Eye on Extremism
June 30, 2022
***NOTE: CEP’s Eye On Extremism will be suspended on Friday, July 1 and Monday July 4 in observance of the July 4 holiday. It will resume Tuesday, July 5.**
The Washington Post: Sole Surviving Attacker In 2015 Paris Terrorism Rampage Is Convicted
“The lone surviving member of a group that carried out a 2015 rampage across Paris was found guilty Wednesday of all charges, including murder and terrorism, and sentenced to life in prison, bringing the biggest criminal trial in modern French history to an end. The court found that Salah Abdeslam played a key role among the men who deployed explosives and assault rifles as they targeted the Bataclan concert venue, a national stadium, and several restaurants and cafes on the night of Nov. 13, 2015, killing 130 people and injuring hundreds. The Islamic State later claimed responsibility for the bloodshed, France’s worst terrorist attacks since World War II. While public attention during the 10-month trial focused on Abdeslam, a Belgian-born French citizen, 19 other suspected perpetrators and accomplices also were charged. Five are presumed dead, and one is imprisoned in Turkey. Nineteen of the 20 defendants were found guilty of all charges on Wednesday, with punishments ranging from suspended sentences to life in prison. The court sentenced the 32-year-old Abdeslam to the harshest form of a life-in-prison sentence under French law, an extremely rare punishment that will make parole almost impossible. It was not immediately clear whether he would appeal. Lawyers representing the victims welcomed the severity of the court’s ruling. “Salah Abdeslam’s sentence is symbolic and extremely rare, because it sanctions extremely serious events,” lawyer Gérard Chemla told reporters.”
Bloomberg: New Zealand Designates The Proud Boys As A Terrorist Group
“New Zealand has officially named the Proud Boys as a terrorist entity. The designation for the right-wing group came quietly through a June 27 notice on the country’s government news service, The New Zealand Gazette. The notice said the reasoning behind the designation would be posted online, but the police have yet to do so. Any person who “deals with the property of, or makes property or financial or related services available to” the Proud Boys will be liable to prosecution, the notice said. The move marks the first time a US-based group has been added to New Zealand’s terrorist entity list. It comes as the Jan. 6 committee hearings reveal more details about the group’s involvement in the violent storming of the US Capitol. “The Base” was also named a terrorist group in the notice. The designations come months after police in New Zealand stormed the grounds of the country’s parliament following a three-week occupation that began as a protest against Covid-19 vaccine mandates. The event was reminiscent of the storming of the US Capitol, with violent clashes in nearby streets and fires that scorched lawns and a childrens playground. Last year Canada became the first country to name the Proud Boys a terrorist group.”
United States
The Washington Post: Violence Against Antiabortion Groups Is Rising. Here’s What We Know.
“With the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade, protests, marches and demonstrations for abortion rights have erupted across the country. While most have been nonviolent, since the decision first leaked, attacks have increased on pregnancy crisis centers, churches, and other antiabortion organizations, with dozens targeted by graffiti, property damage, arson and explosives. These actions mirror many of the same tactics used by antiabortion activists to target abortion rights organizations and abortion clinics over the past several decades. Since 1977, 11 abortion providers have been killed, 26 have survived murder attempts, and their clinics and homes have endured more than 40 bombings and nearly 200 arson attacks. In 2021, incidents of assault on providers increased more than 120 percent. With issues as morally fraught as abortion, are violent actions ever justified? In the eyes of mainstream Americans, when do actions cross the line from legitimate activism to political violence, or even terrorism? My new research finds that our political leanings complicate our answers to these seemingly objective questions. Using a U.S.-based survey experiment, I found that respondents’ political ideology (either liberal or conservative) influenced both how they perceived the morality of violence and whether they saw an act as terrorism — even when the severity of violence and the type of action were identical.”
Afghanistan
Bloomberg: Taliban, US Plan To Meet In Qatar To Discuss Freeing Frozen Afghanistan Funds
“A top Taliban delegation led by Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi headed to Qatar Wednesday to hold the latest round of talks with US officials to release about $9 billion of frozen Afghan funds as the nation reels from crises of poverty and hunger. The discussion will center around “creating a mechanism for releasing the frozen Afghan reserves,” said Ahmad Wali Haqmal, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s finance ministry. “We’re expecting this would be a serious round of talks.” The delegation includes central bank Governor Mohammad Idris and Deputy Finance Minister Nazir Kabiri. They will meet with the US Special Envoy for Afghanistan Thomas West and officials from the treasury department, Haqmal said. The meeting is the first since May 21 when West urged Muttaqi to remove restrictions on girl education. Girls are barred from education beyond the sixth grade under the Taliban regime. The meeting is taking place soon after the Washington Post reported that the administration of President Joe Biden is working with Taliban leadership on a mechanism to allow Afghanistan’s government to use its central bank reserves, while curtailing the Taliban’s access. It also comes as the Taliban are holding their first grand gathering of 3,000 people, mostly Islamic scholars, in the capital Kabul on Thursday to discuss pressing issues including the ban on girls’ education and how to engage with the world in the absence of international legitimacy.”
Yemen
Reuters: Car Bomb Kills At Least Six In Yemen's Aden -Officials
“A car bomb attack on the convoy of a Yemeni military official in the southern port city of Aden killed at least six people and wounded several others on Wednesday, military officials said. The head of security forces of Lahaj province Saleh al-Sayed survived the assassination attempt, three military officials said. Two of them said at least five civilians and one military officer were killed and six others were seriously wounded in the attack. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack but al Qaeda militants have stepped up their operations in south Yemen recently. At least 10 Yemeni soldiers were killed there in two separate attacks last week. read more Instability in the south, where the Saudi-backed government is based, complicates international efforts to end the seven-year-old conflict. Several attacks have been recorded despite a ceasefire agreement between the Saudi-led coalition and the Iran-aligned Houthis in the north. Sayed is Lahaj's commander of the military units of the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC), a force built and trained by the United Arab Emirates. The STC is nominally part of the Saudi-led coalition which intervened in Yemen in 2015 after the Houthi movement ousted the internationally recognised government from the capital, Sanaa.”
Lebanon
Reuters: Israel Accuses Hezbollah Of Trying To Hack U.N. Lebanon Peacekeepers
“Israel accused the Iranian-backed Lebanese militia Hezbollah on Wednesday of conducting a cyber operation designed to disrupt a U.N. peacekeeping mission on the border between the countries, and threatened harsh Israeli retaliation against enemy hackers. The allegation - to which there was no immediate response from Hezbollah or Tehran - came as Israeli-Iranian tensions soar. In what he termed a first public disclosure of the incident, Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz said “Iranian security institutions in cooperation with Hezbollah (recently) launched a cyber operation with the aim of stealing materials about UNIFIL activities and deployment in the area, for Hezbollah's use”. “This is yet another direct attack by Iran and Hezbollah on Lebanese citizens and on Lebanon's stability,” he told a cyber conference at Tel Aviv University, without elaborating. UNIFIL said it was the first it had heard of the attacks. “UNIFIL and the UN take cybersecurity very seriously and have robust measures in place to protect our data. We are aware of media reports of comments by the Israeli defence minister today but we have not received any direct information on the alleged incident,” its media office told Reuters.”
Middle East
Asharq Al-Awsat: Israeli Soldiers Kill Palestinian Gunman In West Bank Clash
“Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian man in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin on Wednesday, Palestinian officials said, in the latest in a series of clashes. The Palestinian “Islamic Jihad” militant group said that one of its men was killed “confronting the occupation forces” in Jenin, where military raids have increased after men from the area carried out several deadly street attacks on Israelis. The Israeli military said its forces, who had been conducting “counter-terrorism activities”, responded with live fire towards a number of Palestinian suspects who had thrown explosives at them. US-brokered peace talks aimed at establishing a Palestinian state in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza collapsed in 2014 and have shown no sign of revival. Israeli and Palestinian leaders are expected to meet separately next month with US President Joe Biden during his visit to the region.”
Nigeria
The Washington Times: Nigeria's Islamist Militants, Iran's Leader, Afghanistan's Taliban Top Persecutors Of Christians
“Afghanistan’s Taliban, Nigeria’s Islamist militants and Iran’s supreme leader are among the world’s top persecutors of Christians, according to an annual report by an international advocacy group. International Christian Concern (ICC) reported Wednesday that persecution in Afghanistan is at “its highest levels since the Taliban’s first government, established in 1996,” and that tens of thousands of Nigerian Christians have died at the hands of the Islamic fundamentalist Fulani militants since 2000. “This report isn’t a list of sad, small statistics happening somewhere in the world, far-removed from us,” ICC President Jeff King said in a statement. “Many of these are mass human rights violations, with some approaching genocide. “Religious freedom is an issue that affects people of all faiths and is a key driver in political freedom. This report is a wake-up call to churches in the West and a challenge to know the truth and act on it.” According to the group’s Persecutors of the Year report, the top four countries are China, whose attempts at “sinicization” of religions has led to persecution; Algeria, which has closed dozens of Protestant churches; Egypt, where Coptic Christians are under threat; and Pakistan, where fundamentalists have persecuted Christians and other religious minorities.”
Mali
Reuters: Spain's Foreign Minister Does Not Rule Out NATO Intervention In Mali
“Spain's Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said on Thursday he does not rule out a NATO intervention in Mali if needed, after the alliance's summit in Madrid mentioned terrorism among the "hybrid threats" that hostile powers can use to undermine its stability. Asked about a NATO intervention in Mali, he told local radio station RNE: "No, we don't rule it out." "If it were necessary and if it posed a threat to our security, we would do it," he added.”
Africa
Voice Of America: UN: Well-Armed M23 Rebels Resurgent In DRC
“The top U.N. official for the Democratic Republic of the Congo said Wednesday that the resurgent M23 rebel group in the country’s east is well-armed and equipped, posing a growing threat to civilians. “During the most recent hostilities, the M23 has conducted itself increasingly as a conventional army, rather than an armed group,” said Bintou Keita, head of the U.N. Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, known as MONUSCO. “The M23 possesses firepower and equipment, which is increasingly sophisticated, specifically in terms of long-range fire capacities — mortars, machine guns, as well as precision fire against aircraft,” she said in remarks to the Security Council. The M23 was defeated by Congo’s army (FARDC) and special MONUSCO forces in 2013. But in November 2021, its forces began to reemerge. Congolese officials blame neighboring Rwanda, saying it supports the group, which claims to be protecting the Tutsi minority in eastern DRC. Rwanda’s government is Tutsi-led but denies any link to the rebel group. At the Security Council, Congolese Ambassador Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja called for the M23’s unconditional withdrawal from the DRC. He also urged strong condemnation of those who support the group “beginning with the state of Rwanda and its president.”
France
Associated Press: Paris Court Rejects 10 Ex-Militants’ Extradition To Italy
“A Paris court on Wednesday ruled against extraditing to Italy 10 former left-wing militants, including some former Red Brigades members, convicted of domestic terrorist crimes in the 1970s and 1980s. The Italian nationals had been living in freedom in France for decades after fleeing Italy before they could be imprisoned to serve their sentences. The crimes in connection with which they were convicted include the 1980 killing of a Carabinieri paramilitary general and the kidnapping of a judge in the same year. All 10, only some of whom were linked with the deadly Red Brigades group, spent the last 14 months under French judicial supervision as judges deliberated on Italy’s extradition request following the activists’ arrests and police questioning a year ago. The Paris Court of Appeal said in a statement it rejected Italy’s extradition request for each member of the group of 10 men and women, but didn’t explain its reasoning. Wednesday’s ruling can still be appealed at France’s highest court. Italy’s justice ministry said in a statement it respected the French judicial process as they await to hear the assessments of the ruling by the Paris attorney general, who is the only one authorized to appeal the court’s decision to deny the extradition of each of the 10 convicted militants. “I am waiting to know the reasons behind the ruling that denies all extraditions without distinction,” said Italian Justice Minister Marta Cartabia.”
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