Resource: Salah v. U.S. Department of Treasury

On September 5, 2012, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, plaintiff Muhammad Salah, a U.S. citizen residing in Illinois, filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner and Director of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Adam J. Szubin in their official capacities. The suit challenges Mr. Salah’s designation as a “Specially Designated Terrorist,” which was imposed without notice or an opportunity to be heard and which is unreasonably onerous, as a violation of his basic constitutional rights. Salah is the only United States resident citizen designated as a Specially Designated Terrorist, and his designation represents an unprecedented embargo on a U.S. citizen’s daily activities, prohibiting even the most basic transaction without the licensing or advance approval of OFAC.