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
