A businessman living in Ireland who is accused of financing al-Qaeda will appeal an order freezing his bank accounts at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg tomorrow.
Bin Muhammad Ayadi Chafiq, a Bosnian national who is named on a European Commission list of people who have financed the al-Qaeda terrorist network, says EU authorities have acted illegally and are infringing his human rights by freezing his financial assets.
The 42-year-old, who was born in Tunisia, is one of 17 people suspected of financing terrorism who have had their assets frozen within the EU under a special regulation agreed between the council of the EU and the European Commission.
He is the only person on the EU list living in Ireland who is linked directly with Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Security sources in the Republic confirmed yesterday that Ayadi Chafiq has been under close surveillance since he moved to Ireland.
Several other people suspected of links to al-Qaeda are also under surveillance.
Ayadi Chafiq previously lived in Britain, where his assets where frozen in the aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks in the US. He is understood to have fled his London home in the wake of the attacks and moved to the Republic.
The Central Bank yesterday confirmed that it has frozen bank accounts belonging to six people suspected of involvement in terrorist activities in Ireland. However, it would not confirm whether it had frozen accounts belonging to Ayadi Chafiq.
European Court of Justice documents detail that Ayadi Chafiq first lodged an appeal to the European Court of First Instance in August 2002, which he lost. His legal representatives are listed as solicitor A Lyon and S Cox in the court papers.
Court papers show that Ayadi Chafiq's counsel will argue that the EU regulation enforcing the freezing of his bank accounts infringes fundamental principles of EU law. Counsel will also argue that it should be up to individual member states to set the rules regarding the freezing of a person's assets rather than the EU.