UNITED NATIONS - UN Security Council members have approved seven of the 20 people Egypt proposed for a UN sanctions list of persons or groups associated with terror organisations, council diplomats said on Friday.
Among the seven, at least one resides in Britain - Hani Yousef al-Sibai, head of the Maqrizi Center for Historical Studies in London, who called the July 7 bombings in London a ”great victory” in an interview with Al Jazeera, the Arab television network.
Accusations against the seven were not immediately available. The council has imposed travel and financial sanctions against people who participate or are associated in with Afghanistan’s former Taleban rulers or Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda network.
Egypt earlier in the year submitted 20 names but the United States, Britain and Denmark thought the data was too thin and only approved seven of them on Friday, the envoys said.
Also on the list is Egyptian Ali Sayyid Muhamed Mustafa al-Bakri, said to be an Al Qaeda member and expert on explosives; and Abdullah Muhammed Rajab Abd al-Rahman, reported to have been jailed in Egypt 15 years ago.
The Security Council imposed sanctions against the Taleban in November 1999 for harboring bin Laden after the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The sanctions were then broadened to include Al Qaeda.
Currently on the Security Council list are more than 140 individuals associated with the Taleban and 182 people and 117 businesses or groups linked to al Qaeda.
All 191-UN members are required to abide by the travel and financial sanctions against those on the list. The bans also include an arms embargo.
"Egypt earlier in the year submitted 20 names but the UNITED STATES, Britain and Denmark thought the data was
too thin and only approved seven of them on Friday, the envoys said"
We should have accepted the 20 as bad eggs and asked if they had any more. Thin data should be like smoked salmon in this case...thin is fine.