ITALY AGAIN SEEKS INFO ON TERRORISM LISTINGS

C O N F I D E N T I A L ROME 000652 SIPDIS EEB/ESC/TFS:RECHT E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/09/2014 TAGS: EFIN KTFN PTER ETTC PHUM EAID UNSC IT SUBJECT: ITALY AGAIN SEEKS INFO ON TERRORISM LISTINGS REF: A. USUN 474 ¶B. STATE 48524 ¶C. CROWE-CURRAN E-MAIL Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Elizabeth L. Dibble for reasons 1.4 (b ) and (d). ¶1. (U) This is an action request. Please see paragraph 8. ¶2. (C) Summary: Echoing the request made by the Italian delegation to USUN in New York May 5 (ref A),MFA terror finance officer Lorenzo Tomassoni on May 28 requested Embassy assistance in helping Italy fulfill its reporting obligations to the 1267 Al Qaeda/Taliban Sanctions Committee as defined by UNSCR 1822. Tomassoni explained that on behalf of the United States, Italy had proposed numerous candidates for designation. Given that proposing states are required to update the listings, Italy seeks any information available to the USG that will enable it to request retention of these designations on the 1267 List. Tomassoni said that he leads an interagency working group responsible for collecting GOI information about the designations. Tommasoni said Italy remains committed to shared counter-terrorism objectives, but made clear that Italy is also concerned about European court challenges to the 1267 regime. U.S. information will be crucial to Italy's continued defense of designations. Separately, Econoff delivered the demarche about listing Abdul Haq to the MFA and Ministry of Finance. End Summary. ¶3. (C) Embassy officers met May 28 with MFA terror finance officer Tomassoni to discuss the process of updating the 1267 List and to exchange information on six individuals or entities that had been proposed for 1267 designation by Italy on behalf of the USG. (The 1267 Committee has requested an update on these cases.) They include: Khalid Al Fawaz, The Aid Organization of Ulema, Abdelkader Mahmoud Es Sayed, Thaer Mansour, Jemaah Islamiyah, and Abdullah Anshori. Tomassoni said the GOI had not yet decided whether to support de-listing in these cases and that USG information would be a determining factor in its decision. He explained that after 2001 Italy co-designated with the USG many individuals and entities about which it knew little. Tomassoni said that Italy is not enthusiastic about delisting people from the 1267 list. On the other hand, the 1267 regime remains under political and legal challenge in Europe and further case information is necessary to enable the GOI to prepare updated 
statements of case status for the 1267 Committee. (Comment: Implicit in his remarks was the position that Italy will not defend listings lacking credible criteria. End Comment.) Explaining that he led an interagency working group to collect information on these cases, he asked the embassy to work closely with him throughout the next year on the process of updating the 1267 List mandated by UNSCR 1822. ¶4. (C) Drawing on guidance provided by Washington (ref C), embassy officers provided the limited information available on the six outstanding Italian requests. Tomassoni in turn shared with Emboffs GOI information on each case. According to Tomassoni, Khaled Al Fawwaz's place of birth is Kuwait, and his date of birth is August 24, 1962. Al Fawwaz was listed on April 24, 2002 at the request of the G7 which acted in response to a USG request. Concerning Thaer Mansour -- who the USG and GOI designated jointly September 3, 2002 -- Tomassoni gave Baghdad as the place of birth. Because Mansour was deported from Germany to Jordan in 2005, Tomassoni recommended a joint USG-GOI approach to the German Mission in New York for more information. Tomassoni also said that GOI information indicated that Abdelkader Mahmous Es Sayed had been born in Egypt. Like the USG, the GOI has seen press reports that he died in Afghanistan in January ¶2002. Tomassoni reported that he had been sentenced by a Milan tribunal to eight years in prison for dealing in stolen property, involvement in terrorist financing, and illegal immigration. Regarding the Aid Organization of Ulema, Tomassoni said Italian records showed that the G7, again at the request of the USG, had designated the organization on April 24, 2002. Tomassoni said Italy needed more information about the Aid Organization of Ulema's illicit activities. With regard to Jemaah Islamiyah, a listing supported by the EU, Tomassoni said that Italy would approach its EU colleagues and Australia for additional information. ¶5. (C) Turning to possible de-listings, Tomassoni said that in the near future the GOI would support de-listing two entities related to Youssef Nada: Nada International Anstalt, and Bataqwa Partners and Real Estate Company. He said this was logical because Nada himself was previously delisted. Italy also intends to de-list Himmat, because his involvement in finance terrorism pre-dated the relevant UNSC sanctions resolution. ¶6. (C) Tomassoni requested any derogatory information that the USG has on Ali Galeb Himmat, who is an Italian national who has applied three times for de-listing with the Focal Point in New York, and who is challenging his listing in the European Court of Justice. Noting that Italy had previously supported Himmat's de-listing request, Tomassoni said Italy would be forced to do so again unless the USG can share derogatory information that would justify his continued designation. ¶7. (C) In related action, on May 20 Econoff delivered ref B demarche concerning the listing of Abdul Haq to MFA terror finance officer Lorenzo Tomassoni. On 28 May Econoff presented the demarche to Romana Piscitelli, a terror finance officer with the Italian Ministry of Finance. Both Piscitelli and Tomassoni promised to share the identifying information on Abdul Haq with banking and other relevant officials to prevent his use of the Italian financial sector. ¶8. (C) Action Request: Embassy Rome requests Washington assistance in providing any additional information on the cases Tomassoni has raised with us. We also welcome guidance on the best means of coordinating with Italy throughout the process of updating the 1267 List. The Italians seems to have a very legitimate need for information here. Having designated individuals at our behest (often with very little background information from us),they will have difficulty keeping individuals on the list unless they get background information from us. DIBBLE