Ukraine shot down passenger plane with western-made missile

 

Il76 with 65 Ukrainian Prisoners being repatriated,

was shot down by Ukraine with Western missile

Anneke de Laaf

So it was Kiev, as initially stated by Ukrainian media. Now the question is, was it American or French? 🤔

MOSCOW, January 31 – RIA Novosti. An examination of the destructive elements in the skin of the Il-76 preliminary confirms that the plane was shot down by a Western-made anti-aircraft missile system, a representative of the emergency services told RIA Novosti.

“A preliminary examination of the destructive elements found on the plane shows that the missile belongs to a Western-made air defense system,” the agency’s interlocutor said.

However, he did not specify other details.

On January 24 , the Ukrainian Armed Forces shot down a Russian military transport aircraft Il-76 over the Belgorod region , in which 65 Ukrainian prisoners were being transported for exchange. All of them, as well as three accompanying officers of the Russian Armed Forces and six crew members died.

President Vladimir Putin called the incident a crime of Kyiv against its own citizens. According to him, the Ukrainian side knew that there were Ukrainian Armed Forces prisoners of war on board the Il-76, and nevertheless struck - either through negligence or on purpose. Judging by the evidence, the plane was shot down by an air defense system made in France or the USA , the head of state specified.

Ukrainian media first wrote that the Il-76 was shot down by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, but after information about prisoners on board appeared, they removed this information from their websites. Later, Kyiv indirectly admitted that it shot down the plane: the Main Intelligence Directorate complained that Russia allegedly did not notify about its flight. In addition, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, after reports of a hit on the aircraft, stated that it would continue to take measures to destroy delivery vehicles in the Belgorod-Kharkov direction.

Officially, Ukraine declares the need for an international investigation, but unofficially the local media launched a thesis that the Il-76 allegedly carried missiles for the S-300 systems. Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that an international investigation is “definitely necessary” if it focuses on the crimes of the Kiev regime.

In turn, the Foreign Ministry emphasized that the crash of the Il-76 “raises a big question about the possibilities of at least some kind of agreement” with Kiev .

'American Taliban' Lindh's Release Triggers Outrage, with More 'War on Terror' Prisoners Nearing Freedom

Jonathon Gatehouse · CBC News 

A police file photo made available in 2002 of the 'American Taliban' John Walker Lindh, and a photo of him from the

records of the Arabia Hassani Kalan Surani Bannu madrassa religious school in Pakistan's northwestern city of Bannu. 

Lindh is an American captured with the Taliban in November 2001, weeks after the U.S. launched the war in Afghanistan.

(Tariq Mahmood/AFP/Getty Images)

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Forever prisoners

The U.S. "war on terror" continues, but its first American target is now a free man.

John Walker Lindh, a Muslim convert from California who travelled to Afghanistan as a teenager to join the Taliban, was released from an Indiana prison this morning.

The now 38-year-old pleaded guilty in 2002 to aiding the group and carrying weapons. He served 17 years of his 20-year sentence, and will now spend the next three years on parole after his good behaviour qualified him for early release.

U.S. born John Walker Lindh is led away by a Northern Alliance soldier near Fort Qali-i-Janghi prison on Dec. 1, 2001.

Lindh, a 21-year-old Californian, converted to Islam as a teenager. (Reuters)

Lindh has always maintained that he didn't support terrorism and never fought against his fellow Americans. But all that time in jail doesn't seem to have changed his radical views, and based on his recent letters he now appears to have sympathy for the Islamic State.

Many are outraged at Lindh's release.

Mike Pompeo, the U.S. Secretary of State, called it "unexplainable and unconscionable" during an appearance on Fox News this morning, saying that Lindh is still "threatening the United States of America, still committed to the very jihad that he engaged in."

60 to be released in next 5 years

But convicted terrorists gaining their liberty is something Americans are going to have to get used to. U.S. jails currently hold more than 450 prisoners who have been convicted of terrorism-related offences since the 9/11 attacks. And at least 60 of those convicts are scheduled to be released between now and 2024.

A report published last fall, titled When Terrorists Come Home, noted that most of these convicts will still have long lives ahead of them when they re-enter society, having been on average just 27 when sentenced.

Some will likely return to their ways — intelligence officials have reported that 17 per cent of prisoners released from Cuba's Guantanamo Bay are suspected or known to have rejoined terror organizations.

People walk past a guard tower outside the fencing of Camp 5 at the U.S. Military's Prison in Guantanamo Bay,

Cuba, in January 2017. (Thomas Watkins/AFP/Getty Images)

No plan to deradicalize

Still, the United States has made almost no efforts to "deradicalize" its homegrown jihadists, having failed to create any sort of rehabilitation or re-entry program. And the problem of what to do with them will stretch on for years, with dozens of Americans still facing trial for allegedly trying to join or help the Islamic State.

Then there are the prisoners who remain in legal limbo. As of last December, 40 men remain incarcerated at the U.S. military detention camp in Guantanamo Bay. Many have been there for 15 years or more.

Only one of them — Ali Hamza al Bahul, a Yemeni man who served as Osama bin Laden's media secretary in Afghanistan —  has been convicted of a crime. Eight are still before tribunals, including Khalid Sheik Mohammed and five others who face the death penalty for their alleged involvement in the 9/11 attacks.

Five men have been cleared for release, but have yet to return to their homelands. Their prospects are growing dimmer since Donald Trump took office and vowed to keep the jail open, and add more prisoners who have links to terrorism.

The vast majority of Gitmo detainees — 26 men hailing from 11 different nations — are now classified as "forever prisoners", destined to be held indefinitely without charge or trial.

The oldest among them, a Pakistani businessman named Saifullah Parachu, is now 71, having been held for 15 years on suspicion of aiding al-Qaeda. (His eldest son, Uzair, is serving a 30-year sentence in a New York jail for providing material support for terrorism.)

With orders now in place to keep Guantanamo open through 2043, authorities have been trying to prepare for the long haul.

Last last month, Rear Adm. John C. Ring, the then commander of the camp, told visiting reporters about plans to make cells wheelchair-accessible, add specialized medical care like dialysis, and build an $88.5 million US hospice centre.

"Unless America's policy changes, at some point we'll be doing some sort of end-of-life care here," he explained.

He was relieved of his duties the day after the reports appeared, just seven weeks before he was scheduled to be rotated out of the job. No reason was given.

The solution

This is a huge problem, not just for America but also for Europe where terrorists who directly attacked, or facilitated attacks, on Europe are beginning to come up for release. What to do?

The answer is horrendous but simple. Radicalized Muslims must be declared mentally ill, just as Syrian psychiatrist Dr. Wafa Sultan has said:

“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.” 

Radicalized Muslims must be declared mentally ill and a danger to a healthy society, and therefore, should be locked away until such time as they renounce Islam completely, or until they die. 

They must be segregated from non-radicalized prisoners completely. And programs to deradicalize them must be developed and applied.

It is madness to let these people go free into society again!

Interpol Chief Warns Europe of ISIS 2.0 When Jihadists Serving Minor Sentences Leave Jail

FILE PHOTO © REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki

Europe should brace itself for a new wave of terrorist attacks when Islamic State supporters serving short sentences begin to emerge from jail in a few years, the head of Interpol has warned.

The next big terrorist threat in Europe could come from IS supporters currently in prison for minor terrorism-related crimes, according to Interpol Secretary-General Jurgen Stock. As they leave jail in the coming years, their radical beliefs are likely to trigger a relapse.

“In many parts of the world, in Europe but also Asia, this generation of early supporters will be released in the next couple of years, and they may again be part of a terrorist group or those supporting terrorist activities,” Stock said, estimating that the average jailed jihadist is serving a sentence of between two and five years.

“We could soon be facing a second wave of other Islamic State-linked or radicalized individuals that you might call ISIS 2.0,” he told the Anglo-American Press Association, as cited by the Guardian.

Possible members of IS sleeper cells aside, there is an ongoing threat of returning terrorists fleeing Iraq and Syria since the demise of Islamic State. Those disenchanted fighters with nothing to lose have become a major issue for local law enforcement.

“The security agencies are concerned about when they are coming back because most of them are battle hardened, they are trained, and they are internationally connected,” Stock said, noting that going to Syria and Iraq in the first place “was a huge opportunity to network on an international level.”

“These contacts still exist and we shouldn’t forget that,” he said.

It’s a guessing game as to where the retreating jihadists are going to flee when they’re squeezed out of Syria and Iraq. One of the probable destinations is southeast Asia or Africa, where there are still terrorist hotbeds. Another option for the jihadists is to keep a low profile and try to sneak back into Europe.

“With ISIS defeated geographically, these individuals will either try to move to other areas of conflict in southeast Asia, or Africa, or remain in Europe to carry out attacks,” Stock said.

Interpol has some 45,000 suspected foreign fighters in its database but it’s a Sisyphean task for local police to track them down, as many have perished on the battlefield, some are holed up in Syria or Iraq, and the whereabouts of many others is unknown.

Intelligence agencies in many countries, including in Europe, which has seen a spate of Islamist-linked terrorist attacks in recent years, have sounded the alarm over the threat posed by returnees.

Germany’s intelligence chief has warned that the children of jihadists coming from war zones can grow up to follow in the footsteps of their parents. Hans-Georg Maassen called for both widows and children of IS fighters to be treated as jihadists, arguing that they pose a considerable security risk after being brainwashed by IS propaganda.

The same concerns were echoed by the authorities in France, which has welcomed at least 300 jihadist militants back from Syria and Iraq. There have been calls for French citizens arrested on terrorist charges in Syria and Iraq to be tried there rather than brought back to France.

The solution that will never be implemented

The only credible way of dealing with jihadists is to segregate them from the rest of society. Their goals are to kill, destroy, disrupt, and cause terror in society, and it will be impossible to prevent that from happening without segregation.

Segregation can only come through the declaration of radical Muslims as clinically insane. As Dr. Wafa Sultan, a Syrian psychiatrist wrote: “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.” 

Consequently, anyone espousing jihadist philosophy must be declared insane and locked up until he/she renounces radical Islam. It's pretty simple; but no politically correct government will ever have the courage to implement it.

Radicalized French Prisoners Suspected of Plotting Attacks Days Before Release

The New Normal - French style

Apparently, both men were radicalized in prison. It makes a good case for segregating radicalized Muslims from the rest of the prison population.

The entrance of the prison of Fresnes, near Paris. © Patrick Kovarik / AFP

French police have charged two radicalized prison inmates with plotting terrorist attacks – within days of their scheduled release.

In the first such case in the history of French anti-terrorism the men, who were radicalized behind bars while serving time for non-terrorist crimes, are due to be released from Fresnes prison, just south of Paris, next week.

French TV news station LCI report that the men had plotted attacks against numerous targets including prison guards while they were in prison and police officers at a police station after they were released.

French intelligence services had been watching the two men for several months.

Cameroonian Charles-Henri M. was reportedly the mastermind behind the potential attacks. The 28 year old was an Islamic State sympathizer. His accomplice was 22-year-old Frenchman Maxime O, who is also a radical Islamist.

France 24 reports that the pair were also planning to use methods including hostage-taking and gun attacks.

The investigation began last December after a phone containing details of a plot to murder “disbelievers” was found in Charles-Henri’s cell.  

Charles-Henri M. was incarcerated for robbery in 2013 and was due to be released on Tuesday. Maxime O. was jailed for attempted murder in 2014, he was due to get out next week.

While being questioned by police LCI report that Charles-Henri praised his “brothers” who carried out the terrorist attack in the Bataclan theatre in November 2015. He also admitted to plotting attacks.

France has been in a state of emergency since 130 people were killed in terrorist attacks, one of which targeted the Bataclan, in Paris in November 2015. The country has suffered several smaller attacks since then.

Fresnes, FR

‘It’s No Paradise’: Switzerland Funds Nigerian TV Series to Discourage Migrants from Coming

The filming of The Missing Steps in Bern, Switzerland. (Still from Swissinfo video)

Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) is spending $450,000 on filming a TV series with African actors showing the perils of living in Europe illegally, which will be shown on Nigerian television.

“We have seen that a lack of information or false information is one of the main problems that leads to illegal migration,” SEM spokesman Lukas Rieder told The Local. “Human traffickers tell potential migrants that Switzerland is paradise, it's El Dorado. But that's not true. We want to provide objective information about the dangers of passage, and the dangers of living in Switzerland without a permit, for example.”

The series, called Missing Steps, helmed by well-known Nigerian actor and director Charles Okafor, tells the story of a 20-something university-educated protagonist. He gets into debt and flees to the landlocked European state to solve his financial problems, with the help of traffickers.

But he is denied asylum by the Swiss authorities, and deported to his own country – poor, isolated and unhappy.

“He pays a high price,” summed up Okafor in an interview with national broadcaster Swissinfo.

Okafor is convinced that the series – which has 13 episodes, lasting 45 minutes each and costs less than an episode of many Western-made soaps, not to mention big-budget hits like Game of Thrones – is good value for money, particularly if it can be shown across multiple African states.

“Television globally is a very powerful medium, because it has the capacity to reach a vast mass – a critical mass of people… even hundreds of millions of viewers,” said Okafor.

But experts have questioned how true-to-life and persuasive a drama with such a didactic and political purpose can be.

On the one hand, asylum is genuinely hard to obtain in Switzerland. Last year over 27,000 people applied, with less than 1,300 cases processed. A total of 4.1 percent of all applicants were Nigerians. Only three people were granted asylum and six others received temporary admissions.

Deportation is less straightforward. Nationwide statistics are not collated, but despite several public referenda approving a tighter process, it remains an unresolved issue – even two-thirds of the country’s prison population are foreigners, whether with or without papers, who are not facing immediate deportation.

“Most people are fully aware of the risks of migration, thanks to friends and family,” Jill Alpes, a migration expert, told Swissinfo. “Not only do they not get any new information, but people choose carefully which sources to trust.”

Meanwhile, Amnesty International says that Switzerland, which signed a migration regulation agreement with Nigeria in 2011, should strive to reduce the incentive for asylum seekers to come, as opposed to dealing with them once they cross its borders.

“Switzerland should work to improve the human rights situation and the allocation of resources in Nigeria. They are fundamental aspects if we want people to have the opportunity to stay in their own country,” the NGO’s Denise Graf told Swissinfo.

Switzerland is far from being the only European nation trying to discourage asylum seekers from trying to go to Europe through the media. Germany, Italy and Australia have also produced videos with messages aimed at potential migrants. Some also tried ad campaigns in countries like Afghanistan to warn people there against dealing with traffickers.

Switzerland and Nigeria

International Justice Mission Assists in Rescuing 155 Slaves

SLAVERY RESCUE REVEALS STENCH IN INDIA’S INCENSE INDUSTRY

International Justice Mission
www.ijm.ca/blogs/
IJM Site Administrator
BANGALORE, INDIA, 

One-hundred-and-fifty-five people who were held as forced labour slaves in incense factories for up to three years are now free. Families were separated and trafficked from as far away as Nepal, and they were kept under 24-hour surveillance with guard dogs at night.

"We suffered here worse than convicts in jail,” a 21-year-old labourer from the northeastern state of Assam said. "When I arrived here the owner took away my phone and wallet. He kept telling us that he will pay us before we leave to Assam. But when I told him I want to leave, he beat me up and threatened me. I have not stepped out or been in touch with my family since I came here. I have been waiting to somehow escape but there was no way.”

One Rescue Leads to the Next

The back-to-back rescue operations on May 28 began when IJM received a call from a police officer, a Sub Inspector of Bangalore Urban. The officer had been trained by IJM on forced labour slavery, and he called IJM for technical assistance with a planned operation at one incense factory. IJM mobilized a team to meet the police and local officials at the factory right away.

After the rescue, each man shared about a harsh life of slavery and imprisonment. The 107 laborers were trafficked more than 800 miles to Bangalore from Nepal and far away states including Assam, Jharkhand and West Bengal. They were forced to work seven days a week from 6am until 2am, some having to handle dangerous chemicals. The labourers also reported physical abuse by the owner, and were prohibited from leaving the factory even when in need of medical attention. All 107 people shared a single room with one toilet.

As the man shared about the harsh conditions in the factory, two said their brothers were being held in a similar factory in the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu. Miraculously, there were two IJM social workers close to this exact location in Tamil Nadu. IJM worked quickly to inform the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit and local officials, and by 7:30pm were ready to attempt the rescue.

A Discovery in the Dark

A power cut in the village meant it was pitch dark, and the rescue team struggled to locate the factory. When they finally arrived, it appeared deserted. But half-eaten food still warm on the plates suggested the slaves had been rushed away in a hurry. It seemed that the factory owners knew rescue was on its way.

"As we searched the facility I was totally flabbergasted, shocked, amazed. There was no electricity; the room was pitch dark. I was using the flashlight on my phone, searching the factory but finding nothing. Eventually, in one of the smaller rooms, I saw a bunch of people crammed together in the dark,” said Sam George, IJM Director of Aftercare.

"As I spoke to them, Praisey, our social worker, yelled to me from another room, "Sam! You need to see this!" I rushed to where she was and was shocked again. Using my phone light through the doorway all I could see was hundreds of eyes—like little animals in the dark—reflecting back at me. I was so confused. As my eyes adjusted I realized they were people!”

Forty-eight forced labourers were rescued from this second factory in Tamil Nadu and are expected to return home in the coming days.

Meanwhile in Bangalore, the IJM team focused on aftercare for the labourers. The 107 labourers have received release certificates from the government that ensure their freedom. They will return home next week.

The case against the suspects continues. The owner of the Bangalore incense factory was arrested, along with one trafficker and three employees. All are being held in custody under Indian Penal Code section 370 and the Bonded Labour System Abolition Act.

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