Blocking Property of Certain Persons With Respect to Human Rights Abuses in Syria

Executive Order 13572 of April 29, 2011

Blocking Property of Certain Persons With Respect
to Human Rights Abuses in Syria

By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, including the International Emergency Economic
Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), the
National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), and
section 301 of title 3, United States Code,

I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of
America, hereby expand the scope of the national
emergency declared in Executive Order 13338 of May 11,
2004, and relied upon for additional steps taken in
Executive Order 13399 of April 25, 2006, and in
Executive Order 13460 of February 13, 2008, finding
that the Government of Syria's human rights abuses,
including those related to the repression of the people
of Syria, manifested most recently by the use of
violence and torture against, and arbitrary arrests and
detentions of, peaceful protestors by police, security
forces, and other entities that have engaged in human
rights abuses, constitute an unusual and extraordinary
threat to the national security, foreign policy, and
economy of the United States, and I hereby order:

Section 1. All property and interests in property that
are in the United States, that hereafter come within
the United States, or that are or hereafter come within
the possession or control of any United States person,
including any overseas branch, of the following persons
are blocked and may not be transferred, paid, exported,
withdrawn, or otherwise dealt in:

    (a) the persons listed in the Annex to this order;
and
    (b) any person determined by the Secretary of the
Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State:

(i) to be responsible for or complicit in, or responsible for ordering,
controlling, or otherwise directing, or to have participated in, the
commission of human rights abuses in Syria, including those related to
repression;

(ii) to be a senior official of an entity whose property and interests in
property are blocked pursuant to this order;

(iii) to have materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial,
material, or technological support for, or goods or services in support of,
the activities described in subsection (b)(i) of this section or any person
whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to Executive
Order 13338, Executive Order 13460, or this order; or

(iv) to be owned or controlled by, or to have acted or purported to act for
or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, any person whose property and
interests in property are blocked pursuant to Executive Order 13460 or this
order.

Sec. 2. I hereby determine that the making of donations
of the type of articles specified in section 203(b)(2)
of IEEPA (50 U.S.C. 1702(b)(2)) by, to, or for the
benefit of any person whose property and interests in
property are blocked pursuant to section 1 of this
order would seriously impair my ability to deal with
the national emergency declared in Executive Order
13338 and expanded in this order, and I hereby prohibit
such donations as provided by section 1 of this order.

Sec. 3. The prohibitions in section 1 of this order
include but are not limited to:

    (a) the making of any contribution or provision of
funds, goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of
any person whose property and interests in property are
blocked pursuant to this order; and
    (b) the receipt of any contribution or provision of
funds, goods, or services from any such person.

Sec. 4. The prohibitions in section 1 of this order
apply except to the extent provided by statutes, or in
regulations, orders, directives, or licenses that may
be issued pursuant to this order, and notwithstanding
any contract entered into or any license or permit
granted prior to the effective date of this order.

Sec. 5. (a) Any transaction by a United States person
or within the United States that evades or avoids, has
the purpose of evading or avoiding, causes a violation
of, or attempts to violate any of the prohibitions set
forth in this order is prohibited.

    (b) Any conspiracy formed to violate any of the
prohibitions set forth in this order is prohibited.

Sec. 6. For the purposes of this order:

    (a) the term “person” means an individual or
entity;
    (b) the term “entity” means a partnership,
association, trust, joint venture, corporation, group,
subgroup, or other organization;
    (c) the term “United States person” means any
United States citizen, permanent resident alien, entity
organized under the laws of the United States or any
jurisdiction within the United States (including
foreign branches), or any person in the United States;
and
    (d) the term “Government of Syria” means the
Government of the Syrian Arab Republic, its agencies,
instrumentalities, and controlled entities.

Sec. 7. For those persons whose property and interests
in property are blocked pursuant to this order who
might have a constitutional presence in the United
States, I find that because of the ability to transfer
funds or other assets instantaneously, prior notice to
such persons of measures to be taken pursuant to this
order would render those measures ineffectual. I
therefore determine that for these measures to be
effective in addressing the national emergency declared
in Executive Order 13338 and expanded in this order,
there need be no prior notice of a listing or
determination made pursuant to section 1 of this order.

Sec. 8. The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation
with the Secretary of State, is hereby authorized to
take such actions, including the promulgation of rules
and regulations, and to employ all powers granted to
the President by IEEPA as may be necessary to carry out
the purposes of this order. The Secretary of the
Treasury may redelegate any of these functions to other
officers and agencies of the United States Government
consistent with applicable law. All agencies of the
United States Government are hereby directed to take
all appropriate measures within their authority to
carry out the provisions of this order.

Sec. 9. The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation
with the Secretary of State, is hereby authorized to
determine that circumstances no longer warrant the
blocking of the property and interests in property of a
person listed in the Annex to this order, and to take
necessary action to give effect to that determination.

Sec. 10. This order is not intended to, and does not,
create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural,
enforceable at law or in equity by any party against
the United States, its departments, agencies, or
entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any
other person.

Sec. 11. This order is effective at 1:00 p.m. eastern
daylight time on April 29, 2011.

    (Presidential Sig.)

THE WHITE HOUSE,

    April 29, 2011.