Islam - Current Day - "I kill you!"; The Idlib Mess; Female SC Judges Murdered in Kabul; ISIS Growing Caliphate in Philippines; France Closes 9 Muslim Worship Centres

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Frankfurt Airport evacuation sparked by man shouting ‘I will kill you all, Allahu Akbar’ when confronted for not wearing mask

17 Jan 2021 04:22 

FILE PHOTO: A flight passenger walks at Frankfurt Airport in Frankfurt, Germany,

September 21, 2020. © REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski

German police have taken into custody a Slovenian man who refused to wear a mask at Frankfurt Airport and threatened to kill everybody, thus prompting an evacuation of parts of the building and a train station’s closure.

Frankfurt Airport’s Terminal 1, along with its adjacent train station, was shut down on Saturday evening amid a large-scale police operation, involving both state and federal law enforcement. 

It was reported initially that the evacuation was triggered by a piece of abandoned luggage. In an update on Sunday, however, police said that the disruption stems from an encounter between a maskless 38-year-old Slovenian man and patrol officers who confronted him about his lack of protective gear.

The man, who apparently was incensed at the demand, became “aggressive” towards the officers, and said: “I will kill you all, Allahu Akbar,” according to police.

In spite of the obvious danger, how can anyone who has ever seen 'Ahmed, the dead terrorist' keep from bursting out laughing at lunatics like this. 

Taking into account the man’s overall demeanor, the officers took the threat in earnest, and subdued him as he attempted to flee the scene. Footage circulating online appears to show a police officer pointing a gun at somebody lying on the ground inside the terminal.

Amid the frantic chase, the officers apparently lost track of the man’s luggage, which he left behind while trying to escape. “Due to the still unclear location [of the luggage], a large area of ​​departure hall B was cordoned off,” police said, noting that a bomb unit dispatched to comb the scene soon issued the all-clear.

The 38-year-old suspect, who is known to police, has been detained for making threats and resisting officers.

Around the time of the showdown involving the maskless man, police said they received a report of an “armed person” spotted at the terminal. Believing the two incidents might be related, they ordered an additional evacuation, closing off the regional train station as well. After about 2.5 hours of meticulous search, the operation was terminated, with police failing to find any armed individuals. A separate investigation into the alleged sighting of an armed person is underway.

Around 100 police officers were involved in the large-scale effort.

Frankfurt Airport is the fourth busiest in Europe by passenger numbers, and the busiest by cargo traffic.

Obscure Islamist Group Targets Turkish Military in Northwest Syria

By Sirwan Kajjo

January 17, 2021 06:03 PM

FILE - A Turkish military convoy drives through a town in Syria's northwestern Idlib province, Oct. 20, 2020. 

A little known Islamist group said it was behind an attack Saturday that targeted a Turkish military outpost in the province.

WASHINGTON - A small Islamist militant group has claimed responsibility for an attack on Turkish forces in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib.  

 

The Ansar Abu Bakr al-Siddiq Squadron said it was behind the attack Saturday that targeted a Turkish military outpost in the northern countryside of Idlib.   

 

“The sniper platoon of the Abu Bakr al-Siddiq Squadron targeted one of the main bases of the ‘Turkish NATO’ military stationed near the town of Batbo, north of Idlib,” the extremist group said Sunday in a statement published on social media.   

 

Three Turkish soldiers were wounded as a result of the assault, according to local news media. The Turkish government has not commented.    

 

Idlib is the last major stronghold controlled by forces opposed to the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.   

 

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) is the most powerful Islamist group present in Idlib, but other al-Qaida-affiliated groups and Turkish-backed rebels also have a significant presence in the Syrian enclave.  

 

The HTS, formerly known as al-Nusra Front, is considered a terrorist organization by the United States.    

 

As part of a de-escalation agreement with Russia, Turkey has deployed forces in Idlib and set up several observation posts throughout the rebel-held parts of the province.   

 

Russia has been a staunch supporter of the Assad government, while Turkey backs several rebel groups.  

It must be an uncomfortable situation for Turkey to patrol Idlib while they support several terrorist groups operating there. They must protect Russian allies and possibly interfere with anti-government operations as they funnel money and arms to the terrorist groups.

 

New group   

 

Since its founding in August 2020, Ansar Abu Bakr al-Siddiq has claimed responsibility for at least three other attacks on Turkish forces in Idlib.   

 

Experts say the extremist group represents a trend among jihadis in northwest Syria that openly oppose the HTS and Turkey.    

 

“They actually believe that you have to actively fight against the Turkish presence in northwest Syria because they think it’s an apostate occupation of Muslim lands,” said Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi, a Syria researcher at Swansea University in Britain.  

 

Although the group has no allegiance to al-Qaida or the Islamic State terror groups, its leaders promote the establishment of a strict Islamist state in Syria.   

 

“Khayal al-Manhaj is considered as the main theorist of Ansar Abu Bakr al-Siddiq whose works support these trends,” al-Tamimi told VOA.   

 

It is not clear how many fighters are in Ansar Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, but experts believe most of its members have defected from the HTS and other al-Qaida-affiliated groups.   

 

Several other Islamist factions also have emerged in recent months in Idlib in opposition to a new cease-fire deal reached between Turkey and Russia in March 2020. Their attacks have primarily targeted Russian-Turkish joint patrols on the strategic M4 highway.

The question is - who, besides Turkey, is providing the money needed to support these terrorist groups? My guess is Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and western intelligence. No point in seeing a good war come to an end when there is lots of money to be made.

Idlib Province, Syria

US, Afghan officials slam killing of 2 female

Supreme Court judges in Kabul

17 January, 2021

by ANI

Kabul [Afghanistan]: US and Afghan officials on Sunday condemned the killing of two female supreme court judges in Kabul, holding the Taliban movement responsible for the incident.

Earlier in the day, two female judges were reported to have been killed in an armed attack in the Afghan capital. Although no group has yet claimed responsibility, some accuse the Taliban, which just as other radical Islamist groups in the country, adhere to a radical interpretation of Sharia law that prohibits women from working, much less holding government positions. The Taliban's spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid is reported to have denied the group's involvement.

"The United States condemns today's assassinations of female supreme court judges and calls for a prompt investigation. My condolences to the families of the victims and wishes for a speedy recovery to those injured. The Taliban should understand that such actions for which it bears responsibility outrage the world and must cease if peace is to come to Afghanistan," the Embassy's Charge d'Affaires Ross Wilson tweeted.

The sentiment was echoed by the Afghan leadership as well.

"President Ashraf Ghani condemned in the strongest terms the terrorist attack on women judges this morning in Kabul that left two judges martyred and wounded two others. The President said the Taliban and other terrorist groups' continued assassinations and acts of violence against our defenseless citizens are in contradiction with Islamic teachings and the spirits of peace ... The President called on the Taliban to agree to a permanent ceasefire and demonstrate their will for peace in practice," Fatima Murchal, a deputy spokesperson for the president, tweeted.

The Afghan government and Taliban militants continue fighting each other despite the intra-Afghan talks currently ongoing in Qatar's capital of Doha. (ANI/Sputnik)

Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article above are those of the authors' and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of this publishing house. Unless otherwise noted, the author is writing in his/her personal capacity. They are not intended and should not be thought to represent official ideas, attitudes, or policies of any agency or institution.

Group reiterates support for Anti-Terrorism law in Philippines

posted January 17, 2021 at 08:44 pm

by Manila Standard

The group Liga Independencia Pilipinas (LIPI) on Sunday reiterated their support to the Anti-Terrorism Act, which is facing several petitions against it at the Supreme Court.

Jose Antonio “Ka Pep” Goitia, Liga Independencia Pilipinas (LIPI) Secretary General, leads the burning

of an anti-communist banner denouncing the New People’s Army (NPA).

“The Anti-Terrorism Law is of paramount importance to our national security as the nation endured decades of violent extremism perpetrated by the Communist Party of the Philippines, its armed and legal fronts causing the destruction of billions-worth of businesses and properties, killings of innocent people, kidnappings, radicalization of our youth, illegal taxation, and other crimes,” said Jose Antonio “Ka Pep” Goitia, LIPI Secretary General, in a statement.

Goitia also said that Mindanao “is now a mecca of transnational terrorism in Southeast Asia,” that ISIS has claimed the islands of Southern Philippines as its East Asia province, and turned the place “into a bootcamp co-opting locals to join their cause.”

The goal of this Islamist network, he said, “is to establish a hardline, fundamentalist Caliphate in several Southeast Asian countries” that includes Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, the southern Malay province of Thailand and Mindanao.

ISIS was responsible for the siege of Marawi, leaving more than 180 government soldiers dead and thousands injured. The city was reduced to rubble and countless citizens of the city were displaced, Goitia noted.

“Over the years, radical Islamist groups and Islamist separatist forces in the Philippines have carried out over 40 major bombings against civilians and civilian property, mostly in the southern regions of the country around Mindanao, Basilan, Jolo and other nearby islands,” he said.

“Isn’t this enough proof to justify the policy?” the LIPI secretary-general added.

To negate the importance of this landmark law, Goitia said, “is an insult to all Filipinos.”

Various opposition groups had been manufacturing “false narratives in their respective echo chambers, claiming this will escalate human rights abuses such as stifling dissent, prosecute political opponents, and totally disregard individual rights of people,” he said.

LIPI, however, believes the claims against the Anti-Terrorism Act or Republic Act 11479 are “preposterous and unsubstantiated.”

“The law is only being used by the opposition as a tool to undermine the Duterte administration for them to consolidate their power base and plunge this country into an abyss of hate and chaos,” Goitia said.

He noted that the declaration of policy of the law states: “It is the policy of the State to protect life, liberty and property from terrorism, to condemn terrorism as inimical and dangerous to the national security of the country and to welfare of the people, and to make terrorism a crime against humanity and against The Law of Nations. The State shall uphold the basic rights and fundamental liberties of the people as enshrined in the Constitution.”

Section 25 of the ATA adopted the consolidated List of terrorist individuals, groups of persons and organizations or associations under the United Nations Security Council Resolution No. 1373, Goitia said.

It further states the Anti-Terrorism Council or ATC “may designate any of these persons or groups upon finding of probable cause that any are involved in organizing, associating, committing to attempting to commit or conspire in the commission of the acts as defined and penalized under this Act.”

The LIPI official said the law protects the rights of detainees under Section 30, while Section 31 imposes a penalty up to ten years on any enforcement agent or military personnel who violated the rights of persons under their custody.

Even one of the most credible and respected international news agency’s analysis of the law is correct, said Goitia.

“The bill exempts advocacy, protest, dissent, stoppage of work, industrial or mass action, other similar exercises of civil and political rights, which are not intended to cause death or serious physical harm to a person, to endanger a person’s life, or to create a serious risk to public safety,” he said.

“Liga Independencia Pilipinas is a staunch supporter of the Anti-Terrorism Law. From the creation of the bill until it was passed, LIPI had been aggressively promoting the advantages of the law in relation to our national security,” the group said. (JOG)

France closes 9 places of worship under campaign against

Islamic extremism

ANI, PARIS 

Published: Jan 16, 2021, 11.19 PM(IST)

France has closed nine places of worship under the nationwide campaign against Islamic extremism, the country's Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said.

"In line with the orders of the president of the Republic and the prime minister we are taking decisive steps against the Islamist separatism. Out of 18 places of worship under special surveillance nine have been closed upon my request," the minister wrote on his Twitter page on late Friday.

According to the Figaro newspaper, three of the closed facilities were located in the department of Seine-Saint-Denis near Paris.

France has intensified its campaign against the Islamism after the October murder of Samuel Paty, a history teacher who showed cartoons with Prophet Mohammad to his students.

Islam - Current Day - Islamic Terrorists 'Enemies of Allah' in Chechyna; Death Sentence in Cairo; Death Sentence for Youth in Iran; Ahmed The Dead Terrorist in Spain

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‘Enemies of Allah’ – Chechen leader Kadyrov slams ‘knife attackers’ who killed police officer and left another injured

31 Dec 2020 14:49

FILE PHOTO © Sputnik / Sergey Guneev

The leader of Russia’s Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, has struck out at relatives of two men who his administration say were killed during a fatal attack on police officers in the regional capital, Grozny.

Speaking to journalists on Wednesday, the head of the Republic criticized family members of the deceased who had sought to deny their involvement in the incident. “One of our comrades was violently killed and another was wounded,” he said. “The enemies of Allah have committed this act of violence, and still their relatives think that it is acceptable to make irresponsible statements.”

Earlier that day, relatives of the two men demanded the authorities grant them access to their bodies in order to prepare them for burial. A spokesman for those involved, Sarazhdin Sultygov, insisted that “those killed in Grozny are our people. If they really were terrorists, then publish evidence. Surely there would be a video?”

Police say the men were shot dead in the city center on Monday, during an assault on officers that left one official dead and another injured. Both suspects were said to be from the neighboring Republic of Ingushetia, and had moved to Chechnya several years prior.

The majority-Muslim region has been historically known for a series of bloody wars, with a number of separatist leaders agitating for a break away from Russia. However, over the past two decades, the situation has stabilized and Grozny has sought to affirm its ties with Moscow.

Killers of Egypt’s Maadi girl handed down death penalty

Convicts killed the victim as they snatched her bag in a Cairo street

Published:  December 31, 2020 07:16

Samir Salama, Associate Editor, Gulf News

Abu Dhabi: Two Egyptian men were sentenced to death after they were found guilty of dragging a young woman to death following a drive-by theft, a Cairo Criminal Court ruled on Wednesday.

The murder occurred in October (4th story on link) has triggered massive outrage in the nation.

The court, which sought religious opinion from the Egyptian Grand Mufti on executing the two men, also acquitted a third defendant, who was held on charges of aiding and abetting the murderers.

The 24-year-old victim identified as Mariam Mohammed was walking on a street in the Cairo southern quarter of Maadi, where a person sitting next to a driver of a speeding minibus attempted to snatch her bag, the prosecution said, citing eyewitnesses.

The girl clung to her bag as the vehicle sped off, lost her balance, her head crashed into the front of a parked car and she was run over by the minibus of the convicts'.

Two of the men were charged with premeditated murder and forced robbery. The third was charged with complicity for having provided the prime defendants with the minibus, while aware of the crime plan, prosecutors said.

However, the court found that the third man was unaware of the convicts’ plans.

The prosecution said charges were based on testimonies of seven witnesses and confessions of the defendants.

The accused said they had committed the crime with the intention of stealing the victim’s bag, in which they found 85 Egyptian pounds (Dh19.8) and some make-up tools, Egyptian media reported.

Footage retrieved from surveillance cameras at the scene showed that the minibus had passed on the road at high speed.

Police investigations revealed that the offenders’ vehicle had dragged Mohammed, who was returning home from work, for several metres. She worked at a state-owned bank.

U.N. agency condemns Iran's execution of child offender

By Sommer Brokaw

The Iranian flag is shown. File Photo by Mohammad Kheirkhah/UPI | License Photo

Dec. 31 (UPI) -- The United Nations Human Rights Office condemned the execution of an Iranian man Thursday for a crime allegedly committed when he was 16 years old.

Mohammad Hassan Rezaiee was executed in Iran in the early morning even though execution of child offenders is strictly prohibited under international law. The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said the execution was the fourth confirmed for a child offender.

"The UN has repeatedly urged Iran to cease the appalling practice of executing child offenders, but we understand that at least 80 child offenders remain on death row," Shamdasani said in a statement. "The High Commissioner urges Iranian authorities to halt all executions of child offenders and immediately review their cases in line with international human rights law."

Rezaiee, who turned 30 this month, was arrested in 2007 at age 16 in connection with a group fight where a man was fatally stabbed. Human rights groups allege violations of his right to a fair trial and torture.

His conviction was based on "confessions" extracted under torture, his trial was "grossly unfair" and authorities failed to investigate the torture allegations, Amnesty International Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa Diana Eltahawy said in a statement earlier this month.

"Despite his young age, the authorities held him in prolonged solitary confinement, without access to his family and lawyer," Eltahawy's statement said. "They repeatedly tortured him to 'confess,' including by beating him with sticks, kicking and punching him, and whipping him with pipe hoses. In 2008, the trial court relied on his forced 'confessions' to convict and sentence him to death -- even though he retracted his 'confessions' at trial and said they were given under torture."

Shamdasani said that along with the "deeply troubling allegations" Rezaiee was forced to confess through torture, there were numerous other serious concerns about violations of his fair trial rights, and failure to pursue legal avenues to grant Rezaiee a retrial.

On Wednesday, United Nations experts urged members states to condemn a separate violation of international law in the United States. The U.N. experts said President Donald Trump's pardon last week of four former Blackwater Worldwide military contractors convicted of killing 14 Iraqis in 2007 violates U.S. obligations under international law. They urged member states to condemn the presidential action.

Of course, the entire operation in Iraq was a war crime, so, how could the President condemn only a few, as evil as they probably were. They were probably being paid by the Pentagon.

This, unfortunately, reminds me of Ahmed, the Dead Terrorist...

Spain: On Christmas Day, knife-wielding Muslim migrant screams

‘Allahu akbar, I’m going to kill you’ at passersby

DEC 31, 2020 2:00 

“Police investigate a Christmas day street event as jihadism,” translated from “La Policía investiga como yihadismo un suceso callejero del día de Navidad,” by Óscar López-Fonseca, El País, December 28, 2020 (thanks to Breitbart):

The National Police are investigating as a frustrated jihadist attack a street event that occurred on Christmas day in Castellón de la Plana, in which a Moroccan citizen was arrested. Armed with a machete and shouting “Allahu Akbar (Allah is the greatest ), I’m going to kill you,” he threatened the people he passed in the street. The detainee has been identified as Mohamed Q., 45 years old and cousin of Mhammed Q., a jihadist who resided in Castellón before moving to Syria to fight in the ranks of the Islamic State. The latter was arrested a year ago in Istanbul when he was trying to return to Europe and is currently imprisoned in Morocco.

The arrest took place around 4:00 p.m. on December 25, after the police received a notice that an individual was walking through the streets of Castellón with a knife in his hand and threatening to kill the people who crossed him, according to what the Ministry of the Interior said in a notice on Monday. Upon arriving at the scene, two uniformed Citizen Security agents encountered Mohamed Q., who, armed with a 35-centimeter machete, attacked them. The two policemen, who suffered bruises, were able to immobilize him and proceed to arrest him. In addition to the machete, the arrested man carried a knife.

The characteristics of the event led the National Police General Information Commissary, which specializes in the fight against terrorism, to dispatch a team that day from Madrid to investigate the events under the direction of the National High Court, the judicial body in charge of dealing with cases of jihadism. Police sources point out that the incident bears similarities to recent attacks in other European countries, including the attacks in October in a church in Nice (France) in which three people were killed with a knife, and in the German city of Dresden, where an individual stabbed two tourists, one of whom died. Switzerland has also classified as a terrorist attack the stabbing, at the end of November, of two people in a supermarket in Lugano by a woman.

The first investigations revealed that Mohamed Q., who had legal residence in Spain, had a lengthy criminal record, including a crime of sexual abuse of minors, but also that he was a relative of a Foreign Terrorist Fighter (Foreign Terrorist Combatant) who moved to Syria to fight in ISIS. The latter is Mhammed Q., a Moroccan citizen who had lived in Castellón before moving to conflict zones, and who was arrested by the Turkish police in January of this year in Istanbul when he tried to return to Europe together with other jihadists. Mhammed Q. was deported by the Ankara authorities a few days later to Morocco, where he is currently imprisoned, according to sources close to the investigation.

In the register of Mohamed Q.’s home in Castellón, the agents located two mobile phones, whose content is being analyzed. The judge of the National Court Santiago Pedraz ordered this Monday his admission to prison, accused of a crime of terrorist threats, as confirmed by judicial sources. With this arrest, there are already 37 alleged jihadists arrested in Spain in 2020, according to statistics from the Interior Ministry.