December 25, 2003	Thursday	Ziqa’ad 1, 1424

WASHINGTON, Dec 24: The United States and Saudi Arabia have jointly moved to freeze the assets of two European offshoots of Muslim groups suspected of raising money for the Al Qaeda network, officials said on Wednesday

They designated the two groups as financiers of terrorism and asked for international sanctions against one of their managers.

US and Saudi officials said the Bosnia-based Vazir and the Liechtenstein-based Hochburg AG have been fronting for entities already sanctioned by the international community.

The ban on them has been imposed under a UN Security Council resolution that allows nations to act jointly to slap legal restrictions on terrorist groups.

The United States and Saudi Arabia also designated Safet Durguti, a representative of the Vazir organization, as a terrorist financier.

The Vazir organization came under scrutiny after Saudi Arabia, working with the US Treasury Department, designated the Bosnia branch of the Al Haramain Islamic Foundation as financiers of terrorism. Saudi Arabia and the United States determined that the Bosnia and Somalia branches of the Al Haramain Islamic Foundation supported terrorist activities and terrorist organizations.