UNITED NATIONS |
(Reuters) - Al Qaeda's former leader Osama bin Laden may be dead but he is still subject to United Nations sanctions, a U.N. official said on Thursday.
"Osama Bin Laden remains on the (sanctions) list even though he is obviously deceased because of various reasons related to asset freeze," Kimberly Prost, Ombudsperson to the Security Council al Qaeda Sanctions Committee, told reporters.
Prost, who handles complaints by individuals who say they should not be on the list, was briefing reporters about her progress since being appointed a year ago.
Bin Laden, killed in a U.S. raid on his hideout in Pakistan in May, is on a list maintained by the committee that freezes assets and bans travel of senior al Qaeda figures and firms associated with them.
The list was updated in May to mention his death and the committee issued a statement saying the assets freeze and other relevant measures continued to apply to his name.
Prost said that removing Bin Laden's name was a matter to be determined after an assessment of the situation.
"There are complicated questions in the case of anyone who is deceased that arise in each case, and I'm sure the committee will consider that case, as they are considering other cases of deceased persons on the list," Prost said.
Prost added she was not best placed to comment on the issue as her function is to look at individual cases and whether they have connections to al Qaeda.
There are about 250-300 on the list, said Prost.
The al Qaeda sanctions list was previously part of a U.N. sanctions list also freezing assets for Taliban names. The U.N. Security Council in June split the sanctions list for Taliban and al Qaeda figures in two.
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