Assets ordered frozen for former Guyana MP convicted of terrorism in US

Sep 03, 2017 News, https://www.kaieteurnewsonline...-of-terrorism-in-us/

Government has placed financial sanctions on two Guyanese men who were convicted more than six years ago of terrorism-related charges in the US.

On Tuesday, Minister within the Ministry of Finance, Jaipaul Sharma, acting on behalf of Finance Minister, Winston Jordan, signed off orders for both Abdul Kadir known as Aubrey Michael Seaforth, 65, and Abdel Nur, 67, freezing their local assets.

It will be the first known actions by the Government of Guyana on its citizens, relating to terrorism activities.

According to the published Official Gazette of August 30, the order was made under the Anti- Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act.

Guyana last year passed critical amendments, increasing penalties and tougher monitoring under the law which is being adopted worldwide.

Sharma, the Official Gazette said, has the powers to make the orders under Section 2 (2) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act, which was cited as the Targeted Financial Sanctions (Specified Persons) Order 2017.

Kadir, born December 8th, 1951, is currently incarcerated at United States Penitentiary, Pennsylvania, and listed as inmate number 64656-053
Nur, born March 24, is serving his time at the Federal Correctional Institution, North Carolina with his inmate number being 64655-053
Under agreements Guyana has signed, and in accordance with current anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism financing laws, countries should implement targeted financial sanctions regimes to comply with United Nations Security Council resolutions relating to the prevention and suppression of terrorism and terrorist financing.

“The resolutions require countries to freeze without delay the funds or other assets of, and to ensure that no funds or other assets are made available, directly or indirectly to, or for the benefit of, any person or entity either (i) designated by, or under the authority of, the United Nations Security Council under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, including in accordance with resolution 1267 (1999) and its successor resolutions; or (ii) designated by that country pursuant to resolution 1373 (2001),” the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) website explained on the issue.

In December 2010, Kadir, a former Parliamentarian, was sentenced to life in prison for plotting to blow up fuel tanks at John F. Kennedy International Airport, in New York.

U.S. District Court Judge Dora Irizarry said there was ample evidence that Kadir was a key player in “a plan that would have caused devastation unimaginable.”

Kadir and Russell DeFreitas, a former JFK cargo handler, were arrested and charged with multiple counts of conspiracy in 2007 after an informant infiltrated the plot and recorded them discussing it.

At a trial where Kadir and DeFreitas were convicted, prosecutors alleged the pair wanted to kill thousands of people and cripple the American economy by using explosives to blow up the fuel tanks and the underground pipelines that run through an adjacent Queens neighbourhood.

They said they sought the help of militant Muslims, including an al-Qaida operative, in Guyana.

The government relied heavily on the informant’s secret recordings, which captured DeFreitas bragging about his knowledge of Kennedy Airport and its vulnerabilities.

”For years, I’ve been watching them,” he said of the fuel tanks while on a reconnaissance mission with the informant.

Kadir testified in his own defence, denying he was a militant Muslim who spied for Iran for years before joining the JFK scheme. He told jurors that he warned the plotters: “Islam does not support aggression or killing innocent people.”

In January 2011, the same Judge Irizarry sentenced Nur. He was found guilty of providing material support to a terrorist conspiracy.

According to court documents, Nur attempted to locate al Qaeda explosives expert Adnan Gulshair el Shukrijumah, and introduced the other plotters to Yasin Abu Bakr, leader of Jamaat Al Muslimeen, a group that had engaged in terrorist attacks aimed at overthrowing the government of Trinidad.

Nur was said to be the uncle of the late, former welterweight boxing champion, Andrew ‘Six Heads’ Lewis.

Kadir was a Parliamentarian of the People’s National Congress Reform, which now forms part of A Partnership For National Unity.

The men were charged in 2007 with conspiracy to attack a public transportation system, conspiracy to destroy a building with fire and explosives, conspiracy to attack aircraft and aircraft materials, conspiracy to destroy an international airport and conspiracy to attack a mass transportation facility.

Also charged with Kadir and Nur, were Russell Defreitas, a United States citizen and native of Guyana who was the alleged ringleader and worked for a time at the airport and Kareem Ibrahim, a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago. The last two, like Kadir, were sentenced to life.

Ibrahim died in prison in January 2016 at the age of 70.

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