United Nations, Sept 12: The United Nations has imposed sanctions on one of the masterminds of the Bali bombing, Imam Samudra, and 19 other men with links to the al-Qaeda terrorist network, mainly in Southeast Asia, a UN spokesman has said. All nations are required to impose an arms embargo and travel ban and freeze the assets of individuals and groups on a list compiled by the UN Security Council committee monitoring sanctions against Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda and remnants of the Taliban.
UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said yesterday the committee added 20 individuals to the al-Qaeda list on Tuesday, primarily Malaysians, Indonesians and Filipinos. The list now includes 275 individuals and 99 groups, organizations and companies - 152 individuals and one entity with links to the Taliban and 123 individuals and 98 entities with links to al-Qaeda.
Samudra, an Afghan-trained fighter, was sentenced to death by firing squad on Wednesday for planning last year's Bali nightclub blasts, which killed 202 people. Most of the new names were on a new US Treasury Department list issued last week which sought to block any financial assets they might have in the United States.
Some of the better-known individuals added to the UN list include a Malaysian chemist named Yazid Sufaat, whom authorities believe hosted two of the September 11 hijackers in 2000, as well as Zacarias Moussaoui, the accused September 11 conspirator now in US Custody. Sufaat is also suspected of providing Moussaoui with fake papers he used to make his way to the United States. Bureau Report