Treasury Department Designates 11 People as Terrorists

As the United Nations General Assembly gathered in New York City on Wednesday, the U.S. Treasury Department designated 11 people and one "front group" as terrorists. According to the U.S. government, the newly named terrorists have worked with terrorist groups including the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, al-Qaida and related groups, the Nusra Front, and Jemaah Islamiya, or JI.

By officially designating these 11 people as terrorists, the government effectively makes it illegal to send them financial or material support. None of the people named Wednesday were American citizens, but that is a separate issue Congress is looking into.

Here is the list of the 11 alleged terrorists, along with their ages:

• Tarkhan Tayumurazovich Batirashvili, 28
• Tariq Bin-Al-Tahar Bin Al Falih Al-'Awni Al-Harzi, 32
• 'Abd al-Aziz Aday Zimin al-Fadhil, 33
• Ashraf Muhammad Yusuf 'Uthman 'Abd al-Salam, ~30
• 'Abd al-Malik Muhammad Yusuf 'Uthman 'Abd al-Salam, age unknown
• Hamad Awad Dahi Sarhan al-Shammari, 30
• Fatih Hasar, 25
• Ibrahim 'Isa Hajji Muhammad al-Bakr, 37
• Angga Dimas Pershada, 29
• Bambang Sukirno, 39
• Wiji Joko Santoso, 39

In his speech to the U.N. Security Council meeting on Wednesday, President Obama called for member states to join together "to confront the real and growing threat of foreign terrorist fighters."

"What brings us together today, and what is new, is the unprecedented flow of fighters in recent years to and from conflict zones, including Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa, Yemen, Libya, and most recently Syria and Iraq," Obama told the Security Council on Wednesday. "Our intelligence agencies estimate that more than 15,000 foreign fighters from more than 80 nations have traveled to Syria in recent years. Many have joined terrorist organizations such as al-Qaida's affiliate and ISIL, which now threatens people across Syria and Iraq."

Along with the 11 people, the Treasury Department also designated the Hilal Ahmar Society Indonesia, or HASI, as a terrorist front group. The group is a nongovernmental organization, and functions as the "charitable arm" of the terrorist group Jemaah Islamiya. But Treasury says HASI is in fact just a front through which JI can raise funds.

"While not indicative of the activities of the charitable sector as a whole, the activities of HASI demonstrate how terrorist groups, such as JI, continue to abuse charitable giving to raise and use funds to support violent acts and provide cover for logistical requirements for their terrorist organization," the Treasury Department said in a statement.

(Image via Toria/Shutterstock.com)