Burkina Faso

1980

Burkina Faso

Jafar Dicko (Dicko) is a JNIM leader in Burkina Faso who was believed to have supervised the detention of a U.S. national. Dicko also served as a leader of Ansarul Islam, the JNIM-affiliated group responsible for kidnapping a U.S. national. On February 20, 2018, the Department of State designated Ansarul Islam pursuant to E.O. 13224. Sidan Ag Hitta and Jafar Dicko are being designated for having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, an act of hostage-taking of a U.S. national or wrongful detention of a U.S. national abroad.

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy2293

2024-04-23

US

Executive Order 14078 of July 19, 2022 Bolstering Efforts To Bring Hostages and Wrongfully Detained United States Nationals Home

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Iran, Russia

Blocking Property, Suspending Entry

The new EO builds on those efforts and the efforts of others who have worked diligently to bring the Levinson Act to fruition, and it expands and strengthens the government’s toolkit in key ways. For example, this EO reinforces U.S. government efforts to support the families of Americans wrongfully detained or held hostage overseas by directing parts of the federal government to bolster their engagement with such families and their sharing of relevant information, including intelligence information, with families regarding their loved ones’ status and the government’s efforts to secure their release or their return. The new executive order also authorizes departments and agencies to impose costs and consequences on those who are involved. That includes financial sanctions and it includes visa bans, and it can apply whether the individual subject to those costs and consequences has acted on behalf of a state or a terrorist network or some other non-state actor. This EO reflects the administration’s commitment not just to the issues generally, but to the families in particular, and it has been informed by the government’s regular engagements with them and other stakeholders who have and continue to undertake important, constructive advocacy efforts on behalf of their loved ones.

SDN