By Bruno Waterfield - 19th September 2005
EU terror finance blacklists are in the dock at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg on Wednesday.
Cases set for a preliminary ruling could overturn post-September 11 measures to freeze bank accounts alleged to be linked to the Taliban, Al-Qaeda or Osama bin Laden.
Wednesday’s ruling on two cases could set the precedent for ten or more that remain in the pipeline.
EU measures – taken at the level of European councils of ministers – have as a source a series of UN Security Council resolutions since 1999.
The resolutions request all UN member states, in Europe coordinated by EU action, to freeze the funds of people named in a blacklist.
Europe enacted and amended measures via the council of EU ministers annexing a list of people whose bank accounts must be frozen by member states.
The current list is regularly updated by the European Commission so as to conform with the list established by the UN Sanctions Committee.
Four individuals, and the Barakaat International Foundation, were named by the UN as suspected terrorists and added to the EU list in October and Novermber 20021.
Abdirisak Aden, Abdi Abdulaziz Ali, Ali Ahmed Yusuf , and Yasin Al-Qadi then went to the ECJ seeking to have their names removed – effectively seeking to scrap the EU blacklist regulation.
The individuals claim that their human rights have been breached: the right to dispose of their possessions, the right to defence and the right to an effective judicial remedy.
Moreover the applicants argue that the EU does not have the competence to take economic sanctions against individuals.
Since the case was brought to the European courts, Swedish residents Aden and Adi have been removed from the list after Stockholm raised their plight at the UN.
As a consequence the pair have been removed from the list and have withdrawn from the EU court case.
If the ruling goes against the council of ministers, EU governments are set to launch an appeal, during which time sanctions and the blacklist will remain in place.
Countries such as the UK with national legislation will not be hit by an ECJ ruling.
But member states such as Italy would be affected by a new legal loophole preventing action against individuals not tied to non-EU countries.
Three of the original applicants – leaving one after Aden and Adi have withdrawn – are residents of Sweden.
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