“An Egyptian court on Thursday sentenced 76-year-old Muslim Brotherhood leader
Mahmoud Ezzat to life in prison on terrorism charges, according to the

 

 


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Eye on Extremism


April 9, 2021

 

Deutsche Welle: Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood Leader Gets Life Sentence On
Terrorism Charges
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“An Egyptian court on Thursday sentenced 76-year-old Muslim Brotherhood leader
Mahmoud Ezzat to life in prison on terrorism charges, according to the
state-run Al-Ahram newspaper. Ezzat was convicted on terrorism charges related
to violence after the military ousted former Islamist-aligned Egyptian
President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013. Ezzat was arrested in Cairo in August of
last year, with police reportedly finding encrypted software in his apartment
that he had used to communicate with other Brotherhood members both
domestically and abroad. The authorities previously believed he had fled the
country. Ezzat was found guilty of supplying weapons during confrontations
between Muslim Brotherhood supporters and opponents. He was also accused of
having a role in the 2015 assassination of former Prosecutor General Hisham
Barakat, a foe of the Muslim Brotherhood movement. Ezzat's lawyer has not yet
commented on the sentence. The Brotherhood has previously said the Egyptian
authorities are pursuing “false political charges” against Ezzat. Ezzat had
previously been sentenced to death and life in prison in absentia in 2015, and
he has since faced retrials following his August arrest.”

 

Arab News: Houthi Landmines Have Killed 8,000 Yemenis Since Start Of War
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“A Yemeni official has called on the international community to pressure the
Houthi to stop planting landmines, which have so far killed 8,000, state news
agency SABA reported. Director of the National Mine Action Program Ameen
Al-Aqeeli said on Wednesday that 61 members of his crew “have lost their lives
and a large number of others have sustained wounds” due to the mines. “Large
swaths of the territories recently liberated from Houthi control in Taiz have
been found to be contaminated with mines,” Al-Aqeeli said. He said that this
has led him to believe that current areas under Houthi control may also be
contaminated with landmines.”

 

United States

 

ABC News: White Supremacists, Extremists May Use Chauvin Trial To Further
Their Agendas: DHS
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“As Derek Chauvin's murder trial continues in Minneapolis, the intelligence
branch of the Department of Homeland Security is warning that foreign
adversaries and domestic extremists may use the case to further their own
agendas. In an intelligence briefing obtained by ABC News, DHS analysts warn
that domestic extremists -- including anarchists and white supremacists -- “may
attempt to exploit activities and events surrounding the legal proceeding” and
“violence could occur with little or no warning.” The briefing goes through the
various types of extremists who it says might exploit the events. The agency
warns that domestic violent extremists could commit violence during the trial,
but “are more likely following the outcome of the trials associated with the
death of George Floyd.” Some domestic extremist groups the briefing warns about
include those who are adherents to the anti-government “boogaloo” movement.
After the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, the Justice Department announced the
arrest of two militia members associated with the boogaloo movement, including
one who allegedly sought to incite a riot in Louisville, Kentucky, during the
Capitol riot.”

 

Business Insider: ISIS Leader Was Once A 'Cooperative' Prison Informant Who
Ratted Out Terrorists To The US Military, Newly-Released Records Show
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“The current leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria was once a prison
informant who named or described dozens of terrorists during interrogation
sessions while in US military custody. After US forces killed ISIS founder and
leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in 2019, the terror group chose a new leader, a man
whose nom de guerre is Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi. The US has since
identified that man as Amir Muhammad Sa'id Abd-al-Rahman al-Mawla. US
counterterrorism officials know the Iraqi terrorist leader well because he was
previously an informant while detained in a coalition prison in 2008. In
September, the Pentagon-funded Combating Terrorism Center at West Point
released once confidential records of three interrogation sessions where
al-Mawla named or described, often in detail, 88 people affiliated in some way
with the Islamic State in Iraq, out of which ISIS grew. The center released
another 53 interrogation records this week. The newly-released records show
that not only was he informing on terrorists within the organization that would
evolve into the one he leads today, but he was doing so in a “very cooperative
and forthcoming” way. In the records, which run from January to July 2008,
al-Mawla regularly gives up information on rivals and foreign-born terrorists
within the organization.”

 

Newsweek: How QAnon And ISIS Radicalize Supporters In The Same Way
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“People are radicalized into the QAnon conspiracy theory in much the same way
as those who joined up with the Islamic State militant group (ISIS), according
to an extremist expert. Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director of the
Counter Extremism Project, talked about the similarities in how ISIS and QAnon
managed to appeal to people to join, and how they also attract the same type of
person, during an episode of The Hunt with WTOP national security correspondent
J.J. Green. Schindler described how, just like QAnon, ISIS propaganda found an
audience by being shared online. The difference being most people did not fully
comprehend how the beliefs of QAnon, listed as a domestic terrorist threat by
the FBI, could escalate into real life violence until their supporters stormed
the Capitol on January 6. “ISIS propaganda very quickly gained the attention of
everyone around the world because they put up extremely horrific images of
beheadings and mass killings,” Schindler said. “For QAnon, it was for a long
time perceived as a group of weirdos who are absolutely bereft of any
rationality.” Schindler said it was not just the U.S. who failed to understand
the “magnitude” of threat behind “new aspects” of extreme right wing groups and
movements.”

 

Vice: Atomwaffen Division Leader Pleads Guilty To Terror-Related Crimes
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“Cameron Shea, 24, described by the Department of Justice as the “leader” of
Atomwaffen Division, pleaded guilty yesterday to federal hate crime and
conspiracy charges. They stemmed from a campaign in which he personally ordered
a “show of force” involving members of the neo-Nazi terror group to place
posters on the homes of journalists and activists across the country. Last
year, five members of the group were rounded up by the FBI after printed
threats were sent to the homes of journalists and activists in Florida,
Arizona, and Washington state. Shea himself sent an Anti-Defamation League
official that, according to a DOJ release, “depicted a Grim Reaper-like figure
wearing a skeleton mask holding a Molotov cocktail outside a residence, with
the text “Our Patience Has Its Limits …. You have been visited by your local
Nazis…“[Atomwaffen Division] has specifically advocated for violence since they
were founded in 2015,” said Joshua Fisher-Birch, a terrorism analyst at the
Counter Extremism project who monitors the group and its adjacent movement.
“[S] everal of their members have been charged or found guilty of crimes
including explosives-related offenses and murder. The neo-Nazi organization’s
violent character should be considered during sentencing, especially because
there continue to be numerous non-group affiliated individuals inspired by
[Atomwaffen Division’s] legacy, brand, and ideology.”

 

Iraq

 

Yahoo News: In Iraq, Scars Of ISIS Linger On Surviving Families Trying To Find
Stability
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“For the Moussa family, the thought of home is now a painful memory. “All of
it is burnt,” wife and mother Niran Shaika Khormz, told ABC News in Arabic.
It’s the home where she lived with her husband Raed Moussa and their two
children. They fled Baghdad almost 20 years ago to escape the war after
Moussa’s father was murdered for being Christian. They settled in the
majority-Christian city of Qaraqosh, in the north of Iraq. It was supposed to
be their safe haven, but war found them again. ISIS occupied the city from 2014
to 2016 and destroyed their home. They say they lost every possession,
including their furniture, television and personal belongings. “I never
imagined this. Never,” Moussa said, shaking his head. For now, the militants
are gone. But the pain from their destruction runs deep throughout the
community. The Moussas are just one family among thousands struggling to
rebuild their lives in a country that remains incredibly fragile. Iraqis are
still fighting and protesting against foreign interference, corruption and
terror, while also still battling ISIS extremists. Since 2019, there have been
mass anti-government demonstrations in Baghdad and the south of Iraq calling
for an end to corruption.”

 

Turkey

 

Daily Sabah: Turkish Security Forces Nab 2 Terrorist Suspects At Border
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“After Turkish security forces caught nine people trying to illegally cross
into Syria and Greece, it was discovered that two of them were identified as
terrorist suspects, the country's National Defense Ministry said Thursday. “It
was determined that one of those captured was a member of Daesh and another one
a member of the FETÖ (Gülenist Terror Group) terrorist organization,” the
ministry said on Twitter. “Our struggle against illegal crossings through our
borders continues,” the statement added. FETÖ and its U.S.-based leader
Fetullah Gülen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 251
people killed and 2,734 injured. FETÖ was also behind a long-running campaign
to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions,
particularly the military, police and judiciary. FETÖ fugitives have been known
to flee to Greece, and Turkey has criticized Athens' failure to extradite them
to face justice. In 2013, Turkey became one of the first countries to declare
Daesh a terrorist group. The country has since been attacked by the terrorist
group multiple times, with over 300 people killed and hundreds more injured in
at least 10 suicide bombings, seven bomb attacks and four armed assaults.”

 

Afghanistan

 

CNN: Taliban Attack On Covert US Base In Afghanistan Complicates Biden
Withdrawal Decision
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“In one of the most significant attacks against US forces in Afghanistan
recently, CNN has learned that the Taliban twice targeted one of the most
heavily guarded bases in the country late last month and that US military
personnel working for the CIA were at the installation when it came under fire.
Rockets landed near Forward Operating Base Chapman, a classified US military
installation in eastern Afghanistan, and wounded seven civilians outside the
base, according to a US official familiar with the details. During a second
attack, a water tower was hit and a few rounds landed on the base, though no US
personnel were killed or injured. The attacks, which have not been widely
reported, were followed by another in Kandahar this week, where Taliban rockets
landed near a NATO air base used by US and coalition troops providing support
to Afghan forces. The flurry of violence is fueling concerns inside the Biden
administration that the Taliban could step up efforts to target American forces
ahead of a May 1 deadline for the US to withdraw under an agreement struck
under then-President Donald Trump, sources say.”

 

Voice Of America: 'Security Threat' Prompts Afghans To Turn Back Plane
Carrying Pakistan Lawmakers
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“Officials in Afghanistan said a plane carrying a high-profile Pakistan
parliamentary delegation was turned back Thursday as it was about to land in
Kabul after explosives were found at the airport. The large Pakistani
delegation was to stay in the Afghan capital for three days under the
leadership of Asad Qaiser, speaker of the lower house of Parliament, or the
National Assembly. Qaisar and his delegation were invited by his Afghan
counterpart, Mir Rahman Rahmani. Abdul Qadir Zazai, a spokesperson for the
Afghan Parliament, said that during construction work, a digging team found old
“unexploded ordnance” in part of the airport. The discovery prompted the
control tower to refuse landing permission to several planes, including the one
carrying the Pakistani guests, he explained. Zazai said NATO-led military
personnel later helped the Afghan partners carry out a controlled detonation of
the ordnance to defuse the threat. It was not immediately known who planted the
explosives. Both Rahmani and Qaiser agreed to reschedule the visit, Zazai said.
Pakistani special envoy to Afghanistan, Mohammed Sadiq, who was also part of
the delegation, tweeted that a “security threat” prompted the postponement of
their visit.”

 

Stars And Stripes: Pentagon Condemns Taliban Attack On Base Housing Hundreds
Of US Troops
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“The Taliban fired rockets at Kandahar Airfield, causing no damage or
casualties but drawing a swift condemnation from the Pentagon which said the
attack was “disruptive” to peace negotiations. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby
declined to say whether the Wednesday attack violated last year’s U.S.-Taliban
peace deal. The attack occurred about three weeks before the peace agreement
requires all U.S. troops to have left the country. “We condemn the attack, and
we believe this decision to provoke even more violence remains disruptive,”
Kirby said. “I can’t deliver a comprehensive analysis of what we believe they
were trying to achieve or what message they were trying to send.” Massoud
Pashtoon, the airfield director, told Stars and Stripes on Wednesday that the
attack began around 10 a.m. and ended after four rockets landed in an open
field. Kandahar Airfield has been a key base for the U.S. military throughout
the war, housing an estimated 30,000 service members and contractors at its
peak. But the Afghan government recently assumed control of operations at the
airfield and only a few hundred U.S. troops remain, the military has said.”

 

Pakistan

 

The Defense Post: Russia To Provide Weapons To Pakistan In Bid To Fight
Terrorism
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“Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov vowed that his country will supply the
armed forces of Pakistan with a number of unspecified weapons in an effort to
boost ties in countering terrorism. He made his remarks on Wednesday during a
two-day state visit to the country in a bid to strengthen diplomatic relations
and increase Russia’s reputation in the region. Aside from providing weaponry,
the country said it will begin joint exercises with Pakistan to toughen its
military presence at sea and in the mountains. “We have confirmed that we stand
ready to strengthen the anti-terrorist potential of Pakistan, including by
supplying Pakistan with special military equipment,” Lavrov remarked, without
providing details on the equipment. “This serves the interests of all states of
the region.” Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian government said it
will provide more doses of Sputnik-V vaccine to Pakistan, and it will look into
the possibility of setting up a vaccine plant in the country. “We have supplied
to Pakistan 50,000 doses of the vaccine, and soon we will add 150,000 more
doses. Vaccine production is up and running in India, in Korea, Belarus, so
these vaccines can be supplied to Pakistan,” the foreign minister explained.”

 

Nigeria

 

Reuters: Eleven Soldiers Killed In Attack In Nigeria's Benue State
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“One army officer and 10 soldiers were killed in Nigeria’s Benue state in what
a spokesman said was an unprovoked attack on Thursday. The army said in a
statement that it would “fish out and deal decisively with these bad elements.”
Civilians, in fear of soldiers looking to root out the perpetrators, were
fleeing the Konshisha local government where one local leader’s house had been
burnt to the ground, sources told Reuters. The violence in the restive Middle
Belt region marked the latest bout of instability in Nigeria, Africa’s
most-populous nation. On Monday, heavily armed gunman freed more than 1,800
prisoners in the southeast, while armed gangs have kidnapped hundreds of school
children in the northwest in recent months and Islamist militants in the
northeast have waged a decade-long insurgency. Troops patrol in the Middle Belt
due in part to clashes between farmers and nomadic cattle herders that have
killed thousands and displaced half a million over the past decade, according
to estimates from French medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres. Army
spokesman Mohammed Yerima said the troops were initially declared missing while
on a routine operational task, but a search-and-rescue team later found the
bodies.”

 

Africa

 

Council On Foreign Relations: Islamic State And Al-Qaeda Linked To African
Insurgencies
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“Violence attributed to Islamist groups has dramatically increased in
sub-Saharan Africa over the past decade, and continues to infect new venues
where it has been absent. In the recent attacks on Palma in northern
Mozambique, the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) is claiming responsibility.
In other instances, say, in the Sahel and the Horn, al-Qaeda and its affiliated
groups make the claim. Some analysts see a Faustian bargain between IS or
al-Qaeda and insurgencies that are driven by local grievances associated with
corrupt governments that have marginalized those far from the national capital.
The essence of the bargain is that IS and al-Qaeda are able to demonstrate
their prowess despite reverses in the Middle East—valuable for recruitment and
fundraising. For locally based insurgencies, ties, no matter how tenuous,
enhance their prestige and win international publicity. The extent to which
these bargains translate into tactical, strategic, or financial partnerships
with IS or al-Qaeda varies from one insurrection to another. However, for both
sides of the bargain, incentives are to exaggerate its importance. Insofar as
Western policy makers associate IS and al-Qaeda with the insurrection, the
prestige and therefore the power of both grows.”

 

Arab News: Death Toll In Sudan- Darfur Clashes Rises To 132
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“Intercommunal clashes in Sudan’s West Darfur state have left at least 132
people dead in recent days, its governor said on Thursday. Members of the
Massalit and Arab communities have fought since Saturday in and around the
state capital El-Geneina, trading gun and heavy weapons fire. Sudan’s
government has declared a state of emergency in the region. “According to
medical reports, the number of dead is now 132,” Mohammed Abdallah Douma, the
governor of the region bordering Chad, told a press conference in Khartoum.
“The situation is now relatively stable,” he said, adding that there was
“looting” but “no more fighting.” Douma blamed the fighting on militia fighters
who had crossed over from neighboring Chad and Libya, and had used heavy
weapons. But the UN had said the conflict was between Sudan’s Massalit and the
Arab communities, the latest in a string of clashes since January, which has
forced over 100,000 people to flee their homes. Sudan is in the midst of a
rocky transition following the toppling of long-time president Omar Bashir in
April 2019, following mass protests against his rule. The transitional
government has pushed to build peace with rebel groups in Sudan’s main conflict
zones, including Darfur, where UN peacekeepers were recently withdrawn.”

 

France

 

The Washington Post: Suspect Arrested Over Easter Linked To French Church Plot
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“French anti-terrorism investigators said Thursday that an 18-year-old woman
arrested over the Easter weekend was suspected of planning an attack on a
church. New details have emerged about the teen, who was living in a housing
project in Beziers, in southern France, and is suspected of plotting an attack
targeting nearby Montpellier over Easter. On Thursday, anti-terrorism officials
said that during a search of her home they found a photo of the schoolteacher
beheaded by a radical Islamist in October. Samuel Paty was murdered after
showing caricatures of the prophet of Islam to his class. Officials also said
that bomb-making materials were found in the apartment, as well as photos of
“armed jihadists,” a diagram of a nearby church and handwritten notes referring
to the Nazis and the Islamic State group. The teen, who has not been
identified, was not previously known to authorities. Authorities stressed that
no constructed explosives were found.”

 

Technology

 

The Washington Post: Civil Rights Groups Flagged Dozens Of Anti-Muslim Pages
And Groups To Facebook That Stayed Up, Lawsuit Alleges
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“Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg was “making false and deceptive
statements” when he told Congress that the company removes content that
violates its hate-speech rules, a lawsuit alleges. The suit, filed Thursday in
D.C. Superior Court, alleges that since 2017, civil rights groups and other
experts have brought hundreds of anti-Muslim groups and pages on the platform
to Facebook’s attention, but that the company has failed to penalize more than
half of them. It also alleges that Facebook and its top executives violated the
D.C. Consumer Protection Procedures Act, under which it is illegal for a
company to make material misrepresentations about a good or service. Civil
rights group Muslim Advocates, the law firm Gupta Wessler and University of
Chicago law professor Aziz Z. Huq brought the suit. “Every day, ordinary people
are bombarded with harmful content that violates Facebook’s own policies on
hate speech, bullying, harassment, dangerous organizations, and violence,” the
suit alleges. “The anti-Muslim hate that’s pervasive on Facebook presents an
enormous problem — both online and in real life.” Facebook has created an
atmosphere where “Muslims feel under siege,” the suit says.”



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