| Australia has joined the United States and a number of European countries in freezing the assets of an Islamic charity foundation with alleged links to the militant Palestinian group Hamas, the government announced today. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Australia had added the al-Aqsa Foundation to a list of organisations whose assets could be frozen because of suspected links to terror groups. "As a consequence of this listing it is now a criminal offence for persons who hold assets that are owned or controlled by the al-Aqsa Foundation to use or deal with those assets," he said. |