Eye on Extremism
October 15, 2019
The
New York Times: Failed Notre-Dame Plot Leads To Shame, Regret And
Heavy Sentences
“The two women sat side by side in the courtroom over the past
three weeks, each blaming the other for what they had done, and both
expressing shame and regret over what they had become: “The face of
female jihad” in France, according to a state prosecutor. On Monday
judges sentenced Inès Madani and Ornella Gilligmann to 30 and 25 years
of prison, ending a symbolic trial that involved six women and shed a
light on the role of female jihadists in homegrown terrorism. Ms.
Madani and Ms. Gilligmann were accused of trying to ignite a car
loaded with gas cylinders near the Notre-Dame cathedral in September
2016 in order to carry out an attack in the name of the Islamic State.
Judges followed the prosecutors’ requests that the women be sentenced
to 25 and 30 years each, a sign that a newly appointed terrorism court
would take a hard stance on trying radicalized individuals. They had
both faced life sentences at the beginning of the trial. Asked if they
had wanted to kill “as many people as possible,” Ms. Madani, now 22,
replied, “At that time, yes, that was the goal.” Before the court gave
its verdict on Monday, both expressed deep regret. “I had the worst
behavior,” said Ms. Madani, who said she felt ashamed by what she had
done.”
The
Washington Post: Dutch Court Convicts Asylum-Seeker In Station Terror
Attack
“A Dutch court on Monday convicted an Afghan asylum-seeker and
sentenced him to nearly 27 years imprisonment for stabbing two
American tourists in a terror attack at Amsterdam’s main railway
station. The 20-year-old man, identified by Dutch authorities as Jawed
S, was shot by police shortly after he stabbed two 38-year-old
American men at Amsterdam Central station on Aug. 31 last year. Both
victims survived but one was left partially paralyzed by the attack,
Amsterdam District Court said in its written judgment. The court
convicted Jawed S. of attempted murder with a terrorist motive and
sentenced him to the maximum possible 26 years and eight months. It
ruled that he traveled by train to the Netherlands from Germany, where
his application for asylum was rejected, to avenge what he perceived
as insults to Islam and did not know his victims were Americans.
During his trial, he “never showed any remorse and in fact repeatedly
said he would do the same thing again if his religion were insulted,”
the court said in a statement. The man was ordered to pay his two
victims a total of more than 2.6 million euros ($2.9 million).
According to the judgment he stabbed one man in the back leaving him
with injuries that mean he will never be able to walk independently
again.”
Bloomberg:
Qatar Defends Turkey’s Syria Operation As It Sticks Up For
Ally
“Qatar defended Turkey’s military offensive in northern Syria,
sticking up for an ally that’s helped the Gulf emirate weather the
impact of a boycott by its neighbors. Turkey’s military incursion
isn’t expansionist because it faced an “imminent threat” from Kurdish
groups on its Syrian border, Qatar’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed
bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said in Doha.”
Associated
Press: German Security Services Want More Powers To Fight
Extremism
"Germany's security services said Tuesday they're seeking greater
powers to fight the kind of far-right extremism behind last week's
synagogue attack, including requiring internet companies to report
illegal hate speech to police. A 27-year-old German man previously
unknown to police confessed to carrying out the attack in the eastern
city of Halle in which two people were killed Wednesday. The suspected
gunman, identified by prosecutors only as Stephan B. due to privacy
rules, allegedly built the firearms he used with the help of online
instructions, posted an anti-Semitic screed before the attack and
later broadcast the shooting live on a popular gaming site."
Haaretz:
U.S. Sanctions Amp Up The Pressure On Iran-Backed Hezbollah In
Lebanon
“The conflict between Iran and the U.S. that has created tensions
throughout much of the Middle East is now also being felt in Lebanon,
where Washington has slapped sanctions on the Iran-backed Hezbollah
and warned they could soon expand to its allies, further deepening the
tiny Arab country’s economic crisis. The Trump administration has
intensified sanctions on the Lebanese militant group and institutions
linked to it to unprecedented levels, targeting lawmakers for the
first time as well as a local bank that Washington claims has ties to
the group. Two U.S. officials visited Beirut in September and warned
the sanctions will increase to deprive Hezbollah of its sources of
income. The push is further adding to Lebanon’s severe financial and
economic crisis, with Lebanese officials warning the country’s economy
and banking sector can’t take the pressure. “We have taken more
actions recently against Hezbollah than in the history of our
counterterrorism program,” Sigal P. Mandelker, undersecretary for
terrorism and financial intelligence at the U.S. Treasury, said in the
United Arab Emirates last month. Mandelker said Washington is
confident the Lebanese government and the central bank will “do the
right thing here in making sure that Hezbollah can no longer have
access to funds at the bank.”
The
Wall Street Journal: She Fined Tech Giants Billions of Dollars. Now
She Wants Sharper Tools.
“Margrethe Vestager made a name for herself as Europe’s top
antitrust enforcer by slapping record fines on U.S. tech companies.
Now she says those fines don’t work. As she prepares to start an
unprecedented second term as the European Union’s competition
commissioner, this time with added powers as the EU’s digital-economy
policy maker, Ms. Vestager is shifting her focus from fining giants to
preventing market abuses. Fines are “not doing the trick,” she told EU
lawmakers recently, despite having hit Alphabet Inc.’s Google with
penalties totaling $9.4 billion in recent years. “We have to consider
remedies that are much more far-reaching.”
Syria
The
Guardian: US Seizes Only Two British Isis Prisoners In Syria, Leaving
Others
“US forces in north-east Syria have been able to seize only two
British Islamic State prisoners despite previous briefings that they
intended to forcibly take a few dozen from Kurdish custody. Kurdish
military refused to allow US special forces to take anyone apart from
Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, forcing them to leave behind
several dozen detainees and prompting warnings that an opportunity to
put other Isis leaders on trial had been missed.”
NPR:
U.S. Imposes Sanctions On Turkey For Invasion Of
Syria
“Days after appearing to acquiesce to a Turkish invasion of
Northern Syria aimed at routing Washington's Kurdish allies, the White
House is officially reversing course, calling instead for a ceasefire,
imposing economic sanctions and dispatching Vice President Mike Pence
to Ankara. In an executive order issued Monday, President Trump
declared that Turkey's offensive "undermines the campaign to defeat
the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, endangers civilians, and
further threatens to undermine the peace, security, and stability in
the region ..."
Voice
Of America: Kremlin Confident Turkey Will Soon Halt Syria
Incursion
“Russian officials say they expect Turkey to start halting soon its
cross-border incursion in north-eastern Syria. They say Syria’s Kurds
have agreed to shelve their plans for a self-governing state and
Kurdish fighters will join Syrian forces patrolling the border. The
deal-making between Damascus and the Kurds started in earnest nearly a
year ago when U.S. President Donald Trump first broached the idea of
withdrawing U.S. troops from Kurdish-controlled northeastern Syria,
say officials who spoke on the condition they not be identified.”
AFP:
Qatar Defends Turkey's Northern Syria Operation
“Qatar defended its close ally Turkey's controversial operation
against Kurdish forces in northern Syria on Tuesday, saying Ankara had
acted against an "imminent threat". Turkey has helped Qatar weather
the effects of a two-year regional economic embargo led by Riyadh over
claims of support for Iran and Islamist extremism, denied by Doha. But
Ankara has faced widespread condemnation for its deadly incursion,
with the US imposing sanctions on prominent Turkish leaders while
France and Germany have halted arms sales.”
The
Wall Street Journal: U.S. Imposes Penalties On Turkey, Aiming To Stop
Incursion Into Syria
“President Trump authorized sanctions and raised steel tariffs on
Turkey, while threatening more-powerful financial penalties if Ankara
continued a military offensive in northern Syria launched after Mr.
Trump decided to withdraw U.S. troops from the region. Mr. Trump also
spoke separately with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and
Kurdish Commander Mazloum Abdi and urged them to negotiate an end to
the violence, administration officials said. Mr. Trump, calling for an
immediate cease-fire, tapped Vice President Mike Pence and White House
national security adviser Robert O’Brien to lead a delegation to
Turkey to seek a resolution to the conflict.”
The
Washington Post: European Leaders Warn Of ISIS Revival With Turkish
Invasion Of Syria
“European leaders said Monday that they were facing new security
threats as a result of Turkey’s offensive in Syria, but they mostly
trained their anger on Ankara, not on Washington’s sudden decision to
pull out from the region. European foreign ministers who met Monday in
Luxembourg condemned the Turkish incursion and agreed on an informal,
E.U.-wide ban on arms sales to Ankara. They stopped short of a legally
binding ban, to implement something quickly. The Europeans said they
feared instability in northeastern Syria would give a new toehold to
the Islamic State, which lost its final territories earlier this year.
The militant group “could re-find its breathing space inside that
territory,” E.U. foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said. “That
worries us enormously. That is a direct security threat to the
European Union.” Among those at greatest risk are French special
forces who have supported U.S. troops in Syria for years. President
Emmanuel Macron early Monday ordered that measures be taken “in the
coming hours to ensure the security of French military and civilian
personnel present in the zone.” Although Macron’s office did not
specify whether French troops would pull out entirely, French
officials said over the summer that a full U.S. withdrawal probably
would require France to depart as well.”
Bloomberg:
Turkey Blames Syrian Kurds For Mass Jailbreak By Islamic
State
“Turkey’s Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Islamic State members
fled a jail in northern Syria after it was abandoned by the YPG
Kurdish militia, following warnings that the cross-border incursion
could lead to mass breakouts of thousands of jihadist prisoners.
“There was only one Daesh jail in the area” where the Turkish military
is operating, Akar said Monday, using an acronym for the jihadist
group. “When we went there, we saw that it was emptied by the YPG and
that members of Daesh were allowed to escape.” As President Donald
Trump gave Turkey the nod to begin its long-threatened military
operation into northeastern Syria earlier this month, he also handed
Ankara the responsibility for dealing with all the imprisoned members
of Islamic State in the area. Turkey has responded by saying it will
only deal with the jihadists inside a buffer zone it’s trying to carve
out near its border. Meanwhile, Kurds have complained they may not be
able to guard all the Islamic State militants in makeshift camps and
jails in northeastern Syria if Turkey’s military seizes nearby areas.
Akar’s comments show Turkey considered only one Islamic State prison
to be inside its area of responsibility.”
BBC
News: 'Islamic State' Children: How Do They Get Home?
“The case of three children believed to be from the UK, trapped in
Syria after their parents joined the “Islamic State group” and
subsequently died, has raised questions about how they can be
repatriated. The children, Amira, Heba and Hamza, were featured in a
recent BBC report from a Syrian camp for the families of IS fighters.
The camps in northern Syria holding IS families are currently
controlled by Kurdish-led forces whose leaders have repeatedly asked
European countries to take back their nationals. Many countries have
been reluctant to readmit IS supporters both because of public opinion
and legal issues. Foreign nationals abroad are entitled to some form
of consular assistance and this would normally require direct contact
with those being held in the camps. However, this is complicated by
the fact that many countries have closed their embassies in Syria.
Some countries have also made clear that they believe it's too
dangerous to send their officials into a war zone. As the conflict
escalates in northern Syria, the levels of insecurity in and around
the camps makes this an increasing problem.”
Business
Insider: ISIS Has Been Waiting For This Very Moment As Trump-Fueled
Chaos In Syria Helps It Regroup
“President Donald Trump declared the ISIS caliphate defeated in
March of this year, but after a Turkish incursion into northeast Syria
where ISIS prisoners are held, and with unrest in Iraq, US officials
and experts warn that the instability in the region is providing ISIS
with the opportunity for a comeback. “Recent observations by our men
and women on the ground highlight that the ISIS population being
evacuated from the remaining vestiges of the caliphate largely remains
unrepentant, unbroken and radicalized,” Gen. Joseph Votel told the
House Armed Services Committee in March, when the caliphate was
routed. The conditions — thousands of fighters and supporters guarded
by a force stretched thin, instability in the regions where ISIS was
active — point to a resurgence. But to what extent that resurgence
occurs remains to be seen, Daniel Byman, a senior fellow at the
Brookings Institution's Center for Middle East Policy, told Insider.
“We know in the past, they've done prison breakouts, they've seen it
as a top priority,” he said. “There will be more opportunities for the
Islamic State,” Byman said, but many of the conditions that led to
ISIS's rise in 2014 — sectarian violence in Iraq, the relative
disinterest on the part of the Syrian government in the areas where
ISIS was active, and ignorance on the part of other global actors —
have changed.”
Iran
Radio
Free Europe: Freed Russian Journalist Recounts Harrowing Ordeal In
Iranian Jail
"Russian journalist and author Yulia Yuzik, who was detained in
Tehran for more than a week, says Iranian interrogators accused her of
working for Israel and "destroyed me psychologically" before her
surprise release. "They were sure that Yuzik was a Jewish surname,
there was no doubt that I was Jewish and worked as an analyst for the
Israeli secret services," she told RFE/RL's Russian Service in an
interview published on October 12. Yuzik, who had previously lived and
worked as a journalist in Iran, was stopped on September 29 when she
arrived in Tehran for a private visit."
Afghanistan
India Today: Airstrikes Kill 9 Taliban, IS Terrorists In
Afghanistan
“At least nine terrorists from Taliban and the Islamic State (ISIS)
were killed in Afghanistan following a series of airstrikes. Quoting
military officials, Khaama Press reported that the airstrikes took
place in the eastern province of Nangarhar, where a total of five ISIS
terrorists were killed. Four Taliban operatives, meanwhile, were
killed in Afghanistan's central Wardak province, as per media reports
which cited officials.”
Xinhua:
Afghan Fighting Kills 8 Militants In Northern Balkh
Province
“At least eight militants were killed as the security forces backed
by fighting planes struck Taliban hideouts in parts of Charbolak
district in northern Balkh province, army spokesman in the northern
region Mohammad Hanif Rezai said Monday. In the crackdown which began
Sunday morning and covered several villages, 15 more militants were
wounded, the official asserted. No security personnel and civilians
were harmed, the official further said. The security forces would
continue to chase militants elsewhere in the Balkh and adjoining
provinces, Rezai said. Taliban militants who are operational in parts
of Balkh and the neighboring Jawzjan and Sari Pul provinces haven't
commented.”
Pakistan
Chicago
Tribune: Pakistan Faces Black List Of Countries Financing
Terrorism
“Pakistan is trying to avoid getting blacklisted by the Financial
Action Task Force, a global watchdog, when it meets Wednesday in
Paris. A report earlier this month by the task force's Asia Pacific
Group, which monitors Pakistan's progress, is not encouraging. The
report says Pakistan has fully implemented only one item from a list
of 40 measures that the country should be taking to curb terrorist
financing and money laundering. The other 39 measures were either
partially implemented or in some cases overlooked entirely. Iran and
North Korea are currently the only two countries on the blacklist.
Being blacklisted would be a serious blow for Pakistan's Prime
Minister Imran Khan as he tries to boost its faltering economy and
attract foreign investment and loans. Pakistan got a mixed review for
its efforts to curb terrorist financing and money laundering as it
tries to avoid getting blacklisted by the Financial Action Task Force,
a global watchdog, when it meets Wednesday in Paris. A report earlier
this month by the task force's Asia Pacific Group, which monitors
Pakistan's progress, was not encouraging. It found Pakistan had fully
implemented only one item from a list of 40 measures that the country
should be taking to curb terrorist financing and money laundering, if
it wants to stay off the blacklist.”
Yemen
Asharq
Al-Awsat: Human Rights Group Accuses Houthis Of Using 400 Abductees As
Human Shields
“An Ibb-based human rights group in Yemen has accused the
Iran-backed Houthi militias of transferring 400 captives to be used as
human shields from one of the group’s detention centers to a camp in
southern Sanaa. The Association of Mothers of Abductees said Monday
that armed Houthis transferred the abductees from inside the central
prison to a military area exposed to air strikes. “We have been
informed at the Association of Mothers of the Abductees on Monday
morning that Houthis have dressed the captives inside the central
prison in Sanaa in the air force uniform and transferred them to the
Central Security Camp in the Area of Al-Sabeen,” the association said
in a press release distributed to the media. The Association noted
that the Houthis had made the prisoners believe they were getting
released. The militias are held liable for the lives of abductees
after being transferred to a military zone that had previously been
hit by coalition airstrikes. “We have previously lost dozens of our
abducted children after being detained in the military police in Sanaa
and the prison of Dhamar Community College, during which dozens of our
kidnapped civilian children were killed,” the Association said.”
Saudi Arabia
The
National: Saudi Crown Prince And Vladimir Putin Discuss Terrorism And
Regional Issues On Visit
“Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman held talks with
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, where they discussed the
relationship between the two countries. They also discussed
developments in Syria and Yemen, and “the importance of combating
extremism and terrorism and working to dry up its sources”, the Saudi
state press agency Spa reported. The Russian president also met King
Salman. Before his visit this week, Mr Putin said he could play a role
in easing tension in the Arabian Gulf after a spate of attacks on
international shipping and major oil facilities in the kingdom.
Speaking to Arabic news media, Mr Putin, whose last visit to the
kingdom was in 2007, highlighted his good ties with Gulf states and
Iran. However, he said he had no reliable information on who carried
out the September 14 attacks on Saudi oil facilities in Abqaiq and
Khurais. Yemen’s Houthi rebels said they carried out the drone and
missile strikes, but Riyadh and Washington blamed Tehran, which denied
responsibility. “Imagine, we don’t know. The next day, I asked the
head of the foreign intelligence service and the defence minister.
‘No, we don’t know’,” he said, an Arabic-language transcript provided
by Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television showed.”
Lebanon
Asharq
Al-Awsat: Security, Political Messages Behind Hezbollah’s Threat To
Lebanese Banks
“Hezbollah’s threats to take to the streets to confront Lebanese
bank measures hold security and political messages to local and
foreign powers. The Iran-backed party had threatened to stage protests
against banks that adhere to US sanctions against its leaders and
economic institutions. The threat had alarmed observers, who expressed
their concern that Iran may seize control of Lebanon’s financial
stability in order to draw Washington’s attention and lure it to the
negotiations table. The pro-Hezbollah local Lebanese daily, al-Akhbar,
revealed that the party leadership has outlined several steps,
including street protests to confront the banks. The party will not
stand idly by as the banks and other institutions adhere to American
sanctions, it reported. The daily said the party had taken the
decision to confront the banks, but it has yet to decide on the way to
do so. While the party fell short on announcing the date for such
rallies, a banking source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Hezbollah
threat jeopardizes security and “gives its supporters the green light
to attack and storm banks.” “There are no fears on the financial
sector and people’s deposits in the banks where liquidity is
available,” it added. “However, any street protest would create
concern and confusion among the people.”
Middle East
The
Guardian: Trump Is Right To Take Troops Out Of Syria. Now They Must
Leave Iraq And Afghanistan
“Donald Trump is right to extricate the US from Syria. American
troops have no strategic reason to be in that country. If they stayed
any longer they would only be sucked in deeper – if they tried to
impose a sort of peace, they would be attacked by all sides. The
outside world has no dog in the Turkish-Kurd fight. The US should get
out of Syria as it must leave Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and the
Gulf.”
Libya
Army
Times: US Strikes Culled ISIS-Libya Encampments, Unlikely To Return To
Pre-2016 Levels, Defense Official Says
“A series of four airstrikes in recent weeks against Libya’s
Islamic State franchise killed roughly one-third of the militant
group’s personnel, giving much needed breathing room as the country’s
two main factions wrangle for control in Tripoli. The strikes killed
an estimated 43 ISIS fighters, with roughly 100 still remaining,
according to a senior U.S. defense official, who spoke with reporters
on the condition of anonymity. “We assess that was a pretty
significant degradation of their capabilities and, again, they
struggle to reconstitute because of the nature of the operatives who
were killed in this strike and the fact that they have already been
struggling with manpower,” the official said in a telephone interview
Thursday. “We certainly don’t assess that they’re expanding,” the
official added. The strikes come amid an ongoing struggle between the
United Nations-recognized Government of National Accord and Libyan
Field Marshal Khalifa Hifter’s self-styled Libyan National Army. U.S.
Africa Command officials warned this summer that the fighting
distracts both factions from counterterrorism aims, and could allow
for a resurgence of ISIS-Libya. But that hasn’t stopped foreign
governments from betting on each side.”
Nigeria
The
Guardian: NAF Kill Boko Haram Terrorists, Destroy
Hideout
“The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) on Monday said it has destroyed the
meeting venue of Boko Haram terrorists at Boboshe area around the
Sambisa Forest in Borno State. NAF spokesman Ibikunle Daramola in a
statement said “several BHTs (Boko Haram Terrorists) were also killed
as a result of the strikes.” Daramola said the Air Task Force (ATF) of
Operation Lafiya Dole conducted the attack on Sunday, following
successive days of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR)
missions, coupled with human intelligence
reports.”
Voice
Of America: Stigma Slows Reintegration Of Former Boko Haram
Fighters
“Fifty-six-year-old Ibrahim Dubji is still trying to adjust to life
out of the bushes of rural northeastern Nigeria. It's been about three
years since he left. He was a fighter with Boko Haram, taking cover in
the region’s rocky and semi- arid terrain. Around the Borno State town
of Gwoza, which Boko Haram captured in 2014 and declared as the
headquarters of their Islamic caliphate, Dubji spent two years with
the armed group, invading and attacking villages. He says he struggled
with the group’s extreme mode of operation. “The son of my elder
brother, they killed him in my presence,” Dubji says. “That is the
worst thing I always remember.” He found a way to escape the group,
turning himself in at a Nigerian military base. He said the soldiers
there accepted his surrender but flogged him for four days, with
“sticks, cables and machetes.” Last year, Dubji went through Operation
Safe Corridor. It’s the Nigerian government’s official rehabilitation
and de-radicalization program, set up in 2016, mainly for low-ranking
Boko Haram fighters and low-risk women and children affiliated with
the Islamist group.”
Africa
Reuters:
French National Killed In Tunisia Knife Attack-Interior
Ministry
“An attacker killed a French citizen and wounded a soldier with a
knife in northern Tunisia on Monday, state media quoted the Interior
Ministry as saying. Interior Ministry spokesman Khaled Hayouni was
quoted on state news agency TAP as saying police knew the identity of
the assailant, a 28-year-old man with a criminal record, but he did
not suggest a motive for the killing. The attack took place in
Jarzouna, a town connected by bridge to the port city of Bizerte, the
day after Tunisia held a presidential election. The attacker assaulted
the uniformed soldier and then the French citizen, who died before
reaching hospital, it quoted Hayouni as saying. Reuters could not
immediately reach Hayouni for comment. Jihadist militant groups have
repeatedly attempted to target security services and foreign tourists
in Tunisia in recent years. Two attacks in 2015 in the cities of Tunis
and Sousse killed scores of foreign tourists, but Western diplomats
say Tunisian security services are now better equipped to deal with
militant threats.”
United Kingdom
Sky
News: Westminster Attack: Copycat Terrorist Salih Khater Jailed For
Life
“An ex-asylum seeker who crashed into cyclists and police outside
parliament to replicate previous terror attacks in London has been
jailed for life. Salih Khater drove his Ford Fiesta into riders and a
pedestrian who had stopped at a red light in Parliament Square, before
careering into a security lane and ploughing into barriers as two
officers jumped out of the way. The incident on 14 August last year
brought back painful memories of attacks in Westminster in 2017, and
Khater was said to have deliberately copied other terrorists. After
being found guilty of two counts of attempted murder at the Old
Bailey, the judge told him his “undoubted intention was to kill as
many people as possible and by doing so spread fear and terror”. Mrs
Justice McGowan described him as a “dangerous” individual, adding:
“You replicated the acts of others who undoubtedly have acted with
terrorist motives. You deliberately copied those others.” She said:
“It was an attack on strangers and police officers at the seat of
democracy in this country. “You are dangerous in that you present a
significant risk of causing serious harm to the public in the future.
Even acting alone, you acted for a terrorist purpose. All the evidence
is consistent with that conclusion.”
France
France
24: 2 Women Convicted In Failed 2016 Notre Dame Car Bomb
Plot
“A French court on Monday sentenced five members of an all-female
jihadist cell to between five and 30 years in prison over a failed bid
to detonate a car bomb outside Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris. The case
is the first to involve a group of women attempting to stage an attack
in France, which has been repeatedly targeted by jihadists since 2015,
causing the loss of 255 lives. The five women, aged between 22 and 42,
were arrested after a car packed with gas cylinders was found parked
near the bustling esplanade in front of the cathedral in the heart of
the capital on November 4, 2016. The two main defendants, Ines Madani
and Ornella Gilligmann, had doused the car with diesel in the middle
of the night and tried but failed to set it alight with a cigarette.
They were sentenced to 30 years and 25 years in prison respectively.
The women are believed to have been acting on the orders of Rachid
Kassim, a French Islamic State Group (IS) propagandist also suspected
of ordering the grisly murder of a French police couple at their home
in June 2016. Kassim is believed to have been killed in an air strike
near the Iraqi city of Mosul in February 2017.”
Germany
Deutsche
Welle: German Groups Combating Far-Right Extremism Face Uncertain
Future
“Exit, a scheme to help former German neo-Nazis change their ways
and extricate themselves from an extremist community, faces an
uncertain future. It is not clear whether the program, which has been
running for 20 years, will receive the €250,000 ($275,000) in funding
needed to stay operational in 2020. The news came as a shock to many
who have profited from the scheme so far. The organization's founder,
Bernd Wagner, says that the neo-Nazi scene is trying to track “some of
them [former neo-Nazis] down and even sends them death threats.” That
is why, he says, his organization must be kept running to help protect
and council these individuals. Six years ago, the German government
promised Exit would receive long-term funding. But Wagner says
“nothing ever came of that,” adding that he feels he can't take the
previous and current government serious anymore. The scheme, like
numerous other ones aimed at combating extremism, is funded through
Germany's Live Democracy! program. It, in turn, gets money from the
German state, yet recently made headlines when plans emerged to cut
its 2020 budget by €8 million.”
Europe
Reuters:
EU Sees Spike In Afghan Migrants As Many Leave Sanctions-Stricken
Iran
“More Afghans than Syrians have migrated to the European Union so
far this year, official data shows, making them the largest
nationality illegally entering the bloc, with many relocating from
Iran partly due to the hardship caused by U.S. sanctions. While the EU
fears a new wave of asylum seekers from Syria following Turkey’s
attack this week on the Kurdish-controlled northeastern region of the
country, EU officials warned that the increasing number of Afghans
posed a more immediate problem, especially in the Greek islands where
many of them first arrive.”
Reuters:
Denmark To Strip Foreign Fighters Of Danish
Citizenship
“Denmark will fast-track legislation allowing people with dual
citizenship who have gone abroad to fight for militant groups like
Islamic State to be stripped of their Danish nationality, Prime
Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Monday. European states are trying
to accelerate a plan to shift thousands of foreign Islamic State
militants out of Syrian prison camps and into Iraq, as a fresh
conflict in Syria has raised the risk of jihadists escaping or
returning home. “There is a risk that the Kurdish-controlled IS-camps
in the border area will collapse and that foreign warriors with Danish
citizenship will move toward Denmark,” Frederiksen said in a
statement. Authorities believe at least 158 people from Denmark have
joined militant Islamist groups in Syria or Iraq since 2012, about 27
of whom remain in the conflict zone. Twelve of these are believed to
be imprisoned. All 27 are Danish nationals but it is unclear how many
also have citizenship of another country. Europeans comprise a fifth
of around 10,000 Islamic State fighters held captive in Syria by
Kurdish militias which are now under heavy attack by Turkish forces.
If the militias redeploy prison guards to the front line, there is a
risk of jail-breaks.”
Forbes:
Denmark Introduces Checks On Swedish Border To Combat Terrorism,
Travel Delays Expected
“One of the benefits of living in the European Union—or more
specifically, the Schengen Area—is the frictionless travel across
national borders of member states. Schengen cooperation enhances the
freedom of movement guaranteed by the EU to its citizens by enabling
them to cross internal borders without being subjected to border
checks. But questions are now being asked about the concept of a
Europe without passport checks as Denmark has announced it will
restart identity checks on its border with Sweden, prompting an
unhappy reaction from European leaders. The announcement is surprising
given the extremely close relationship of the two Scandinavian
countries. The iconic 8km-long Øresund Bridge that connects Copenhagen
and Malmö was seen by many as a symbol of modern Scandinavia after
centuries of conflict. The bridge enables easy access for thousands of
commuters every day who live in Sweden and work in Denmark, or
vice-versa. For tourists, the bridge makes Malmö and much of southern
Sweden easy to access from Copenhagen Airport, one of the busiest air
transport hubs in Northern Europe. Now, both groups will face
delays.”
Radio
Free Europe: Tajikistan Labels EU-Based Opposition Alliance As
Terrorist Group
“Tajikistan's Supreme Court has labeled the National Alliance of
Tajikistan (PMT) -- a group uniting several opposition movements and
parties based in the European Union -- as a terrorist and extremist
organization. One of the PMT's leaders, Sharofiddin Gadoev, told
RFE/RL on October 14 that the court's ruling, made public over the
weekend, was “illegal.” “It has become a bad tradition of the Tajik
government to label any group or individuals who challenge it as
terrorist,” Gadoev said, adding that the PMT had never called on
anyone to perform, or planned any acts, that were extremist or
terrorist in nature. The PMT was established in Warsaw in September
2018 at the gathering of Tajik opposition activists living in various
countries of the European Union. Tajik authorities have been
criticized for cracking down on dissent for years. In 2014, the
opposition movement Group 24 was labeled as terrorist and extremist
and banned. In March 2015, the movement's founder Umarali Quvatov was
assassinated in Istanbul, Turkey. Another opposition group, the
Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), long an influential
party with representatives in the government and parliament of
Tajikistan, was labeled a terrorist group and banned in 2015.”
Australia
The
Guardian: Accused Far-Right Terror Plotter Allegedly Spoke Of 'Cutting
Throats' In Melbourne
“An accused far-right terror plotter allegedly spoke about “cutting
throats” in central Melbourne and leaving “a line of dead lefties
around me”, a court has heard. Phillip Galea, 34, is charged with
planning to attack leftwing groups including the Melbourne Anarchist
Club between August 2015 and 2016. “I wanted to go around cutting
throats in the city centre. I wanted a line of dead lefties around
me,” Galea allegedly told another man in an intercepted phone call
read to Victoria’s supreme court on Tuesday. “I joined this movement
because I wanted to fight,” Galea also said, the prosecutor Richard
Maidment QC told the jury. Galea is standing trial for planning a
terrorist attack and trying to make a document, which he allegedly
called the “Patriot’s Cookbook”, to facilitate an attack. He wanted to
target the city’s anarchist club, as well as the Melbourne Resistance
Centre and the city’s Trades Hall, associated with the union movement,
“to eliminate the leaders of the left”, Maidment said. Galea was
associated with the far-right group Reclaim Australia and blamed “the
left” for the “Islamisation of Australia”, the prosecutor added. In
another phone call railing against “lefties”, Galea allegedly said
“eventually we’ll put them all in ovens … with the Muslims.”
New Zealand
Al
Jazeera: New Zealand Creates Unit To Target Online
'Extremism'
“New Zealand will establish a team of investigators dedicated
solely to tackling online “extremism”, as it moves to address failures
exposed by the Christchurch mosque shootings, Prime Minister Jacinda
Ardern has said. Ardern has led global efforts to force technology
firms to clamp down on “extremist” material since a lone gunman killed
51 Muslim worshippers in March, streaming part of the atrocity live on
Facebook. But she said the attack, which targeted two mosques in the
South Island city, also showed that her own government needed to
improve resources to curb the spread of online hate. “We will have a
dedicated team focused on targeting and disrupting violent extremist
content across our digital channels,” she said on Monday. “This will
work in a similar way to how we target child sexual exploitation
material, by working with online content hosts to find and remove
harmful content.”Ardern said the country's internal affairs department
would hire 17 specialists in investigative, forensic and intelligence
work to focus on violent online content. Within 24 hours of the
Christchurch attacks, allegedly carried out by a self-described white
supremacist, Facebook had removed 1.5 million posts of the video
streamed by the alleged killer.”
Southeast Asia
The
Washington Post: Indonesia Arrests 22 Militants Following Attack On
Minister
“At least 22 suspected militants plotting bombings and other
attacks have been arrested in a counterterrorism crackdown following
last week’s assault by a knife-wielding militant couple who wounded
Indonesia’s top security minister, police said Monday. National police
spokesman Dedi Prasetyo told a news conference that the police’s elite
anti-terror squad, known as Densus 88, seized 10 homemade pipe bombs
believed to be intended for suicide attacks, chemicals for use in
explosives, airsoft guns, knives, documents on planned attacks,
jihadist books, laptops and cellphones in separate raids. Police were
hunting other suspected militants, who mostly are participants in a
social media chat group and are members of a local affiliate of the
Islamic State group known as the Jama’ah Anshorut Daulah, or JAD.
“Members of this group are free to conduct ‘amaliah’ independently,
depending on the ability of those who want to carry out the attacks,”
Prasetyo said, referring to an Arabic term for violent jihadist action
against those perceived as enemies of Islam. Chief Security Minister
Wiranto, a local police chief and a third man were wounded in the
broad daylight attack on Thursday by the couple in the western
province of Banten.”
The
Australian: Asia Faces A Rise In Terrorism Recruits
“Southeast Asia faces a resurgence of ISIS recruitment and
potential lone wolf terror attacks as a result of the chaos in
northeastern Syria where hundreds of Islamic State-linked detainees
escaped from a Kurdish camp late Sunday, regional terror experts have
warned. As many as 700 Indonesians and more than 50 Malaysians, among
them hardened ISIS fighters but mostly their wives and young children,
are believed to be among tens of thousands held in camps and pop-up
prisons across Kurdish-held Syria. The weekend breakout of about 800
from the Ain Issa camp has heightened fears that further escapes could
enable seasoned foreign terrorist fighters to make their way home and
wage jihad. Syrian Democratic Forces have warned they may not be able
to guard the centres holding 11,000 suspected ISIS militants.
Indonesian counter-terrorism expert Adhe Bhakti said the chances of
terrorist fighters returning to Indonesia was high and the government
did not have a program to handle those who posed a “threat not only to
Indonesia but to Southeast Asia”. “The Makassar couple who ended up
bombing a church in Jolo, Philippines is just one example of the
dangers,” Mr Adhe said, referring to the Indonesian husband and wife
suicide bombers who killed 20 last January in an ISIS-claimed attack
after they were deported from Turkey.”
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