Liban Hussein

Liban M. Hussein (Somali: Liibaan Xuseen, Arabic: لبنان حسين‎‎) (born in Somalia) is a Canadian entrepreneur. He was a stakeholder in the Al-Barakat money transfer firm. In November 2001, Hussein was arrested at the request of the United States government, which accused him of supporting terrorism through the company. His assets were also frozen. Hussein was eventually exonerated of the charges and released, after a court found that neither the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) nor the U.S. authorities were able to provide any evidence of terrorist links. In February 2012, all charges against the Al-Barakat Group of Companies were also dropped.

Hussein ran two businesses in Ottawa. The first was a cleaning company, which he started to offer his family employment and improve their chances of successful immigration to Canada. The second was a hawala, a form of informal money transfer business, named Barakaat North America Inc. Hussein and his brother ran the latter business out of Dorchester, Massachusetts.

When it was announced that al-Qaeda was believed to have ties to the Somali money transfer service, Al-Barakat, which Hussein contracted, his brother was arrested in Boston. The cleaning franchise also revoked Hussein's license.

United States listed Al-Barakat as a terrorist entity, along with Hussein and his brother. The Canadian government also followed suit and labelled Hussein, his brother and their company as terrorists, without conducting its independent investigation. The United Nations Security Council also listed Hussein as a terrorist and froze all his assets.

...
Wikipedia