Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

Saudi Businessman to Sue President Bush | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
Select Page

Jeddah, Asharq Al-Awsat- Saudi Businessman Yasin Al-Qadi began filing a lawsuit in Washington earlier this month (16 January 2008) against US President George Bush. Yasin Al-Qadi’s assets were frozen for 7 years and he was banned from doing business with American citizens after he was, he claims, wrongfully accused of financing terrorism on the basis of false information on 12 October 2001 by the Bush administration. Al-Qadi’s assets were unfrozen by the European Court of Justice in September 2008, clearing him of these charges, however Al-Qadi has yet to be acquitted by the US government.

Al-Qadi revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat via telephone that the case deals with “the clear injustice and the great suspicion that I endure at the places that I visit, these have greatly affected my reputation in doing business with foreign companies and are based on false accusations.”

He added “Many European countries and other countries around the world have refuted this case [against me], but America has not thrown the case out, despite the lack of a formal indictment. This is no more than being under suspicion without clear evidence [against me], the aim of the US government is to mislead the American people and depict Saudi business with these accusations.” Al-Qadi went on to say “firstly he is seeking to be judged innocent, and he would then think of raising the issue of compensation for his suffering to the US government.” He expected “that justice will be served after US freedom returns with the new US government which I expect to return US democracy which grants everyone the right to justice and being treated equally”

According to Al-Qadi “David Aufhauser, the US Treasury Department’s General Council- who supervised the drawing up of the list of people whose assets were to be frozen by the US administration- confirmed that the way the list was drawn up was extremely laughable. The US Treasury Department came under great political pressure with regards to the number of people on the list the US administration wanted linked to financing ‘Al Qaeda’ since the US President was preparing to announce the War on Terror”

Al-Qadi also revealed “Aufhauser said that the US Treasury Department resorted to trickery in order to add the largest possible number of people to the list, regardless of the quality of information and evidence to justify the freezing of their assets.” He also said that “the Bush administration took advantage of the United Nations to pass the resolution in the Security Council and transform this into an international resolution freezing my assets all over the world.”

Yasin Al Qadi holds US President George Bush personally responsible for the injustice done to him and the great suffering that he experienced over the past 7 years and whose consequences he still suffers from today, he said “I well know that the US President included my name in the list for the sake of political convenience, and this explains the US administrations refusal to provide me with clear and adequate statements and information to justify its decision against me depriving me of the opportunity to access this information in order to evaluate it and present it to an independent tribunal in order to determine its validity”