Japan Lifts Asset Freezes on Three Individuals
Japan lifted asset freezes and financial restrictions on October 30, 2014, on three Arab individuals previously linked to the Taliban, Al-Qaida, and ISIL (Daesh), arabnews.jp reported. The joint decision by the Foreign Ministry, Ministry of Finance, and Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry follows the removal of these individuals from United Nations Security Council sanctions lists. The regulatory change decreases the number of individuals and entities subject to these measures in Japan from 533 to 530.
Sanctions Relief and Regulatory Changes
The restrictions included bans on payments and capital transactions under the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act. These measures aligned with asset freezes imposed by the UN Security Council under Resolutions 1267, 1989, and 2253. All three affected individuals were previously associated with the Al-Nusrah Front, according to Japanese ministries.
Details of the Individuals Affected
The Finance Ministry identified the first individual removed from the sanctions list as Shafi Sultan Mohammed Al-Ajmi, a Kuwaiti national born on January 1, 1973, in Warah, Kuwait. The UN originally designated Dr. Shafi al-Ajmi on September 23, 2014, for financing the Al-Nusrah Front. He later received an Amiri pardon and was released from a Kuwaiti prison in November 2023.
The second individual is Bassam Ahmad Al-Hasri, a dual national of Syria and Palestine born in Damascus between 1969 and 1971. Designated on February 22, 2017, he served as the Al-Nusrah Front’s leader for southern Syria beginning in July 2016.
The third individual is Iyad Nazmi Salih Khalil, a Jordanian national born in Syria in 1974, also known as Abu-Julaybib al-Urduni. Designated by the Finance Ministry on February 22, 2017, he served as the group’s leader for Syria’s coastal region starting in March 2016.
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