UN/1267 SANCTIONS: BELGIANS REQUEST U.S.

C O N F I D E N T I A L USUN NEW YORK 000209 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/13/2017 TAGS: ETTC PREL EFIN KTFN PTER UNSC SUBJECT: UN/1267 SANCTIONS: BELGIANS REQUEST U.S. RECONSIDER CASE TO DELIST SAYADI AND VINCK REF: USUN 001235 Classified By: AMBASSADOR ALEJANDRO WOLFF, FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D) ¶1. (C) This is an action request. Please see Para 8. ¶2. (C) SUMMARY: Ambassador Wolff met with Belgian PermRep Johan Verbeke, who sought the meeting, on March 3 to discuss the U.S. hold on Belgium's 2005 request to delist two Belgian citizens, Nabil Sayadi and Patricia Vinck. Verbeke highlighted that the Belgian Parliament had come to believe that the original Belgian listing request was groundless. Ambassador Wolff assured Verbeke that the U.S. would take a serious look at the request. The ambassadors also discussed states' increasing unwillingness to submit new names for sanctions due to a view that the Committee rarely delisted parties, even when warranted, and the deleterious effect of this trend on the Committee's work. END SUMMARY. ¶3. (C) At Belgian PermRep Johan Verbeke's request, Ambassador Wolff met with him on March 3 to discuss the U.S. hold on a 2005 Belgian request to remove two individuals--Nabil Sayadi and Patricia Vinck--from the 1267 al-Qaeda/Taliban SANCTIONS list. Verbeke explained that the Belgian position was based not only on the fact that the investigation into the subjects' activities had been inconclusive, but also because the perception in Belgium--by the parliament, press, and public--was that there were never sufficient grounds for Belgium's 2002 request to designate Sayadi and Vinck in the first place. Ambassador Verbeke asked that the U.S. carefully review the case on its merits, but added that if after taking a fresh look the United States concluded delisting was not merited, then in his opinion the Committee would have done its job. Verbeke noted that France and the UK, which also have holds on the delisting request, would follow the U.S. lead. ¶4. (C) Verbeke, who serves as Chairman of the 1267 Committee, also underscored that representatives of many UN member states have told him that they are reluctant to submit names to the Committee for SANCTIONS because they perceive the Committee takes little action to remove parties from the list, even when warranted, and that there is little likelihood of reversing SANCTIONS once a party had been listed. ¶5. (C) Ambassador Wolff assured Ambassador Verbeke that the U.S. would carefully and seriously reconsider his request on Sayadi and Vinck, but that he could not predict the outcome of the review. Ambassador Wolff said he understood from Washington that a declaration from Sayadi and Vinck renouncing their ties to al-Qaeda could be useful, and that we would provide the Belgians with a sample declaration as a guide shortly. Ambassador Wolff also recognized the incorrect perception that the 1267 list was a "one-way street," and that this affected states' willingness to propose new SANCTIONS listings and the functioning of the Committee. He agreed that legitimate delistings would counter this perception. ¶6. (C) COMMENT: Ambassador Verbeke's point that states are increasingly unwilling to submit new listings to the Committee because 1267 SANCTIONS are viewed as a life-sentence is worth consideration. The 1267 Monitoring Team has found in consecutive reports that the list is becoming increasingly outdated as the threat of al-Qaeda and the Taliban evolves. Without new listings, the 1267 regime will become increasingly irrelevant to global counter-terrorism actions. Appropriate delistings could serve as an important incentive to keep states engaged in improving the 1267 list. END COMMENT BACKGROUND -------------- ¶7. (U) Nabil Sayadi and Patricia Vinck serve, respectively, as Director and Secretary of the Belgium-based branch of Global Relief Foundation (GRF),also known as the Fondation Secours Mondial (FSM),which the Committee designated in 2001 for its links to al-Qaeda. In 2002 the Belgian authorities commenced an investigation into the subjects' activities on suspicion of criminal conspiracy and money laundering for terrorist financing, but the investigation was concluded in 2005 and no charges were brought against Vinck and Sayadi Vinck and Sayadi have since brought their case to the Human Rights Committee in Geneva, for violation of their civil and political rights, which the Committee is due to address in the first half of 2008. ¶8. (C) Action Request: USUN seeks a sample of language renouncing terrorist ties requested by the Department of Treasury for its review of the Sayadi-Vinck case, and Department guidance on any additional information regarding the interagency review. KHALILZAD