The U.S. Treasury has designated three Saudi nationals as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs) for allegedly providing support to the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), an Al Qaeda-linked terrorist group operating in the Philippines.

The three men – Abdul Rahim Al Talhi, Muhammad Abdallah Salih Sughayr and Fahd Muhammad Abd Al-Aziz Al-Khashiban – were designated on October 10, 2007. Any assets they may have in the U.S. will be frozen and it is forbidden for Americans to do business with them as a result of the designation.

Al Talhi, 45, is a “loyal colleague” of Osama bin Laden, according to the U.S. Treasury Department, who allegedly has been providing financial and other assistance to ASG for several years.  Al Talhi was the principal backer of ASG in the early 1990s, helping to finance the terrorist group.  In addition he provided “training materials, including the Al Qaeda operations manual, to Philippine contacts.” 

Sughayr, 35, replaced Al Talhi as the principal backer of ASG in the late-1990s, according to the U.S. Department of Treasury.  He allegedly provided guerilla training to foreign recruited fighters and shipped weapons and ammunition to ASG.  In 2005, Philippine authorities arrested Sughayr and deported him to Saudi Arabia.

Khashiban, 41, routinely provided money to ASG, including funding $18,000 to finance a terrorist attack in 2000 on either the U.S. or the Austrian embassy in Manila.  The attack was foiled by Philippine authorities before its completion.

In addition to this U.S. designation, the United Nations added these three men to its Consolidated List of persons and entities associated with Al Qaeda, the Taliban, or Osama bin Laden.  This decision obligates all UN member countries to freeze the assets of the designees and refrain from engaging in business with them.