The US’ Treasury Department announced that it had imposed sanctions on a Kenyan citizen identified as Halima Adan Ali alleging that she was instrumental in channeling money internationally for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
The Treasury Department also said Kenya-based Halima Adan Ali was part of a network that moved more than $150,000 (about Sh15,166,500.11) through the hawala system to Islamic State fighters in Syria, Libya, and central Africa.
Intelligence has since revealed that she has been arrested twice by Kenyan authorities for purportedly being an al Shabaab recruiter. Ms. Ali was sanctioned alongside seven other people based in Belgium and Turkey.
The sanctions imposed provide that the US seizes any assets belonging to Ali and bar any Americans from financial dealings with her. More so, the sanctions are meant to ensure that the global network of financiers and supporters of ISIS are arrested and or stopped as a supplementary strategy that will stop the resurfacing of the seemingly defeated terror group.
Ms. Ali becomes the second Kenyan to be sanctioned by the US for involvement with ISIS as late last year another Kenyan Waleed Ahmed Zein was sanctioned. It is was revealed that Zein was a dangerous individual who created a complex global network of financial facilitators for ISIS, using intermediaries to evade police and fund the group’s violent agenda.
