“A French court convicted seven men and one woman in connection with a truck
attack on a seaside promenade on Bastille Day six years ago that killed 86
people and traumatized the nation. The driver, Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, a
31-year-old Tunisian, was shot dead by police after mowing down revelers
gathered to watch a fireworks display in the French Riviera city of Nice,
killing a dozen children. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack,
saying it was a response to calls by the extremist group to target nations
allied against it. Judges sentenced Mohamed Ghraieb, a 46-year-old
French-Tunisian, who worked as a night watchman in a nearby hotel in Nice, and
Chokri Chafroud, a 43-year-old Tunisian construction worker, to 18 years in
prison for helping Lahouaiej Bouhlel prepare the attack. The two defendants
were convicted of belonging to a terrorist organization. Messrs. Ghraieb and
Chafroud testified in court they didn’t know Lahouaiej Bouhlel was an Islamic
State sympathizer or that he was planning an attack. William Bourdon, a lawyer
for Mr. Ghraieb, said he would appeal the court’s ruling. A lawyer for Mr.
Chafroud declined to comment.”











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Eye on Extremism


December 14, 2022



The Wall Street Journal: French Court Convicts Eight People In Bastille Day
2016 Truck Attack
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“A French court convicted seven men and one woman in connection with a truck
attack on a seaside promenade on Bastille Day six years ago that killed 86
people and traumatized the nation. The driver, Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, a
31-year-old Tunisian, was shot dead by police after mowing down revelers
gathered to watch a fireworks display in the French Riviera city of Nice,
killing a dozen children. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack,
saying it was a response to calls by the extremist group to target nations
allied against it. Judges sentenced Mohamed Ghraieb, a 46-year-old
French-Tunisian, who worked as a night watchman in a nearby hotel in Nice, and
Chokri Chafroud, a 43-year-old Tunisian construction worker, to 18 years in
prison for helping Lahouaiej Bouhlel prepare the attack. The two defendants
were convicted of belonging to a terrorist organization. Messrs. Ghraieb and
Chafroud testified in court they didn’t know Lahouaiej Bouhlel was an Islamic
State sympathizer or that he was planning an attack. William Bourdon, a lawyer
for Mr. Ghraieb, said he would appeal the court’s ruling. A lawyer for Mr.
Chafroud declined to comment.”



Associated Press: Paroled Indonesia Bombmaker Apologizes For 2002 Bali Attack
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“An Indonesian militant who was paroled last week after serving about half of
his original 20-year prison sentence for making the explosives used in the 2002
Bali bombings on Tuesday apologized to victims’ families. Hisyam bin Alizein,
better known by his nom de guerre Umar Patek, was a leading member of the
al-Qaida-linked network Jemaah Islamiyah, which was blamed for the blasts at
two nightclubs in Kuta Beach that killed 202 people — mostly foreign tourists —
including 88 Australians. “I apologize not only to the people in Bali in
particular, but I also apologize to all Indonesian people,” Patek told
reporters while visiting former militant Ali Fauzi, a long-time friend who runs
a program aimed at deradicalizing militants in East Java’s Tenggulun village.
“I also sincerely apologize especially to the Australians who also experienced
a very great impact from the Bali bombing crime,” Patek said. “I also apologize
to the victims and their families both at home and abroad, whatever their
nationality, whatever their ethnicity, whatever their religion, I sincerely
apologize to all of them.” Wearing a grey shirt and a Javanese traditional
headgear, Patek received a warm welcome from his old friends, some of whom were
former convicts who joined the deradicalization program headed by Fauzi.
Indonesian authorities have said Patek was successfully reformed in prison and
they will use him to influence other militants to turn away from terrorism.”



Syria



The Jerusalem Post: The US, SDF Keep The Pressure Up On ISIS In Syria -
Analysis <[link removed]>



“In late November, the US said that Syrian rebels in the south of the country
had killed an ISIS leader. He was actually killed in October, but it apparently
took time to confirm the details. He was said to be at least the third ISIS
leader killed in the last few years, since a raid in 2019 killed the head of
ISIS as he hid near the Turkish border in Idlib in northern Syria. In February,
US Special Forces took out another ISIS leader named Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi
al-Qurayshi. The leader killed in late October, who the US mentioned in late
November, was Abu Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi. It took time for the US to
confirm his death because the US apparently wasn’t involved in the operation.
According to a Voice of America report “in addition to the death of Abu
al-Hassan’s predecessor in February and the arrest of al-Sumaida’i in May,
IS[IS] has lost at least five other senior officials in the past eight months.”
Over the weekend, the US carried out another raid on ISIS, this time in eastern
Syria where American forces operate with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). A
raid by US forces, with extensive planning by US Central Command, took out an
ISIS member named “Anas,” Washington said. He was apparently a regional leader.
“The death of these ISIS officials will disrupt the terrorist organization’s
ability to further plot and carry out destabilizing attacks in the Middle
East,” said CENTCOM spokesman Col. Joe Buccino.”



Kurdistan 24: SDF Resumes Operations Against ISIS
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“The media centre of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Tuesday said they
resumed their joint SDF-coalition operations against ISIS. In November, the SDF
said they halted operations against ISIS due to Turkish threats to launch a
ground operation. “After resuming the joint field work, our Counter-Terrorism
Units (YAT) and the International Coalition forces have conducted three
operations, targeting the hideouts and hotbeds of the ISIS cells in different
areas of NE Syria,” the SDF said. “The operations resulted in arresting one of
the ISIS emirs along with two other terrorists who were responsible for
supplying the terrorist cells with weapons and ammunition in an attempt to
target the prisons and the al-Hol camp. Several firearms and ammunition have
also been confiscated,” the SDF said in the statement. The SDF said the
operations were carried out from Dec 7 to Dec. 10 in Al-Hol town, Tal Hamis,
and Deir ez-Zor.”



Iran



The Jerusalem Post: Would Iran Give A Nuclear Bomb To Al-Qaeda? - Analysis
<[link removed]>



“On Monday, citing unnamed sources, Maariv reported that al-Qaeda had
intercepted uranium that Iran was trying to send to its proxy in Yemen, the
Houthis. There has been no public comment by Israel, the US or Iran and while
Maariv, The Jerusalem Post’s sister publication in Hebrew, is a serious
newspaper, it is always possible that an interested party “leaks intelligence”
to the media that is actually disinformation, to achieve some more complex
agenda. Several former intelligence officials with whom the Post consulted view
the story as smoke and mirrors. Presuming disinformation is what is going on
here, why would someone leak such a story – and how real is the threat of
al-Qaeda getting nuclear material or a “dirty” style nuclear bomb from Iran,
even if it did not happen this time? The why seems obvious. Why leak a story
about al-Qaeda getting nuclear material from Iran? There are many Israeli, Arab
and American parties who want Jerusalem, Washington, the EU and the UN to take
a harder line with the Islamic Republic. Some would like the Jewish state to
attack Tehran’s nuclear facilities, and would have even been happier if the
attack had happened some time ago. Tossing out a story about the ayatollahs
handing over nuclear material to al-Qaeda, even if it was “by accident” on the
way to giving the material to the Houthis, is a good way to freak the world out
that time is of the essence.”



Pakistan



Reuters: Pakistan Accuses India Of Being Behind 2021 Bombing Outside Militant
Home
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“Pakistan's interior minister accused India on Tuesday of being behind a
bombing in 2021 near the house of Hafiz Saeed, the founder of a militant
Islamist group blamed for a deadly 2008 attack in Mumbai. A suicide bomber
rammed a car into a police checkpoint just outside Saeed's house, killing four
people in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore in 2021. No one from his family
was hurt. “We have strong evidence that India was involved in this attack. Our
forces have all the evidence that they funded it,” Interior Minister Rana
Sanaullah told a news conference in Islamabad. A spokesperson for India's
foreign ministry did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. Saeed
founded the Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). India has accused LeT of
orchestrating the 2008 attack on the country's financial capital, which killed
166 people, and says Saeed himself was the mastermind behind the assault. Saeed
has denied any involvement with militancy, including the Mumbai attack.
Sanaullah said Pakistan's counter terrorism unit had recently arrested several
members of a cell after finding clues to their involvement in the 2021 suicide
attack. He said India's intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW)
had backed the group. He did not give any more details on when the arrests took
place or present any evidence to back his allegations.”



Germany



Deutsche Welle: Halle Terror Attacker Holds Prison Guards Hostage
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“The German Justice Ministry on Tuesday said right-wing extremist Stephan B.
was overpowered by staff at Burg prison near Magdeburg after taking two
employees there hostage. Stephan B. was originally found guilty of two murders
and more than 60 counts of attempted murder after a 2019 attack using homemade
weapons on a synagogue in the city of Halle. What happened at the prison? State
criminal police said the 30-year-old B. had taken two prison guards hostage at
about 9 p.m. on Monday. The perpetrator was overpowered by other prison staff,
and B. was injured. The staff members were reportedly unhurt. An investigation
is underway into how the incident, which lasted about two hours, unfolded.
Officials say they are investigating how the hostage taker was able to take the
members of staff hostage. The hostage-taking had prompted a large-scale police
operation, with heavily armed police officers positioned in front of the
prison. The Halle attacker was sentenced to life imprisonment and subsequent
preventive detention. He is serving his sentence in Burg prison, the largest
and most modern maximum-security prison in the state of Saxony-Anhalt. B. is
reportedly considered an uncooperative and difficult inmate, having tried to
escape from Halle prison in June 2020. During outdoor exercise, he climbed over
a 3.4-meter (just over 11 foot) fence seeking a way out of the prison. He was
recaptured after a short time.”



Toronto Star: The Plot To Overthrow Germany
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“Last week, German police arrested 25 members of a far-right group who were
plotting a coup.What is the Reichsbürger movement? How dangerous are they? And
what does this incident tell us about the nature of political extremism in
Europe -- and closer to home? To answer these questions, Paul is joined by Dr.
Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director of the Counter Extremism Project.”



Australia



Associated Press: Australian Police Investigate Extremist Views Of Cop Killers
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“Australian police are investigating the extremist views of three people who
shot and killed two officers and a neighbor at a rural property before they
were killed hours later by police in a gunfight. In all, six people died in the
violence Monday in Queensland state. The killers have been identified as former
school principal Nathaniel Train, 47, his brother Gareth, 46, and sister-in-law
Stacey, 45. Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll said late Tuesday
that investigators would look at the possible extremist links of the killers
after a series of posts under the name of Gareth Train were found on conspiracy
theory forums. The posts include references to anti-vaccine sentiments and
claims that other high-profile shootings were hoaxes or false-flag operations.
“It’s very difficult at the moment for us to reason with what has happened,
there are no obvious reasons,” Carroll told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
But she added she had no doubt that over the coming days and weeks, police
would come back with some insight into the tragic events that unfolded. Carroll
said every possible motive for the killings was being examined, including
whether it was a premeditated attack on the officers. “Some of the stuff that’s
online from these people, we will investigate what they have been doing not
only in recent weeks but in recent years, who they’ve been interacting with,”
she said.”



Europe



Conservative Home: Ian Acheson: Troubles Victims Deserve Better Than The
Government’s Woeful Northern Irish Legacy Legislation
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“The current system of dealing with the recent past in Northern Ireland has
proven shockingly bad at delivering justice for thousands of victims and their
families. They have seen no accountability delivered, watching in horror as
perpetrators are recast as victims and heroes. And the new proposals which
Chris Heaton Harris recommitted to last week – an effective amnesty for
terrorists and security forces – will be much worse. Criminal justice can
deliver, eventually. Last week the relatives of 16-year-old Aiden McAnespie got
some measure of this when a former British soldier was convicted of his
manslaughter by gross negligence nearly a quarter of a century after he was
killed at a County Tyrone border checkpoint. I mention this rare exception
because a relative of McAnespie wrote to me over a year ago to take me to task
for what they saw as my ‘selective’ take on Justice for terrorism victims on
social media. I have certainly sought to draw attention to the disproportionate
numbers of victims of Republican terrorism for whom no arrests or convictions
have ever delivered any form or justice or closure nor are ever likely to. I do
not apologise for this, but highlighting their plight routinely brings down a
tsunami of invective from supporters of the IRAs political descendants, Sinn
Fein.”



Technology



NBC News: Facebook Hit With $2 Billion Lawsuit Connected To Political Violence
In Africa
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“A new lawsuit accuses Facebook of playing a role in political violence in
Africa and seeks to hold it accountable by demanding more than $2 billion in
restitution funds and major changes to the service’s content moderation efforts
in the continent. It is the latest case to draw connections between the
platform and ethnic violence in the developing world. The class-action lawsuit
was filed in Nairobi, Kenya, where Facebook opened a major content moderation
hub for Eastern and Southern Africa in 2019, accuses the company of monetizing
the viral potential of hate and violence in conflict-torn Ethiopia, in
violation of more than 10 articles of Kenya’s Constitution. It also alleges the
company does not devote enough resources to content moderation on the continent
compared to the United States. Among the plaintiffs in the lawsuit is Ethiopian
professor Abrham Meareg, who is seeking political asylum in the United States.
He alleges his father was killed by militants last year during the ongoing
civil conflict in Ethiopia, as a result of incitement that spread on Facebook.
Meareg’s father, Meareg Amare Abrha, was a well-known chemistry professor and
member of the Tigrayan ethnic group. He was murdered on Nov. 3, 2021, when a
group of men followed him from the university on motor bikes and shot him twice
in front of his home, according to an affidavit Meareg filed in the case. The
family home was eventually occupied by militants, and Meareg’s mother fled to
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital.”



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