In a move not yet reported by the media, both the U.S and the U.N. have removed Ahmed Nasreddin, an Italian businessman linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, from lists of entities involved in terrorist activities. Also de-listed were 12 of Nasreddin’s private banks and companies. Nasreddin was born in Ethiopia and claims to be descended from royalty but now holds Italian citizenship although he was last known to be living in Morocco where he has additional business interests. Very little is known about him or his background but he first came to pubic attention as one of the founders of Bank Al-Taqwa, associated chiefly with Muslim Brotherhood figures Youssef Nada and Ghaleb Himmat. As previous posts have noted, both Nasreddin and Nada were recently acquitted in Italy of terrorism financing charges and the Swiss investigation was dropped in June for lack of evidence. There is, however, reason to suspect that Nasreddin is somehow involved with activities relating to terrorism. He was the main financier of the Islamic Center of Milan where recruiting for Al Qaida took place, financially supported the International Islamic University in Islamabad sometimes called “Taliban U”, and one of his companies was found to be supplying videocassettes to the GIA. Also intriguing is a Reuters photo taken of an individual identified as Ahmed Nasreddin on the Lebanese/Israeli border which was identifies Nasreddin as a “Hezbollah Sheikh.” As posted yesterday however, the Council of Europe is leading a push to make the terrorist “blacklisting” process more transparent and a prominent Swiss senator will be introducing the case of Youssef Nada. Given the de-listing of Nasreddin, similar action to de-list Nada and Himmat would appear possible. It should be noted that no hard evidence has ever been produced to connect Nasreddin, Nada, or Himmat to financing of terrorism. Hindering the investigation is Nada’s claim that the records of Bank Al Taqwa were removed to Saudi Arabia where they appear to be beyond the reach of investigators.