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Man armed with knife ‘neutralized’ by French police
after threatening officers
22 Oct, 2021 18:30
FILE PHOTO: A French police officer stands in front of a bar to check health pass compliance as
checks on the implementation of the health pass is expected to be intensified in Paris, France,
August 18, 2021. © REUTERS / Sarah Meyssonnier
A knife-wielding man who attempted to attack police in a northwestern suburb of Paris has been shot by officers. The attacker allegedly shouted “Allahu Akbar”. No other casualties have been reported from the incident.
The attacker held “a knife in [his] hand” and threw a bottle at a group of police officers during a routine traffic check in the Parisian suburb of Colombes, a police source told Le Figaro. The man threatened the officers and shouted "Allahu Akbar", the source added.
Police shot the attacker before he could approach them. The man, whose identity has not been revealed yet, was taken for emergency medical treatment but later succumbed to his injuries, French media reported.
The man was allegedly known to the police, but not to the security service tasked with handling radicals. There was also no file on him in the French database containing information on radical Islamists, a source told AFP.
A second investigation has been initiated to verify if there were sufficient grounds for the police to discharge their weapons. The suspect, reportedly aged 31, was previously known for customs, drug and road traffic offenses.
The police actions were commended by French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, who said in a tweet that he “salutes the coolness of the Colombes police officers.”
The minister added that France “must remain vigilant … more than ever.”
A Muslim with so little respect for the law should probably have been referred to the security service that monitors radical Islam, at least for investigation.
A lunatic throwing things at a group of police and yelling Allahu Akbar, while holding a knife is sufficient grounds for the police to discharge their weapons, IMHO. They certainly should not have to wait for him to stab someone before taking him out. He'll be happier now anyway in Paradise with 72 virgins!
‘Kidnaping’ trial of ex-Italian interior minister Salvini, who barred
cross-sea migrants from entering country, begins in Palermo
23 Oct, 2021 13:19
in the trial against him in Palermo. ©REUTERS / Antonio Parrinello
Former Italian interior minister Matteo Salvini is facing up to 15 years in prison in a controversial trial over his 2019 order to prevent migrants picked up by NGOs while crossing the Mediterranean Sea from entering Italy.
The trial, which started on Saturday in Palermo, is about one particular incident among dozens that happened during Salvini’s tenure as interior minister. It concerns his refusal to allow 147 migrants to disembark in Lampedusa in August 2019. The stand-off lasted for about 19 days before a court overruled a ban on private rescue ships entering Italian waters.
Salvini is the leader of the right-wing, anti-immigration Lega Nord (North League) party. He held the offices of deputy prime minister and interior minister in an unorthodox coalition government with the left-wing Five Star Movement (M5S) at the time his alleged crimes occurred. He is accused of abusing his power and kidnapping the migrants and may face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
The trial was initially scheduled for September 15, but was postponed for over a month so that a larger courtroom could be found to accommodate more people interested in the procedures, including journalists.
A defiant Salvini tweeted a photo from the scene, saying his prosecution was “required by the left and the fans of illegal immigration”. Ahead of the hearing, he said illegal migrants were arriving in Italy by their hundreds under the current government and that he was simply doing his duty as interior minister when he attempted to stop the inflow.
Salvini said the policy to block migrants was approved by the entire cabinet, including the then-prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, who is now the leader of M5S. Conte, Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese and Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio are scheduled to appear as witnesses during the trial.
Actor Richard Gere, who helped deliver food to people on board the stranded ship, which was operated by the Spanish NGO Open Arms, previously agreed to testify as well. It’s unclear if he will take the stand in Palermo.
Outside the courtroom, Open Arms founder and director Oscar Camps defended his operation. “Saving people isn’t a crime, but an obligation not only by captains but by the entire state,” he told journalists.
Opponents of such rescue missions say people who sail towards European shores in boats and rafts are economic migrants rather than political refugees who need protection. Many suspect NGOs like Open Arms of facilitating the flow, if not directly colluding with human traffickers in countries like Libya, who organize the rides for profit.
Many of Salvini’s supporters believe his trial to be politically motivated. The Italian parliament lifted his immunity from prosecution in February 2020, long after the Lega-M5S government collapsed. Lega Nord was in opposition to the second Conte government, which was in power at the time. Senators from Salvini’s party boycotted the vote.
In May, a court in Sicily dismissed a similar “kidnapping” case against the former interior minister, which stemmed from a separate episode. The case involved a coast guard ship carrying migrants that was kept from docking in the port of Catania for six days in July 2019.
Sudan’s military fires ‘live bullets’ at protesters backing civilian govt,
information ministry says, after forces stage coup
25 Oct, 2021 11:03
Tens of thousands have taken to streets in Sudan's capital Khartoum and the city of Omdurman, after troops arrested the prime minister in a coup. The Ministry of Information claims troops have fired on pro-government protesters.
The streets of Khartoum and Omdurman were full of protesters on Monday after the Ministry of Information relayed a plea from detained Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok. "Occupy streets to defend the revolution," the ministry posted on its Facebook page, allegedly echoing a message shared with the government department by Hamdok. In a statement shared with Reuters, the ministry also said it is inviting everyone to march "until the coup attempt is brought down."
Footage shared online shows that Sudanese citizens responded to the plea of their transitional government, which was formed in 2019. As people marched through the streets, gunshots can be heard echoing around Khartoum and the adjacent city of Omdurman while smoke can be seen rising across the cityscape.
Other videos show residents of the capital and the twin city of Omdurman starting fires in the road and creating obstacles, in apparent efforts to halt the movement of troops.
Reports also suggest that demonstrators were able to breach the outer barrier of the military HQ in the capital.
In a series of Facebook posts, the information ministry said that the military had fired on protesters and that casualties were expected. Its officials stated that the people of Sudan had clearly rejected the attempted coup and that there were tens of thousands of people on the streets.
Early on Monday morning, Hamdok and his wife, as well as Industry Minister Ibrahim al-Sheikh, and the governor of Khartoum Ayman Khalid, were detained by the military in the coup. The information ministry claims that Hamdok was removed to an undisclosed location after he'd failed to endorse the coup.
In another statement shared by the Ministry of Information, the prime minister's office called on people to sustain their protest for the sake of defending the revolution.
Sudan has endured an uneasy peace since long-time leader, Omar al-Bashir, was removed from power in 2019 after months of popular protest. The country is being run by a Sovereign Council of military and civilian members, who have been frequently at odds with each other. They are tasked with overseeing the transition to democracy and Sudan's first elections in 2023.
German court sentences ISIS bride to 10 years in prison
for her role in murder of Yazidi ‘slave’ girl in Iraq
25 Oct, 2021 13:04
© AFP / Zaid al-Obeidi
A German woman, who joined ISIS in Iraq, has been jailed for 10 years for letting a five-year-old Yazidi girl die of thirst. It is the first conviction related to the terrorist group’s persecution of the religious minority.
A Munich court handed its verdict to Jennifer Wenisch on Monday. The 30-year-old faced several charges, including murder, murder as a war crime, membership of a terrorist organization, and violation of the German War Weapons Control Act.
The woman was facing the prospect of life in prison due to the severity of the accusations against her, but was ultimately sentenced to 10 years.
Prosecutors said that Wenisch and her husband – Islamic State militant Taha al-Jumailly – “purchased” a Yazidi woman and her five-year-old daughter during their stay in the terrorist stronghold of Mosul, Iraq back in 2015.
The pair used the captives as household “slaves.” But when the small child got sick and wet her mattress, al-Jumailly “chained her up outside as punishment and let the child die an agonizing death of thirst in the scorching heat.”
Wenisch was there when it all happened, but “allowed her husband to do so and did nothing to save the girl,” the prosecutors insisted in the charge.
Al-Jumailly has also been detained and is currently on trial in separate proceedings in the city of Frankfurt. His verdict is expected to be announced in November.
The mother of the late Yazidi girl, who is also in Germany, had testified on several occasions against both the IS man and his wife.
Wenisch said during the trial that she failed to protect the child because she was “afraid” that her husband would “push her or lock her up.”
Her defense questioned the credibility of the testimony by the girl’s mother, insisting that no proof that the child actually died had been presented. The lawyers were looking for Wenisch to get away with just a two-year suspended sentence for supporting a terrorist group.
Wenisch reportedly converted to Islam in 2013 and traveled from Germany to Iraq two years later, taking a route through Turkey and Syria. While in Mosul, she allegedly became a member of Islamic State’s ‘hisbah’ morality police, patrolling the streets with an AK-47 and making sure the strict dress-code and ban on alcohol and smoking were observed by citizens.
In 2016, when the Iraqi government – backed by US forces – started a major offensive on Mosul, Wenisch tried to apply for a new ID in the German embassy in Ankara, but ended up being arrested right after leaving the mission and was later extradited to Germany.
The Yazidis are a Kurdish-speaking ethnic and religious minority living in northwest Iraq as well as parts of Syria, Turkey and Iran.
Islamic State radicals considered them heretics due to their beliefs, which combine several ancient Middle Eastern religions, and harshly persecuted the group.
The terrorists allegedly murdered thousands of Yazidi men, while abducting women and young girls. They were turned into slaves, with the children forcibly converted to Islam and forbidden from speaking Kurdish.
More than 6,400 Yazidi men, women, and children were kidnapped when IS overran Mosul in June 2014, with many of those still remaining in captivity, according to Hussein Qaidi, head of the Office for Yazidi Abductees Affairs.
Two Polish border guards hospitalized as migrants stuck in no man’s land
on Belarusian frontier for months attempt to storm fence
25 Oct, 2021 13:13
@Straz_Graniczna © Twitter
Two Polish soldiers have been taken to hospital after asylum seekers staged an assault on the frontier with Belarus, throwing stones at the border fence. The group of migrants has been stuck in no man’s land for over two months.
According to the Polish Border Guard, the “attempts of violent crossing into Poland were thwarted.”
“Over the weekend, two attempts at a border assault were recorded. Aggressive groups of about 60 and 70 people threw stones and branches at border guard officers and soldiers of the Polish army. Two soldiers were hospitalized,” a statement said.
One of the soldiers was hit by a branch, and the other with a stone, both in the face. Warsaw has accused Belarusian soldiers of working with the asylum seekers, suggesting they were wearing civilian clothes to blend in.
Despite its EU obligations, Poland is refusing to accept asylum seekers crossing the border from Belarus. It is refusing to allow in a large group of immigrants from the Middle East, despite the fact they have a lack of food and other provisions.
The difficult situation on the border began after Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko warned his country would no longer make any effort to stop illegal immigration. Warsaw has claimed that Minsk has flown in people from abroad and is shuttling them to the border as a form of warfare. Since the beginning of 2021, more than 23,000 migrants have tried to cross the Polish-Belarusian border, causing Warsaw to declare a state of emergency and boost its troop presence.
The latest situation comes just a week after Polish border guards filmed asylum seekers trying to break down the border fence near Usnarz Gorny, a small village on the frontier.
Poland’s treatment of migrants from Belarus has been subject to criticism by human rights organizations, including London-based NGO Amnesty International. Last month, the group accused Warsaw of illegally stranding 32 Afghan migrants, leaving them without access to clean water, shelter, or medicine.
‘Threat to the planet’? Exiled Saudi spymaster claims
Mohammed bin Salman is ‘killer, psychopath’
in explosive interview
25 Oct, 2021 17:14
A former Saudi intelligence official turned regime critic claims that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is trying to kill him due to secrets in his possession, describing the ruler as a “psychopath with no empathy” on CBS.
Saad Aljabri, a former Saudi minister of state and close aide of ex-crown prince and intelligence boss Mohammed bin Nayef, has been in exile since 2017. He has repeatedly alleged that Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) is plotting to kill him. Aljabri fled Saudi Arabia for Canada after MBS ousted bin Nayef from his position.
Now, in a particularly explosive interview with CBS’ ‘60 Minutes’ show, Aljabri stepped up his claims against the Saudi kingdom’s de facto ruler. The show introduces Aljabri as having once been “among the best friends America had against terrorism.”
“I am here to sound the alarm about a psychopath, killer, in the Middle East with infinite resources, who poses a threat to his people, to the Americans and to the planet,” Aljabri tells his interviewer, Scott Pelley.
MBS is “a psychopath with no empathy, doesn’t feel emotion, never learned from his experience. And we have witnessed atrocities and crimes committed by this killer,” he adds. The crown prince is allegedly holding two of the former high-ranking spy’s children and his son-in-law in captivity, trying to use them as a bargaining chip to make him return to Riyadh.
But the Saudi government insists that Aljabri is a financial criminal, who embezzled over $3 billion while working under bin Nayef. The ex-spymaster claims the reason for his massive wealth is that the Saudi monarchs had been “very generous” to him during his years of service. “It’s a tradition in the Saudi Arabian royal family. They take care of people around them,” he told CBS.
In order to support his claims about bin Salman’s rogue nature, the ex-intelligence official shared a story of how MBS once boasted he could poison the then-king Abdullah to clear the path to the throne for his father. Aljabri claims the threat was made in 2014 during a meeting between bin Salman and bin Nayef, at which he was also present, but he adds he wasn’t sure if MBS was just boasting or revealing actual plans. Aljabri alleges that at least two recordings from that meeting remain and he knows where they are.
King Abdullah died in 2015 from what were said to have been natural causes, and MBS’ elderly father Salman, 85, became the new Saudi King. For the past four years, the real power has rested in the crown prince’s hands.
During this time, bin Salman established himself as a highly controversial figure. He eased some of the strict religious rules in the kingdom, allowing women to drive and opening up cinemas, among other measures. But at the same time, he ordered the arrest of numerous royal family members, loyal to bin Nayef, only allowing them to go free if they agreed to give up a significant part of their wealth. Riyadh has also continued its military operation in Yemen under bin Salman, which has been marred by accusations of indiscriminate airstrikes on civilians by the Saudi-led coalition.
It’s also widely believed in Western media that MBS was behind the brutal murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul in 2018. The vocal critic of the current Saudi monarchy was killed and dismembered during his visit to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by what is said to have been a special hit-squad, which arrived in Turkey from the Gulf kingdom.
Aljabri insists that he faced the same fate as Khashoggi, but he managed to escape after one of his former colleagues told him about the threat.
“The warning I received, don’t be in a proximity of any Saudi mission in Canada. Don’t go to the consulate. Don’t go to the embassy. I said ‘Why?’ [They] said, ‘They dismembered the guy, they killed him. You are on the top of the list,’” Aljabri recalled.
He claims that a team of six people, sent by Riyadh, landed at Ottawa Airport in mid-October 2018. However, the agents couldn’t fulfil their task as they ended up being deported after lying to customs officers and carrying suspicious equipment for DNA analysis.
Bin Salman “fears my information,” Aljabri said, adding that he has plenty more damaging secrets about MBS up his sleeve. “I expect to be killed one day because this guy will not rest until he sees me dead,” he said, warning that if MBS’ men eventually get him, a special “death video” revealing those secrets will be instantly made public.
For now, Aljabri has asked journalists to take him at his word, as he’s presented no proof of his claims regarding bin Salman’s threat to assassinate the king or of a Saudi hit-squad being sent to Canada to murder him. The reason behind the timing of the 62-year-old’s interview also remains unclear. CBS said in its report that Aljabri’s interview showed “a measure of his desperation.”
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