MYANMAR GENERAL TOPS U.S. BLACKLIST
Maung Maung Soe one of 14 alleged rights abusers and corrupt officials
WASHINGTON, DC
TMAHMOUD AL-JUMAA, Raqa resident
HE United States blacklisted a rogues gallery of alleged rights abusers and corrupt officials on Thursday, as a new sanctions law went into effect.
US diplomats and Treasury officials spent a year compiling evidence of the most brutal and cynical crimes by 14 senior figures and dozens of companies.
On Thursday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order blocking any assets that those on the list might have in banks or property on US soil.
Prominent on the list is Myanmar General Maung Maung Soe, who is accused of leading a campaign of “ethnic cleansing” against the Rohingya.
As chief of the army’s western command, US officials said, he oversaw “killings, sexual violence, and arbitrary arrest as well as the burning of villages”.
Another notorious figure is Gambia’s former president Yahya Jammeh, who stepped down this year but once ran a “terror and assassination squad called the Junglers”.
“He ordered the Junglers to kill a local religious leader, journalists, members of the political opposition, and former members of the government,” the US Treasury said.
The first woman added to the list was Gulnara Karimova, the daughter of the late Uzbek strongman Islam Karimov, and allegedly an organised crime boss in her own right.
Karimova has been charged at home with theft and embezzlement, and the US statement alleged she has laundered her network’s profits in a web of companies and funds.
The blacklist also includes officials and businessmen from Russia, China, Ukraine, Guatemala, Pakistan, Serbia, the Dominican Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The global act, based on a previous US law that targeted Russian officials, was passed last year and officials have spent a year compiling the first list.
US citizens and institutions are forbidden from conducting business with those on the list, and any assets they hold under US jurisdiction are frozen.
In addition,non-US foreign banks are often loathe to do business with blacklisted individuals in case their own US operations are exposed to prosecution. AFP Newborns dressed in Santa and Christmas tree costumes at Paolo Memorial Hospital Chockchai 4 in Bangkok on Thursday. The hospital is offering Santa Claus costumes to newborns as part of its delivery package to celebrate the Christmas season.