Saturday, October 31, 2020
Friday, October 30, 2020
Corruption is Everywhere - Zelensky Attempts to UnCorrupt One of the Most Corrupt Countries in the World; Guatemala; Vatican
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Ukraine’s Zelensky accused of mounting ‘coup’ in seeking to dissolve
Constitutional Court that struck down corruption law
30 Oct 2020 14:26
By Jonny Tickle
© Sputnik / Stringer
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has submitted a bill to break up the country’s Constitutional Court, after its judges controversially canceled an anti-corruption law punishing public servants for lying about their income.
On October 27, Ukraine’s Constitutional Court struck down a law that would punish government officials for inaccurately declaring personal assets, part of the country's post-Maidan bid to supposedly stamp out corruption. The ruling stated that the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) had no right to punish public servants for lying on their asset forms, also reversing a law that publicly published their declarations online.
According to the NACP, the judges acted in their own personal interest. In particular, judges Irina Zavgorodnyaya and Sergey Golovaty have been accused of lying in their own paperwork, meaning they would have fallen afoul of the law their court has rejected.
Speaking to the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine on Thursday, the president stated that the ruling “undermines the social contract in Ukraine” and “creates a real threat to national security.”
The court's decision threatens billions of dollars in financial aid due to be received from the IMF, which has been promised to the country on the understanding that Ukraine would ramp up its anti-corruption efforts and implement reforms. European Union MEPs have also threatened Kiev with cuts to aid and with possibly ending a visa-free regime that allows Ukrainians to move freely through the Schengen Area.
The ruling has also created unrest in sections of Ukrainian society and, on Friday afternoon, demonstrators gathered outside the country’s highest court to protest the decision.
In response to Zelensky’s attempt to dissolve Ukraine’s Constitutional Court, the body’s chairman Alexander Tupitsky accused the president of producing a bill that bears “signs of a constitutional coup.”
The court's self-serving decisions were effectively a constitutional coup. Zelensky's move is the right thing to do, and very courageous. Will he live long enough to see it through in a country where corruption has long been a way of life?
Is Washington Taking Corruption in Guatemala Seriously Again?
OCTOBER 30, 2020
ANALYSIS - Written by Héctor Silva Ávalos
In what appears to be a show of support from Washington for Guatemala’s anti-corruption fight, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the visa of Felipe Alejos Lorenzana, a vice president of congress facing corruption charges, has been suspended.
Bac was a lawmaker until January 2020 and has been accused of embezzling around 2 million quetzales ($256,000) to pay for a new road to connect a spa she had built in a remote part of southern Sacatepéquez department. However, while Bac no longer has immunity, a recent decision by the Supreme Court of Justice (Corte Suprema de Justicia — CSJ) continues to protect her from criminal prosecution.
The case of Alejos Lorenzana is more politically sensitive. It is directly related to the campaign Guatemalan elites have led against the now-defunct International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (Comisión Internacional contra la Impunidad en Guatemala — CICIG) and an anti-impunity unit (Fiscalía Especializada Contra la Impunidad — FECI) within the Attorney General’s Office.
The CICIG and FECI investigated Alejos Lorenzana between 2016 and 2018 for his alleged participation in a large-scale corruption scheme that involved charging illegal fees to private companies in exchange for speeding up payments for public works contracts. This case, dubbed “Traficantes de Influencias” (Influence Peddlers), was one of many to spin off from the famous 2015 La Línea investigation that led to the resignation of then-president Otto Pérez Molina.
On four separate occasions, FECI requested a preliminary trial for Alejos Lorenzana that would have stripped him of his political immunity. These were all rejected by the CSJ to seemingly protect Alejos Lorenzana, who was re-elected last year and once again appointed vice president of congress.
Alejos Lorenzana is believed to have played an essential role in protecting former president Jimmy Morales (2016-2020) from the CICIG and FECI as they investigated alleged acts of corruption and illegal campaign financing. According to an investigation by No Ficción, he was one of Morales’ closest allies in congress and directly maneuvered to protect him.
Alejos Lorenzana was also a key part of the campaign by Guatemalan politicians and entrepreneurs to oust the CICIG, which eventually succeeded in late 2018.
‘Unafraid’ Pope to escalate Vatican corruption fight
By AFP
Pope Francis is preparing to ramp up his fight against corruption in the Vatican, he said in an interview on Friday, weeks after the shock ousting of a cardinal over embezzlement accusations.
“I have had to change many things, and many more will soon change,” the Argentine pontiff told Italy’s Adnkronos news agency when asked about his anti-corruption strategy.
Pope Francis, elected in 2013 on a mandate of cleaning up after a series of scandals in the centuries-old institution, has reformed laws and fired top financial officials to bring the Vatican into line with international standards on transparency and money laundering.
The pope’s reforms have met fierce opposition, particularly among the Church’s old guard.
Of course they would from those abusing the system and afraid of being found out.
Francis said in the interview that he had been warned years ago that if he ever became pope he should get a dog, and make sure it tasted all of his food — and survived — before eating it himself.
“Am I reckless? A bit careless? I wouldn’t know,” he said. “I don’t fear consequences against me. I’m not afraid of anything.”
The Vatican has been dogged by scandals in recent years, including the 2017 conviction of the ex-head of a Vatican-run hospital for funnelling a fortune from a foundation to renovate a cardinal’s apartment.
And the Vatican bank, known as the IOR, was for decades embroiled in controversies, with one of its former presidents ordered to stand trial on charges of embezzlement and money laundering in 2018.
And then the biggest scandal, the murder of Pope John Paul, who was the last Pope to want to clean up the scum in the Vatican, was never a scandal because it was covered-up so well, and no media wanted to turn over that rock to see what was under it. David Yallop's book 'In God's Name', is the only documentation of the murder and cover-up.
Islam - Current Day - Nice Terrorist From Mahdi Org?; Salvini Blames Interior Minister; Islamic Madness in Bangladesh; Terror in Russia
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Tunisia launches probe into existence of so-called ‘Mahdi Organization’ that allegedly claimed responsibility for Nice attack
30 Oct 2020 14:38
The mother of Brahim Aouissaoui, who is suspected of carrying out Thursday's attack in Nice, France, in Thina,
a suburb of Sfax, Tunisia, October 30, 2020. © REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi
Tunisia is investigating the existence of the ‘Mahdi Organization’, after a group by that name reportedly took credit for the attack in Nice, France. The suspect is from Tunisia but his family insists he is not an extremist.
The counter-terrorism division of Tunisia’s public prosecutor’s office has ordered a probe into whether the alleged terrorist cell, “Al Mahdi in southern Tunisia,” is real, and if so whether it played any role in Thursday’s attack in Nice.
The Tunisian press agency TAP said that the investigation was prompted by a social media post in which an individual who claimed to be part of the group took responsibility for the knife rampage that killed three people.
The suspect in the incident is a Tunisian migrant who recently arrived in France from Italy. The 21-year-old, identified as Brahim Aouissaoui, was shot and seriously wounded by police after allegedly carrying out the attack at the city’s Notre Dame church. Police claim that they found several blades, two phones and a copy of the Koran at the crime scene.
The French government has described the attack as an act of Islamic terrorism.
His family in Tunisia, however, insists that Aouissaoui showed no signs of extremism. In an interview with Reuters, his sister said that he had come to the church on Thursday morning soon after arriving in Nice and was planning on sleeping nearby. In a video call with his family, Aouissaoui reportedly said that he planned to sleep in a building opposite the church.
Sound to me like an attack, targeted from Tunisia.
The entire family is now under investigation, and their phones have been confiscated by Tunisian security officials, Aouissaoui said.
On Friday, French police detained a 47-year-old man who was reportedly in contact with the suspect a day before the attack.
The French government has vowed to crack down on Islamic extremism and has said the country should brace for further attacks on its soil.
As I wrote some years ago, this will get much worse before it gets better, if it gets better.
Italian minister dismisses accusations of allowing Nice church attacker to enter Europe
30 Oct 2020 16:42
Migrants stand on a dock as they disembark a boat on the Sicilian Island of Lampedusa, Italy, July 24, 2020.
© Reuters / Mauro Buccarello
The Italian interior minister on Friday strongly opposed suggestions that the government in Rome should be blamed for allowing a Tunisian migrant accused of killing three people in a Nice church to enter neighboring France.
Brahim Aouissaoui, the suspect in Thursday’s attack in Nice, reached the Italian island of Lampedusa in September and spent two weeks on a quarantine boat. He was later transferred to Bari, on the mainland, and, in early October, was ordered to leave Italy within seven days.
After the Nice attack, Matteo Salvini, the leader of Italian right-wing opposition Lega Nord party and former interior minister, said the government was failing to prevent people arriving from Africa. He lashed out at current Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese, claiming she bore responsibility for the killings in the French city, and demanding her resignation.
Responding to the critique, Lamorgese said Aouissaoui had not been flagged as a potential threat by the Tunisian authorities or the Italian intelligence service prior to the attack. “This is an attack on Europe. We have no responsibility in this,” she added.
The minister said a security decree introduced by Salvini, when he was in her place, had made it harder for the government to deal with migrants. Immigration centers were closed down, and 20,000 people had to leave them overnight, she noted.
Italy’s official data states that more than 27,000 migrants have reached the country by sea so far this year, and 11,195 have come from Tunisia, making it the largest single national group in the statistics.
Lamorgese visited Tunisia in August in a bid to limit the flow of migrants, but then admitted it was difficult, as the African country is facing a major economic crisis, since further complicated by the coronavirus pandemic.
Angry mob in Bangladesh beats & BURNS man who
'accidentally stepped on Koran'
30 Oct 2020 09:43
A man was lynched by an angry mob in northern Bangladesh after he was accused of blasphemy while visiting a local mosque. The victim was taken into custody, but the crowd dragged him outside, beating him up and setting aflame.
The horrifying incident unfolded at the town of Burimari in the northern Lalmonirhat district late on Thursday.
A local man, identified as a 50-year-old Shahidunnabi Jewel, along with his friend, decided to visit the Burimari mosque to offer a prayer. Jewel is said to have been suffering from an unspecified mental condition.
The two somehow got into a dispute with other worshippers and claimed Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen terrorists were hiding inside the mosque, local media reported.
“One of the men went inside the mosque … searching the bookshelf at the prayer hall claiming that firearms were hidden behind Koran and Hadith books,” a local council member, Zubed Ali, told the Dhaka Tribune. “At one point, five or six worshippers, who were outside the mosque, entered and dragged the man to the stairs outside before starting to beat him. The other man was waiting outside the hall.”
Some media reports suggest Jewel accidentally stepped on the Koran during the search, when he was trying to reach the upper shelves of the bookcase, which sparked the worshippers’ outrage. The duo were taken into custody by the authorities shortly after the altercation and held at a local council building.
As the news of the incident spread, however, a large mob of almost a thousand people gathered outside the building. They eventually broke in and snatched one of the men.
The victim was brutally beaten in the street and set ablaze. Extremely graphic footage circulating online shows Jewel's burning body and the mob cheering in the background. The angry worshippers also torched a motorbike used by the deceased, the available imagery suggests.
The lynching devolved into rioting. The mob vandalized a local National Bank office and torched the council building, local media reported. Following the incident, additional police and even anti-terrorism Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) forces were deployed into the area to quell the unrest.
The authorities are currently trying to identify the people involved in the lynching and are preparing multiple criminal cases for murder, arson and attacks on the police.
Blasphemy is considered to be an extremely serious offence by many Muslims. In Bangladesh, a predominantly Muslim country, allegations of blasphemy have repeatedly led to lynching and widespread rioting. Last October, for instance, a series of Facebook messages that allegedly defamed the Prophet Mohammed sparked violent mass protests across the country that left at least four people dead and dozens injured.
Islamic insanity requires a very small match to cause it to explode into sheer madness. Or, was it deliberately set-off by mosque caretakers to hide possible terrorists? There is no easier way to get rid of someone who is a danger to you than to accuse them of blasphemy in Islam.
Burimari, BNG
Teenager who shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ during knife attack on police ‘infidels’
shot dead in central Russia
30 Oct 2020 10:48
By Jonny Tickle
© Sputnik / Ministry of internal Affairs of Russia for the Republic of Tatarstan
A 16-year-old Russian man was shot dead early on Friday morning in the Republic of Tatarstan, after he’d thrown Molotov cocktails and attacked a law enforcement officer with a knife. Police are treating it as an act of terrorism.
According to reports, not long after midnight, a local police officer noticed that the Kukmor district police station in Tatarstan was on fire. While extinguishing the blaze, another Molotov cocktail came over the station’s fence. The officer, along with a colleague, then chased the culprit as he attempted to flee. After the officers caught up with him, the 16-year-old pulled out a knife and stabbed one of the policemen multiple times. In response, and after some warning shots, his colleague shot the man dead.
The attack left one of the policemen hospitalized, though his injuries are said not to be life-threatening.
Although not stated officially by law enforcement agencies, multiple Russian media outlets are reporting, citing unnamed sources, that the teenager had shouted, “God save me, you’re all infidels, Allahu Akbar!” Baza, an anonymous but influential Russian Telegram channel, has named the culprit as 16-year-old Vitaly Antipov.
Located 700km east of Moscow, Tatarstan is home to one of Russia’s most important Muslim communities, with more Muslims than Orthodox Christians. The country’s best-known mosque, the Kul Sharif Mosque, is located in the regional capital, Kazan. Speaking to Russian news agency Interfax, the local spiritual administration noted that the deceased had not been attending mosques in the Kukmor district.
Kul Sharif Mosque, Kazan
Terrorist attack reportedly thwarted in Moscow region as FSB arrests suspect & seizes ISIS flag (3rd story on link).
According to another Telegram channel, Mash, Antipov had recently created social media pages under a new name: ‘Abdurakhman.’
In response to the attack, well-known far-right Russian politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky told radio station ‘Ekho Moskvy’ that the authorities should check all religious educational institutions for the presence of extremist literature in connection with the attack.
“Everything is beautiful – education and school, but there is a little bit of poison: anti-Russian and anti-Orthodox sentiments,” Zhirinovsky said. “And then we get extremists, fanatics, and radicals.”
Thursday, October 29, 2020
Islam - Current Day - Terror Attacks in France, Saudi Arabia After Jihad Call; Power Struggle in Palestinian Authority
Tunisian migrant Islamist terrorist, 21, who beheaded woman and killed two more Catholics in Nice church rampage - after 'Al Qaeda' press release called for 'jihad' over Hebdo cartoons
By JACK WRIGHT and CHRIS PLEASANCE and NICK FAGGE and PETER ALLEN IN PARIS FOR MAILONLINE
18:21 EDT, 29 October 2020
The Islamist terrorist who shouted 'Allahu Akbar' as he beheaded a woman and killed two others in an attack on a Catholic church in France today has been pictured.
Brahim Aoussaoui, a 21-year-old Tunisian who arrived in Europe on a migrant boat just last month, attacked worshippers with a 12-inch blade in the Notre Dame basilica in Nice, slitting the throat of an elderly woman near the church's holy water in a beheading attempt.
He hacked sacristan Vincent Loques, a 54-year-old father-of-two, to death as he prepared for the first Mass of the day, while a mother in her forties also succumbed to her injuries after seeking refuge in a nearby bar after telling paramedics: 'Tell my children that I love them'.
The assailant was shot 14 times by armed police as he screamed 'God is greatest' in Arabic during the attack and 'while under medication' as he was taken to hospital, Nice's Mayor Christian Estrosi said.
Aoussaoui arrived in Nice at around 6.30am via the railway station, where he quickly changed his clothes, Jean-Francois Ricard told journalists today. CCTV then showed him arriving in the church at 8.30am and staying there for nearly half an hour.
The assailant, born in Tunisia in 1999, entered Europe via the Italian island of Lampedusa on September 20 and arrived in Paris on October 9. The travel information came from a document on Aoussaoui from the Italian Red Cross, the state prosecutor said.
Investigators found two unused knives, a Koran and two mobile phones, in addition to a bag with some personal effects. He was unknown to French security services, Mr Ricard told a press conference.
A picture showing Aoussaoui bleeding on the floor and being treated by paramedics after he was shot by armed police outside the basilica was tweeted by the head of the respected SITE organisation.
Elsewhere a security guard was stabbed and wounded outside the French consulate in Saudi Arabia, while two other men were arrested - one while carrying a knife near a church in Sartrouville after his father reported he was about to carry out a Nice-style attack, and another who tried to board a train in Lyon carrying a long blade.
The killings, which occurred ahead of the Catholic holy day of All Saints Day on Sunday, prompted the French government to raise the terror alert level to the maximum 'emergency' level nationwide.
It followed warnings of further terrorist atrocities just days before the church rampage, after Al-Qaeda published a press release calling for 'jihad' (holy war) over newspaper Charlie Hebdo's caricatures of the Propet Mohammed.
Several times I have mentioned that radical Muslims are ticking time-bombs ready to go off. Or, you might say a hand-grenade waiting for someone to pull the pin. It doesn't take a lot of strength to pull that pin; a press release, a tweet, a proportionate response to an act of terror; anything will set them off. Radical Muslims need to be segregated from society before they terrorize it further.
President Emmanuel Macron, who quickly travelled to Nice, announced increased surveillance of churches by France's Sentinelle military patrols, to be bolstered to 7,000 troops from 3,000.
Security at schools would also be boosted, he said. 'Quite clearly, it is France that is being attacked,' Mr Macron said, and vowed the country 'will not give up on our values'.
He threw his weight behind the Catholic church, saying: 'The entire nation will stand so that religion can continue to be exercised freely in our country.' He also called for 'unity' urging people 'not to give in to the spirit of division'.
Tonight mourners attended vigils to pay tribute to the victims of the triple killing. They lit candles outside the Notre-Dame de l'Assomption Basilica in Nice and in front of the French Embassy in Berlin.
The attacks come amid fury across the Islamic world at President Macron for defending satirical cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, and on the day that Sunni Muslims mark the Prophet's birthday.
Several Muslim-majority countries launched campaigns to boycott French products, while protesters burnt the tricolor and posters of Macron at demonstrations in Syria, Libya, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Palestine.
Also on a day of terror for France:
A security guard at the French consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, was stabbed and wounded;
A man armed with a knife was arrested in Sartrouville near a church after vowing 'to do as in Nice';
An Afghan man was arrested in Lyon trying to board a train while armed with a long knife;
Malaysia's ex-PM said that Muslims have a right 'to kill millions of French people' if Islam is insulted;
French politicians lined up to demand tougher action against what Nice's mayor branded 'Islamo-fascism';
Online jihadists celebrated the triple killing in France and Saudi Arabia today, a report by SITE said
What happened to that censorship, Twitter? Ex-Malaysian PM says
Muslims have RIGHT TO KILL millions of French
29 Oct 2020 14:17
(L) Mahathir Mohamad © Reuters / Lim Huey Teng; (R) The aftermath of a deadly stabbing in Nice, France,
October 29, 2020. © Reuters / Eric Gaillard
As knife-wielding attackers terrorized France and killed three people, Malaysia’s outspoken former prime minister said that “Muslims have a right to punish the French” with murder. His comments sparked outrage online.
France was left reeling on Thursday from a series of apparent terrorist attacks. A knife-wielding man shouted “Allahu akbar” as he slaughtered three people in a church in Nice; police in Avignon shot another knifeman dead as he lunged for them shouting the Arabic slogan; and in Saudi Arabia, police arrested a man who stabbed a guard outside the French consulate in Jeddah. All three attacks come amid a countrywide crackdown on Islamic extremism, launched after a teacher was beheaded in Paris for showing students a caricature of the Prophet Mohammed.
Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad took to Twitter seemingly in a bid to defend the attackers. “Muslims have a right to be angry and to kill millions of French people for the massacres of the past,” he wrote, without elaborating on which “massacres” he meant. In a rant spanning multiple tweets, Mohamad added that “the Muslims have a right to punish the French.”
Muslims have a right to be angry and to kill millions of French people
for the massacres of the past
— Dr Mahathir Mohamad (@chedetofficial) October 29, 2020
Mohamad called French President Emmanuel Macron “very primitive” for blaming the teacher’s beheading on “the evil that is radical Islam,” and demanded the French government “teach their people to respect other people’s feelings,” or risk Muslims applying “the ‘eye for an eye’ law” – which he said they “by and large” have not applied yet.
Astonishing!
The former PM did include a watery condemnation of the beheading, calling it “not an act that as a Muslim I would approve.”
Mohamad has landed himself in trouble for inflammatory comments before, including his remarks on “hook-nosed” Jews and for defending his country’s prosecution of gay people. His comments on France triggered another wave of condemnation, but some pundits were also outraged at Twitter for allowing his tweets to remain online, despite censoring US President Donald Trump and banning links to damaging information about his election opponent, Joe Biden.
Twitter did attach a notice to the tweet later on Thursday, warning viewers that while it glorified violence, "it may be in the public’s interest for the Tweet to remain accessible."
During a hearing in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey defended his platform’s censorship of Trump and his supporters. When asked why Twitter removed tweets by the president about mail-in voting but allowed Iran’s Ayatollah to post threats to Israel, Dorsey replied that Trump’s comments “can cause more immediate harm.”
Mohamad served twice as Malaysia’s prime minister, from 1981 to 2003 and again from 2018 until his resignation in March 2020. While his comments were notably extreme, current leadership in the country has also taken a dim view of Macron's crackdown. Earlier this week, the country’s foreign ministry summoned the French ambassador in Kuala Lumpur, telling him that Macron’s defense of the right to publish offensive cartoons constituted “inflammatory rhetoric” and “provocative acts that seek to defame the religion of Islam.”
Well, it's not like Islam needs any help defaming itself. But far too many Muslim clerics live in a delusion that Islam is a religion of peace.
Palestinian power struggle as PA police clash with supporters of Abbas rival
Palestinian power struggle as PA police clash with supporters of Abbas rival - Palestinians clash - illustration (Flash90)
Fatah internal power struggle intensifying as Palestinian police arrested supporters of exiled Palestinian strongman Mohammed Dahlan
By Paul Shindman, World Israel News
October 28, 2020
Clashes broke out in Ramallah and several refugee camps after Palestinian police broke up a rally in support of exiled Palestinian strongman Mohammed Dahlan and arrested several of his followers, Palestinian and Israeli sources reported Wednesday.
Residents of the Al-Amari camp in Ramallah staged a rally near the “Muqata” headquarters of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas chanting support for Dahlan and were met by Palestinian police in riot gear who broke up the gathering, the Palestinian news website SHFA reported.
The supporters chanted “We are your men, Dahlan,” in support of the prominent Palestinian leader who is in self-imposed exile in the United Arab Emirates after falling out of favor with the Palestinian leadership. Postings on social media showed youths clashing violently with Palestinian police, in one case throwing Molotov cocktails while police responded with tear gas and stun grenades and made arrests.
The controversial Dahlan, 59, had been in charge of Gaza security for Fatah, the main Palestinian political faction led by Abbas, but was away from the Gaza Strip when the Hamas terror group seized control in a bloody 2007 military coup. Many in Fatah blamed Dahlan for the loss and later accused him of having murdered Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
Dahlan was accused of corruption and a trial was held in 2014, but by then he had already fled to the UAE.
Veteran Arab Affairs analyst Yoni Ben Menachem called the clashes “the battle for inheritance in the Palestinian Authority.”
Ben Menachem reported that the unrest had spread to numerous refugee camps around Judea and Samaria where Dahlan has many loyalists including the Qalandiya and Al-Amari camps just north of Jerusalem as well as the camps in Jenin and Tulkarm, where supporters demanded the release of those arrested.
With tensions rising, Ben Menachem, the former Arab affairs correspondent for Israel Radio and now a fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, questioned if the clashes could spark “an intifada in the refugee camps.”
There is no clear successor to Abbas as head of the Palestinian Authority. The aging Abbas, who turns 85 next month, was elected for a four-year term in 2005 and has been in power ever since, repeatedly putting off elections.
“Dirty games in the Palestinian swamp,”
Dahlan
A Dahlan supporter interviewed by a Palestinian website friendly to Dahlan accused the Palestinian Authority of continuing its policy of arresting close associates of Dahlan in what was “political persecution of the reformist current” that Dahlan started in Fatah, Israel’s Channel 20 reported.
A senior Fatah official told Channel 20 that Abbas “and some of his associates are convinced that Dahlan, who is supported by the United Arab Emirates, is planning a coup.”
Another Fatah official said that although Dahlan has recently stated publicly that he is not interested in returning to participate in the “dirty games in the Palestinian swamp,” he is gradually working to establish a socio-political movement, one of whose bases will be in eastern Jerusalem.
Tuesday, October 27, 2020
Islam - Current Day - Muslim Delusion; Erdogan's Caliphate; Deep State in Syria; IS in Africa
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Muslim-majority countries protest, condemn France over Muhammad cartoons
Large rally held in Bangladesh, while Iran, Turkey and Saudis criticize France in statements
The Associated Press · Posted: Oct 27, 2020 10:22 AM ET
Around 10,000 people rallied in Bangladesh's capital city, Dhaka, on Tuesday to protest France's president and his staunch support of secular laws that deem caricatures depicting the Prophet Muhammad as protected under freedom of speech.
10,000 people, appear to be 10,000 men. Do you see any women?
It was the largest protest against the cartoons in recent days.
Protesters from the conservative Islami Andolon Bangladesh group — which supports the introduction of Islamic law in the Muslim-majority South Asian country — carried banners and placards reading: "All Muslims of the world, unite" and "Boycott France."
Some carried portraits of French President Emmanuel Macron with an "X" on his face. One carried a cutout image of Macron with shoes around his neck as a sign of insult.
The demonstrations follow a gruesome beheading near Paris of a French teacher who showed caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in class. The 18-year-old Chechen refugee who carried out the attack was later shot dead by police.
The teacher, Samuel Paty, has been heralded as a symbol of France's staunch secular ideals and its rejection of religious intrusion in public spheres. Macron and members of his government have vowed to continue supporting such caricatures as protected under freedom of expression.
Muslim politicians, religious scholars and everyday people have condemned such depictions as a form of hate speech and view them as sacrilegious and insulting to Islam. Muslims have been calling for both protests and a boycott of French goods in response to France's stance on caricatures of Islam's most revered prophet.
Five years ago, French-born al-Qaeda extremists killed 12 employees of the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in response to its publication of caricatures depicting the Prophet Muhammad. Those cartoons also sparked mass protests in Muslim-majority countries, with some turning deadly.
Supporters and activists of the Islami Andolon Bangladesh, an Islamic political party, denounce French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday in Dhaka, Bangladesh. (Reuters)
Elsewhere, Iran summoned a French diplomat to protest France's stance on the caricatures. A report by state TV Tuesday said an Iranian official told the French diplomat that Paris' response after Paty's killing was "unwise" and that France was permitting hatred against Islam under the guise of support for freedom of expression.
A powerful association of clerics in the Iranian city of Qom also urged the government to condemn Macron. Iranian hard-line newspaper Vatan-e Emrooz depicted Macron as the devil and called him Satan in a cartoon on its front page Tuesday.
Pakistan's parliament passed a resolution condemning the publication of cartoons of Prophet Muhammad.
Islamic unreality
In Saudi Arabia, the country's state-run Saudi Press Agency on Tuesday put out a statement from the Foreign Ministry saying the kingdom "rejects any attempt to link Islam and terrorism, and denounces the offensive cartoons of the prophet." Saudi clerics have too condemned the caricatures, but have also cited the prophet's "mercy, justice, tolerance". Another prominent sheikh called on Muslims not to overreact.
These are astonishingly naive statements, if not outright madness. They are talking about Islam, which was responsible for some 600 wars in 1400 years. God only knows how many deaths, rapes, slavery, tortures, kidnappings, complete destruction of property, and forced conversions that continue to happen in several countries in the world today. "Mercy, justice, tolerance" attributed to Mohammed is absurd, if not an outright delusion.
There is only one thing these terrorists and child rapists have in common, and that is Islam!
The Arab Gulf state of Qatar also condemned what it described as "the dramatic escalation of populist rhetoric" inciting religious abuse. In a statement, the government said inflammatory speech is fuelling calls for the repeated targeting of nearly 2 billion Muslims around the world through the deliberate offending of the Prophet Muhammad and has led to an increase in hostility toward Muslims.
Of course, they have it backwards, it is the targeting of western values and western people by Islamic terrorists that is increasing the hostility toward Muslims.
Bangladeshi protesters gathered in front of the main Baitul Mokarram Mosque in downtown Dhaka Tuesday morning. The group walked toward the French Embassy, but police intercepted the march, which ended without violence.
Protests have also been held recently in Iraq, Turkey, Gaza and in opposition areas of northwestern Syria controlled by Turkey-backed rebels.
Rezaul Karim, the head of the Islami Andolon group in Bangladesh, called on France to refrain from displaying caricatures of the prophet.
"We, the Muslims, never did caricatures of other religious leaders," he said.
No, you simply slaughtered or enslaved anyone who believed in Someone other than Mohammed and Allah.
"Allah sent the Prophet Muhammad as an ambassador of peace . . . Macron and his associates did not learn anything from history," he added, before calling on Muslims to boycott French goods.
This is a joke. I have been complaining for years that the French, Germans and Swedes have learned nothing from history or they would never have welcomed so many Muslims into Europe. History teaches us that Mohammed was an instrument of war, not peace, and he still is even though he's dead.
Turkish pro-government newspaper Yeni Safak is shown Tuesday with a headline pressing for a boycott of goods from France. (Yasin Akgul/AFP/Getty Images)
Karim also said Macron should be treated for his "mental illness," remarks similar to those made days earlier by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who's been the most vociferous in his criticism among political leaders in saying Macron needed his head examined and had lost his way. France has since recalled its ambassador to Turkey and other European nations have defended Macron.
Bangladesh's leadership, however, has not come out in criticism of France, as Turkey, Pakistan and other Muslim-majority nations have done. Bangladesh, a nation of 160 million mostly Muslim people, is governed by a secular constitution.
In the Middle East, Kuwaiti stores have pulled French yogurts, cheese and bottles of sparkling water from their shelves, Qatar University cancelled a French culture week, and calls to stay away from the French-owned Carrefour grocery store chain were trending on social media in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Islamic Insanity:
“I came to the absolute conviction that it is impossible…impossible…
for any human being to read the biography of Mohammed and believe in it,
and then emerge a psychologically and mentally healthy person.”
- Syrian Psychiatrist Dr. Wafa Sultan
'Our region won’t go back to 19th century,' Greek FM tells Turkey,
as Athens seeks closer cooperation with Israel
27 Oct, 2020 16:07
Turkish Navy frigate Gaziantep escorts drilling vessel Fatih off the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya, Turkey,
October 30, 2018. © Reuters / Can Sezer
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias has said Athens wants to expand economic and military partnerships with Israel and other countries in the region to counter “the hostile policy” of neighboring Turkey.
Foreign ministers from Greece, Cyprus and Israel pledged on Tuesday to increase cooperation in the defense and energy areas. The three states are at odds with Ankara over energy boundaries in the eastern Mediterranean.
“Our region is not going back to the 19th century,”
Greek FM
“Our region is not going back to the 19th century,” Dendias said. The warning to Turkey came after he met with Israel’s Gabi Ashkenazi and Cyprus’ Nikos Christodoulides.
What he means, of course, is that Greece will not stand by and allow Erdogan to turn the Middle East into the Ottoman Empire again. This, I believe, is his ambition, with himself as Caliph. As he gets older, he gets more desperate to make this happen. Don't be surprised if Turkey is the country that starts a regional war.
Among the new projects the three states are planning is an electricity grid connection between Israel, Cyprus and the Greek island of Crete via undersea cable. It could be constructed by the end of 2023.
Dendias said he informed the ministers about Ankara’s recent “provocative” moves, including the new “illegal NAVTEX” for surveys inside the Greek continental shelf and the visit of the Turkish vice president to “the occupied Cypriot town of Varosha.”
The “antidote” to Turkey could be found in multilateral cooperation in the region, Dendias noted.
No specific defense agreements were announced, but late last week Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lior Haiat tweeted that “Israel reiterates its full support and strong solidarity with Greece in its maritime zone.” Israel also opposes “any attempt to violate these rights.”
“Certain unilateral actions taken by Turkey may escalate and pose a threat to the fragile stability in the region,” Haiat added.
Tensions have been simmering for months since Turkey expanded its oil and gas maritime research exploration in waters Greece claims as part of its jurisdiction. Turkey insists Ankara and Turkish Cypriots should not be excluded from energy exploration in the region.
To those of us who watch the Middle East closely, it was obvious that MI6 has been involved in aiding the rebels in the Syrian civil war. They may well be involved in some false flag operations, like Douma, as well. Deep State is all about moving the military inventory, whatever the cost in lives and livelihood.
Leaked papers appear to show UK ran secret training & PR op for Syrian militants costing millions, despite knowing the risks
27 Oct, 2020 13:05 /
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office in Westminster, London, England. © Getty Images / Mairo Cinquetti / NurPhoto
By Kit Klarenberg, an investigative journalist exploring the role of intelligence services in shaping politics and perceptions. Follow Kit on Twitter @KitKlarenberg
A swath of what appear to be secret Foreign & Commonwealth Office documents outline a multimillion-pound British effort to train rebel fighters in Syria via private companies, knowing but brushing off the risk of jihadist hijack.
The documents released by the hacktivist collective Anonymous appear to expose a variety of covert actions undertaken by the UK government against the Syrian state over many years.
The overriding objective behind them all, the papers suggest, was to destabilise the government of Bashar Assad, convince Syrians, Western citizens, foreign governments, and international bodies that the Free Syrian Army (FSA) was a legitimate alternative, and flood media the world over with pro-opposition propaganda.
The dimensions of the assorted information warfare operations implied in the papers, some of which have been detailed by Grayzone Project, were vast. In a representative example, “social enterprise” firm ARK, founded by veteran Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) operative Alistair Harris, “rebranded” the Syrian Military Council, “softening the Free Syrian Army’s image” in order to “distinguish it from extremist armed opposition groups and establish the image of a functioning, inclusive, disciplined and professional military body.”
Of course, there was no difference between the FSA and other Islamic extremist terror groups. Then, once in the field, the trained men could divert to whatever terror group they felt like, with their weapons and ammunition.
Training ‘credible and effective’ militants
At least one cog in this cloak and dagger connivance was overtly militant in nature. From August 2016, a consortium of private contractors ran a programme for the FCO, through which “training, equipment, and other forms of support” was provided to the FSA’s ‘Southern Front’ coalition, to “foster a negotiated political transition, support moderate structures and groups in opposition held areas of Syria, counter violent extremism and prevent the establishment of a terrorist safe-haven.”
Under its clandestine auspices, up to 600 belligerents were trained every year the operation ran, an indeterminate total – the endeavour was dubbed MAO B-FOR (Moderate Armed Opposition Border Force Capability Project), and forecast to cost the FCO £15,767,599.
B-FOR’s ‘statement of requirements’ document sets out in succinct detail Whitehall’s objectives in pursuing the project.
“The aim… is to generate pressure on the Assad regime and on extremists, in the south the country… If MAO border groups are better able to secure and maintain control of specific areas of responsibility across liberated near-border communities along Syria’s southern border with Jordan… the MAO will demonstrate its tangible value to the local and international community as an effective security actor… This will reinforce perceptions that there is a credible and effective moderate opposition able to provide support for an alternative pathway to political transition,” the project tender states.
Which, of course, was completely untrue. There was never an alternative to Assad, and there still is not. But, as in Iraq and Lybia, the plan is to overthrow the dictator. There is no plan to replace him or manage the country in any orderly fashion once he is gone.
In practical terms, fighters in “international borders under MAO control” and “areas bordering MAO control under the control of another entity or under no control” – the Jordan-Syria border being the FCO’s “current priority area” – were intended to be “better able to control their AOR [areas of responsibility] through effective use of relevant tactics, operations, equipment, infrastructure, and ability to react to a changing tactical situation.”
To this end, the UK government provided a “dedicated training site” in Jordan “at no cost” to project contractors. The site is situated 45 minutes from the Jordanian capital, Amman, according to an annotated Google Earth snapshot found among the leaked papers. The 600-acre expanse comprised “accommodation, ablution, dining, classrooms, driving track, outside rural environment areas, and open space for equipment storage solutions.” In particular, trainees were to be tutored in the effective use of AK-47s, PK machine guns, and pistols, with 175 fighters able to be accommodated on-site at a time, four weeks the maximum period they could be tutored there continuously.
Contractors were also asked to ensure the project took into account, among other things, Whitehall’s “policy toward gender” – a reflection, just like the tender’s references to “reinforcing perceptions,” of B-FOR’s strong psychological component.
Reinforcing perceptions, is outright lying, propaganda!
There is more on this article. It is found on RT, so take it for what it's worth. There seems to me no mention of it on any other media, but, perhaps, that's to be expected.
ISLAMIC State is taking over swathes of Africa like it did in Syria and Iraq with "staggeringly brutal" tactics, the Pentagon has warned
According to a report from West Point, the US officer training academy, the group's expansion and regrouping on the continent shows "Islamic State is far from defeated".
ISIS-linked jihadis have carried out attacks in Mozambique
Cars burnt down by suspected members of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) during an attack on February 9 this year Credit: AFP - Getty
"By the summer of 2020, it had become resolutely clear that the Islamic State was a changed organisation, but by no means a beaten one," the report, published by West Point’s Combating Terrorism Centre, said.
The Pentagon report said there has been a "marked upward curve of claimed cumulative attacks and casualties" across Africa, but the "largest and most sophisticated" presence is in West Africa and the Greater Sahara.
"Isis in West Africa is engaging in operations that are increasingly audacious, staggeringly brutal, and worryingly akin to what ISIL, as it was known at the time, was doing early 2014," it said.
In 2019, attacks claimed by Islamic State West Africa Province - or ISWAP for short - occurred in Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, and Burkina Faso.
The report said ISWAP was the most active sub-group in Africa, with 186 attacks last year, mostly in the Lake Chad area and northern Nigeria.
More than 15 people were killed during at least 28 brutal attacks.
"Its supporters have been engaging in attacks that have exceeded the scale and complexity of those being deployed by their counterparts in Syria and Iraq for at least a year now," the report said.
Operations in West Africa include a daylight attack on the convoy of the governor of Nigeria’s Borno state in July.
Last week, Islamist rebels also freed 1,000 prisoners after an attack on Kangbayi prison in Beni, Congo, police said.
Two prisoners were shot dead and the building was locked down by the army. ISIS claimed responsibility, but police blamed the Allied Democratic Forces.
In southern Africa, ISIS-linked jihadis have also been beheading their prisoners and taking women as sex slaves in Mozambique's forest.
Growing numbers of the terrorists have been wreaking havoc in the country, with experts warning it is slowly becoming overrun by the group.
Hotels, homes and cars have been reduced to ashes by ISIS attacksCredit: Twitter @adriano_nuvunga
They have killed more than 1,500 people in northern Mozambique in their reign of terror since 2017.
Counter-terrorism and organised crime expert David Otto told Daily Star online said: "State forces and suspected spies have been captured and beheaded by the jihadist group to send a warning message.
"Women have been the subject of targeted kidnapping. Sources say the jihadists keep the women as sex slaves."
He added: "They can launch hit and run ambush tactics, escape to the high-sea to neighbouring states and have an ideal logistics route for smuggling of illegal goods, arms and ammunition."
Luxury islands off the coast of Mozambique, where A-list celebrities spend their holidays, have also been overrun by insurgents linked to Islamic State. Hotels, wildlife, and homes have been torched and "reduced to ashes" in the attacks.
The ISIS insurgents have ordered residents to abandon the islands of Vamizi and Mecungo - where celebrities like Daniel Craig, Bono and Prince Albert of Monaco have holidayed.
One resident of Mecungo island said the insurgents had arrived by boat at night and rounded everyone up. The local told AFP: "They told us to run if we want to live. Everyone left the island."
Francesco Milan, of King’s College London’s defence studies department, told The Times that Africa was now the front line of Islamic State.
The Pentagon report urges military and counter-terrorism policymakers "recognise what is at stake in Africa".
It warns: "It is paramount that strategic policymakers and military practitioners consider the threat posed by the Islamic State in Africa as a priority, not just a sideshow of the activities of its remnants in Iraq and Syria.
"The Islamic State is not just fighting a low-grade insurgency on the continent; in at least two countries, it has been able to seize and hold territory and subsequently engage in pseudo-state activities."
Monday, October 26, 2020
Islam - Current Day - 18 Students and Teachers Killed; Muslim Plan for Canada; Norway's Response; Terrorists; Martyrs
Attack on Kabul, Afghanistan, tutoring center kills 18
By Clyde Hughes
an educational center in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Saturday. Photo by Hedayatullah Amid/EPA-EFE
Oct. 24 (UPI) -- An attack on a Kabul, Afghanistan, tutoring center Saturday killed 18 and wounded 57 others amid negotiations between the U.S.-backed Afghan government and the Taliban.
The Taliban denied responsibility for the attack, while government and U.S. officials had called for calm during negotiations in Qatar. Those calls, though, have not stopped the violence in provinces throughout Afghanistan.
The Taliban may have denied responsibility, but this is exactly what they used to do. However, that may well be a false-flag operation by some faction that does not want peace.
"Ambulances are still transferring the bodies," Abuzar Motaqi, a hospital official, said. "Most of them are very young."
Someone at the Kawsar Education Center recognized the suspect along a narrow street near the school as he tried to enter. The suspect set off a suicide vest just outside the facility. Another explosion at an education center in 2018 killed 48 students.
"After a week of horrific violence across Afghanistan, [the attack] drains every last ounce of energy and hope," said Sharhzad Akbar, chair of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission.
In another attack south of Kabul on Saturday, at least eight civilians were killed in a roadside bomb blast in Ghazni City. Six security personnel who were protecting the Kamal Khan dam in Nimroz province died in the militant attack.
High Council of National Reconciliation head Abdullah Abdullah condemned the school attack saying it violated Islamic principles and values.
Gosh, maybe you should try and convert them to Islam? Oh, wait...
Interesting and revealing discussion by Mustafa Farooq, one of Canada's highly educated and influential Muslims. Here he reveals Muslim plans for Canada and the rest of the world.
NCCM’s Mustafa Farooq: “How are we Muslims going to recreate Cordoba [Caliphate] in any Canadian city?”
ACDemocracy
Posted by: Rachel Ehrenfeld July 8, 2020
Mustafa Farooq, Photo: Screenshot from YouTube Channel NCCMtv
Mustafa Farooq is Executive Director of the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM). A lawyer by profession, Mustafa completed his Juris Doctor at the University of Alberta and Osgoode Hall (York University) and later earned h
is Master of Laws (LLM) at UC Berkeley in California.
is Master of Laws (LLM) at UC Berkeley in California.
In a Facebook post (November 3, 2009) Mustafa Farooq wrote (the post is no longer available online):
How are we Muslims going to recreate Cordoba [Caliphate/ Islamic State] in Edmonton/Toronto/Montreal/any Canadian city? We have a massive task ahead of us, but I really believe that it is one at which we can succeed, one in which we erase these artificial “nation-state” identities, and move together to pursue Jannah [paradise].
For the rest of the article and a number of useful links, please see ACDemocracy.
Norwegian police ‘apologize’ for ordering local to take down drawings of
Prophet Mohammed he put up in defense of free speech
26 Oct 2020 12:29
Norwegian police have admitted they were wrong in asking a local man to tear down cartoons of Prophet Mohammed which he had hung around the town in response to the gruesome murder of a teacher in France.
A man in his 40s, who wished to remain anonymous, printed out cartoons of Prophet Mohammed and hung them around the town of Kongsberg last week. He chose popular places like the local mall and cinema, as well as bus stops, to make sure the cartoons would be seen by as many people as possible.
The man explained to the public broadcaster NRK that he wanted to highlight the importance of freedom of expression and that “Islam cannot have any special protection in a free society.” He added that he wanted an “honest conversation about Islam without people getting labeled as racists and fascists.”
While the individual, who is also a father to small children, according to media reports, admitted that he wanted to see if the cartoons would provoke any reaction from police, he said he did not expect four officers to come knocking at his door the very same day.
He told the Human Rights Service NGO that police were concerned that Muslims would be offended by the drawings. The officers argued that the posters were put up without a permit, so they ordered him to take them down and to never do anything like that again, the man said. According to him, the officers even threatened him with legal action.
If I had hung up posters of Karl Marx, Buddha or Jesus, would I have four police officers knocking on the door with a request to take them down?
The man told the media that he had grown up in the Middle East and that such things should not happen “in a liberal democracy.”
Following the story’s exposure, Kongsberg Police Chief Havard Reva said that he “regrets” that the officers had arrived at the man’s residence, and apologized. He admitted that the drawings alone could not serve as a reason to seek out who put them up.
“The police should have not advised him to remove the drawings. The natural thing in such situations is to have a request from the landowner who wants the drawings removed,” Reva told the Laagendalsposten newspaper.
In a similar vein, high-ranking regional police official Oyvind Aas told Aftenposten that the officers had no right to order the posters to be taken down, calling it an “actual mistake.”
The police response prompted some backlash from politicians. An MP and former Justice Minister Per-Willy Amundsen told local media that the Kongsberg man “had really not done anything wrong in the legal sense,” while the actions of the officers were “bordering on the abuse of power.”
Before Kongsberg, the cartoons depicting Mohammed had also appeared on the streets of Lillestrom, just outside Norway’s capital Oslo, according to local media.
It happened after middle school teacher Samuel Paty was beheaded by a young Chechen refugee in France on October 16 for showing his class the cartoons of Mohammed as part of a lesson on freedom of expression.
On Friday, someone erected the drawings of Mohammed on the doors of the offices of two local newspapers in the Norwegian town of Roros and on a local shop, prompting complaints to the police.
Militant reportedly blows himself up at checkpoint in
Turkish city near Syrian border
26 Oct 2020 19:16
One militant has been killed in a suicide bomb explosion in Iskenderun, and another is being hunted by Turkish security forces, authorities in Hatay province, just across the border from Syria, said.
Photos from the site show extensive damage to cars and storefronts.
Payas is a town just north of Iskenderun. The militants presumably ran the checkpoint and drove into the city, with police in hot pursuit.
No civilians were hurt in the incident, Dogan said.
Hatay is the southernmost Turkish province, nestled between the Mediterranean to the west and Syria to the south and east. The adjacent Idlib governorate in Syria is the last bastion of Turkish-backed militants, many of whom are affiliated with Al-Qaeda, which once sought to overthrow the government in Damascus.
Over 3,380 martyred in fight against terrorism in five years: Pakistan
Ary Web Desk On Oct 26, 2020
ISLAMABAD: At least 3,384 people, including 1,457 security personnel, have been martyred in 3,990 terror attacks during the past five years in Pakistan, ARY News reported.
According to the interior ministry, 8,436 people, including 2,569 security officials have been injured in terrorism-related incidents from 2015 to 13th of September 2020.
Balochistan was the most terrorism-affected region of the country where 1,435 terror attacks were reported, 1,048 attacks were reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 371 attacks were reported in Sindh and 180 attacks were reported in Punjab in five years.
It is pertaining to mention here that Pakistan has rendered countless sacrifices in War against Terrorism and has always taken indiscriminate action against any form of extremism and terrorism.
Wow!
Last year in July, Prime Minister Imran Khan had said that the Pakistani nation had rendered 70,000 sacrifices in war against terrorism as a high price of the Afghan war.
PM Imran Khan, while addressing to the US Institute of Peace in Washington, reiterated, “I have always adopted the stance that Afghan issue could be resolved through dialogues. I’ve also asked everyone in the United States that there is no military solution to the issue.”
PM Kahn, you should know that American oligarchs don't want a solution to the war in Afghanistan, or anywhere else. War is the objective! The relentless movement of weapons is what keeps the American economy from collapsing.
Man who helped San Bernardino terrorists is sentenced to 20 years in prison
6 hrs ago
U.S. Department of Justice
Fontana Herald News
A Riverside man was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for conspiring to commit terrorist attacks in the Inland Empire and for providing assault rifles later used in the 2015 San Bernardino terrorist attack that killed 14 people.
Enrique Marquez Jr., 28, was sentenced on Oct. 23 by United States District Judge Jesus Bernal, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The sentencing concludes a case in which Marquez pleaded guilty in 2017 to conspiracy to provided material support and resources to terrorists.
In the plea agreement and in open court, Marquez admitted that he conspired with Syed Rizwan Farook in 2011 and 2012 to make plans to attack Riverside City College (RCC) and commuter traffic on the 91 Freeway.
Marquez also pleaded guilty to making false statements in connection with the acquisition of firearms by serving as the “straw buyer” of two assault rifles that he provided to Farook. More than three years later, Farook and his wife used those rifles in the shooting rampage at the San Bernardino Inland Regional Center (IRC) on Dec. 2, 2015. Hours later, both Farook and his wife were killed by law enforcement, ending what at the time was the worst terrorist attack on American soil since Sept. 11, 2001.
“This defendant was an active member of a conspiracy that planned to inflict death and destruction on innocent people,” said First Assistant United States Attorney Tracy Wilkison. “Today’s sentence is the direct result of actions that enabled a terrorist and laid the foundation for an attack that took 14 innocent lives, wounded 22 others, and shook the entire nation. By his own admissions, this defendant collaborated with and purchased weapons for a man he definitively knew held radical and anti-American beliefs -- and who wanted to kill innocent people.”
Two of the 14 shooting victims at the IRC were Fontana residents.
“Mr. Marquez could have intervened to support law enforcement instead of supporting terrorists,” said Kristi K. Johnson, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “He might have thwarted the Dec. 2 attack, but he chose to stay silent before being captured. While the terrorists -- whose names we may prefer to forget -- paid for their crimes with their lives, the prison sentence imposed on Mr. Marquez today may deliver a measure of justice to the victims of the attack for which Mr. Marquez supplied the instruments leading to their deaths and injuries.”
Prosecutors argued in a sentencing memorandum that Marquez “was a full, willing, and motivated participant of the conspiracy who not only provided the agreement necessary for the conspiracy to attack RCC and SR-91, but also co-designed the attacks with Farook, purchased the two firearms and ammunition to facilitate the attacks, researched bomb making and obtained explosive powder and other bomb-making materials, and visited RCC and SR-91 to sketch out how he and Farook would attack the two locations to maximize casualties.”
Marquez was arrested about two weeks after the IRC terrorist attack and has remained in custody ever since his first court appearance on Dec. 17, 2015. In imposing the sentence, Bernal denied Marquez’s request for a five-year sentence, which essentially would have been a time-served sentence that soon would have resulted in his release from custody. In court documents, prosecutors called this request an attempt to “downplay the seriousness of his actions, and skirt that his actions contributed to the mass killing and injuring of innocent people in San Bernardino just a few years later.”
Once he completes his prison sentence, Marquez will be placed on supervised release for a term of 15 years.
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