Another Bosnian Charity Linked to Al-Qaeda

[Ivo Skoric]

Subject: UN Adds Bosnian Charity Director To Al Qaeda List

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Reuters
December 30, 2003

UN adds Bosnian charity director to al Qaeda list


UNITED NATIONS -- Tuesday – The United Nations
yesterday added the director of a Bosnian charity to
its list of individuals whose assets should be frozen
due to suspected ties to Osama bin Laden or his al
Qaeda network.

Safet Durguti, 36, was added to the U.N. list at the
request of the United States and Saudi Arabia. While
he was born in Orahovac, Kosovo, his nationality is
unknown, the United Nations said.

The goal of the U.N. list, which is maintained by a
U.N. Security Council committee and currently has more
than 300 names of businesses, individuals and
organizations, is to deprive suspected extremists of
the money and other resources they need to carry out
attacks.

Putting groups and individuals on the list obliges the
United Nations' 191 member-nations to freeze their
funds and other assets and block their movements.

Durguti is the director of a charity called Vazir,
based in the Bosnian city of Travnik.

The United States and Saudi Arabia have concluded that
Vazir was simply another name for the Al-Haramain
Islamic Foundation, a Saudi-based charity that was
placed on the U.N. list in March 2002, the U.S.
Treasury Department said last week.

Vazir was formed in May 2003 as an association for
sports, culture and education but was based in the
same business space as Al-Haramain, it said.

The United Nations also added Hochburg AG, a company
based in Vaduz, Liechtenstein, to its list.

The firm is a successor to a company called the Ba
Taqwa For Commerce And Real Estate Company Ltd, whose
assets were ordered frozen in 2002.

Hochburg and BA Taqwa share the same business
registration number, and records in Liechtenstein show
that BA Taqwa was renamed Hochburg AG early in 2002,
the U.S. Treasury said.
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Ivo Skoric
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Rutland VT 05701
802.775.7257
ivo at balkansnet.org
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