A trial related to the January 2015 deadly attacks on Charlie Hebdo employees
and other targets is set to begin Wednesday in Paris. The gunmen fatally

 

 


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Eye on Extremism


September 2, 2020

 

ABC News: Trial To Begin For Suspects In Charlie Hebdo Terror Attack
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“A trial related to the January 2015 deadly attacks on Charlie Hebdo employees
and other targets is set to begin Wednesday in Paris. The gunmen fatally shot
illustrators and journalists at Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical magazine, as
well as a police officer and shoppers at a Jewish supermarket during a
three-day killing spree beginning Jan. 7, 2015. Investigating magistrates have
charged 14 people in connection to the attacks, which killed 17 people.
Brothers Cherif and Said Kouachand and Amédy Coulibaly, the alleged
perpetrators of the attacks, have been charged with financing terrorism,
membership of a terrorist organization and supplying weapons to terrorists. The
landmark trial is expected to last for two-and-a-half months. This combination
of photos made on Jan. 8, 2015 shows French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo's
deputy chief editor Bernard Maris and cartoonists Georges Wolinski, Jean Cabut,
aka Cabu, Charb, Tignous and Honore, who were among those killed during the
attack on the Paris offices of French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo on Jan. 7,
2015. Charlie Hebdo posted on Twitter the cover of its next edition to be
released on Wednesday, in which the editorial staff decided to reprint the
controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed that some found offensive five
years ago.”

 

Newsweek: Facebook, Struggling To Combat Far-Right Extremism, Threatens To
Block News From Platform In Australia
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“Cornered by new legislation, Facebook has threatened to block anyone in
Australia from sharing local and international news on its platforms. The move,
which comes in response to a proposed law that will force the social network to
pay media organizations for their journalistic content, would result in
“publishers and people in Australia” being unable to post news to Facebook and
Instagram. As the Mark Zuckerberg-led platform goes on the legal offensive,
critics noted Facebook was quick to act when facing regulation that could see
it out-of-pocket, but has failed to properly block hate speech, far-right
conspiracies and extremist groups. “Facebook: stopping QAnon and far-right
content is too hard. Also Facebook: removing all Australian news content is
entirely possible,” tweeted Nick Evershed, who is a data and interactives
editor for Guardian Australia, in response to Facebook's threat. On August 19,
Facebook announced it had removed more than 790 groups, 100 pages and 1,500 ads
tied to QAnon, a vast and unfounded political conspiracy theory that has
existed online for years and is often centered around President Donald Trump.”

 

The Jerusalem Post: Austrian Court Convicts Iran-Trained Hezbollah Commander
For Terrorism
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“A court in the capital of the Austrian state of Carinthia last week convicted
a Hezbollah commander and recruiter for new members for the Lebanese terrorist
organization. The court in the city of Klagenfurt declared the 41-year-old
Lebanese man guilty due to his membership in a terrorist organization, a
criminal organization, and his role in training for terroristic purposes. The
court sentenced the unnamed Lebanese man to a nine-year prison term, according
to the Austria Press Agency.  The Jerusalem Post reported in March that the
Hezbollah commander spent 13 years in the central European country while
reportedly being involved in financing terrorism. According to the indictment,
the Hezbollah commander has been a member of the Shi’ite terrorist movement
since 2006. He oversaw a 60-member unit on the border to Syria where combat
took place. The convicted Hezbollah terrorist participated in battle in which
people were murdered during the Syrian civil war. The Austrian media report did
not identify the victims. “On the part of Hezbollah alone, there were 12 dead
during his time there. In the asylum procedure, he also stated that he had
recruited 250 men and young people over the age of 14 to join Hezbollah. He
also took part in ideological and military training, including in Iran, but
also trained himself,” indictment noted, according to the Austrian wire service
article.”

 

United States

 

NBC News: Man With Alleged 'Boogaloo' Ties Charged With Sending Threats To
California Health Official
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“A California man who authorities said has ties to the extremist
anti-government Boogaloo movement has been charged in connection with two dozen
harassing or threatening letters sent to Santa Clara County's top public health
official, according to a police report and court records. Alan Joseph Viarengo,
55, of Gilroy, has not yet entered a plea but is facing two felony charges
including stalking and threatening a public official in connection with 24
letters that were sent to Dr. Sara Cody between April 9 and July 29, according
to court documents. Authorities allege Viarengo engaged in a sustained effort
to intimidate Cody with letters containing misogynistic language, threats,
pornography and anti-government views. In June, a letter addressed to Cody
showed up with a picture of an igloo in the place of a return address and the
phrase “Let’s Boogie” written above. “I’m glad you are getting threats,” the
anonymous person wrote in the letter, according to the police report. “I posted
your residence everywhere I could; I hope someone follows through.” Attorney
Cody Salfen who is representing Viarengo said his client is a respected
community member and “ a law-abiding citizen” who “respects the rule of law and
the Constitution.”

 

The Washington Post: A Florida ‘Antifa Hunter’ Violently Threatened A BLM
Activist. Now He’s Going To Prison For Three Years
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“When he learned Don Gathers, a Black Lives Matter activist in
Charlottesville, planned to run for a seat on the city council last year, a
Florida man who called himself “the antifa hunter” organized a racist social
media campaign that eventually led Gathers to quit the race over fears for his
safety. In a hearing over video conference on Monday, Gathers told the man that
he hopes one day he might be able to forgive him for his actions, the
Associated Press reported. “But today is not that day,” Gathers said. “I
despise all that you and others like you represent.” Daniel McMahon, 32, of
Brandon, Fla., was sentenced Monday to three years and five months in federal
prison for cyberstalking and bias-motivated intimidation and interference with
a candidate for elected office. McMahon pleaded guilty in April to attacking
Gathers online and to threatening to sexually assault the daughter of another
activist who protested white supremacists. “This defendant weaponized social
media to threaten and intimidate his perceived political enemies and propagate
a violent white-supremacist ideology,” said U.S. Attorney Thomas T. Cullen of
the Western District of Virginia in a news release.”

 

The Washington Post: Muslim Cleric, Given Life Sentence For Promoting
Religious Combat, Released Pending Appeal
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“A Northern Virginia cleric sentenced to life in prison for encouraging
religious combat after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks was set free
Tuesday as he continues to fight his conviction. Ali al-Timimi, 56, will remain
on home confinement in Virginia, after 15 years behind bars, while his appeal
is resolved. He is the last member of a group known as the “Virginia jihad
network” to leave prison, in a case touted by the Justice Department and
decried by Muslim groups as unduly harsh. Judge Leonie M. Brinkema, who
presided over al-Timimi’s 2005 trial in federal court in Alexandria, ruled last
month that al-Timimi could be released after a 14-day quarantine because he has
a strong chance of seeing his sentence shortened on appeal and a high risk of
complications if infected by the novel coronavirus. “There are exceptional
reasons why his continued detention is not appropriate,” she wrote. “He may
well have already served excess years in prison.” His only disciplinary
infraction, she noted, was a 2018 incident in which he told a guard that if he
was threatened by another inmate again he would beat the man up. Al-Timimi was
fined $20. Defense attorney Jonathan Turley confirmed that he picked up
al-Timimi at a ­maximum-security prison in Colorado and drove him to Virginia
on Tuesday but declined to comment further.”

 

Turkey

 

BBC News: Turkey Detains Top Islamic State Commander In Raid
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“Turkish police have arrested the top Islamic State (IS) commander in the
country, the government says.

Mahmut Ozden had “important plans” in his possession and had received orders
to carry out an attack, the Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said. He was
detained in Adana province, and Mr Soylu said an operation was continuing
against other IS figures. IS officially announced its presence in Turkey in
2019 and has conducted numerous attacks in the country. “[The suspect] had been
constantly receiving orders from both Iraq and Syria to carry out an attack in
Turkey,” Mr Soylu said on Tuesday. He announced the arrest on Twitter and
congratulated the police. Ozden had been planning to carry out attacks with
groups of 10 to 12 IS terrorists, Mr Soylu said. He referred to the suspect as
the group's “emir” in Turkey. Plans seized during the raid revealed he had been
plotting to kidnap several politicians, according to the Daily Sabah newspaper.
Computers, documents, weapons and ammunition were also seized during the
operation in the south-eastern province of Adana. Three other suspected
terrorists were detained in the counterterrorism operation, the Anadolu Agency
reported.”

 

Afghanistan

 

BBC News: Afghanistan Resumes Taliban Prisoner Release
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“Afghanistan has resumed the controversial release of hundreds of Taliban
prisoners. A Taliban official told the AFP news agency that 200 prisoners had
been freed by the Afghan authorities since Monday, while the Taliban reportedly
released four Afghan commandos. The release of Taliban inmates has been a
pre-condition to negotiations to end 19 years of conflict in the country. Peace
talks are expected to start in Qatar within days of the full release. An
unnamed senior Afghan official told AFP that “dozens” of prisoners had been
released on Monday, with the remaining prisoners due to follow suit “within a
couple of days”. Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai praised the resumption of
the prisoner release, which he described as a “positive step towards peace in
Afghanistan”. The release of 5,000 militants formed part of a peace deal
reached by the US and the Taliban in February, which was meant to pave the way
for talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban. In August, the Afghan
government began to free the final 400 Taliban prisoners, after the move was
approved by an Afghan grand assembly of elders. But not all of the group was
released, with both France and Australia objecting to the release of prisoners
accused of fatal attacks against their nationals, including humanitarian
workers.”

 

Lebanon

 

Foreign Policy: Hezbollah And Lebanon Are On The Brink Of Civil War Again
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“During the 30 years since Lebanon’s civil war, the neighborhoods of the
capital Beirut have been split on sectarian lines, mirroring the country’s
sect-based power-sharing constitutional system. But this political edifice has
been under challenge for months. In October, Lebanese people from across the
religious spectrum came out on the streets and demonstrated against their
political leaders, whom they described as a corrupt and self-serving elite.
Last month when an explosion ripped through the city and left some of the
dominantly Christian neighborhoods in ruins, it blew the lid off the country’s
sectarian fault lines. Lebanon’s various communities are more suspicious of
each other than at any time in recent memory. At the center of tensions,
holding the key to both chaos and peace, is Hezbollah. It’s not clear how these
vitriolic sectarian tensions will be resolved. No one wants the situation to
escalate into another civil war. At a coffee shop in Ouzai, a Shiite-dominated
southern suburb of Beirut barely 3 kilometers from the downtown neighborhood at
the epicenter of the protests, a group of Hezbollah supporters accused the
protestors of being foreign agents.”

 

Africa

 

Voice Of America: Watchdog Warns Of ‘Limited Progress’ In Africa Counterterror
Fight
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“Terrorist organizations appear to be tightening their grip on multiple
regions of Africa, despite ongoing efforts by the United States and its allies
to degrade their capabilities and limit their reach. The findings, part of a
new report released Tuesday from the Defense Department inspector general, come
as U.S.-led efforts have been forced to adjust, and in some cases, scale back
activities because of the coronavirus making its way across the continent. “The
United States and its international partners made limited progress,” Acting
Inspector General Sean O’Donnell wrote in the quarterly report, citing setbacks
against affiliates of both al-Qaida and Islamic State, also known as IS or
ISIS. Rather than slow terrorist groups down, the report warned the spread of
COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, appears to have given many of
them new opportunities to expand. “The pandemic exacerbated many of the
underlying conditions that foster VEO (violent extremist organization) growth,
including economic and food insecurity,” O’Donnell wrote, pointing to
assessments by the United Nations that in some areas, terror groups
“capitalized on the virus to undermine state government authority and continue
their attacks.”

 

The Standard: CS Matiang’i Freezes Assets Of Persons Accused Of Financing
Al-Shabaab
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“Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has ordered the immediate freezing
of assets attached to nine individuals, alleged to finance Al-Shabaab
operations.  The Ministry has identified Halima Adan Ali, Waleed Ahmed Zein,
Sheikh Guyo Gorsa Boru, Mohammed Abdi Ali alias Abu Fidaa, Nusiba Mohammed
Haji, Abdimajit Adan Hassan, Mohammed Ali Abdi, Muktar Ibrahim Ali, and Mire
Abdullahi Elmi as some of the individuals and entities supporting terrorist
activities in Kenya. In a statement, CS Matiang’i said that his ministry will
not relent or hesitate to subject any individual or entity seeking to harm
Kenyans to the full force of the law. “The enemy is progressively planting
operatives among civilians strategically to advance his agenda through
recruitment and radicalization to violent extremism and terrorism,” the
statement read in part. The CS further said his ministry will continue to
disrupt terrorist operations and purpose on bringing the perpetrators,
financiers and sponsors of these barbaric acts to book, as is in line with the
country’s laws and international obligations. “The only way to deny terrorists
the means to threaten our way of life is to choke their facilitation networks,”
Matiang’i added.”

 

Europe

 

EU Observer: Time For EU To Get Real On Hezbollah
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“The UN Security Council's renewal of the United Nations Interim Force in
Lebanon (Unifil) mandate on August 28 has presented an urgent opportunity to
re-examine Europe's legacy in the region and, more importantly, the steps that
are needed today to bring real stability to Lebanon. Founded in 1978 to oversee
Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon, over 40 years later Unifil remains on the
ground, fulfilling the same role, as a peacekeeper and monitoring hostilities.
However, neither the EU's foreign policy, nor the Unifil mandate, are in line
with the current state of affairs, as Hezbollah, the Iran-backed terrorist
group which presents itself as a political party, continues to exploit Lebanon
for its own nefarious purposes and insert itself into the political sphere.
According to Western intelligence agencies, Iran funds Hezbollah to the tune of
$200m to $300m [€168-€252] per year in cash outlays alone, and provides an
arsenal of weapons and logistical services valued at more than $700m. The
terrorist organisation has ravaged the region politically, economically, and
violently for decades. The political impact of the Shiite militia is
devastating to Lebanon. Since 1992, Hezbollah has woven itself into the
political fabric of the country and held an inflated influence in the elected
government.”

 

Al Jazeera: North Macedonia Arrests Three Men On Suspicion Of Plotting Attack
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“Police in North Macedonia have arrested three men on suspicion of planning
attacks in the country and have seized a large number of weapons in raids in
five locations in the country's north. Police said on Tuesday the three men,
one aged 22 and the others aged 25, had previously been convicted of
participation in the ISIL (ISIS) armed group and had served prison terms on
their return from the Middle East. They were arrested on suspicion of creating
and participating in a “criminal cell, based on the ideological matrix of the
ISIS terrorist organisation, with the intention of carrying out a terrorist act
on targets in the territory of the Republic of Northern Macedonia”, police
said. No specific targets were mentioned. The group members allegedly provided
financial means and procured a large number of weapons, ammunition and military
equipment, which they hid near a road in the northern village of Biljanovce,
authorities said. Police said they seized five automatic rifles, a machinegun,
18 ammunition belts for automatic rifles, eight grenade launchers with fuses,
camouflage vests and an ISIL flag with an Arabic inscription from the location.”

 

Australia

 

ABC News Australia: Former Anti-Islamic State Fighter Ashley Dyball Expected
To Be Released From Prison Today
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“A former anti-Islamic State fighter has been sentenced to three years in jail
for improperly interfering with the corpse of a Queensland man, but is expected
to be released from prison today. Ashley Dyball, 28, has already spent
three-and-a-half years in custody over the death of 22-year-old Samuel Thompson
in March 2017. Yesterday a Supreme Court jury in Brisbane found Dyball not
guilty of murder, but guilty of interfering with Mr Thompson's corpse, which
was found buried at the Beerburrum State Forest, north of Brisbane. Dyball also
pleaded guilty to possessing a dangerous drug. Another man, Roberto Boscaino,
was last year found guilty of Mr Thompson's murder. Dyball travelled to Syria
in May 2015 to fight for the Kurdish YPG militia against Islamic State. During
Dyball's trial, the Supreme Court in Brisbane heard Mr Thompson was looking for
a new cannabis supplier when he arranged to meet Boscaino at his Bald Hills
home on March 7, 2017. The court heard within an hour of arriving he died,
likely from either facial or neck injuries, possibly inflicted with a tomahawk.
Dyball helped Boscaino put Mr Thompson's body into a toolbox, loaded it onto
Boscaino's ute and drove with him to the Beerburrum State Forest where Mr
Thompson's body was buried in a shallow grave, the court was told.”

 

Technology

 

The Sociable: Facebook To Censor Anything It Deems Necessary To Avoid ‘Adverse
Legal Or Regulatory Impacts’
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“Facebook will start removing user content that could get the social media
giant into legal or regulatory trouble in a move that appears to be in
anticipation of legislative reform surrounding digital platforms and publishers
… In June, UC Berkeley professor and expert in digital forensics Dr. Hany Farid
testified before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce that Facebook has a
toxic business model that puts profit over the good of society and that its
algorithms have been trained to encourage divisiveness and the amplification of
misinformation. “Mark Zuckerberg is hiding the fact that he knows that hate,
lies, and divisiveness are good for business,” Farid testified. “They didn’t
set out to fuel misinformation and hate and divisiveness, but that’s what the
algorithms learned. What we are witnessing with the left and right accusing
Facebook of either too much censorship or not enough of it, is a reflection of
the polarity that the algorithms were designed to amplify. However, I don’t
like to place all the blame on a bogey man like Facebook. While the technology
is powerful, we are individual human beings capable of rational thought, and we
don’t have to add to the polarization if we so choose, but this takes
tremendous will power.”



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