A LIBYAN-BORN naturalised Irish citizen has been removed from the UN Security Council’s al- Qaeda sanctions list after three years of attempts to clear his name.
The UN announced earlier this month that its al-Qaeda sanctions committee was deleting the name of Ibrahim Buisir, who lives in south Dublin, from the list after concluding its considerations of the delisting request submitted by Mr Buisir to the UN ombudsman charged with such requests. It gave no reasons for the move.
Mr Buisir’s delisting means that he is no longer subject to the assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo enforced when an individual is included on the list. In its statement on his delisting, the UN described Mr Buisir as having been a “close associate” of Osama bin Laden.
It also accused him of having been involved in supporting al- Qaeda, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group and Egyptian Islamic Jihad.
Mr Buisir’s name was added to the list in 2009.
Originally from the city of Benghazi in eastern Libya, Mr Buisir has lived in Ireland since 1982.
He once had a National Union of Journalists membership card. Shortly after the September 11th, 2001, attacks on the US, Mr Buisir was questioned by the Garda. His movements were monitored by the security services, his home was searched several times and computers belonging to him were taken away for examination.
In 2008, on foot of an arrest warrant issued by the Gadafy regime in Libya, Interpol issued its highest level “red notice” in relation to Mr Buisir.
His name has also been referred to during several terrorism-related court cases outside Ireland.
In 2004, the US treasury accused him of having directed a European al-Qaeda cell that provided logistical support.
It designated Mr Buisir, who acted as a representative in Ireland for the Khartoum-headquartered Islamic African Relief Agency, and four other agency officials, as financiers of terrorism, because of the charity’s alleged links to bin Laden.
The US treasury froze the assets of all five and banned any American citizen from doing business with them.
In several interviews with The Irish Times, Mr Buisir denied any involvement in terrorist activity.