RIYADH — Saudi Arabia and six other members of the Riyadh-based Terrorist Financing Targeting Center slapped sanctions on Wednesday, targeting six entities for providing facilitation and financial support to Daesh (the so-called IS). These companies are Al Haram Exchange, Tawasul Company, Al-Khalidi Exchange, Abd-Al-Rahman Ali Husayn Al-Ahmad Al-Rawi, Nejaat Social Welfare Organization (Nejaat) and its director, Sayed Habib Ahmad Khan. Three entities and one individual located in Turkey and Syria have provided a critical financial and logistical lifeline to Daesh, its branches, and its global facilitation networks. Additionally, an Afghanistan-based organization, Nejaat Social Welfare Organization, and the organization's director, Sayed Habib Ahmad Khan, abused the goodwill of the international community under the auspices of charitable giving to facilitate the transfer of funds for and to support the activities of Daesh's branch in Afghanistan, ISIS-Khorasan. The TFCT also sanctioned Abd Al-Rahman Ali Husayn Al-Ahmad Al-Rawi, who was picked by Daesh in 2017 to serve as a senior financial facilitator. Since its inception in 2017, the TFCT has coordinated five rounds of joint designations targeting more than 60 terrorist individuals and entities across the world. These sanctions targeted a wide range of terrorist organizations, including Daesh and its affiliates, Al-Qaeda, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Lebanese Hezballah, and the Taliban. The new sanctions will disrupt Daesh's funds and undermine its ability to conceal its activities and finance its operations through key money exchange businesses and charities operating under false pretenses. The TFTC will continue to coordinate actions and efforts to disrupt the financing of terrorism, share financial intelligence information, and build the capacity of member states to target activities that pose a threat to the national security of TFTC members. As a result of the national designation on Wednesday, all assets belonging to the six entities named are frozen. In addition to, financial institutions, designated non-financial businesses, and professions (DNFBPs), as well as the legal and natural persons, are prohibited from undertaking any direct or indirect transactions with or in favor or on behalf of those designated names.
