Specially Designated Terrorist

Designation under U.S. law

A Specially Designated Terrorist (SDT) is a person who has been designated by the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury to be a specially designated terrorist under notices or regulations issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), under the U.S. Treasury Department.[1][2]

Executive Order 12947, issued by President Bill Clinton on January 23, 1995, prohibits financial transactions with SDTs.[1][3][4] Twelve organizations and 18 people were identified in the Order as threatening disruption of the Middle East peace process. The U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and the U.S. Attorney General were given the power to add other organizations and people to the list.[1][5][6] On August 20, 1998, President Clinton expanded the list by Executive Order 13099.[3]

The U.S. government began to impose economic sanctions against international terrorists in 1995.[3] On January 25, 1995, Hamas and Hezbollah were listed as SDTs. Mousa Abu Marzook was added in August 1995, Osama bin Laden was added in 1998, and on December 4, 2001, the Holy Land Foundation was also designated.[4][7][8] On February 28, 2006, Sami Al-Arian signed a plea agreement in which he agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to contribute services to or for the benefit of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a SDT organization, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371; he was sentenced to 57 months in prison.[9][10][11] Ziyad al-Nakhalah, the leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, was designated a SDT in January 2014.[12]

The SDT list appears in the Federal Register, which is updated regularly.[2][13][14][15]

## Consequences

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All of the assets of all SDTs were frozen.[2] In addition, transfers of "funds, goods, or services" to SDTs were prohibited.[16][17][18][19] Also, any U.S. entity that holds any funds in which any interest is held in an SDT was required under the law to report its interest to appropriate U.S. authorities.[1][4][16][20][21] The sanctions apply to any entity "owned or controlled by", or acting on behalf of, an SDT.[1][4][22][23][24] They also apply to foreign branches of U.S. entities, but not to subsidiaries formed under non-U.S. law.[4][25][26][27]

## See also

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* Specially Designated Global Terrorist
* United States State Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations
* United States and state-sponsored terrorism

## References

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1. ^ a b c d e Costigan, Sean S.; Gold, David (2007). Terrornomics. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 978-0-7546-4995-3. Retrieved March 12, 2010.
2. ^ a b c Zarate, Juan C. (2013). Treasury's War. New York: PublicAffairs. ISBN 9781610391153.
3. ^ a b c U.S. Treasury Department. "Terrorist Assets Report; Calendar Year 2002" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on August 26, 2009. Retrieved March 12, 2010.
4. ^ a b c d e Clinton, William J. (January 23, 1995). "Executive Order 12947". Wikisource. Archived from the original on May 12, 2011. Retrieved April 13, 2011.
5. ^ "Islamic Jihad Leader's Bank Accounts Frozen". Gainesville Sun. November 3, 1995. Retrieved September 28, 2010.
6. ^ The Code of Federal regulations of the United States of America. 1997. Archived from the original on March 20, 2022. Retrieved September 28, 2010.
7. ^ Checkpoints in cyberspace: best practices to avert liability in cross-border transactions Archived 2022-03-20 at the Wayback Machine, American Bar Association, Roland L. Trope, Gregory E. Upchurch, 2005, ISBN 1-59031-429-8, accessed March 12, 2010
8. ^ Jimmy Gurulé (2008). Unfunding terror: the legal response to the financing of global terrorism. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84542-962-1. Archived from the original on March 20, 2022. Retrieved September 28, 2010.
9. ^ "Hillsborough: Plea deal overcame the discord". Sptimes.com. April 24, 2006. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved September 28, 2010.
10. ^ "Plea Agreement; U.S. v. Al-Arian" (PDF). February 28, 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 1, 2012. Retrieved March 8, 2010.
11. ^ U.S. Department of Justice (May 1, 2006). "Sami Al-Arian Sentenced to 57 Months in Prison for Assisting Terrorist Group" (PDF). Press Release. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 4, 2012. Retrieved March 8, 2010.
12. ^ "Mapping Palestinian Politics - Ziyad al-Nakhalah". Archived from the original on 2020-06-06. Retrieved 2020-09-18.
13. ^ Michael David Beck (2003). To supply or to deny: comparing nonproliferation export controls in five key countries. Kluwer Law International. ISBN 90-411-2216-8. Archived from the original on March 20, 2022. Retrieved September 28, 2010.
14. ^ The cost of counterterrorism: power, politics, and liberty Archived 2022-03-20 at the Wayback Machine, Laura K. Donohue, Cambridge University Press, 2008, ISBN 0-521-84444-4, accessed March 12, 2010
15. ^ "Hamas-Linked US Ventures Under Scrutiny". Fox News. April 27, 2004. Archived from the original on February 6, 2011. Retrieved September 28, 2010.
16. ^ a b The Code of Federal regulations of the United States of America. 1997. Archived from the original on March 20, 2022. Retrieved September 28, 2010.
17. ^ King, Philip; King, Sharmila (September 25, 2008). International economics and ... ISBN 9780072873337. Archived from the original on March 20, 2022. Retrieved September 28, 2010.
18. ^ Root, William A.; Liebman, John R.; Thomsen, Roszel Cathcart (15 November 2006). United States Export Controls. ISBN 9780735565197. Archived from the original on 20 March 2022. Retrieved September 28, 2010.
19. ^ Jandrowitz, James; Spaulding, Jay (September 11, 2001). 9-11 And Beyond. ISBN 9780757504730. Archived from the original on March 20, 2022. Retrieved September 28, 2010.
20. ^ Paul Sperry (2005). Infiltration: how Muslim spies and subversives have penetrated Washington. Thomas Nelson Inc. ISBN 1-59555-003-8. Archived from the original on March 20, 2022. Retrieved September 28, 2010.
21. ^ Costigan, Sean S.; Gold, David (September 11, 2001). Terrornomics. ISBN 9780754649953. Archived from the original on March 20, 2022. Retrieved September 28, 2010.
22. ^ The Code of Federal regulations of the United States of America. 1997. Archived from the original on March 20, 2022. Retrieved September 28, 2010.
23. ^ Costigan, Sean S.; Gold, David (September 11, 2001). Terrornomics. ISBN 9780754649953. Archived from the original on March 20, 2022. Retrieved September 28, 2010.
24. ^ King, Philip; King, Sharmila (September 25, 2008). International economics and ... ISBN 9780072873337. Archived from the original on March 20, 2022. Retrieved September 28, 2010.
25. ^ Scott L. Hoffman (2001). The law and business of international project finance. Kluwer Law International. ISBN 1-57105-176-7. Retrieved September 28, 2010.
26. ^ The Code of Federal regulations of the United States of America. 1997. Retrieved September 28, 2010.
27. ^ Costigan, Sean S.; Gold, David (September 11, 2001). Terrornomics. ISBN 9780754649953. Retrieved September 28, 2010.

## External links

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* Treasury Department List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons, including SDTs