Eye on Extremism
January 16, 2020
The
Washington Post: 2019 Saw Record U.S. Airstrikes In Somalia. Why Is
Al-Shabab Surging?
“Just as soon as the U.S. military closed out a year in which it
struck al-Shabab militants more times than ever — at a pace of just
over one airstrike per week — the Somali militant group carried out
its most brazen and successful attack on U.S. forces in its history,
killing one soldier and two private contractors, and destroying six
aircraft at an airstrip in Kenya. It was symbolic of the greater U.S.
effort against al-Shabab: Since the Trump administration loosened
rules of engagement in Somalia in March 2017, leading to a more
aggressive use of airstrikes, the group has staged nearly 900 attacks
on civilians alone, not counting hundreds more against U.S., Somali,
Kenyan and other armed forces. “The rate of al-Shabab’s attacks, at
least against civilians, is higher now than before,” said Hussein
Sheikh-Ali, a former national security adviser to the Somali president
who took part in discussions with Pentagon officials as they weighed
changing their rules of engagement in 2017. Nearly 2,000 Somali
civilians have probably been killed by al-Shabab since that change,
according to data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data
Project, or ACLED, a nonprofit research group that aggregates reports
of violence.”
The
Washington Times: Cryptocurrency A Growing Challenge In Combating
Terror, Security Experts Tell Congress
“A neo-Nazi organization received a donation of nearly 14.88
bitcoins or roughly $60,000 in the days following the 2017 white
supremacist riots in Charlottesville, Virginia. Hamas — an Islamist
Palestinian group that calls for the death of Jewish people everywhere
— set up a website for visitors to make bitcoin donations. Terrorists,
both domestic and foreign, are increasingly using bitcoin for illicit
transactions because it is nearly impossible to track, law enforcement
officials and scholars told a congressional committee Wednesday. The
House Committee on Financial Services held the hearing as it mulls
legislation to crack down on terrorism financing. “As cryptocurrency
becomes more prevalent and the technology becomes easier to adopt and
use, we do believe we will see more use of that in the domestic
terrorism realm,” said Jared Maples, director of the New Jersey Office
of Homeland Security. Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are favored by
criminals because they can be transferred without a central bank or
transfer service such as PayPal, which can freeze accounts or report
suspicious activities to law enforcement. The transactions are not
linked to names, physical addresses or any other identifier. The
anonymity has made it difficult for law enforcement to link
transactions to users.”
Asharq
Al-Awsat: Suspected ISIS Commander Goes On Trial In
Germany
“A 33-year-old Syrian man suspected of commanding a unit of 20 ISIS
militants is on trial in the German city of Frankfurt on charges of
membership of a terrorist organization. Prosecutors allege that the
man served as an “emir” in the Syrian civil war, carrying an assault
rifle in the service of ISIS. The accused declined on Wednesday to
answer the charges or questions regarding his identity but will
participate in the trial during its course, German News Agency (dpa)
quoted his defense lawyer as saying. According to the charge sheet,
the man joined ISIS in 2013, rising rapidly in the ranks. He is
alleged to have organized checkpoints and patrols in and around the
city of al-Raqqa in northern Syria, seizing two men as hostages in
this capacity. The accused is said to have entered Germany as a
refugee in June 2015, living in the western city of Kassel. He has
been in custody since November 2018 after a police special unit
detained him when details of his role in the Syrian war become known,
dpa said.”
The
New York Times: U.S. Military Resumes Joint
Operations With Iraq
“The United States military resumed joint operations with Iraq on
Wednesday, military officials said, ending a 10-day pause that began
after an American airstrike killed a top Iranian military commander in
Baghdad. The decision to restart military operations came less than
two weeks after Iraq’s Parliament voted to expel all American forces
from the country. The government accused the United States of
violating Iraqi sovereignty by carrying out airstrikes in Iraq,
including one on Jan. 3 that killed the Iranian commander, a leader of
Iraqi militia forces and eight other people. Two American military
officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not
authorized to speak about the missions to reporters, confirmed that
the joint operations had restarted. They said the military wanted to
resume operations against the Islamic State as soon as possible to
blunt any momentum the group might have and to stifle any propaganda
victory it might claim because the United States had suspended the
operation. It was unclear on Wednesday whether anyone in the Iraqi
government approved the resumption of joint missions — it was the
Americans who stopped them, not the Iraqis — and Iraqi officials could
not be reached for comment.”
Associated
Press: Taliban Say They Handed Cease-Fire Offer To US Peace
Envoy
“The Taliban have given the U.S. envoy a document outlining their
offer for a temporary cease-fire in Afghanistan that would last
between seven and 10 days, Taliban officials familiar with the
negotiations said Thursday. The offer is seen as an opportunity to
open a window to an eventual peace deal for Afghanistan that would
allow the United States to bring home its troops and end the 18-year
war, America’s longest conflict. The cease-fire offer was handed to
Zalmay Khalilzad, Washington’s envoy for talks with the insurgents,
late on Wednesday in Qatar, a Gulf Arab country where the Taliban
maintain a political office. Khalilzad has been pressing for a
cease-fire but it wasn’t immediately clear whether the Taliban
proposal would be enough to allow for the on-again off-again talks
between the Taliban and the U.S. to restart, with the aim of
eventually signing a peace deal. Previously, Khalilzad said a
U.S.-Taliban deal would also include the start of negotiations among
Afghans on both sides of the conflict to hammer out a so-called road
map to a post-war Afghanistan. That road map would tackle thorny
issues such as a permanent cease-fire, women’s and minority rights,
and the fate of thousands of Taliban fighters and also militias loyal
to Kabul’s warlords.”
United States
San
Francisco Chronicle: NJ Expands Terrorism Law In Response To Kosher
Market Attack
“New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy signed legislation
Wednesday expanding the definition of terrorism under state law in
response to last month's fatal attack on a kosher market in Jersey
City. Murphy said the new law will make it clear that New Jersey is
committed to the elimination of “hate in all its forms.” The
legislation passed unanimously in the Democrat-led Legislature on
Monday, about a month after the attack that left a Jersey City police
detective dead, along with three people inside the market. Authorities
have said that the attackers, David Anderson and Francine Graham, who
both died in a gunfight with police, had expressed hatred of Jews and
law enforcement. The new law says terrorism includes crimes aimed at
inciting terror against people based on their religion, race or
national origin, among other factors. Previous law said someone was
guilty of terrorism if the person committed crimes aimed at promoting
terror, terrorizing five or more people, influencing government policy
through terror or impairing public transportation, communication, or
other public services. Murphy also signed a bill that sets aside $1
million for security grants for nonprofits.”
National
Review: Saudi’s Terrorist Massacre At Florida Naval Base Highlights
The Weakness Of U.S. Vetting
“The Justice Department has concluded that the deadly mass-shooting
attack at Naval Air Station Pensacola in early December, carried out
by a Saudi Air Force trainee, was an act of terrorism. Though
Lieutenant Mohamed Saeed al-Shamrani, who was killed during the
attack, was determined to have acted alone, the United States is
expelling 21 other Saudi military trainees after the FBI’s
investigation uncovered jihadist rhetoric and child pornography on
their social-media accounts. Attorney General Bill Barr announced the
terrorism finding and the expulsions at a Justice Department press
conference on Monday afternoon. The attorney general’s remarks
demonstrate that longstanding national-security challenges continue to
vex U.S. law-enforcement officials. Most significant is the problem of
vetting foreigners, including the thousands of foreigners enrolled in
training programs run by our armed forces, for anti-American ideology.
Such an ideology is sharia supremacism, commonly distinguished from
Islam, the religious creed adhered to by over 1.5 billion people
globally, through the use of “radical Islam,” “political Islam,” and
similar labels. The ideology’s goal is the imposition of a
fundamentalist construction of Islamic law (sharia).”
Syria
Al
Jazeera: Syria's War: At Least 21 Killed In Attacks On Idlib Market,
Shops
“At least 21 people have been killed in Syria's rebel-held Idlib
province as Syrian government forces and their Russian allies
intensified an air offensive on the country's northwest, according to
rescue workers who operate in opposition-held areas. A new ceasefire
agreement between Russia and Turkey, who support opposing sides in
Syria's conflict that has lasted over eight years, went into effect on
Sunday but violence has continued. The Syrian Civil Defence, also
known as the White Helmets, said air raids and barrel bombs on
Wednesday struck a vegetable market in the town of Ariha, as well as
repair workshops in an industrial area, a few hundred metres away from
the market. At least 19 people were killed in the attacks on the
market and the nearby shops, including a Civil Defence volunteer,
Ahmed Sheikho, a spokesman for the group, told Al Jazeera. A man was
also killed in the village of Has as a result of a Syrian government
air raid, Sheikho said, while a young girl succumbed to wounds
sustained in a previous attack, which took place before the latest
ceasefire was implemented. The least 82 people were wounded in the
attacks on Wednesday and the death toll is likely to increase,
according to the White Helmets.”
The
Defense Post: Syria’s Al Hol Camp Sees More Than 500 Deaths In
2019
“At least 517 people, mostly children, died in 2019 in an
overstretched Syrian camp housing displaced people and relatives of
Islamic State fighters, the Kurdish Red Crescent told AFP. The
Kurdish-run Al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria is home to around 68,000
people who are reliant on humanitarian assistance, especially during
harsh winter month. A Kurdish Red Crescent spokesperson said 371
children are among the 517 people who died in the squalid tent city in
2019. Malnutrition, poor healthcare for newborns, and hypothermia
during harsh winter months are among the main causes of death among
children, Dalal Ismail told AFP at the camp on Thursday, January 16.
“The situation is tragic and the burden is huge,” she said, adding
that foreigners were among the children who have died. Syrians and
Iraqis form the bulk of the camp’s residents. Al-Hol is also home to
thousands of foreigners, mainly relatives of ISIS fighters who are
kept in a guarded section of the camp under the watch of security
forces. Kurdish authorities say they are holding 12,000 foreigners,
including 4,000 women and 8,000 children, in three displacement camps
in northeastern Syria. The majority are being held in al-Hol.”
Iraq
Kurdistan
24: Iraqi Air Raids Kill 6 ISIS Members In Salahuddin
Desert
“The Iraqi air force carried out a series of airstrikes on
Wednesday, targeting positions held by sleeper cells of the so-called
Islamic State in Salahuddin province, a statement from the Iraqi
military communications center said. The operation came in
coordination with the Salahuddin Operations Command, seeking out
members of the terrorist organization hiding in the inhospitable areas
of al-Shai Valley in rural Salahuddin, according to the Security Media
Cell (SMC). Two separate airstrikes killed six alleged terrorists, an
SMC statement said. The attacks also totaled a vehicle and destroyed a
tunnel the group used as a hideout. SMC also reported that one officer
had been injured during the operation. Shai Valley is comprised of
rugged, barren terrain that has been a haven for Islamic State sleeper
cells who use it as a base from where they can plan and launch attacks
in surrounding settlements and towns. The Iraqi operation comes amid
ongoing US-Iran tensions in the region as the terror group took
advantage of an escalating situation that raised fears of an all-out
war to carry out a series of attacks and continues to attempt to
re-establish a foothold in Iraq.”
Turkey
Daily
Sabah: Turkey Ready To Cooperate With Int'l Community To Fight
Terrorism, Deputy FM Says
“Turkey is ready to exchange ideas with international foundations
on how to fight against terrorism on both a regional and global scale,
Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Önal said Wednesday. Speaking at the
first meeting of the Forum for Security Co-operation – one of two main
decision making bodies under the umbrella of the Organization for
Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) – under Turkey's term as
chair in Austria's capital Vienna, Önal evaluated Turkey's priorities,
goals and the program as a whole. Önal underlined the importance of
increasing the efficiency of the OSCE in the implementation of
stability and security in the region. Confirming Turkey's loyalty to
OSCE's main principles and goals, Önal said that Turkey can make
contributions to this aim. “Turkey has been carrying out a struggle
against terrorism for decades and suffered a lot from it. It suffered
tens of thousands of casualties due to the terror problem. We can find
together the methods and tools of efficient contribution and
cooperation under this important agenda,” he said, adding that Turkey
can exchange ideas with the OSCE and other international foundations
on how to intensify their efforts in the fight against terrorism on
both a regional and global scale.”
Egypt
Independent: Turkey ‘Coordinated’ With IS: SDF
Commander
“Gen. Mazloum Abdi, the commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian
Democratic Forces (SDF), said his alliance anticipated a direct
Turkish intervention in Syria and claimed that Turkey had
‘coordinated’ with the Islamic State terrorist group, during an
interview with the privately owned TeN satellite channel on Sunday.
“We were expecting a sectarian and civil war in Syria, and that there
would be direct regional interference in Syria, in particular by
Turkey. “For that reason, we trained and prepared our youth for this
stage, and when the civil war began we were ready for it, and we
filled the void that the Syrian government left with its immediate
withdrawal from this area,” Abdi said. Abdi argued that the practices
of previous regimes, over the past sixty years, has laid the ground
work for regional intervention in Syria, with every regional country
having made clear its policies in the region, and this has impacted
the Syrian state in general and Syrian society in particular. He
stressed the importance of a “Syrian national democratic project” that
would confront what he called the Turkish and Iranian project in the
region.”
Afghanistan
Washington
Examiner: 'Into The Arms' Of The Taliban: Inspector General Says US
Ties With Corrupt Afghan Warlords Backfired
“The United States unintentionally aided the resurgence of the
Taliban in Afghanistan because of its alliances with corrupt warlords,
the government's top Afghanistan watchdog said on Wednesday. John
Sopko, the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction,
told the House Foreign Affairs Committee the U.S. helped foster
corruption that undermined its strategic goals in Afghanistan. His
testimony followed the December publication of the Washington Post's
Afghanistan Papers, a trove of documents about the war. The U.S.
inadvertently helped the Taliban's resurgence in Afghanistan “by
forming alliances of convenience with warlords who had been pushed out
of power by the Taliban,” Sopko said in his prepared opening
statement. “The coalition paid warlords to provide security and, in
many cases, to run provincial and district administrations, on the
assumption that the United States would eventually hold those warlords
to account when they committed acts of corruption or brutality,” he
said. “That accounting rarely took place — and the abuses committed by
coalition aligned warlords drove many Afghans into the arms of the
resurgent Taliban.”
Yemen
Asharq
Al-Awsat: Houthis Escalate Violations Amid Forced
Haircut Campaigns
“The Iran-backed Houthi militias have not stopped their repressive
acts and violations against people in Sanaa and other areas under
their control. This coincided with their celebrations and events
organized to commemorate their members killed on battlefronts.
Moreover, human rights sources have indicated that the militias have
intensified their abductions of civilians, in addition to campaigns to
shave the hair of teenagers on the street. The same sources said the
militias had kidnapped an entire family in Safia in central Sanaa
after armed men, accompanied by female Houthi members, known as the
“Zeinabis”, raided their home. The sources also clarified that the
Houthis abducted two girls last month along with their father and
brother and took them to an unknown location, likely one of their
secret prisons. Through media outlets that support them, the militias
claimed they had kidnapped the family due to honor-related issues – an
excuse they often use to justify abductions. Meanwhile, the militias
launched a campaign in Sanaa to shave the hair of male teenagers in
the streets as part of their efforts to implement what their leader,
Abdul Malik al-Houthi, called “faithful culture”. Videos circulated on
social media showed Houthis holding teenage boys against their will as
they get a haircut.”
Nigeria
The
New York Times: Nigerian Islamist Militants Free Three Aid Workers,
Other Civilian Hostages: U.N.
“Islamist militants released three aid workers and other civilians
in northeast Nigeria who had been held hostage since late December, a
United Nations official said on Thursday. The people were kidnapped on
Dec. 22 by militants posing as soldiers who stopped a convoy of
commercial vehicles traveling towards the city of Maiduguri, state
capital of the northeastern state of Borno. Islamist militants have
waged an insurgency in northeast Nigeria that has killed 36,000 people
since 2009 and left 7.1 million people needing humanitarian
assistance. Boko Haram, a group seeking a separate state in northeast
Nigeria adhering to a strict interpretation of Islamic laws, began the
insurgency. “I am deeply relieved that some civilians, including three
aid workers, who were abducted by non-state armed groups along the
Monguno – Maiduguri road on 22 December 2019 have been released
yesterday and are now safe,” said Edward Kallon, the U.N. humanitarian
coordinator in Nigeria, in a statement. Kallon said he was concerned
about the “increasingly insecure environment that humanitarians are
working in.”
Somalia
All
Africa: Somalia: Al-Shabaab Attacks Killed 4,000 In Past Decade, Says
Data-Gathering Group
“Somali militant group al-Shabab recently said it does not
intentionally target Muslims – but a new report indicates that
whatever its intentions, the group has a lot of Muslim blood on its
hands. More than 4,000 civilians have been killed in al-Shabab attacks
since 2010, according to records compiled by the independent group
Armed Conflict, Location and Event Data Project, or ACLED. The
majority of the deaths were in Somalia – where the population is
almost entirely Muslim – with smaller numbers stemming from attacks in
Kenya, Uganda and Djibouti. More than 3,000 of the deaths have
occurred since 2015. ACLED says the figure encompasses deaths from
shooting attacks, abductions, suicide bombings, and other incidents in
which civilians were “determined to be the direct, primary target.” It
excludes deaths from battles with the military or other armed groups,
and bombing attacks primarily targeting security forces, ACLED says.
ACLED also says the death toll is “the most conservative fatality
estimate.” The true number may be even higher, according to records
from Somali doctors. Medina, the biggest hospital in Mogadishu, has
recorded more than 54,000 injuries from gun- and bomb-based attacks
since 2007, of which 75 percent are civilians.”
Africa
France
24: Islamic State Replaces Al-Qaeda As Enemy No. 1 In
Sahel
“Brutal attacks that have killed nearly 300 people in less than two
months have propelled the Islamic State to the status of the Sahel's
most-feared jihadist group, eclipsing al-Qaeda, experts say. The vast
fragile region on the southern rim of the Sahara has been battling an
escalating insurgency by violent Islamists, beginning in Mali in 2012
and then spreading to Niger and Burkina Faso. Until recently, groups
under the banner of al-Qaeda were in the forefront of the bloodshed.
But their position has now been overtaken by an Islamic State (IS)
affiliate, providing the group with an image of resurgence in West
Africa after its decline in Syria and Iraq. “The priority is the
Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS),” French President Emmanuel
Macron declared on Monday at a summit gathering France and its five
Sahel allies -- Chad, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania and Niger. The
ISGS “has emerged as our main enemy, against whom we should focus our
struggle,” Burkina President Roch Marc Christian Kabore said on
Facebook. “Everyone has probably underestimated the ISGS,” said
Mahamoudou Savadogo, a Burkinabe researcher at a Senegal-based think
tank, CERADD.”
All
Africa: West African Leaders, France Vow New Fight On
Terrorism
“A surge of terrorist violence in Africa’s Sahel region is forcing
West African nations to reconsider their strategy and unify military
forces. Leaders invited by French President Emmanuel Macron to a G5
summit in the southern French city of Pau on Monday agreed to pursue
their engagements with France - and put aside their differences with
the former colonial power – to fight against jihadism. Presidents of
Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Chad joined Monday with
French President Emmanuel Macron at a ceremony in Pau commemorating
French soldiers killed recently in Mali. Macron’s purpose for inviting
members of G5 Sahel was to clarify their position on France’s military
presence in the Sahel region at a time when protests are growing in
Mali and Burkina-Faso against French military operation Barkhane.
Protesters blame Paris for failing to restore stability. Amid growing
anti-French sentiment in the region, Macron was looking to boost the
legitimacy of France’s presence. He received it from his West African
counterparts – who at this meeting – appeared to be on his side. The
French leader, at a news conference, said the heads of state of the G5
Sahel wish to pursue their engagements with France and its allies in
the region.”
Voice
Of America: Kenyans Mark A Year Since The Hotel Attack, For Some The
Pain Lingers
“One year ago, the al-Shabab militant group attacked a hotel and
office complex in Nairobi, killing 21 people. A year has passed, but
the memory of that day still haunts those who survived. Juliet will
never forget January 15, 2019. She says early that day, she had
planned to call her sister, who worked in Dusit D2 office complex. “On
that particular day, I was like, I was going to call her. Because of
where I was, I couldn’t call. Once I am done, it’s when I will give
her the call. Little did I know that was not to happen,” she said.
Juliet — who asked that we use an alias — tried to call her sister
when she learned that gunmen had opened fire inside Dusit D2. But the
call did not go through. She went to the complex and paced nervously
through an area near the attack in search of her sister, hoping she
was a survivor. Half-past midnight, she feared the worst. “So when we
got to Chiromo, the attendant was like we can't allow you to see the
bodies now until tomorrow because we need to do few things. But I
said, 'please, I am a sister to one of the maybe the deceased, just
let me see whoever is there.' He was hesitant. Some security officers
were there, one of them told the guy to let us see if there is someone
there who is their (relative) let us see, and they confirmed. So
that’s when we were allowed to see.”
United Kingdom
Foreign
Policy: Radical Islamists Are Still A Threat Behind
Bars
“In August 2014, a homeless, unemployed petty crook had his plan to
behead a British soldier thwarted by the police. A recent convert to
Islam from Jehovah’s Witnesses, Brusthom Ziamani appeared to be just
another jihadi whose grand plans ultimately ended in failure—until,
that is, he ended up in a British jail. Operating among a sea of other
radicals in HMP Woodhill, in Milton Keynes, a town 50 miles outside of
London, Ziamani staked out a position of importance. According to an
ex-prisoner speaking to the Times of London, Ziamani dubbed himself
“chief of the Sharia police,” making the rounds in his block to ensure
that no Muslim prisoners were breaking the fast during Ramadan.
Ziamani would bring wrongdoers to the makeshift sharia court he ran
from the confines of a jail cell. The Times describes how two
“accused” appeared before Ziamani for the supposed crime of drinking
alcohol. Ziamani decreed the punishment to be a beating, which two of
his acolytes quickly—and savagely—delivered to the guilty parties.
This was not the only way in which the radicalism Ziamani had adopted
outside of prison manifested itself once he was locked up.”
The
National: UK Shuts Down Islamic School After Extremism
Fears
“The UK government has shut down a scandal-hit British Islamic
school where the head was identified as a “potential risk to pupils”
after more than a decade of management failures and concerns over
radicalisation. The closure came in a year when the head of Birmingham
Muslim School was banned from teaching during an investigation into an
alleged failure to promote “fundamental British values” of tolerance
and respect. Education officials said they closed down the school in
December after “consistent failings” and a series of damning reports
by inspectors that criticised the way the school was run and how
pupils were taught. The closure comes eight months after The National
revealed that the wife of an extremist commander in Syria was in
charge of child protection at the school attended by 83 pupils aged
four to 11. The charity that runs both the school and relief projects
in Syria remains under investigation by regulators because of “serious
concerns” about its ability to operate. Problems at the now-shuttered
school in Britain’s second largest city have exposed broader concerns
about child protection at Islamic establishments in Britain.”
The
Independent: British Government Condemned For
Offering To Repatriate Children From Syrian Isis Camp But Not Their
Mother
“Human rights campaigners have condemned the British government for
reportedly agreeing to repatriate children from Syrian camps on the
condition they are separated from their mother. Relatives of Mehak
Aslam, who joined Isis with her husband in 2014, want her to sign
paperwork that would allow her four children to return to the UK on
the condition that she does not come with them. They are currently
being held alongside other Isis families at a camp in Syria, while her
husband Shahan Choudhury is being held in a prison nearby, ITV News
reported. A letter from the Foreign Office to the family said that if
Ms Aslam “were to make a fresh request for her children to be
repatriated without her, we would urgently investigate the
practicalities of doing so”. If the same offer is made to other
British detainees, it could provide a route out of Syria for dozens of
children. “The UK government has the choice to bring back mothers in
northeast Syria together with their children and preserve family
unity, something which child rights organisations all agree is in the
best interests of the children,” she added. “If the mothers have
charges to answer, they can and should be prosecuted here in the UK by
our justice system which deals with complicated cases every single
day.”
Germany
The
Jerusalem Post: Kurds File Criminal Complaint Against Iran Mosque In
Germany For Terrorism
“Ali Ertan Toprak, the chairman of the Kurdish community in
Germany, on Tuesday lodged a formal criminal complaint against the
Iranian regime-controlled Islamic Center of Hamburg, the owner of the
Imam Ali Mosque, for its support of terrorism. According to the
complaint, “The Imam Ali Mosque serves as a meeting place and event
location for the meetings of this association as well as of
individuals in particular, who work as supporters of terrorists,
terrorist organizations and various other sponsors of terrorist
activities.” The complaint, which was sent to prosecutor Jörg
Fröhlich, further stated that “the institution [Islamic Center of
Hamburg] in its entirety as well as each board member as an individual
and as a community, and also the members…fulfill the act of supporting
terrorists as individuals and terrorist associations.” The popular
German news and commentary website Tichys Einblick first published the
complaint filed with the local prosecutor’s office. The Jerusalem Post
reported that a group of 600 pro-Iranian regime Islamists attended a
memorial service in early January at the Islamic Center in Hamburg to
mourn the death of the EU- and US-designated terrorist Qasem
Soleimani.”
Europe
Bloomberg:
Norway Government Crisis Brews Over ISIS Prisoner
Return
“Norway’s government risks splitting after a coalition partner
threatened to pull its support over the repatriation of a woman who
joined Islamic State in Syria. The anti-immigration Progress Party
threatened to abandon the Conservative-led administration in the next
few weeks if a series of demands aren’t met. The move could topple the
center-right coalition led by Erna Solberg, who’s been prime minister
since 2013. “We’re not going to stay in government at any price,”
Finance Minister and Progress leader Siv Jensen told Dagbladet on
Wednesday. She’s giving Solberg a fortnight to respond to her demands.
Jensen’s threat follows a government decision to repatriate a
Norwegian woman charged with joining a terrorist organization and her
two children, one of which is critically ill. Progress was only
willing to let the children back into Norway. The conflict echoes
similar debates in other European countries over how to handle
nationals caught fighting for ISIS. It’s not the first time that a
conflict has erupted between Norway’s government parties, which hold
different views on key issues such as immigration, climate change and
the Nordic country’s vast oil industry.”
Voice
Of America: Why Is Kosovo Taking Home Islamic State
Members?
“While most European countries have been reluctant to take back
their citizens who joined the Islamic State (IS) terror group in Syria
and Iraq, the government of Kosovo has taken a different path by
repatriating dozens of its people with plans to reintegrate them into
society. Some experts say Kosovo's proactive approach, supported by a
national action plan that addresses key components from detention to
counseling to rehabilitation, is a unique example with considerable
success in facing the dilemma of IS foreign fighters. “Kosovo is a
small country with a very well-established social structure,” said
David L. Phillips, director of the Program on Peace-building and
Rights at Columbia University's Institute for the Study of Human
Rights. “So, there is a system in place for managing their returns.
That’s why the government of Kosovo is better suited to accept returns
than larger countries in Europe where returnees could simply become
absorbed into the local population and commit crimes either in their
home countries or go to other battlefields.” Kosovo is a
predominantly Muslim nation in the central Balkan Peninsula with an
estimated population of 1.9 million.”
The
Local Norway: Norway Repatriates Isis-Linked Woman And Children From
Syria
“Norway said Tuesday it was repatriating from Syria a woman linked
to the Islamic State (Isis) group and her two children, one of them
reportedly seriously ill, citing humanitarian reasons. Foreign
Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide, confirming the operation to bring them
home, told reporters: “We are doing that for humanitarian reasons
because we fear the child is sick.” The government had until now
refused calls to bring back the five-year-old, who according to media
reports may be suffering from cystic fibrosis, unless his mother let
him travel alone. But the right-wing administration relented, allowing
the three to travel to Norway from the Kurd-controlled camp at Al-Hol,
northeast Syria, where they have been detained since March 2019.
Norwegian daily Aftenposten published a photo of the 29-year-old
veiled mother, taken they said as she crossed from Syria into Iraq
with her two children and two men. All the faces in the photo were
blurred out. The mother, who is described as Pakistani, is accused of
having travelled to Syria in 2013 and married a Norwegian jihadist who
was killed in fighting. She faces arrest when she gets to Norway on
suspicion of belonging to a terrorist organisation.”
Technology
Wired:
Can This Notorious Troll Turn People Away From
Extremism?
“My overall point,” Dick Masterson says, barely a minute into his
conversation with Steven Bonnell, “is that I think you’re kind of a
weaselly piece of shit.” “Why do you think I’m weaselly?” Bonnell
replies in his slight, entreating lisp. “You argue like a scumbag,”
Masterson explains. It’s less than a year into Donald Trump’s
presidency and Bonnell is hosting a debate on his Twitch stream with
Masterson, a chippy, mustached “Rand Paul Republican” who helms a
weekly podcast called The Dick Show. Bonnell, known online as Destiny,
has recently made a career of tussling with right-wing figures for the
entertainment of his followers, who total about 200,000 on YouTube and
more than 500,000 on Twitch. He has already dispatched a number of
opponents whose notoriety exceeds Masterson’s. But this debate—this
utterly fruitless debate—is where Bonnell’s intervention into the
politics of the internet sublimates into its ideal. The disagreement
at hand, ostensibly, is whether Trump is racist toward Mexican people,
with Bonnell arguing in favor of the motion and Masterson against. For
the most part, though, they bicker over the conventions of
argumentation itself. Bonnell says that Masterson must cite evidence,
not “feelings,” to support his claims; Masterson insists that Bonnell
is a “condescending fuck” who uses “stupid arguing tricks.”
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