The UN Security Council’s Al-Qaeda sanctions committee has decided to remove Saudi businessman Yasin Abdullah Ezzedine Qadi from the UN sanctions list, according to German UN Ambassador Peter Wittig.

“The Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee today agreed to follow the Ombudsperson’s recommendation and remove Mr. Qadi’s name from the Al-Qaeda Sanctions List,” Wittig, chairman of the committee, said in a statement.

“This decision is the result of thorough considerations among members of the Committee, based on a comprehensive report provided to the Committee by the Ombudsperson,” he said.

Qadi was added to the UN blacklist in October 2001 for being a suspected associate of Al-Qaeda. He was also blacklisted by the United States and European Union.

Qadi filed a lawsuit in 2009 in Washington, D.C. to be removed from the US list of people accused of financing Al-Qaeda.