US, UN freeze assets, ban travel of Filipino, 2 other IS recruiters

WASHINGTON(Reuters/AFP) – The United States imposed sanctions on Friday on three men from Southeast Asia who it says were recruiters for the Islamic State and appeared in a beheading video for the militant group.

The action freezes their access to the U.S. financial system.

The US move against Mohammed KarimYusopFaiz, an Indonesian, Mohamad Rafi Udin, a Malaysian national, and Mohammad Reza LahamanKiram, a citizen of the Philippines, came a day after the United Nations

also imposed sanctions on the men, subjecting them to an asset freeze and travel ban.

US Treasury Undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence SigalMandelker said in a statement the sanctions were "part of a coordinated effort to counter ISIS' (Islamic State) global networks that enable the group to recruit foreign fighters to conduct international terrorist attacks."

The US Treasury said Udin, Faiz and Kiramall took part in the June 2016 video made in Syria in which Islamic State members executed a prisoner. The video was "part of a propaganda campaign to attract radicals to join militant terrorist groups in Southeast Asia."

Udin, 52, is a well-known Malaysian militant, having been detained in 2003-2006 for his association with the radical Islamist group Jemaah Islamiyah.

As of last November, he was believed to be the most senior Malaysian in the Islamic State in Syria, the Treasury said.

Faiz, 49, was imprisoned in the Philippines for nine years on explosives and weapons charges. After being released he traveled to Syria in 2014 and joined the Islamic State.

Kiram, 28, is believed to be responsible for bombing a bus in Zamboangain 2012. He was still in Syria fighting for Islamic State as of January 2017, the Treasury said.