Eye on Extremism

September 21, 2021

Voice Of America: Taliban Accused Of Dismantling Human Rights Gains In Afghanistan

“A new report released Monday warned that the human rights gains made by Afghanistan during the last two decades are at risk of collapsing following the Taliban's takeover of the country more than a month ago. The Islamist movement is wasting no time in “steadily dismantling” the progress, Amnesty International, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) said in the report, which documents the Taliban's alleged wide-ranging crackdown. Contrary to the Taliban's repeated public pledges that they will respect the rights of all Afghans, the report detailed “a litany” of abuses, noting that restrictions have also been placed on women, freedom of expression and civil society. “In just over five weeks since assuming control of Afghanistan, the Taliban have clearly demonstrated that they are not serious about protecting or respecting human rights. We have already seen a wave of violations, from reprisal attacks and restrictions on women, to crackdowns on protests, the media and civil society,” said Dinushika Dissanayake, Amnesty International's deputy director for South Asia. The report alleges that attacks on human rights defenders have been reported on “a near-daily basis” since August 15, the day when the Taliban marched into the Afghan capital, Kabul, and established their control over almost all of the country.”

ABC News: 'Hotel Rwanda' Hero Paul Rusesabagina Sentenced To 25 Years On Terrorism Charges

“After spending more than a year behind bars and standing trial, the man who inspired the acclaimed 2004 film “Hotel Rwanda” was found guilty of terrorism-related offenses on Monday. Former hotelier Paul Rusesabagina, 67, was tried in Rwanda's high court alongside 20 other defendants on a number of charges, including forming an illegal armed group, financing a terrorist group, murder and abduction. While reading the verdict before the courtroom in Rwanda's capital, Kigali, Judge Beatrice Mukamurenzi said the evidence shows that Rusesabagina and the co-accused were part of a terrorist group and committed acts of terrorism, “which they later bragged about in different announcements and videos.” “They attacked people in their homes, or even in their cars on the road traveling,” Mukamurenzi added. Rusesabagina, who has maintained his innocence, was convicted on nine charges and subsequently sentenced to 25 years in prison. The charges stem from Rusesabagina's leadership of an exiled opposition coalition called the Rwandan Movement for Democratic Change, known by its French acronym MRCD. In 2018, there were a series of deadly attacks on villages in southern Rwanda, near the country's border with Burundi, and Rwandan authorities inculpated the National Liberation Front, or FLN, which is the armed wing of the MRCD.”

Syria

France 24: Two Jihadist Commanders Killed In Syria Drone Strikes: Monitor

“Drone strikes Monday killed two jihadist commanders close to Al-Qaeda in the Idlib region of northwest Syria, a war monitor said. The raids were carried out by the US-led international coalition battling jihadists in Syria and Iraq, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. But the coalition told AFP it had not carried out any strikes in Idlib province on Monday. The strikes targeted a vehicle on the road leading from Idlib city to Binnish further north, the Observatory said. Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP that one of the commanders killed was Tunisian while the other was from Yemen or Saudi Arabia, without identifying the group they belonged to. The Idlib region is dominated by Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate, but rebels and other jihadists are also present. Jihadist factions have been the target of Syrian, Russian, US and international coalition strikes in the past. Nine jihadists were killed in October 2019 in Russian air strikes on Idlib province, while a US strike a month earlier killed at least 40 jihadist leaders. Syria's war has killed around half a million people since starting in 2011 with a brutal crackdown on anti-government protests, spiralling into a complex battlefield involving foreign armies, militias and jihadists.”

Kurdistan 24: SDF-Coalition Raids Lead To Decrease In ISIS Attacks In Northeast Syria: Report

“The number of attacks claimed by the Islamic State (ISIS) group in Syria hit a record low in recent weeks, new data from the Syria-based Rojava Information Center (RIC) shows. A total of 12 sleeper attacks were carried out in that region recently, approximately the same number carried out in July. However, only two of these latest attacks were claimed by ISIS, which is a record low, the RIC report said. “The attacks resulted in 12 deaths, including a child in Al-Ahmar in Deir ez-Zor who was shot by a gunman,” the RIC said. Six of the attacks were carried out in the notorious al-Hol camp, killing eight people. Al-Hol also saw four raids that resulted in eight arrests. “Across Northeast Syria, the SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces) Asayish conducted 17 raids (including in al-Hol) resulting in 89 arrests,” the report added. Clara Moore, a Syria-based researcher at the Rojava Information Center (RIC), told Kurdistan 24 that a “substantial increase in SDF and Coalition raids likely contributed to the decrease in ISIS-claimed attacks this month.” “It's important to keep the decrease in context though; it's part of a larger security trend in the region,” she said. “Attacks from ISIS and other groups halved every month from May to July.”

Afghanistan

Associated Press: IS Bomb Attacks On Taliban Raise Specter Of Wider Conflict

“The extremist Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a series of deadly roadside bombs targeting Taliban fighters in eastern Afghanistan, raising the specter of wider conflict between the country’s new Taliban rulers and their long-time rivals. A string of explosions struck Taliban vehicles in Afghanistan’s provincial city of Jalalabad over the weekend, killing eight people, among them Taliban fighters. On Monday, three more explosions were heard in the city, an IS stronghold, with unconfirmed reports of additional Taliban casualties. The Taliban are under pressure to contain IS militants, in part to make good on a promise to the international community that they will prevent the staging of terror attacks from Afghan soil. There is also a widely held expectation among conflict-weary Afghans that — despite fears and misgivings about the Taliban — the new rulers will at least restore a measure of public safety. “We thought that since the Taliban have come, peace will come,” said Feda Mohammad, a brother of an 18-year-old rickshaw driver who was killed in one of Sunday’s blasts, along with a 10-year-old cousin. “But there’s no peace, no security. You can’t hear anything except the news of bomb blasts killing this one or that,” Mohammad said, speaking at the family home where relatives and neighbors gathered for a memorial ceremony, drinking black tea and reciting verses from the Quran.”

Foreign Policy: The Taliban Don’t Need The West

“After the Taliban’s swift takeover of Afghanistan as the United States withdrew, several Western leaders have come out with public statements exhorting the Taliban to respect the rights of ordinary citizens, of women, or of religious minorities, with the implied promise that doing so will lead to the recognition of the Taliban as the rightful government of Afghanistan and to the continuation of Western foreign aid for the country’s civil society. The problem, however, is that the West has no leverage—and the Taliban need neither Western recognition nor aid. It is true that since their loss in 2001, the Taliban have learned the importance of having allies to call upon in international disputes—and they’ve learned to avoid making enemies. They can be expected to refrain from becoming too entangled with global jihadi networks that would attack other countries, as was the case when they were entangled with al Qaeda in the 1990s, for example. But they will do no more than avoid direct confrontation with the West. And they do not need to do any more than that, given their decent working relationship with other powers. As most countries were evacuating all their diplomatic personnel during the Taliban advance last month, there were two notable exceptions to the rushed exodus: China and Russia.”

Lebanon

France 24: Sourcing Fuel, Hezbollah Cements Role As Lebanon's Real Ruler

“Iranian fuel has entered Lebanon without state authorisation and despite US sanctions following arrangements by Shiite group Hezbollah, consecrating the party's status as the main powerhouse in the crisis-hit country. “This latest event gives yet another confirmation that Hezbollah has considerably increased its sway over the Lebanese state,” said political scientist Karim Emile Bitar. “It is no longer even trying to hide behind the veneer of legality offered by official institutions,” he said. Lebanon, grappling with its worst-ever financial crisis, defaulted on its debt last year and can no longer afford to import key goods, including petrol for vehicles and diesel for generators during almost round-the-clock power cuts. Fuel shortages have forced motorists to queue for hours -- sometimes days -- while electricity outages have plunged the country into darkness, paralysing hospitals, schools and government offices. Despite being an integral part of the state -- it holds seats in parliament and backs several cabinet ministers -- Hezbollah has bemoaned the state's failure and vowed to step in with its own solution. The party, which is designated by the US as a terrorist group and is the only militia to have kept its arsenal after Lebanon's 1975-1990 war, arranged for dozens of trucks carrying Iranian fuel to enter Lebanon via Syria last week.”

Nigeria

Voice Of America: Cameroon Repatriates Nigerian Ex-Fighters, Family Members

“More than 850 former Boko Haram fighters and their family members who escaped from the jihadist group to Cameroon have left northern Cameroon for Nigeria. Nigerian authorities say they are taking the former militants to Nigerian disarmament centers after complaints that such centers in Cameroon were overwhelmed by the number of former jihadists defecting since the terrorist group’s leader was declared killed in May. Hundreds of people Saturday gathered along streets, watching and waving as 20 buses transporting former Boko Haram militants and their families left Mora, a town on Cameroon’s northern border with Nigeria, for Banki, a town in Nigeria’s Borno state. The governor of Cameroon’s Far North region, Midjiyawa Bakari, said the former militants agreed to voluntarily return to Nigeria. Bakari said the ex-Boko Haram militants who have agreed to return to Nigeria’s Borno state are Nigerian citizens, 854 of them which also include their families. He said they told Cameroonian government officials that they were either fighters or slaves on plantations controlled by the jihadist group. Bakari said the Nigerian ex-fighters promised to be good citizens of Borno state. Bakari said about 150 more former militants who are of Nigerian nationality will return to their country in the weeks ahead, but he did not explain why they are not returning now.”

All Africa: Nigeria: Borno Blackout Worsens As Terrorists Bomb More High Tension Lines

“Suspected Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists at the weekend destroyed over four high tension lines supplying electricity to Maiduguri, Bauchi State capital. This is as residents flee Birshin Fulani a suburb which hosts the Federal Polytechnic Bauchi, along Dass- Tafawa Balewa Road, Bauchi State due to the incessant attacks by criminals who have laid siege to their houses, kidnapping them at random and demanding huge ransoms. LEADERSHIP findings revealed that the entire city of Maiduguri has been thrown into darkness for the past eight months following the bombing of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) transmission towers on 26th of January this year along Maiduguri- Damaturu highway by Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists. Ever since then residents and businesses surviving on electricity have been groaning under hardship placed on the economy that was already battered by the terrorists activities. The present destroyed electric high-tension lines are within the vicinity of Auno, along the Maiduguri-Damaturu Road. A credible source said, “More than four high tension towers that supplied electricity from Damaturu to Maiduguri were blown off again by the suspected members of ISWAP fighters last night.”

Africa

Reuters: Cameroon Separatists Kill 15 Soldiers In Attacks Using Explosives

“Separatist rebels have killed 15 Cameroonian soldiers and several civilians in two bomb attacks this month, the government said on Monday, marking a new phase of a conflict that has dragged on for nearly five years and cost more than 3,000 lives. Insurgents are seeking to form a breakaway state called Ambazonia in western Cameroon. They began fighting the military in 2017 after civilian protests calling for greater representation of the French-speaking country's Anglophone minority were violently repressed. What began with occasional raids by secessionists on police and army outposts has turned into a protracted fight that has sucked the life from large parts of the forested oil- and coffee-producing region. The first of this month's attacks occurred on Sept. 12 in Kumbo, a town in the Northwest region, when a military convoy was hit by an improvised explosive device (IED). On Sept. 16 another convoy in the village of Bamessing was hit by an IED and an anti-tank rocket launcher, before coming under heavy gunfire. The use of more sophisticated weaponry represented “a paradigm change” in the fighting, the defence ministry said in the statement, and suggested the militants were getting their hardware from “violent fundamentalist groups” outside Cameroon.”

United Kingdom

BBC News: National Action: Alleged Neo-Nazi Denies Terrorism Offences

“An alleged co-founder of the banned neo-Nazi group National Action has denied a string of terror offences. Ben Raymond, 32, of Beechcroft Road, Swindon, is accused of remaining in the extreme far-right group after it was outlawed in the UK in December 2016. He is also charged with the possession of material likely to be useful for terrorism. Mr Raymond appeared at Bristol Crown Court and spoke only to enter his not guilty pleas. In total, he is accused of seven offences - one of membership of a proscribed organisation contrary to Section 11 of the Terrorism Act and six counts of possessing a document or record of use to a terrorist contrary to Section 58 of the act. According to the charges, the material includes documents about ethnic cleansing, cluster bombs and homemade Molotov cocktails. Mr Raymond was released on conditional bail. His trial is due to begin on 1 November.”

Europe

Associated Press: Dutch Court: Syrian Brothers Guilty Of Jabhat Al-Nusra Roles

“A Dutch court on Monday convicted two Syrian brothers of holding senior roles in the Jabhat al-Nusra extremist group in their home country between 2011 and 2014, the first time Dutch judges have convicted a suspect of leadership in a Syrian extremist organization. One brother was sentenced to 15 years and nine months, the other to 11 years and 9 months. Their identities were not released, in line with Dutch privacy rules. The Dutch court said in its verdicts that Jabhat al-Nusra carried out attacks targeting the regime of President Bashar Assad. “People who worked for the regime were tortured and murdered,” the court said in a statement, adding that the group’s attacks also caused civilian casualties and contributed to armed conflict and chaos that drove millions of Syrians to flee the country. Both brothers had been given asylum in the Netherlands. But they came under police scrutiny after one of them was recognized by visitors to a debating center in Amsterdam, when a film about Syria’s civil war was being shown. They both denied involvement in the extremist group, but the court said judges convicted them based on a police investigation that included bugging their homes and a car and sifting through their phones and computers.”

Vice: Neo-Nazi Music Festivals Are Funding Violent Extremism In Europe

“The townsfolk of Themar watched anxiously as 6,000 people gathered in a field for a music festival in their quiet rural village in Thuringia, the densely-forested state traditionally known as the “green heart of Germany.” They had good reason to be wary. While the event bore all the hallmarks of any other event on the summer festival circuit – live music, merch, overpriced beer and food – this had one key difference: the visitors were right-wing extremists, many from the hardcore neo-Nazi scene. The visitors, outnumbering the population of Themar two-to-one, had gathered to hear bands from the Rechtsrock, or right-wing rock, scene: a German term for music that’s a vehicle for far-right, neo-Nazi ideology. The lineup included notorious acts like Die Lunikoff Verschwörung (The Lunikoff Conspiracy), whose lead singer had previously been jailed when his earlier band, Landser, became the first musical group to be declared a criminal organisation by a German court for spreading hate. The event was a veritable who’s who of the extreme-right scene, drawing together prominent far-right activists, members of violent white supremacist networks like the Hammerskins, and speakers linked to neo-Nazi micro-parties and the extreme-right mixed martial arts scene.”