State Department adds 2 Sudanese to terror list

The State Department on Tuesday added two Sudanese militants to the U.S. terrorist watch list.

Abdelbasit Alhaj Alhassan Haj Hamad and Mohamed Makawi Ibrahim Mohamed participated in an armed attack in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, on Jan. 1, 2008, the State Department said in a statement.

The attack resulted in the deaths of John Michael Granville, a U.S. diplomat serving with the U.S. Agency for International Development, and Adbelrahman Abbas Rahama, a Sudanese USAID employee.

Abdelbasit and Makawi subsequently were captured by Sudanese authorities. In 2009, they and two other co-conspirators were convicted of murder and sentenced to death in a Sudanese criminal court.

In 2010, the four escaped from prison, killing a Sudanese police officer and wounding another along the way.

One of the escapees was recaptured and another reportedly killed in Somalia, but Abdelbasit and Makawi presently remain at large, the State Department said.

Now that they are on the terrorist watch list, “all property subject to U.S. jurisdiction in which Abdelbasit and Makawi have any interest is blocked and any assets they may have under U.S. jurisdiction are frozen,” the State Department said.

“U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them,” the department said. “This action will help stem the flow of financial and other assistance to these terrorists.”