From time to time, the United States identifies certain individuals as important to the operations or future plans of a terrorist organization. In all cases, these are people who have committed, or are deemed to pose a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism.
When such an individual is identified, the U.S. Government places that person's name on the Specially Designated Nationals List. His assets within U.S. reach are immediately frozen, and he is locked out of the global financial network. No U.S. citizen or company may conduct business with a designated individual. In this way, the United States disrupts financial support networks for terrorists and terrorist organizations.
On April 13th, the U.S. Department of State identified two Canadians as global terrorists.
Tarek Sakr is a Syrian-born Canadian citizen who has conducted sniper training in Syria and periodically travels to Turkey. Sakr has been linked to the Foreign Terrorist Organization and Specially Designated Global Terrorist group al-Nusrah Front, al-Qa’ida’s affiliate in Syria.
Farah Mohamed Shirdon was born in Toronto, Canada of Somali parents, in 1993. He joined ISIS in 2014, where he also became known as Abu Usama al Somali. Shirdon is an ISIS fighter, and is also involved in recruiting, fundraising encouraging others to commit violence, and spreading propaganda.
Both Tarek Sakr and Farah Mohamed Shirdon have been named Specially Designated Global Terrorists under Executive Order 13224. This action notifies the U.S. public and the international community that Sakr and Shirdon are actively engaged in terrorism.
Designations of terrorist individuals and groups expose and isolate organizations and individuals, and result in denial of access to the U.S. financial system. Moreover, designations can assist or complement the law enforcement actions of other U.S. agencies and other governments.
