Mansour Arbabsiar
Today I learned that US citizens may be added to the “Specially Designated Nationals” (SDN) list maintained by the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. Those who are added to this list have their assets blocked “and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from dealing with them.”
On Tuesday, 11 October 2011, US citizen Mansour Arbabsiar (who also holds Iranian citizenship) was added to the SDN list:
ARBABSIAR, Manssor (a.k.a. ARBABSIAR, Mansour), 805 Cisco Valley CV, Round Rock, TX 78664; 5403 Everhardt Road, Corpus Christi, TX 78411; DOB 15 Mar 1955; alt. DOB 6 Mar 1955; POB Iran; citizen United States; Driver’s License No. 07442833 (United States) expires 15 Mar 2016; Passport C2002515 (Iran); alt. Passport 477845448 (United States); Driver’s License is issued by the State of Texas (individual) [SDGT] [IRGC]
Arbabsiar is in custody on charges of conspiring, among other things, to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States.
I am not a lawyer, but it sure seems to me that pre-trial blocking of a citizen’s assets and prohibiting US persons from dealing with them amounts to punishment without due process of law.
Other United States citizens on the SDN list include Anwar Nasser Aulaqi (who remains on the list some two weeks after his assassination-by-drone), alleged Mexican drug cartel bosses Blanca Cázares Salazar and Victor Cázares Gastelum, alleged Shabab militia member Omar Shafik Hammami, alleged terrorist plotter Raed M. Hijazi, Muhammad Hamid Khalil Salah, who was “found not guilty of conspiring to illegally finance Hamas terrorist activities in Israel” but was convicted on an obstruction of justice charge “related to lies prosecutors said he told about his ties to Hamas,” and Abdul Rahman Yasin, who is wanted in connection with the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
