UN removes Saudi businessman from blacklist

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The UN Security Council committee monitoring sanctions against Al-Qaeda removed a Saudi businessman from its blacklist on Friday.

The committee chairman, Germany's UN Ambassador Peter Wittig, said that Mr Yasin Al-Qadi had been de-listed, following a recommendation by the blacklist's ombudsman to remove him.

Mr Al-Qadi filed a lawsuit in 2009 in Washington, DC to be removed from a US list of people accused of financing Al-Qaeda.

His charitable Muwafaq foundation was identified by the US Treasury department as an Al-Qaeda front and placed on a terror list in October 2001. Mr Al-Qadi, 57, has denied the accusations and has said that the foundation was closed even before the hijackings.