Canada Pays Off Falsely Accused Al Barakaat Owner

[BN]

Since, the companies assets are no longer frozen will AlBarakaat reemerge in Somalia? Or has the competition already moved in permanently?

 

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Government pays off victim of smear

 

Ottawa man was arrested, his business ruined

 

The Canadian government has quietly paid off an Ottawa man it falsely accused of financing terrorism, arrested, and financially destroyed in the post-9/11 rush to cut off money flowing to Osama bin Laden's network.

 

Canadians, however, are not being told how much businessman Liban Hussein has been compensated for what one critic calls the "abuse" he suffered at the hands of the government.

 

Before admitting it had no grounds to do so, the government seized Mr. Hussein's assets, made it a crime for anyone to do business with him, jailed him, and moved to have him deported to the U.S. to face charges.

 

From early November 2001 to June 2002, Mr. Hussein was devastated emotionally, financially and socially because he ran a money-transfer business in Dorchester, Massachusetts, that U.S. officials said was linked to the al-Qaeda terrorist group.

 

In mid-June 2002, the Canadian Justice Department announced it was discontinuing proceedings against Mr. Hussein, a Somali-born Canadian citizen, because further investigation revealed there wasn't any evidence to suggest he had anything to with terrorism -- which was what he told officials all along.

 

After extradition proceedings against him were stopped, it was expected that Mr. Hussein would file a civil suit against the government for damages. He had been a successful small businessman who supported his parents and several brothers and sisters.

 

But the civil suit was never filed because after his lawyer contacted the Justice Department, they expressed interest in settling out of court.

 

A deal was recently reached, but terms of the settlement are subject to a non-disclosure clause.

 

Mr. Hussein's civil lawyer, Al O'Brien, says he cannot speak about the case. In the past week, Justice Department officials have not returned calls requesting information. And Mr. Hussein could not be reached for comment.

 

Confidentiality clauses are common in civil cases, but Randal Marlin, past-president of the Civil Liberties Association, National Capital Region chapter, says this is one case the Canadian public deserves and needs to know about.

 

"The public should know how much the government paid this man," he said. "In the post-Sept. 11 hysteria, the government abused this man's rights in an incalculable way. The public should know what kind of compensation he was awarded for what they put him through.

 

"Was it a million? Was it $50 million? I guess we'll never know."

 

What is known, however, is what happened to Mr. Hussein, and how a series of U.S. and Canadian government decisions conspired to deprive him of several fundamental rights.

 

On Nov. 7, 2001, Mr. Hussein and his Massachusetts-based money transfer company, Barakaat North America Inc., a subsidiary of al-Barakaat, headquartered in Dubai, were included on a U.S. government list of 62 people and businesses who allegedly supported terrorism.

 

In a speech that day, U.S. President George W. Bush said clear evidence showed that people on the list were "quartermasters of terror."

 

Mr. Hussein's money-transfer business was raided and shut down. His brother, Mohammed Hussein, 35, who was in Dorchester, was arrested and jailed on a charge of operating the business without a licence. Liban Hussein was charged with the same crime, but he was in Ottawa. The U.S. asked Canada to extradite him to face the charge.

 

On the same day Mr. Bush released the names, the UN Security Council adopted the list, as did the Canadian government, using an order-in-council with no public or parliamentary debate.

 

Mr. Hussein was arrested by the RCMP but, a day later, a judge released him after a bail hearing because neither government brought any evidence of terrorist links.

 

Still, as a penalty for being listed, Mr. Hussein's assets, including his business, were frozen, it became a crime for anyone to have financial dealings with him, and Canada announced it would try to extradite him to the U.S.

 

From the minute he became aware that he was accused of financing terrorism, Mr. Hussein denied it. He said he was a businessman running what is called a hawala, a money-transfer business, similar to Western Union, that helped Somalis send money to their home country, where there are no banks.

 

To extradite someone, the alleged crime in the U.S. must be akin to a crime in Canada. Since conducting such a business without a licence is not an offence in Canada, Justice Department lawyers decided they would argue that Mr. Hussein should be extradited because he was on the terrorism list.

 

Mr. Hussein's defence lawyers, Michael Edelson and David Paciacco, planned to fight the extradition by challenging the constitutionality of the list itself and how it was adopted by Canada.

 

Mr. Hussein lived in limbo for seven months, until mid-June 2002, when the Justice Department, after receiving the defence lawyers' written argument, abruptly announced it was halting extradition proceedings.

 

Justice Department chief general counsel Ivan Whitehall said he'd reviewed the material the U.S. used to place Mr. Hussein on the list and found "no evidence he was connected to any terrorist activities."

 

Mr. Hussein was removed from the list in Canada, and, eventually, at the UN and in the U.S. Since then, he has been trying to rebuild his shattered life in Ottawa.

 

Mr. Hussein was allowed to access his bank account after the extradition proceedings were stopped. But his janitorial-services franchise had been revoked, his hawala business had been shut down, and any money he had was used to repay people who had supported him during the seven months that he was under suspicion.

 

His brother was tried and convicted in the U.S. of running a money-transfer business without a licence and given 18 months in jail. The U.S. government never alleged any terrorist links at his trial.

 

Mr. Marlin says the unacceptable way in which Mr. Hussein was treated is a lesson Canadians should not soon forget.

 

"I hope the public now understands that the government destroyed this man's life without a single shred of evidence, that he had absolutely nothing to do with terrorism, and that his name is completely rehabilitated," he said.

 

"The settlement is an acknowledgement of this, but the public should know the details so we can judge for ourselves if the government has been held accountable for what it did to him."

 

© Copyright 2003 The Ottawa Citizen

 

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[Coloow]

Barinomad saaxib this is a good news! In sweden three somalis have been accused for the same offence. Their assets were frozen without due course as stipulated by swedish laws. Two of the guys have been removed from the list after they agreed to provide the US embassy with fingerprints and taken an "oath". The third dude has refused and wants his case heard by the european court of justice. He refused to sign any agreement because he is afraid this might be prejuidice his case against the swedish government.

 

His case would be heard next week in belgium and according to reports he is going to win. The case is not about the issue of guilt but the technicalities and how far a european state can go to deprive her citizens the right to judicial hearing. According to the swedish law, a citizen's assets can not be frozen by a government but by courts- which obviously was the case.

 

Marka saaxib faataxada soo mara

[Muhammad]

masha'allah magacfiican bay labexeen Illahna ha waafajiyow hana barakay'yo!

[BN]

Originally posted by Entrepreneur:

In sweden three somalis have been accused for the same offence. Their assets were frozen without due course as stipulated by swedish laws. Two of the guys have been removed from the list after they agreed to provide the US embassy with fingerprints and taken an "oath". The third dude has refused and wants his case heard by the european court of justice. He refused to sign any agreement because he is afraid this might be prejuidice his case against the swedish government.

 

His case would be heard next week in belgium and according to reports he is going to win.

I heard about those cases. Since the 9/11 attack all governments around the world did whatever the US told them to do. They arrested and imprisoned thousands of muslims around the world. Even if they were innocent-they were held without any charges or evidence. In the US mainland there are 1000+ muslims r being held for more then 2 years now. Most for 'immigration' excuses.

 

It's good to see that some are being freed and getting justice. They should do all they can against their respective governments so that this does not happen again(sue, file grievences etc.)

 

InshaAllah they will all be freed.