Eye on Extremism
February 23, 2023
Forbes: Dutch Court Prosecuting First-Ever Case For Enslaving Yazidis In Syria
“On February 14 and 15, 2023, a Rotterdam court, the District Court of The Hague, held the first pro forma hearings against twelve women that the Dutch government brought back from a prison camp in Syria in November 2022. The women were arrested after arrival on suspicion of terrorist crimes, as suspected members of Daesh, a terrorist organization that is accused of committing genocide and crimes against humanity in Iraq and Syria. As announced by the Dutch Public Prosecution Service, one of the women is also suspected of slavery as a crime against humanity. The woman is said to have used a Yazidi woman as a slave in Syria in 2015. It is the first time that someone in the Netherlands has been charged with a crime against the Yazidis and for crimes against humanity.”
New York Daily News: Feds Rest Death Penalty Case Against West Side Bike Path Terrorist Sayfullo Saipov
“Federal prosecutors rested their death penalty case Wednesday against Sayfullo Saipov, the radical Islamic terrorist who killed eight people on a lower Manhattan bike path. The government wrapped up its case in Manhattan Federal Court after calling several family members of the people Saipov fatally mowed down on a West Side bike path in an ISIS-inspired truck attack on Oct. 31, 2017. Saipov’s lawyers called Chris Synsvoll, a supervising attorney for the federal Bureau of Prisons as their first witness. They questioned him about ADX Florence in Colorado, the ‘supermax’ prison, which is referred to as the Alcatraz of the Rockies because of its isolated location. Inmates there include Mexican drug lord Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman. Saipov will be sent to the prison if one juror votes against executing him.”
United States
Associated Press: US Mass Killings Linked To Extremism Spiked Over Last Decade
“The number of U.S. mass killings linked to extremism over the past decade was at least three times higher than the total from any 10-year period since the 1970s, according to a report by the Anti-Defamation League. The report — provided to The Associated Press ahead of its public release Thursday — also found that all extremist killings identified in 2022 were linked to right-wing extremism, with an especially high number linked to white supremacy. They include a racist mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, that left 10 Black shoppers dead and a mass shooting that killed five people an LGBT nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado. ‘It is not an exaggeration to say that we live in an age of extremist mass killings,’ the report from the group’s Center on Extremism says. Between two and seven extremism-related mass killings occurred every decade from the 1970s to the 2000s, but in the 2010s that number skyrocketed to 21, the report found.”
VICE: Neo-Nazis Yelled Slurs at Broadway Play About Jewish Lynching Victim
“…This action by several neo-Nazis was a stunt designed to get maximum exposure. An affiliated communications channel has been gloating over the event and mocking individuals who made social media posts condemning them,” Joshua Fisher-Birch, an analyst for the Counter Extremism Project, told VICE. “At least one individual who was present has protested drag events and has a long history of in real life trolling in order to spread his antisemitic message and get media attention.”
Alabama News: 15-Year-Old From Auburn Charged With Making Terrorist Threat
“Auburn police say a 15-year-old has been arrested and charged with making a terrorist threat. Police say today’s arrest stems from Auburn police getting information from Auburn City Schools, during the evening hours on Monday, February 20, regarding threatening posts on social media related to Auburn High School. The Auburn Police Department Detective Section and School Resource Section immediately initiated an investigation to both determine the credibility of the threats and identify the suspect who created the posts. After further investigation, the fifteen-year-old juvenile was developed as a suspect. The juvenile was arrested and taken to the Lee County Youth Development Center.”
Syria
Daily Beast: ISIS Women Accused Of Turning Boys As Young As 13 Into A Human Stud Farm
“Two boys have come forward to claim they were victims in a twisted plot run by ISIS women that forced at least 10 young teenagers to try to impregnate dozens of women held in a detention center. ‘We are being forced to have sex with the ISIS women, to impregnate them,’ Ahmet, 13, and Hamid, 14, told a guard at Camp al Hol in northeast Syria, according to Syrian Defense Force officials. ‘Can you get us out of here?’ Camp al Hol is one of the detention centers housing approximately 8,000 foreign ISIS-affiliated women and children who surrendered or were captured as a result of the 2019 territorial defeat of the so-called Islamic State.”
Afghanistan
Reuters: Taliban Sets Up Investment Consortium With Firms From Russia, Iran
“Afghanistan's Taliban-led administration has set up a consortium of companies, including some in Russia, Iran and Pakistan, to create a investment plan focusing on power, mining and infrastructure, the acting commerce minister said on Wednesday. The consortium included 14 Afghan businessmen and his ministry had signed a memorandum of understanding with the foreign companies who would send delegates to Kabul to look into projects worth up to $1 billion, Nooruddin Azizi told Reuters. Afghanistan's economy has been severely hampered since the Taliban took over in 2021, sparking the international community to cut most development funding and enforce sanctions on the banking sector. A series of attacks waged by the Islamic State against foreign targets has also worried some investors.”
Dunya News: Kabul Promises Action Against TTP Sanctuaries Amid Terrorism In Pakistan
“The Taliban-led interim government in Afghanistan has assured the Pakistani delegation of an action against sanctuaries of the banned TTP on its soil as Islamabad took up the matter of terrorism incidents with Kabul. The promise was made as a high-level delegation led by Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif visited the neighbouring country. Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt Gen Nadeem Ahmed Anjum, Pakistan’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Mohammad Sadiq, Foreign Secretary Asad Majeed Khan and Kabul mission head Ubaid Ur Rehman Nizamani were also part of the delegation. The Foreign Office, in a statement, said Pakistan and Afghanistan had agreed to effectively address the threat of terrorism posed by various entities and organisations.”
Pakistan
AFP: Pakistan, Taliban Officials Talk On 'Terrorism Threat' After Deadly Attacks
“Pakistan's defence minister and spy chief held talks with Taliban government officials in Kabul Wednesday on ways to counter the ‘threat of terrorism,’ days after Islamabad blamed Afghanistan-based militants for deadly recent attacks. Pakistan accuses the Afghan Taliban of harbouring militants from its own home-grown version of the Islamist group, a charge Kabul denies. Afghan officials led by deputy Prime Minister Abdul Ghani Baradar met Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif and Nadeem Anjum, head of the Inter-Services Intelligence agency. They discussed ‘bilateral relations, trade, regional connectivity and economic cooperation between the two countries’, Baradar's office said.”
The Nation: CTD, Police Kill Six ‘Terrorists’ In Lakki Marwat Operation
“Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) and police killed six ‘terrorists’ in a joint operation in the Lakki Marwat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. According to details, the CTD and police in a joint operation in Lakki Marwat’s Daddiwala area met an encounter with the terrorists. The terrorists were planning to carry out an attack at police station Abbasa, the police said. The killed terrorists were identified as Ziaullah, Safatullah aka ‘Drone’, Mohibullah and Kalimullah aka ‘Faqeero’. The terrorists were also involved in attacks on the police and security forces.”
Dawn: Militant Killed, Five Held In CTD Operation
“The counter-terrorism department killed a militant and arrested five others in an operation in Tela Band area, some 20 kilometres south of the provincial capital, early on Wednesday. A senior police official told Dawn on condition of anonymity that the operation was carried out after receiving intelligence about the presence of militants in the area. He said the militants both killed and arrested were Afghan nationals and worked for the banned outfit Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan. The official said that the militants used to extort money from the people and attack those refusing to accept those demands.”
Middle East
The National: Jordan State Security Court Sentences Three Men To Death In 2018 Terrorism Case
“Jordan's State Security court sentenced three men to death on Wednesday in connection with a 2018 terrorism case in which six policemen were killed, state TV has said. The three, one of whom is on the run, were linked to a bomb attack on a police vehicle in the western Fuheis suburb of Amman in August 2018. The attack killed two policemen. They were charged with manufacturing explosives with the intention of ‘committing terrorist acts’, conspiracy to commit terrorism and promoting the ‘thought of a terrorist organisation’. The day after the Fuheis attack, four policemen were killed in the central city of Al Salt when a security force fought with a group of men suspected of involvement in the Fuheis operation, state TV said. The men barricaded themselves in a building in the city and refused to surrender, the authorities said at the time, adding that they blew up part of the building.”
Associated Press: Israel Says Palestinian Militants Fired Rockets After Raid
“The Israeli military said Palestinian militants fired six rockets from the Gaza Strip toward the country’s south early Thursday, hours after an Israeli army raid in the occupied West Bank triggered a fierce gunbattle in which 11 Palestinians were killed. The rocket attacks, which were not immediately claimed by Palestinian militant groups, appear to be triggered by the Wednesday morning raid in Nablus. The Israeli military said Aar defenses intercepted five of the rockets which were fired toward the cities of Ashkelon and Sderot. One missile landed in an open field. There were no reports of damage or casualties.”
Committee To Protect Journalists: Turkey Indicts 10 Journalists On Terrorism Charges
“On February 8, the Ankara chief prosecutor’s office indicted 10 Kurdish journalists, nine of whom have been under pretrial arrest since late October, on the charge of membership in a terrorist organization. The indictment was made available to the journalists’ lawyers and CPJ on Friday, February 17, after it was approved by the court. ‘Turkish authorities’ recent indictment of 10 journalists on terrorism charges is the latest in a long string of prosecutions of members of the press in retaliation for their reporting,’ said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna, in New York. ‘The authorities should drop the charges, release all journalists imprisoned for their work, and put an end to equating journalism with terrorism.’ Those indicted were: pro-Kurdish Mezopotamya News Agency editor Diren Yurtsever; Mezopotamya reporters Berivan Altan, Ceylan Şahinli, Deniz Nazlım, Emrullah Acar, Hakan Yalçın, Salman Güzelyüz, and Zemo Ağgöz Yiğitsoy, freelance journalist Öznur Değer; pro-Kurdish news website JİNNEWS reporter Ümmü Habibe Eren; and former Mezopotamya reporting intern Mehmet Günhan. They were charged with being members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), according to those reports and the indictment, which was reviewed by CPJ.”
AFP: Israeli Settlements In Palestinian Territory ‘Must Stop’: UN Chief
“United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday called for an end to Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian lands. Israel’s right-wing government has in recent weeks faced intense international criticism, including from the United States, over a decision to give retroactive permission to multiple settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank and to build new homes. And on Monday, the UN Security Council’s 15 members expressed ‘dismay’ over the plans. ‘Each new settlement is another roadblock on the path to peace,’ the UN chief told the body’s Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. ‘All settlement activity is illegal under international law. It must stop,’ Guterres said, adding that ‘incitement to violence is a dead end. Nothing justifies terrorism.’”
Somalia
AFP: UN Says 2022 Deadliest In Somalia Since 2017
“UN chief Antonio Guterres said Wednesday that 2022 was the deadliest year for civilians in Somalia since 2017, largely because of an increase in mass-casualty attacks by the Al-Shabaab jihadist group. The troubled Horn of Africa nation -- also confronting a calamitous drought -- has witnessed a surge in attacks as government forces and allied militias wage an ‘all-out’ war against the Al-Qaeda-linked militants. ‘The continued attacks by Al-Shabaab, which have resulted in human rights violations, conflict-related sexual violence and a sharp increase in civilian casualties, are alarming’ Guterres said in a report to the UN Security Council. During the period under review from late August 2022 to early February, he said the UN mission in Somalia had recorded a 153-percent jump in civilian casualties to 1,059, including 382 deaths, most of them blamed on Al-Shabaab. ‘The increase in casualties makes 2022 the deadliest year for civilians in Somalia since 2017,’ Guterres said.”
CNN: US Strike Kills 7 Al-Shabaab Fighters In Somalia, Pentagon Says
“A US strike in Somalia killed seven al-Shabaab fighters on Tuesday, US Africa Command said in a statement. The strike was carried out at the request of the Somali government and was a ‘collective self-defense strike,’ AFRICOM said. The strike was carried out approximately 320 miles northeast of Mogadishu. ‘Given the remote location of the operation, the command assesses that no civilians were injured or killed,’ AFRICOM said.”
Africa
Reuters: At Least 19 Soldiers Killed In North Burkina Faso Attack On Monday, Security Sources Say
“At least 19 members of Burkina Faso's army were killed in an attack in the north of the country on Monday, two security sources said, the second major assault on forces fighting jihadist militants in the area in less than a week. The West African nation has become a hotspot for attacks by insurgents linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State, who have seized territory across the Sahel region south of the Sahara over the past decade, killing thousands and displacing millions despite the presence of foreign troops and United Nations peacekeepers. The latest attack targeted a military camp in the town of Tin-Akoff in Burkina Faso's Oudalan province, less than 100 km from where at least 51 soldiers were killed in an ambush on Friday - one of the heaviest death tolls in recent memory. One security source who did not wish to be identified told Reuters on Tuesday that 19 soldiers were killed in Tin-Akoff, and several more were missing. A second security source on Wednesday said around 20 soldiers were killed.”
United Kingdom
Capx: Shamima Begum Is A Problem Made In Britain – One We Should Deal With Ourselves
“Shamima Begum, the British-born teenager who threw her lot in with Islamic State terrorists, will remain stateless and incarcerated in a Kurdish-run detention camp in north-east Syria. For now at least. Yesterday, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission, a UK court that deals with nationality issues related to national security, upheld a decision by then Home Secretary Sajid Javid to revoke Begum’s British nationality. That decision followed her discovery in a refugee camp in February 2019, where she had ended up after the diehard IS fighters to whom she had pledged allegiance ended up surrounded and bombarded. In the intervening years much has been made of the transformation of Begum from a niqab-clad apologist for some of the most barbaric crimes in post-war history, to a sleek, modern and apparently remorseful young women who graces the front pages of magazines and appears on well-received podcasts.”
The Spectator: The Chilling Attack On A Northern Ireland Police Officer
“An off-duty senior detective in Northern Ireland’s police service was ambushed last night by masked gunmen as he helped at a football coaching event in Omagh, Country Tyrone. Two assailants fired at least four bullets into Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell, shooting him on the ground as his terrified son looked on. He remains critically ill in hospital. PSNI detectives investigating his attempted murder are pursuing dissident republican terrorists in the ‘New IRA’ as a strong line of inquiry. Three men have been arrested. Twenty five years ago, this sort of casual barbarity gained not much more than a sidebar in a local newspaper. The frequency of execution-style attacks by the IRA on defenceless police officers off duty – in shops, restaurants, farms, on the steps of churches – was justified by their political representatives as a ‘war’ and was sadly too commonplace. So the universal condemnation from all political parties in the province to last night’s appalling attack is welcome progress.”
Bangladesh
The Business Standard: SC Upholds Death Of JMB Man Over Udichi Bomb Attack
“The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court (SC) today upheld a High Court judgement that maintained death sentence of Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) militant Younus Ali in a case lodged over suicide bomb attack at Udichi office in Netrakona in 2005. A three-member apex court bench headed by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique passed the order, dismissing an appeal filed by the convict. Banned militant outfit JMB carried out suicide bomb attacks at Udichi and Shata Dal Shilpi Goshthi offices around on 8 December 2005 in Netrakona, killing eight people and injuring 40 others. A trial court concerned on 17 February 2008 convicted and sentenced three people including Younus to death. The High Court after holding hearing on death reference and appeals, upheld the lower court judgment on 31 January 2014.”
Europe
Associated Press: Dutch End Probe Into Supply Of Arms For 2015 Paris Attacks
“Dutch prosecutors on Wednesday dropped their case against a man who had been suspected of involvement in supplying automatic weapons to Islamic State extremists who went on a bloody rampage in Paris in 2015. The Public Prosecution Service said in a statement that a lengthy Dutch probe ‘has not produced sufficient legal and convincing evidence.’ They asked for the suspect’s acquittal and a court in the port city of Rotterdam granted the request. The suspect’s identity was not released, in line with Dutch privacy guidelines. A court in Paris convicted 20 men in June for their roles in the attacks on the Bataclan theater, Paris cafes and the national stadium that killed 130 people. The only surviving gunman, Salah Abdeslam, was sentenced to life with no chance of parole.”
India
Ary News: CTD Foils Terror Bid, Arrests TTP Militant
“The CTD conducted an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in Layyah’s district of Punjab, arresting a militant – identified as Abdul Qayyum – of banned outfit Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). In a statement, a CTD spokesperson said that the arrested terrorist wanted to target a sensitive building in Layyah while the raiding team also recovered explosive materials and equipment for making suicide vests from his possession. Earlier in Feb, the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) Punjab claimed to have repulsed an attack by militants on law enforcers in Kala Bagh Town of Mianwali district, killing a commander of the proscribed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). According to a CTD statement, the militants belonging to the TTP attacked law enforcers in Kala Bagh Town of Mianwali district. It said militants opened indiscriminate fire on security personnel, prompting law enforcers to retaliate.”
Southeast Asia
Philippine News Agency: 29 BIFF Militants Yield In Maguindanao Norte
“Twenty-nine members of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) have voluntarily surrendered with their firearms to authorities here, an Army official said Wednesday. Brig. Gen. Leodevic Guinid, the Army’s 1st Brigade Combat Team commander, said the surrenderers turned over assorted high-powered rifles, homemade explosive devices, mortar rounds and ammunition on Tuesday afternoon at the brigade headquarters in Barangay Pigcalagan here. ‘I commend the decision of the surrenderers to lay down their arms and denounce the terrorist organization,’ Guinid said in a statement. The surrenderers belong to the BIFF-Kagui Karialan faction operating in the provinces of Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte and North Cotabato.”
Technology
CNN: Takeaways From The Supreme Court’s Hearing On Twitter’s Liability For Terrorist Use Of Its Platform
“After back-to-back oral arguments this week, the Supreme Court appears reluctant to hand down the kind of sweeping ruling about liability for terrorist content on social media that some feared would upend the internet. On Wednesday, the justices struggled with claims that Twitter contributed to a 2017 ISIS attack in Istanbul by hosting content unrelated to the specific incident. Arguments in that case, Twitter v. Taamneh, came a day after the court considered whether YouTube can be sued for recommending videos created by ISIS to its users. The closely watched cases carry significant stakes for the wider internet. An expansion of apps and websites’ legal risk for hosting or promoting content could lead to major changes at sites including Facebook, Wikipedia and YouTube, to name a few.”
Levin Law: Attorneys Immersed In Counter-Terrorism And Social Media Harm Litigation Filed Amicus Briefs With SCOTUS
“…In December 2022, LPR Attorney and Shareholder Kim Adams, filed Brief of Amici Curiae Counter Extremism Project (CEP) and Hany Farid in Support of Petitioners in re: Reynaldo Gonzalez, et al. v. Google LLC., strongly urging SCOTUS to reverse the Ninth Circuit's decision broadly interpreting Section 230. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act is part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 that regulates internet service providers. The section has been broadly interpreted to provide almost unlimited legal immunity from liability for internet service providers. The amicus brief states the argument that Google-generated recommendations and should not be protected by ‘Section 230.’”
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