Canberra, Nov 21: Australia listed six senior leaders of the militant Palestinian Hamas group as terrorists today and froze the assets of five charities that it said help fund the organisation's activities. The announcement by Australian Foreign Minister Alexander downer follows the same action against exactly the same men and organisations by the United States in August. US President George W Bush said on Aug 22 he was taking the action because Hamas claimed responsibility for the Aug 19 suicide attack on a packed bus in Jerusalem that killed 20 people, including six children.
Downer said today he had acted because the men and organisations "are involved in terrorism."

The six individuals are sheik Ahmed Yassin, the leader of Hamas in Gaza; Imad Khalil al-Alami, a member of the Hamas political bureau in Damascus, Syria; Usama Hamdan, a senior Hamas leader in Lebanon; Khalid Mishaal, head of the Hamas political bureau and executive committee in Damascus; Musa Abu Marzouk, deputy chief of the political bureau in Syria, and Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a Hamas leader described as reporting to Yassin. The charities whose assets were frozen included a support group based in France called the committee for charity and aid for the Palestinians; the association for Palestinian aid in Switzerland; the Palestinian relief and development fund, or Interpal, headquartered in Britain; the Palestinian association in Austria, and the Sanbil association for relief and development, which is based in Lebanon.
Bureau Report