US President George W. Bush has signed a new law that enables victims of terror to collect frozen assets of countries that sponsor violence.
The regulation also allows US citizens to go after the funds of actual terrorist groups, facilitating compensation for victims of September 11 as well as earlier attacks, reported AP.
Iraq is the new law’s biggest target, with the US holding more that two billion dollars in the country’s assets. Other American designated “state sponsors of terrorism” are Iran, Libya, Syria, North Korea, Cuba and the Sudan. As of present, the only cases won have been against Iran, Iraq and Cuba.
According to the US Treasury Department, some $113 million funds that were meant to be transferred to Al-Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbolla were frozen worldwide since September 2001. Of the total, the Department has frozen $35 million with the remaining held by other governments. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
