Court says EU wrongly froze assets of Saudi man

[July 18, 2013]  PARIS (AP) -- The European Union's top court has upheld a ruling saying that EU authorities unfairly froze assets of a Saudi man who was placed on terrorist lists after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The European Court of Justice ruled Thursday that the EU cannot impose restrictive measures on Yassin Kadi because authorities produced "no information or evidence ... to substantiate the allegations" that he had links to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

A lower European court had ruled in 2008 that putting Kadi's name on the terrorist list infringed some of his rights under EU law, such as his right to defense and judicial protection. Kadi denied terrorist links.

European authorities appealed that ruling. The Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice sided with the lower court in its decision Thursday.

[Associated Press]

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