Swedes rally to terror suspects

The U.S. Treasury and U.N. Security Council ordered the Barakaat companies closed as part of the war on terror

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (CNN) -- Strip malls in America, a telecommunications company in Somalia, a community centre in an immigrant neighbourhood in Sweden -- these are some of the targets of the financial side of the war against terror.

The Bush administration calls it Operation Green Quest -- a global network of money-wiring companies.

"They present themselves as legitimate businesses, but they skim money from every transaction for the benefit of terrorist organisations," U.S. President George W. Bush said last November.

The Barakaat companies -- accused by the United States of funnelling millions of dollars to Osama bin Laden, accused of funding the terrorism of al Qaeda -- were shut down in the United States by order of the U.S. Treasury Department and around the world by the U.N. Security Council.

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"This organisation is now exposed for what it is, a pariah in the civilised world," U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said last November.

On the long list of notorious names designated as terrorists are bin Laden, of course; his right-hand man, Ayman al Zawahiri; al Qaeda's military commander, Abu Zubaydah -- and Abdi Rasik Aden, for 11 years a refugee from Somalia, now a Swedish citizen and parliamentary candidate for the governing party.

Aden insists he and two other Somali-born Swedes on the list have nothing to do with terrorism or al Qaeda.

"The only thing we have done is to support our families and our relatives. That is the only thing we have done," said Aden.

Now, by order of the U.N. sanctions committee, and without any trial or hearing, his bank accounts are frozen. He is forbidden to travel. It is against the law to give him a job.

Aden says he has nothing to do with terrorism and has cooperated fully with the Swedish intelligence agency

Which is where Johan Hakelius -- the editor of Sweden's leading financial newspaper -- comes in.

"I've never in my life seen such a miscarriage of justice in Sweden and it simply infuriated me, and just to write about it wasn't enough," said Hakelius.

Hakelius was so outraged that he violated the sanctions rules and personally hired Aden.

"It is nothing to do with whether these people are innocent or not, or guilty or not. I have no idea. We don't have the evidence," Hakelius said.

"If you have rule of law, people cannot be convicted without a trial, without having a chance to see the evidence. They cannot be convicted without a chance to defend themselves."

Hakelius is not alone. Thousands of Swedes defied the sanctions and donated money for legal fees, and Swedish parliamentarians have spoken in their defence.

Ove Bring, a leading Swedish expert in international law, has criticised the sanctions list and the lack of due process.

"These are extraordinary circumstances and extraordinary measures are essential. But still exactly in that kind of situation, human rights law and human rights standards need to be respected," Bring said.

Editor Hakelius hired Aden in violation of the sanctions rules: "People cannot be convicted without a trial"

Barakaat operated in Sweden from a community storefront. The transactions -- who was sending money to whom and where -- were all recorded.

"That's the kind of data we gave to the Swedish intelligence agency, all these names and phone numbers and everything," Aden said.

The Swedish intelligence agency kept the books for more than a month, then handed them back, saying they could find no evidence of crime.

And in the face of public outcry, Sweden's government has demanded to know why the three men were on the list.

The United States did give the Swedish government at least some of the evidence it claims to have.

Sweden's intelligence agency examined the evidence and concluded there wasn't enough there to even begin a prosecution.

Sweden's ambassador to the United Nations has called the American file "unimpressive and unconvincing."

At the United Nations, U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte has insisted that in this case -- as in the case of other names on the list -- his country does have ample evidence.

"I would say that those names were placed on the list based on information available to us which we considered to be reliable," Negroponte said.

Negroponte: "Those names were placed on the list based on information available to us which we considered to be reliable"

The problem is, that information is secret. No one other than the U.S. government knows precisely why the three Swedes have been named as terrorists.

Lawyers acting for the three will soon have a hearing in New York and Washington. But they don't know what the charges are.

And guilty or not guilty, Swedes say the war against terrorism can't leave justice behind as it finds different battlefields.