New List Restricts Alleged Terrorists

L.A. Times Archives

Dec. 7, 2001 12 AM PT

From a Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON —

The State Department put 39 accused foreign terrorist organizations on a new “exclusion list” Thursday, barring members from entering the United States and authorizing the deportation of those already in the country.

The list, created under the USA Patriot Act passed by Congress shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, covers organizations that were not already on the State Department’s compilation of terrorist groups. It deals only with immigration issues. The administration earlier banned financial transactions with other accused terrorist groups and froze their assets.

The list includes groups and companies from Afghanistan, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Northern Ireland, Pakistan, the Philippines, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, Uganda and Yemen.

State Department spokesman Philip T. Reeker said other organizations will be added.

Members of most well-known terrorist groups were already excluded from the United States under other statutes, a State Department official said.

The newly designated organizations include Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United Front, a brutal rebel organization best known for hacking off the arms and legs of civilian victims, and the Japanese Red Army, a once-prominent terrorist group now thought to be inactive.

The list includes:

Al Ittihad al Islami, or AIAI

Al Wafa al Igatha al Islamia

Asbat al Ansar

Darkazanli Company

Salafist Group for Call and Combat

Islamic Army of Aden

Libyan Islamic Fighting Group

Makhtab al Khidmat

Al Hamati Sweets Bakeries

Al Nur Honey Center

Al Rashid Trust