaat’ in Stockholm, did not follow basic procedures and is therefore not valid.
The bank network al-Barakaat had their bank accounts frozen as a consequence of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington D.C. in 2001.
The Ministry of Finance in the United States established lists of individuals and organizations all over the world which they suspected were in connection with terrorist groups. Al-Barakaat was put on this list.
The UN accepted this list without any changes and in turn forced the EU and Sweden to incorporate these measures into their laws.
The main argument in the new sentence of the European Court of Justice is that the basic rights of the accused has been put aside. The accused were not informed of what they were accused of and they had no possibility to defend themselves.
The Court is not entirely aganist a terrorist list, but the accused must have the right to be informed of the exact accusation. This information can be provided to the accused after they were listed so not to loose the surprise effect which is so important when dealing with economic crime.
The Court also does not want to open the frozen accounts directly while the accusations might be true. Therefore they will be frozen for three more months.
The legal representative for the three Somalian men and their bank network, Thomas Olsson, is surprised and relieved. He says the following to TT:
This is a great relief. Partly for the people who have used al-Barakaat to send money to needing relatives in Somalia. But it is also a great relief for us all. The Court shows that basic human right must apply even in the fight against terrorism, and that is a guarantee that this struggle is about something that is worth to fight for, namely democracy and the rule of law.
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From TT
Mats Öhlen
mats.ohlen@stockholmnews.com