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Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Cousin to Qaddafi May|Topple EU Asset Freeze

(CN) - Things have changed a lot for Ahmed Mohammed Qadhaf Al-dam, the cousin of slain dictator Muammar Qaddafi, since February 2011 - the last time the European Council evaluated his placement on a terrorist blacklist.

Since then, the Libyan people revolted and overthrew Qaddafi, eventually murdering him in October 2011. From that moment, Qadhaf Al-dam - Qaddafi's security chief and an instrument of terror in Libya and abroad through the Qaddafi version of the CIA - found himself without a job.

EU lawmakers nevertheless upheld asset freezes and travel restrictions against Qadhaf Al-dam in 2013 and as recently as this past June, nearly three years after the fall of the Qaddafi regime. The EU General Court ruled Wednesday that regulators lacked any compelling reason for the continued sanctions.

Qadhaf Al-dam has no basis to challenge his 2011 blacklisting, the Luxembourg-based court said, but it rejected the EU's position that he was still a threat to restoring civil peace in Libya. In fact, lawmakers offered no proof to justify Qadhaf Al-dam's continued blacklisting at all, according to the ruling.

Acknowledging that it would be impossible to refreeze Qadhaf Al-dam's assets should its finding be overruled, however, the General Court suspended its judgment - which was made available in French only - to give the council time to appeal.

Lawmakers have 60 days to seek review from the European Court of Justice.

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