U.S. Shooting Range Owner Declares Business a Muslim-Free Zone

The Western world is at war with radical Islam. While we are constantly reassured by politicians that try to remain diplomatic that Islam is a religion of peace, we cannot deny that there are many within the Muslim faith that practice a brand of Islam committed to violence. To deny this fact is simply to deny realities of the world.

Please see my comments at the bottom of this post.

Of course, not all Muslims are violent and should not be treated as such. However, one store, The Gun Cave Indoor Shooting Range in Hot Springs, Arkansas, has declared itself a “Muslim-free zone.”

Jan Morgan - Gun Cave owner

Citing safety concerns and an extensive history of violent actions taken by Muslims in the U.S. and abroad, range owner Jan Morgan posted on her website a ten-point explanation for her decision to ban Muslims from her establishment and clarification as to her supposed legal reasoning.

While many might view the policy as extreme, it should be noted that the establishment appears to serve as a purely private establishment. Of course, this fact will likely not deter the radicalized Department of Justice from forcing Morgan to reverse her policies or otherwise face legal consequences as Obama’s DOJ has, in recent years, tried to force the owners of many establishments to violate their consciences by facilitating homosexual weddings.

Morgan claims that the ATF has asked her in the past to exercise judgment in refusing service to people who she feels might be unstable or a threat in general. This broad leeway, Morgan claims, offers her the authority to deny service broadly to Muslims. Bearingarms.com backs-up this assertion and notes,

“She brings up a very valid point that gun stores and ranges have both a legal and moral obligation to ensure the safety of their patrons. Because of this, they may refuse service to anyone they deem to be under the influence, mentally unstable, or otherwise a potential threat to themselves, or others. FFLs are afforded a great deal of latitude in this regard, as the federal government would rather err on the side of caution.”

Morgan offers her lengthy ten-point reasoning on her website:

I officially declare my business, The Gun Cave Indoor Shooting Range, a MUSLIM FREE ZONE . . .

1) The Koran, which I have read and studied thoroughly and (which all muslims align themselves with), contains 109 verses commanding hate, murder and terror against all human beings who refuse to submit or convert to Islam. Read those verses of violence here.

2) My life has been threatened repeatedly by muslims who are angry that I have studied their koran and have, over the past two years, been exposing the vileness of the Koran and its murderous directives.

3) * The barbaric act of beheading an innocent American in Oklahoma by a muslim
* the Boston bombings(by muslims)
* the Fort Hood mass shooting (by a muslim) that killed 13 people and injured over 30 people
* and the murder of 3000 innocent people (by muslims) on 9/11

This is more than enough loss of life on my home soil at the hands of muslims to substantiate my position that muslims can and will follow the directives in their Koran and kill here at home.

4) Because the nature of my business involves firearms and shooting firearms in an enclosed environment, my patrons are not comfortable being around muslims who align themselves with a religion that clearly commands hate, murder, and violence against all non muslims. Therefore many of my patrons are uncomfortable around Muslims with guns. (can you blame them?)

5) My range rents and sells guns to my patrons. Why would I want to rent or sell a gun and hand ammunition to someone who aligns himself with a religion that commands him to kill me?

6) * Muslims, who belong to and, or, support ISIS, are threatening to kill innocent Americans.
* Muslims, who belong to or support AL Qaeda, are threatening to kill innocent Americans.
* Muslims who belong to or support HAMAS are threatening to kill innocent Americans.

See a common thread here?

7) I not only have the right to refuse service but a RESPONSIBILITY to provide a safe environment for people to shoot and train on firearms. I can and have turned people away if I sense they are under the influence of alcohol or mind altering drugs. I have a federal firearms license…

The ATF informed us when we received the license that if we feel any reason for concern about selling someone a firearm, even sense that something is not right about an individual, or we are concerned about that persons mental state, even if they pass a background check, we do not have to sell that person a gun.

In other words, a federal agency has given us this kind of discretion for service based on the nature of the business. I can and have turned people away if I sense an issue with their mental state. So… its difficult to imagine how the DOJ could have issues with this when ATF gave us this discretion.

8) I have no way of looking at Islam other than as a theocracy, not a religion. Islam is undoubtedly the union of political, legal, and religious ideologies. In other words law, religion and state are forged together to form what Muslims refer to as “The Nation of Islam.” Once again it is given the sovereign qualities of a nation with clerics in the governing body and Sharia law all in one. This is a Theocracy, not a religion.

The US Constitution does not protect a theocracy. The 1st Amendment is very specific about protecting the rights of individuals from the government, as it concerns the practice of religions, not theocracies. It clearly differentiates between government and religion. Again protecting the individual’s religious beliefs and practices from (the state) government. In Islam religion and state are one.

We are a Nation governed by laws, or the law of the land the U.S. Constitution. We are not a Nation that is governed by religion, politicians or clerics.

How then, can anyone say that, the practice of Islam is protected by the U.S. Constitution?

The muslim brotherhood has a documented plan for the destruction of America from within, discovered by our own government during a raid of MB operatives in America. In addition, I am very cognizant of the civilization jihad under way in my country by American muslims. In a number of states Muslims, through our legal system, are trying to force us to accept Sharia Law over Constitutional law. I do not wish to do business with people who stand against the Constitution and are fighting to replace it.

9) Islam allows Muslims to kill their own children, (honor killing) if the behavior of those children embarrasses or dishonors the family name. ( did you know that dating outside of the faith is justification for murdering their daughters and this has already occurred on American soil?) Why would I want people (who believe its okay to murder their own children), be in the presence of other children? My patrons often bring their kids to the range to teach them to shoot. I am responsible for providing a safe environment for those children to learn gun safety and shooting sports.

10) In the 14 hundred year history of Islam, muslims have murdered over 270 million people. Not all muslims are terrorists, but almost all terrorists in the world right now are muslim. Since you can’t determine by visual assessment, which ones will kill you and which ones will not, I am going to go with the line of thought that ANY HUMAN BEING who would either knowingly or unknowingly support a “religion” that commands the murder of all people who refuse to submit or convert to that religion, is not someone I want to know or do business with. I hold adults accountable for the religion they align themselves with.

In summary, I not only have the right, but a responsibility to provide a safe environment for my customers. I do not believe my decision is religious discrimination because I do not classify islam as a religion.. It is a theocracy/terrorist organization that hides behind the mask of religion in order to achieve its mission of world domination.

People who shoot at my range come from all religious backgrounds… some are atheists… I do not care about their religious beliefs. I care about the safety of my customers who come to shoot here. The government allows businesses to ban me from entering their business with my gun because the property owner feels uncomfortable or wants to provide a “safe” environment for their patrons which is in clear violation of my 2nd Amendment right to bear arms, so… I should be ale to deny service to people on the same premise. Can my government really force me to invite someone who had threatened to kill me, into my home or business?

I will do whatever is necessary to provide a safe environment for my customers, even at the cost of the increased threats and legal problems this decision will likely provoke.

Jan Morgan- owner / The Gun Cave Indoor Shooting Range

What do you think of this? Is it good, bad? Is it how we should be addressing the issue of Muslim extremism? I'm certain that many will criticize her, and, I'm sure, already have, for racial profiling. They'll probably say that 99% of Muslims are peace-loving people. That is not correct, however, it's closer to 90%. Considering there are 1.2 billion Muslims in the world, that means there are about 120 million jihadist/terrorist oriented Muslims. Not racial profiling is loonacy.

Then, also, there is considerable fluidity within Islam. An inspirational leader like Abubakar al-Baghdadi or Abubakar Shekau (there is a premium on first names in Islam) can take peaceful Muslims and turn them into suicide bombers and murderers in a New York minute. In fact, much lesser known people have inspired many quite normal people in the US and Canada to suddenly become insane with Islamic propaganda. Then they go over to Iraq or Syria and get themselves killed for something they know almost nothing about.

Post 1st World War Germans were peaceful until Hitler emerged and told them they were the master race, inflaming their egos and giving them visions of Utopia. Within a few years most Germans were willing to die for that vision or for der Fuhrer. 

There really is not much difference here. Hitler, like Islamic jihadists, was the work of powerful Satanic forces. But there are for more Muslims to deal with now than Hitler and his buddies, and the possibility of even another 10% of Muslims going radical is frightening indeed.

Norway Deports Record Number of Muslims to Reduce Crime - Update: 2/22/15

Some 5,198 foreign citizens were expelled from the country in 2013, an increase of 31 percent since 2012, when 3,958 people were deported.

“It is the highest number we’ve had ever,” Frode Forfang, head of the Directorate of Immigration (UDI), told NRK. “We believe that one reason for the increase is that the police have become more conscious of using deportation as a tool to fight crime.”

Curious - the police have the power to deport someone?

Nigerian citizens topped the list of those expelled for committing crimes, with 232 citizens expelled as a punishment in 2013, followed by Afghan citizens with 136 expelled as a punishment, and 76 Moroccans expelled as a punishment.

Afghan citizens topped the list of those expelled for violating the Immigration Act, with 380 expelled for this reason, followed by Iraqi citizens, 234 were expelled for violating the act.

Good for Norway! I think the UK should consider doing the same.

The Local Conservative Party leader Erna Solberg –  nicknamed “Iron Erna”
 – as Norway’s new prime minister is the leader of a centre-right coalition
government that includes an an anti-immigration party.

Update: 22 Feb. 2015

Norway's Expulsion of Muslim criminals criticized by British journalist

A British journalist writing in the Guardian newspaper has torn into the Norwegians, accusing them of being “fearful of outsiders”, harbouring a “disturbing Islamophobic subculture”, and polluting the world with their oil exports.

Michael Booth

Michael Booth, whose wife is Danish, has lived in Denmark for a decade, working as a correspondent for Monocle Magazine, giving him time to reflect on the reality behind Britain’s recent infatuation with Nordic countries. Out of all the Nordic countries, he argues, Norwegians are the most closed.

“Ask the Danes, and they will tell you that the Norwegians are the most insular and xenophobic of all the Scandinavians,” he writes. “And it is true that since they came into a bit of money in the 1970s the Norwegians have become increasingly Scrooge-like, hoarding their gold, fearful of outsiders.”
(Norwegians aren’t xenophobic, they are Muslimphobic because of the soaring crime and rape rates thanks to Muslim immigrants). See the startling statistics.

The country has yet to come to come to terms with the ethics of being a major oil exporter in an age of global warming, he adds, saying they act like “the dealer who never touches his own supply”, going green domestically, while pumping out oil for the rest of us.

Someone got up on the wrong side of the bed the other day!

ISIS Fighters from Malaysia, Indonesia, Form Military Unit

Militants from Indonesia and Malaysia fighting in Syria have formed a military unit for Malay- speaking ISIS fighters, and analysts fear this could expand their reach in Southeast Asia. 

This may seem somewhat innocuous, but, in fact, it is not. Aside from attracting more Malay-speaking Muslims, they will have had battle experience when they, or, if they, return to southeast Asia. They could easily re-form a military unit and start their own attempt at creating a caliphate in Malasia or Indonesia.

This could also be the first of many such units. Being able to speak the same language will improve their capability.

The unit is called Katibah Nusantara Lid Daulah Islamiyyah, or Malay archipelago unit for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

Malaysian Peninsula -  top left

The Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (Ipac) estimates in a report that the new unit has at least 22 members. They came together in the town of Al-Shadadi, in Syria's Hasaka province, early last month.

Indonesian fighters Bahrum Syah - who appeared in a recent ISIS recruitment video - and Rosikien Nur posted a photo of one meeting on Facebook. The page has since been closed, Ipac said.

Observers say the men appear to have been brought together by language reasons and social media, as many Indonesians found it hard to get along in multinational ISIS units with their limited Arabic and English.

"This group was formed with a goal to recruit and facilitate people who want to go to Syria to defend the Islamic caliphate, and also do counter-attacks against governments that repress caliphate supporters," analyst Robi Sugara of the Barometer Institute told The Straits Times.

Officials say there are more than 50 Indonesian nationals and at least as many Malaysians fighting in Syria.

Reports of the unit came as Malaysia's foreign minister Anifah Aman announced to the UN Security Council in New York on Wednesday that his country had designated ISIS as a terrorist group, and vowed tougher action.

Ansyaad Mbai, head of Indonesia's National Counter-Terrorism Agency, said yesterday that he could not comment on the new unit yet.

"But our main concern remains what those who fight there will do when they return," he told The Straits Times. Hint - don't let them return!

Asked if they were a threat similar to that posed by Jemaah Islamiah (JI) members from Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore who returned after training in Afghanistan in the 1990s, he said: "At the core, they share similar beliefs and goals."

Ipac's Sidney Jones said that unlike the JI's Southeast Asian Al-Ghuraba cell in the 1990s, which was based in Karachi, Pakistan, and made occasional trips to Afghanistan to train, the ISIS fighters have direct battle experience.

Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia's capitol

"The cross-regional bonds established could also be the strongest we've seen in a long time," Jones added.

Ipac said it was clear from Facebook pages that ISIS supporters in Indonesia and Malaysia were befriending one another.

It added that members of the Katibah "could become the vanguard for a fighting force that would reach into Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines".

So far, there are no indications of Filipino fighters in the unit yet.

Malaysia's home ministry said on Wednesday that it had ordered financial institutions to screen their clients against the UN's terror database and to freeze funds and assets where there is suspicious activity.

The US Treasury has imposed sanctions on JI's humanitarian wing, Hasi, and three Indonesians linked to it - Angga Dimas Pershada, Bambang Sukirno and Wiji Joko Santoso - for raising funds and helping to send extremists to fight in Syria.

The Mindanao-based Abu Sayyaf group and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters have pledged allegiance to ISIS.

Abu Sayyaf this week threatened to execute two German hostages it kidnapped in April, if Germany did not cease its support for US-led strikes on ISIS targets in Syria and Iraq. (***)

Meriam Ibrahim to Campaign for Sudanese Persecuted for their Faith

Mariam Ibrahim, the Sudan woman who escaped a death sentence imposed for renouncing her faith, says she wants to campaign for others who face religious persecution.

You just knew that you hadn't heard the last of this remarkable young woman and rightly so. She considered her time in prison as a test from God, a test she obviously passed. God can accomplish great things through people with faith like hers. It will be interesting to see what they do.

Meriam and Daniel

Speaking to the BBC in the US, where she is seeking asylum, Ms Ibrahim said she hopes to return to Sudan one day.

Ms Ibrahim earlier received an award from a US Christian foundation.

Her sentencing - by a Sudanese court that did not recognise her Christian faith - sparked outrage this year.

Born to a Muslim father, she was raised a Christian by her mother and married a Christian man.

Under Sudan's version of Islamic law, however, her father's religion meant that she too was still technically a Muslim. A court found her guilty of apostasy, or renouncing one's faith.

Sentenced to hang, she gave birth to her daughter while shackled in prison. Under intense international pressure, her conviction was quashed and she was freed in June.

She told the BBC that she had been threatened by the guards while she was in court.

"The judge told me that I needed to convert to Islam," she said. "And so these warnings made me anticipate I would be sentenced to death."

Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag and her two children in Rome on their way to the US
Mrs Ibrahim's daughter Maya was born in prison in May

"It wasn't easy, I can't describe it," she said, of her time in prison. "But there are others who are in worse conditions in Sudan than those I was in."

"Sadly, this was all under the guise of the law. So instead of protecting people, the law is harming them."

On Saturday night, Ms Ibrahim received an award from a gathering of evangelical Christian conservatives in Washington, who see her treatment in Sudan as an assault on their values.

I'm not sure what to think of this last phrase (underlined just above). Somehow I feel a little insulted by it, being a conservative Christian. There is no byline on this BBC article, but I think we can assume that it was not written by a conservative Christian.

The term 'an assault on their values' is very curious, and, I think, demeaning. The treatment and near-martyrdom of this courageous young woman had little to do with anyone's values but her own. She is Catholic, which, although Christian, often have very different values than conservative Christians.

In the final analysis, a Christian is a Christian, is a Christian. Those who have a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ are Christians; those who do not are not Christians regardless of whether they have been baptized, are members of a Christian church, are 'good' people, Catholic or Protestant. All 'genuine' Christians have remarkably similar values regardless of whether they are Protestant, Evangelical, Catholic or Orthodox.

The thousands of Catholic priests who have sexually abused children were not, and are not, Christians unless God has done a major work in them since. Indeed, I question whether those Bishops and Archbishops who covered-up and enabled the pedophile priests to continue their "Satanic Mass", as Pope Francis called it, are bonafide Christians. They certainly have much to answer for when they stand before Christ.

No, we conservative Christians don't see that Meriam's ordeal was an attack on our values, we see that it as an attack on Jesus Christ and His church. We see it as a Satanic attack! It has nothing to do with values and everything to do with the age-old battle between Good and evil - between Christ and the devil.

Russia's Highest Court Backs Ban on ‘Gay Propaganda to Minors’

Gay rights activists wave flags from a car during a protest outside the Mayor's office in Moscow

The Constitutional Court of Russia has acknowledged the ban of homosexual propaganda among the under age as lawful and dismissed a complaint by well-known LGBT activists.

The ruling was made in response to a complaint lodged by activists Nikolay Alekseev, Yaroslav Evtushenko and Dmitry Isakov. They tried to dispute the law section of Russia’s administrative code that describes how the law defines “propaganda of non-conventional sexual relationships to minors.”

The activists claimed this law section undermines their constitutional right of freedom of speech and discriminates against them. The law prohibits the dissemination of information about non-traditional sexual relationships that could spark interest from young people under the age of 18.

The Constitutional Court said that the law was aimed at “saving a child from the information impact, which could push him to nonconventional sexual relationships, which in their turn prevent from building a family, as it is traditionally understood in Russia.”

The court also ruled that the ban on propagandizing non-conventional sexual relationships is not a ban or censure of homosexuality itself. “They don’t require an automatic ban of promotion of any information concerning unconventional sexual relations,” the court’s statement said.

Gay rights activists are detained by police during a protest in Moscow 

Previously the complainants had been found guilty of disseminating propaganda of unconventional sexual relations to minors. Each was fined 4,000 rubles ($100).

Alekseev and Evtushenko were held to account in December 2013 for taking part in a picket in front of a children’s library in a northern Russian city of Arkhangelsk. The poster read “There is no gay propaganda.” In Kazan in January, Isakov held a similar poster in a one-person protest.

The court said it has dismissed Alekseev’s arguments that “his actions were not propaganda, but were aimed at spreading objective information, which cannot inflict harm to health, moral or spiritual development of minors.” Alekseev’s claim was “contradicted by the materials in the case,” the court said. Similar statements were made regarding Evtushenko’s and Isakov’s cases.

Constitutional Court judge Nikolay Bondar told Rossiyskaya Gazeta: “Minors must not be involved in corresponding events, such as rallies or discussions, and the information promoted must not be aimed at them.” He added: “The practices of some European countries, which are connected with the deformation of traditional values of family and marriage, can’t be an example for us.”

The law on “gay propaganda to minors” came into force on June 30, 2013. Fines for breaking the law are 4-5,000 rubles ($100-130) for private citizens and 40-50,000 rubles ($1,000-1,300) for civil servants. Propaganda via the media or the Internet by legal entities raises the fine to 1 million rubles ($26,000).

‘Israel May Have to Strike Iran at Any Time’ - End Times Scenario?

Israel’s Air Force commander said that looming military strike on Iran’s nuclear facility necessitates increased defense budget.
By Israel Today Staff

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

In battling the political echelon for defense budget increases on Sunday, the commander of the Israel Air Force, Maj.-Gen. Amir Eshel, reminded everyone that the same planes used to attack Gaza over the summer could be called upon at any moment to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities.

“There’s no one in this room who’d be prepared to ride in a car as old as our planes,” Eshel said in remarks carried by Israel’s Channel 2 News. “Yesterday these planes were in Gaza, and tomorrow we may send them to Tehran.”

Israel’s national budget has been a source of great tension in the wake of the summer’s Gaza war.

Finance Minister Yair Lapid has vowed not to raise taxes to cover the expense of the offensive against Gaza’s Hamas rulers. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists that in addition to covering the Gaza war, Israel needs to pour billions of additional shekels into the defense budget in order to effectively tackle a wide range of pressing security threats.

Netanyahu remains committed to preventing Iran from attaining nuclear weapons at any cost, and maintaining Israel’s air superiority is key to following through on that promise.

With Iran remaining defiant in its quest for an atomic bomb, Eshel’s comment was seen in local media as a hint that Israel could be preparing to strike the Islamic Republic in the very near future.

For an 'end times' scenario, it could hardly get any better. 
Iran is probably within months of being able to produce atomic weapons which it will attempt to use on Israel and probably the US.
The US is giving Iran the 'elbow room' it needs to complete the process.
Israel has to attack Iran's nuclear facilities as America will not.

What happens next is anybody's guess. Here is mine:
Israeli strikes will result in a major release of nuclear fall-out that will affect much of Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and several other ...stans, and perhaps even India. Remember Pakistan and India are both nuclear powers, and most, if not all of the ...stans are Islamic.

While the various sects of Islam fight relentlessly with each other, I can see them coming together for a common enemy - Israel.

With the level of barbarity seen from IS this year, one has to consider that they have set a behavioural precedent that could be emulated by much of Islam. Indeed, an angry Islam could reach even deeper depths of demonic behaviour.

That leads us to Exekiel 38 & 39 - the massive invasion of Israel from the north. Some think this will include much of Islam and be led by Russia. Russia has a military agreement with Tehran that would automatically draw them into a war. Other interpretations suggest that it will be led by Turkey.

Whichever is the case it will be an incredible assault that only God will be able to stop. In the current atmosphere, it is unlikely that the US would come to Israel's defence.

Eze 38:15.  "You will come from your place out of the remote parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great assembly and a mighty army;

16. and you will come up against My people Israel like a cloud to cover the land. It shall come about in the last days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me when I am sanctified through you before their eyes, O Gog.

19.  ...on that day there will surely be a great earthquake in the land of Israel.

21.  "I will call for a sword against him on all My mountains," declares the Lord GOD. "Every man's sword will be against his brother.

22.  "With pestilence and with blood I will enter into judgment with him; and I will rain on him and on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, a torrential rain, with hailstones, fire and brimstone.

23. "I will magnify Myself, sanctify Myself, and make Myself known in the sight of many nations; and they will know that I am the LORD."'

Uzbekistan 'Unspeakable Abuse' of Political Prisoners

Humans Rights Watch has called for the release of
 'everyone imprisoned on politically motivated charges'

Political prisoners in Uzbekistan suffer "unspeakable abuses", including torture and abysmal jail conditions according to Human Rights Watch.

A new report says that activists, journalists and government critics are locked up for years and often have their sentences extended arbitrarily.

The Uzbek authorities say there are no political prisoners in the country and that torture is being eliminated.

Tashkent - Uzbekistan's largest city

The report looks at the cases of 34 current and 10 former prisoners.

"We have concluded that at least 29 out of these 44 prisoners have alleged credibly that they have been tortured either during the pre-trial custody phase or in prison," Steve Swerdlow, Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch, told the BBC.

Uzbekistan is a landlocked country in central Asia, surrounded by 5 other ...stans. It became an independent republic in 1991 after the break-up of the Soviet Union. It is 96% Muslim although many are mostly secular, and most are non-denominational. That's a little unnerving because it means they are vulnerable to a strong Muslim leader.

Although constitutionally maintaining rights to freedom of religion, Uzbekistan maintains a ban on all religious activities not approved by that state, with particularly harsh treatment of Protestant Christians being commonplace (see Persecution of Christians in Uzbekistan).

Muhammad Bekjanov is one of  the
world's longest imprisoned journalists.
He is unrecognisable now. 

One case highlighted in the report is that of prominent journalist Muhammad Bekjanov who has been held since 1999.

Mr Bekjanov is the brother of Uzbek opposition leader Muhammad Salih and used to work on the opposition Erk newspaper.

He fled Uzbekistan for Ukraine but was abducted by Uzbek security forces in 1999 following a series of explosions in the Uzbek capital Tashkent which were blamed on the opposition.

His daughter Aygul - 18 at the time - told the BBC the family was in shock when they discovered what had happened.

"Inside the flat we saw the signs of a struggle. Everything was broken, all the furniture was smashed. Our family and personal photographs had disappeared. We couldn't believe our eyes."

Uzbek Parlaiment

Unrecognisable
Aygul Bekjanova says she has not seen her father since then, but that her mother visited him two years ago and found him in a terrible state, suffering from TB and with most of his teeth missing.

"My mum says she could not recognise him. He had lost weight to such an extent - he was like skin stretched over bones."

Ms Bekjanova says her father was so severely beaten during one interrogation that his leg broke.

"He told my mother that once prison guards formed two rows, forced him to walk between them while they were indiscriminately beating him with sticks," she said. "Afterwards they left him on the concrete floor for four days without food or water, lying there covered in blood."

Islam Karimov - President

Mr Bekjanov was due for release in 2012, but just before that date his sentence was extended by five years for breaking prison rules.

Human Rights Watch says that such methods are a regular occurrence.

"We documented here that the Uzbek government has a policy of extending the sentences of political prisoners on absurd, farcical, completely baseless grounds which they call violation of prison rules," Steve Swerdlow says.

In one case the violations included "incorrectly peeling carrots" in the prison kitchen, according to HRW.

The allegations of torture in the report are serious and include simulated suffocation, beatings, electric shock, hanging by wrists and ankles, as well as threats of rape.

Samarkand - Uzbek's 4th largest city

Human Rights Watch says that the prisoners include people who have tried to uncover corruption or seek democratic reforms in a state regarded as one of the region's most authoritarian.

"Uzbekistan should immediately and unconditionally release everyone imprisoned on politically motivated charges, stop arbitrarily extending prison sentences and put a stop to torture in prison," Human Rights Watch says.

Uzbekistan routinely denies that there are political prisoners in its jails. Its officials say that torture is being eliminated and that some officers accused of torture have been prosecuted.

IS Knock-offs Popping Up All Over the World

Just hours ago I reported on an IS affiliated group of jihadists that beheaded a French man in Algeria. I linked that to a report from mid-August revealing IS supporters in Libya. Boko Haram has begun to follow IS in Nigeria, and now a group of Muslim rebels in southern Philippines has pledged allegiance to IS and is threatening to kill two German tourists held hostage since April.

It's downright frightening how quickly and easily IS is assimilating so many jihad groups. I expect Indonesia will follow before long. IS has to be completely and quickly eliminated. Countries like the Philippines, Algeria, Nigeria, etc., need to dedicate significantly more resources to this fight or we will all be under Sharia Law within several years.

The two German hostages were reportedly seized at gunpoint in April,
from a yacht between Malaysia and the Philippines

A Philippines-based militant group has threatened to kill two German hostages it captured in April.

Abu Sayyaf demanded a ransom and an end to German support for the US-led coalition against Islamic State (IS), a monitoring service called SITE reports.

Abu Sayyaf has proclaimed allegiance to IS, a hardline Islamist group that has seized large areas of Iraq and Syria.

Germany said it had "heard about the report" but refused to withdraw support for US action against IS.

A German foreign ministry spokeswoman said that threats were "not an appropriate way to influence our policy in Syria and Iraq".

She added that there would be no change to the existing German strategy, which consists of logistical support and military supplies for Kurdish peshmerga fighters battling IS militants in Iraq.

Abu Sayyaf was formed in 1991 with support from the middle east and Asia

Abu Sayyaf has been active since the early 1990s.

It is a small but violent Islamist militant group which operates in the southern Philippines.

It is considered a "foreign terrorist organisation" by the US, and has been blamed for attacks including beheadings.

It is also known to kidnap foreign and local hostages for ransom.

The group claimed responsibility for the 2004 SuperFerry 14 bombing, the Philippines' deadliest terror attack in which 116 people were killed.

French Man Beheaded by IS Affiliated Group in Algeria

Another day, another terrorist gang emerges. As I reported on August 13th on my other blog, IS is already in Libya, and now, an IS affiliate emerges in Algeria. If IS continues to attract jihad gangs like this and Boko Haram, there will be no possible way of stamping them out - containing them will be a great accomplishment.

France has confirmed that an Algerian jihadist group linked to Islamic State (IS) militants has beheaded tourist Herve Gourdel, seized on Sunday.

Jund al-Khilafa killed Mr Gourdel, 55, after its deadline for France to halt air strikes on IS in Iraq ran out.

Poster of Herve Gourdel in the town hall of Saint-Martin-Vesubie, south-eastern France

French President Francois Hollande condemned the killing as a "cruel and cowardly" act.

He said that French air strikes which began on IS targets in Iraq last week would continue.

Speaking at the UN general assembly, Mr Hollande said that Mr Gourdel's abduction and decapitation was a barbaric act of terrorism which presented a problem not only for the region but also for the world.

He said the fight against terrorism should know no borders and that France was now in mourning.

"It is not weakness that should be the response to terrorism but force," he said.

Jund al-Khilafa posted a video of Mr Gourdel being killed which was entitled "Message of blood for the French government".

Police guard Herve Gourdel's home in Nice, south-eastern France

IS itself has beheaded three Western hostages since August: US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and British aid worker David Haines. Their deaths were all filmed and posted online.

The group has also threatened to kill Alan Henning, a taxi driver from the UK, who was seized while on an aid mission to Syria in December.

On Sunday, it warned it would target Americans and other Western citizens, "especially the spiteful and filthy French".

'Odious ultimatum'
Mr Gourdel worked as a mountain guide in the Mercantour national park north of Nice, his home town.

Mountains in Kabylie region of Algeria

He had also been organising treks through the Atlas Mountains of Morocco for some 20 years, AFP news agency reports.

The mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, said it was difficult to contain the "deep sadness" he felt.

"Today a war was declared on France," he said. "We've been turning a blind eye to what's happening in our back yards. And this is where it has led us."

The BBC's Lucy Williamson in Paris says news of Mr Gourdel's killing has hit France hard.

Our correspondent says that it is the first time that France has lived through the threat and brutality of this kind of killing.

The fact that Mr Gourdel was a tourist in a region popular with French holiday-makers has added to the sense of shock, our correspondent says.

In the video posted by his killers, he is shown on his knees with his hands behind his back in front of four masked, armed militants.

He is allowed briefly to express his love for his family before one of the militants reads out a speech in which he denounces the actions of the "French criminal crusaders" against Muslims in Algeria, Mali and Iraq.

The beheading, the spokesman says, is to "avenge the victims in Algeria... and support the caliphate" proclaimed by IS in Iraq and Syria.

Abdelmalek Gouri, known as
Khaled Abou Slimane

Jund al-Khilafa (Soldiers of the Caliphate) pledged allegiance to IS on 14 September.

Until then it had been known as part of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which grew out of an Algerian militant group and is now active across North and parts of West Africa.

Who are Jund al-Khilafa?
Previously part of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which grew out of Algerian Islamist groups involved in 1990s civil war
Carried out numerous attacks in Kabylie region - in April, ambushed an army convoy, leaving 11 soldiers dead
Many residents have fled the region's forests and mountains in recent years because of insecurity
Group said to be led by Abdelmalek Gouri, known as Khaled Abou Slimane, 37
On 14 September, pledged allegiance to Islamic State

Toulouse gunman Mohamed Merah
he's not smiling now

The group claimed Toulouse gunman Mohamed Merah, a French citizen of Algerian origin, as a member after he killed seven people in south-western France in March 2012, French radio reports.

The militants said that they were responding to the IS call to attack citizens involved in strikes on Iraq and would kill Mr Gourdel unless France ended its military operation.

France's public position is that it does not negotiate with militant groups but there have been reports of French citizens being released in West Africa after ransoms have been paid.

Four Frenchmen kidnapped in Niger were freed in October 2013 amid reports of a 20m-euro (£16m; £25m) ransom being paid. The government in Paris denied that was the case.

Ebola Deaths Could Reach 1.4 Million in 4 Months - CDC

The Ebola epidemic in West Africa could reach up to 1.4 million cases by late January 2015 under a worst-case scenario, says a report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control that comes as experts from the World Health Organization call for drastic improvements in measures to prevent the virus from becoming endemic.

In a worst-case scenario, Liberia and Sierra Leone could have 21,000 cases of Ebola by Sept. 30 and 1.4 million cases by Jan. 20, the CDC model suggests, assuming that effective control measures aren't put into place.

Tundunwada Secondary School principal Enenwan Essien checks a student's temperature for Ebola during an assembly in Abuja, Nigeria, on Monday. Health officials were able to stop transmission in Lagos, Nigeria, Doctors Without Borders says, a hopeful sign. (AFP/Getty)

"A surge now can break the back of the epidemic," Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters on Tuesday.

The model also shows the severe cost of delay, which not only increases the risk of deaths and further infections but makes the job of stamping out Ebola more difficult, Frieden said.

The CDC analysis focuses on data available in August from Liberia and Sierra Leone, two of the three worst affected countries. Guinea, where the epidemic started, was not included.

The analysis is based a mathematical model that allows researchers to test how different actions affect the course of the epidemic.

The World Health Organization published another analysis of data from the first nine months of the epidemic in all three countries late Monday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

"If we don't do anything immediately then the exponential growth that has been forecast will continue, so far as we can see, and we'll have not a few thousand cases but probably tens of thousands of cases," said Christopher Dye of the World Health Organization in Geneva.

Dye said they’re beginning to see signs in the response that offer hope that the increase in cases won’t happen. For example, when Ebola entered Lagos in Nigeria, a city of 20 million people, health officials were able to stop transmission, he said.

Speed is of the essence, both CDC and WHO stressed. Had there been more interventions in Guinea between March and July, for example, control could have been achieved, the WHO researchers said.

Dye’s team also calculated the death rate to be about 70 per cent among hospitalized patients. Part of the difficulty in estimating the fatality rate is that many Ebola cases were only identified after death.

The researchers used data from informal case reports, diagnostic labs and burial records for the study.
The case fatality rate among hospitalized patients could differ from patients who are never seen by a doctor, the researchers said.

The WHO researchers said they infer that the epidemic is "exceptionally large" not because of the biological characteristics of the virus itself but rather features of the affected population  such as the highly interconnected populations in the three worst-affected  countries and insufficient control efforts so far.

Dr. Armand Sprecher, an infectious diseases specialist at Doctors Without Borders, questioned WHO’s projections.

"It's a big assumption that nothing will change in the current outbreak response," Sprecher said. He noted that Ebola outbreaks usually end when people stop touching the sick and practise safe burial, which local health officials in West Africa now emphasize in education campaigns.

Gayle Smith, special assistant to U.S. President Barack Obama and senior director of the National Security Council, also stressed that there’s been a tremendous surge in resources and response to the Ebola outbreak in the last few weeks.

Ebola outbreak: Canada to donate $2.5M for protective equipment

The surge includes a pledge from the U.S. to build more than a dozen medical treatment centres in Liberia and to deploy 3,000 troops to help. Britain and France have also pledged to build treatment centres in Sierra Leone and Guinea. The World Bank and UNICEF have sent more than $1 million worth of supplies to the region. Canada has pledged $2.5m for protective equipment.

The African Union is deploying health-care workers, and Asian countries, South Africa and Cuba have also responded, Smith said.

To stop transmission in the community, the WHO team said, the period from when symptoms appear to hospitalization needs to be reduced from the average of five days reported in the study. Surprisingly, the researchers said, the average time was not shorter among health-care workers, who are both at higher risk of infection themselves as well as transmitting it to others.

So far, about 2,800 deaths have been attributed to the Ebola virus in the current outbreak.

In Sierra Leone, officials said they found 130 confirmed cases of Ebola infection during a weekend lockdown designed to slow the spread of the outbreak.

About 70 more suspected cases are still being tested, said Deputy Minister for Political and Public Affairs Karamoh Kabba.

The Ebola shutdown campaign in Sierra Leone reached 80% of households.

8 Ebola workers murdered

Friday, the Guinean government said it was stopping Ebola education activities in the country’s southeast after eight missing health workers and journalists were murdered there this week. Their bodies were found in a septic tank in a primary school in a nearby village on Thursday, reportedly killed by villagers fearful of the disease and suspicious of official efforts to combat it. Two other workers remain missing.

Ebola workers don't have enough stress in their lives with the fear of catching Ebola, but they also have to fear people with primitive superstitions.

Authorities have arrested at least six people in connection with the attack.

Team allegedly accused of lying

A government spokesman told VOA's French to Africa service that some people do not believe Ebola exists, or that the delegation came to kill people.

The regional anti-Ebola effort has been hampered by widespread fears and misinformation about the disease.

A local reporter told VOA by telephone that villagers accused the delegation of spreading lies about Ebola.

The delegation was trying to educate locals about Ebola, said Guinea’s prime minister, Mohamed Said Fofanah. Villagers in Wome, as in other places, are still “intoxicated by information making them believed this sickness does not exist or was created to eliminate them.”

What We Know So Far About the Khorasan Group, the More ‘Imminent’ Threat Than ISIS

US air strikes against IS in Syria, last night, included strikes against a little known terror group called Khorasan, which the US believes to be a more imminent threat to the US homeland than IS.

While ISIS has captured international attention with its very public, bloodthirsty tactics, a terrorist group some American officials say is more intent on actually striking the United States is operating in the shadows, and on the margins of the national security conversation.

Identified only this month as the Khorasan group, veteran Al Qaeda fighters now based in Syria, the cell is “potentially yet another threat to the homeland, yes,” said director of national intelligence James Clapper last week, adding that “in terms of threat to the homeland, Khorasan may pose as much of a danger as the Islamic State.” Or, based on last night’s surprise bombings, an even greater threat.

F18 departing the George H.W. Bush Carrier

U.S. air strikes in Syria overnight targeted ISIS militants in an extensive operation that included assistance from Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, and Qatar, CNN reported , a truly impressive collection of Middle Eastern allies. But relatively quietly, all by itself, the U.S. was also bombing Khorasan targets in the region.

The threat from the Khorasan group was “imminent,” multiple intelligence sources have told a variety of news outlets. According to CNN , the U.S. “had very good information” about a potential attack — Khorasan was near the “end of their planning.” By striking last night, the U.S. “hoped to surprise the group by mixing strikes against it with strikes against ISIS targets.”

Tomahawk cruise missiles were launched from the USS Arleigh Burke in the Red Sea

Wait, who?

Great question — leader Muhsin al Fadhli, for one, although additional details are extremely scarce. The “short and slight Kuwaiti,” like many ISIS fighters, is very young, but at 33, he’s been at this a long time.

Officially designated a terrorist in 2005 for his work as “a major facilitator” for Al Qaeda and Abu Musab al Zarqawi, al Fadhli had previously been in Osama bin Laden’s inner circle and, according to the Treasury Department, was “reported to have been among the few trusted Al Qaeda operatives who received advance notification” of the September 11 attacks. He spent time among Al Qaeda operatives in Iran after 9/11.

Muhsin al Fadhli

But beyond its leader, not much is known about the group, the New York Times reported yesterday , just ahead of the first U.S. attacks on Khorasan fighters:

There is almost no public information about the Khorasan group, which was described by several intelligence, law enforcement and military officials as being made up of Qaeda operatives from across the Middle East, South Asia and North Africa. Members of the cell are said to be particularly interested in devising terror plots using concealed explosives. It is unclear who, besides Mr. Fadhli, is part of the Khorasan group.

“Khorasan,” the AP reported in the first extensive look at the group , “refers to a province under the Islamic caliphate, or religious empire, of old that included parts of Afghanistan.”

Where did they come from?

Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, Pakistan, and Europe, according to the AP. While Fadhli initially spent time with the Al Qaeda affiliate Al Nusra in Syria, his previously relationship with Iran may have strained that connection. Rep. Adam Schiff of the House Intelligence Committee referred to the group earlier this month only as “an unholy mix of people in Iraq and Syria right now — some who come from AQAP, some who come from Afghanistan and Pakistan, others from the Maghreb” in North Africa.

And Khorasan is looking to ISIS  for growth potential:

The source says al Fadhli is trying to emulate the success of ISIS in using social media to recruit Westerners -- people who could be trained and then sent home to launch terror attacks. To this end, al Fadhli has been able to recruit a member of ISIS' media team to help with recruitment for Khorasan.

What do they have planned?

“External operations,” based on information from one of al Fadhli’s bodyguards, who was recently arrested by pro-Assad forces in Syria. From CNN :

U.S. intelligence officials are concerned that the Khorasan cell may include operatives who have learned from Ibrahim al Asiri, the master bombmaker of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, who has twice come close to bringing down Western airliners with ingeniously devised bombs. Counterterrorism sources have frequently told CNN in recent years of their fears that al Asiri has passed on his skills to apprentice bombmakers.

Before and after: The US defence department says this was the first time
an F-22 stealth fighter was used in a combat role

What are we doing about it?

As a result of the bomb threat, the AP reported , “the Transportation Security Administration in July decided to ban uncharged mobile phones and laptops from flights to the U.S. that originated in Europe and the Middle East.”

And then there’s the bombings. Eight strikes were conducted last night, according to a statement from U.S. Central Command, on “training camps, an explosives and munitions production facility, a communication building and command and control facilities.” Those actions, we can only hope, served “to disrupt the imminent attack plotting against the United States and Western interests.”

But reports are still mixed about how successful those strikes were.

Ukraine Crisis: Tens of Thousands March in Moscow Anti-War Rally

Tens of thousands of people have marched in Moscow to protest against Russia's involvement in the Ukraine conflict.

People carrying Russian and Ukrainian flags chanted "No to war!" and "Stop lying!" Similar rallies took place in St Petersburg and other Russian cities.

Ukraine accuses Russia of arming rebels in the east and sending Russian troops across the border. Moscow denies this.

More than 3,000 people have died in fighting since April.

A truce was agreed on 5 September but there have been repeated violations since then.

The fighting began after Russia annexed Ukraine's southern Crimea peninsula in March - a move condemned by Ukraine and the West.

A man with a Ukrainian flag walks past police during an anti-war rally in Moscow
 21 September 2014

Organisers of the anti-war march in Moscow hoped as many as 50,000 people would attend

A large column of protesters waving both Russian and
Ukrainian flags marched in central Moscow

People walk with banners and flags during an anti-war rally in Moscow - 21 September 2014

Supporters of pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine tear an Ukrainian flag
at their own rally in Moscow - 21 September 2014

Supporters of separatists in Ukraine held their own smaller rally in Moscow, where they ripped a Ukrainian flag

The demonstrators marched from Pushkin Square to Sakharov Avenue in central Moscow.

Organisers had hoped up to 50,000 people would take part to denounce what they described as Russia's "aggressive foreign policy".

Moscow police said there were about 5,000 protesters but a reporter for the AP news agency estimated that the crowd was at least 20,000-strong.

Police stepped up security in the capital and there were only minor scuffles reported between rival demonstrators.

It is Russia's first major anti-war rally since the fighting began five months ago in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

A number of supporters of the pro-Russia separatists in Ukraine held their own rally in Moscow.

Social media reaction to Moscow's anti-war rally
Vladimir Varfolomeyev, a journalist from Russia's Ekho Moskvy radio station, on the anti-war march turnout: "50,000, in my view, is a conservative estimate. Most likely it was slightly bigger."

Oleg Kashin, a correspondent with Kommersant newspaper, said: "The party of peace ended up on top today. And the party of war lost. And that's fantastic."

Kristina Potupchik, a pro-Kremlin blogger, wrote: "The organisers preferred to forget the fact that there is currently a ceasefire in Ukraine, which was achieved partly due to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin personally."

"Look at this coven of orcs with flags of Nato and [Ukrainian nationalist group] Right Sector in Moscow. Does Russia need all this pestilence?" former professional boxer Nikolay Valuyev tweeted.

Ukrainian soldiers drive an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) in
Kramatorsk town, Donetsk region, Ukraine, 11 September 2014

The new agreement seeks to stop the repeated violations of a ceasefire agreed on 5 September

In Ukraine, fighting was reported to be continuing on Sunday close to the city of Donetsk despite an agreement on Friday to set up a 30km (19 miles) buffer zone as part of the Minsk memorandum.

The government in Kiev said its military forces would not pull back until pro-Russian forces stop firing and Russian troops leave. Russia denies that its forces are involved. Don't know why they continue this farce. No-one believes them, not even Russians.

Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said violations of the ceasefire continued, telling reporters: "In the last 24 hours we have lost two Ukrainian soldiers, eight have been wounded."

On Saturday, Gen Philip Breedlove, Nato's supreme commander in Europe, said the ceasefire existed "in name only".

Ukraine Crisis: Nato Top General says Truce 'in Name Only'

The answer to my question raised on Tuesday, Is the War in Ukraine Over?, is apparently NO! But there is reason to hope.

General Philip Breedlove: "The situation in Ukraine is not good right now...
We have a ceasefire in name only"

Nato's most senior military commander has said the ceasefire between Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists currently exists 'in name only'.

Gen Philip Breedlove said the numbers of artillery rounds fired recently was comparable to periods before the truce came into effect two weeks ago.

He added, however, that he was "hopeful" about a new agreement signed in the early hours of Saturday.

Ukraine accuses Russia of arming separatists, but Russia denies this. Russia denies everything!

More than 3,000 people have died in fighting in two eastern regions since April.

A truce was agreed on 5 September but there have been repeated violations since then.

Russian return
Gen Breedlove, Nato's supreme allied commander in Europe, was speaking after a meeting with Nato military chiefs in Vilnius, Lithuania.

"The situation in Ukraine is not good right now," he told reporters.

"The number of events, and the number of rounds fired and the artillery used across the past few days match some of the pre-ceasefire levels. The ceasefire is still there in name, but what is happening on the ground is quite a different story," he added.

He said that since last week, some Russian forces inside Ukraine had returned to Russia but remained available to "bring their military force to bear on Ukraine".

Nato has plans to bolster its military presence in countries bordering Russia, including the Baltic states, which used to be part of the Soviet bloc.

Ukrainian soldiers drive an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC)
in Kramatorsk town, Donetsk region

The new agreement seeks to stop the repeated violations of a ceasefire agreed on 5 September.

Former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma (c) presented the ceasefire plan after late-night talks.

Gen Breedlove praised a new nine-point ceasefire memorandum which was signed in Minsk on Saturday morning.

The deal was reached after late-night talks between representatives of Ukraine, Russia, eastern separatists and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

The agreement includes setting up a 30km (19-mile) buffer zone, a ban on overflights of part of eastern Ukraine by military aircraft and the withdrawal of "foreign mercenaries" on both sides.

From left, Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Mikhail Zurabov, former Ukrainian
President Leonid Kuchma and the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe (OSCE) envoy Heidi Tagliavini, meet with the media
 after peace talks in Ukraine in Minsk, Belarus, early Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014

Moscow has repeatedly denied sending Russian troops to Ukraine or arming Ukrainian separatists.

The Russian government says that any Russians fighting inside Ukraine are doing so in a private capacity. 

Minsk memorandum: Key points

To pull heavy weaponry 15km back each side of the line of contact, creating a 30km security zone
To ban offensive operations
To ban flights by combat aircraft over the security zone
To set up an OSCE monitoring mission
To withdraw all foreign mercenaries from the conflict zone