This Week's Global Terrorist Stories - 20-6 - 3 Stans; Russia; London; Singapore; Algeria; Turkey

US military confirms 2 troops killed & 6 injured in Afghanistan by ‘individual in Afghan uniform’

FILE PHOTO: US troops in Afghanistan ©  Reuters / Goran Tomasevic

At least two US service members were killed and six others injured after an individual in “Afghan uniform” armed with a machine gun opened fire on a joint patrol in Afghanistan, the US military has confirmed.

The incident took place in Nangarhar province earlier on Saturday as a combined US and Afghan force was returning from a "key-leader engagement," a spokesman for US forces in Afghanistan said in a late-night statement.

The wounded service members are receiving medical treatment at a US facility, Colonel Sonny Leggett added, sharing no details of their condition.

We are still collecting information and the cause or motive behind the attack is unknown at this time

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but given the uniform, there’s a possibility it was an insider "green-on-blue" attack. In addition, both the Taliban and affiliates of Islamic State terrorists are active in Eastern Nangarhar province.

Nangarhar Prov., Afghanistan

Ethnic clashes in Kazakhstan leave 8 dead

By Danielle Haynes

A house lies in ruins in the village of Blas-Batyr after ethnic clashes between Kazakhs and Dungans in Kazakhstan on Saturday. Photo by Igor Kovalenko/EPA-EFE

(UPI) -- Ethnic violence in southern Kazakhstan left at least eight people dead and dozens others injured, local officials said.

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said local police and the national guard brought the violence under control Friday.

Ethnic Kazakhs fought with the Dungan, a minority group of Muslims originally from China. Those involved set fire to houses and overturned cars. BBC News reported about 30 houses and 15 commercial properties were destroyed during the violence.

RFE/RL reported the clashes sent hundreds of people fleeing across the border to Kyrgyzstan. Some sought medical care in the neighboring country.

Some Kazakh witnesses said there had been long-standing feuds between the two groups, especially in the town of Masanchi, where Dungan families control much of the businesses.

Interior Minister Erlan Turghymbaev said police arrested at least 47 people.

"It was scary. [I was worried] about the [safety] of my family," Kharsan Subakhunov, a truck driver who fled to Kyrgyzstan told RFE-RL. "We stood guard to defend them ... Someone had been spreading fake news -- people had been duped [into believing them], and innocent people ended up suffering."

Tokayev said he ordered security forces to target people spreading hate speech and "provocative rumors and disinformation."

The attacks were believed to be in the vicinity of Almaty, on the southern border

6 dead, 12 injured in Kabul suicide bombing

By Clyde Hughes

Afghan security forces carry a damaged vehicle from the site of a suicide attack that targeted the entrance gate
of Marshal Fahim Military Academy in Kabul, Afghanistan Tuesday. Photo by Hedayatullah Amid/EPA-EFE

(UPI) -- At least six people died and 12 others were injured in a suicide bomb attack outside of a military academy in Kabul Tuesday morning, Afghanistan's Ministry of the Interior said.

The suspected suicide bomber detonated the device while the employees and cadets were entering the Marshal Fahim Military Academy building. Early reports said that at least four of the dead were military personnel.

No group so far has claimed responsibility for the bombing. The Islamic State has targeted the same military academy in the past.

The United States and the Taliban have been in peace talks for months, coincided with a drop off in violence over that time. Military operations had also slowed fighting conducted by the Islamic State.

Those talks were postponed in December by U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad after the Taliban attacked a U.S. military base in Bagram.

No one took responsibility for a previous attack in November when 13 people were killed and 20 injured.

Russian military court convicts 7 anti-fascists
of terrorism in very suspect trial

By Sommer Brokaw

General view of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) in Moscow, Russia.

File Photo by Sergei Ilnitsky/EPA

(UPI) -- A Russian military court Monday convicted seven young anti-fascist and anarchist men on terrorism charges an international human rights group said were fabricated.

The seven men standing trial in Penza are among 11 the Federal Security Service (FSB) accused in 2017 of planning bomb attacks at the 2018 World Cup soccer tournament in Russia and other attacks leading up to the 2018 presidential election. Four other defendants are still awaiting a verdict from a St. Petersburg military court.

Defendants convicted on terrorism charges, ranging in age from 23 to 31, included Dmitry Pchelintsev, Arman Sagynbaev, Vasily Kuskov, Mikhail Kulkov, Maxim Ivankin, Andrey Chernov and Ilya Shakursky.

They were enthusiasts of airsoft, a game similar to pinball. The FSB, a successor agency to the KGB, said the games were a form of training for the men they accused of organizing a terrorist group called "Network."

Investigators said Pchelinstev and Shakursky were leaders of a group accused of terrorism-related attacks, and they received the longest sentences of 18 and 16 years respectively, in maximum security, with overall prison sentences ranging from six to 18 years.

Prior to the verdict, Amnesty International said in a statement that the charges were made up to silence dissent.

"These terror charges are a figment of the Russian security services' imagination that was fabricated in an attempt to silence these activists," Natalia Prilutskaya, Amnesty International Russia's researcher, said in the statement. "The trial has been a sham -- the men say their confessions were extracted by torture and the so-called evidence contradicted by the facts."

Prilutskaya added that the terrorist group was nonexistent.

"It is clear from the trial that no criminal organization called 'Network' has ever existed," she said. "What has probably existed is a loose group of young like-minded people interested in playing airsoft. There is no evidence linking them to terrorism-related activities."

"This case is the latest politically-motivated abuse of the justice system to target young people," she added. "The allegations of torture and ill-treatment must be investigated, the men must be released, and the Russian government must stop resorting to fabricating criminal charges to silence all dissent."

Pakistan court sentences accused terrorist who masterminded the Mumbai massacre

By Don Jacobson

Hafiz Saeed, the alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack that killed 166 people, has

been slapped with a prison sentence of more than five years in Pakistan in a terrorism financing case.

File photo by Rahat Dar/EPA-EFE

Feb. 12 (UPI) -- Hafiz Saeed, the alleged mastermind behind the 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai that killed more than 165 people, was sentenced Wednesday to more than five years in jail by a Pakistan anti-terror court.

The presiding judge in the Lahore court handed down a prison term of five years and six months to Saaed and an associate in a terrorism financing case unrelated to the Mumbai attack, his lawyer said.

That works out to 12 days for each person killed in the attack. Shows you how seriously Pakistan is tackling terrorism.

Saeed, 69, is the founder of the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which has blamed by India and the United States for the deadly 2008 incident. Both have designated him as a terrorist and had long advocated for his arrest.

He had escaped punishment in Pakistan, however, until July 2019, when he was arrested by the Counter-Terrorism Department of the Punjab Police near Lahore. He and more than a dozen accomplices were charged with financing terrorism in two separate cases.

Saeed had pleaded not guilty and claimed the Pakistan government was being pressured by India and the United States to file "false" cases against him.

The sentencing came shortly before the international Financial Action Task Force watchdog group was to meet in Paris.

Pakistan is seeking to avoid being blacklisted by the task force as a country that tolerates financing for terrorism, a designation that would result in its isolation from the international banking system and a strict regime of checks and safeguards.

North London man published terrorism-related material on an extremist website

One man from North London and another from Rochdale appeared in court

My London

Mohammed Abdul Ahad and Muhammad Abdur Raheem Kamali (Image: Met Police)

A north London man has been sentenced for his part in publishing terrorism-related material on an extremist website.

Working together, the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command (CTC), Counter Terrorism Police North-East (CTPNE) and North-West (CTPNW) disrupted an Islamist propaganda website for Daesh supporters.

The team brought to justice its two main administrators and contributors, 38-year-old, Mohammed Abdul Ahad, from north London, and 31-year-old, Muhammad Abdur Raheem Kamali, from Rochdale, Manchester.

Ahad and Kamali recorded and transcribed extremist speeches they then typed and edited them to be uploaded to the website. A significant number of these speeches glorified terrorist organisations, such as Al-Qaeda and Daesh, and encouraged both the support and act of terrorism.

The pair came to the attention of police in 2016, when CTPNE investigated a 20-year-old woman who shared terrorism-related documents on the website and on a linked Facebook page. She was convicted in 2017 for dissemination of a terrorist publication.

During this investigation, it was discovered Ahad and Kamali were administrators who had edited and published a number of these and other documents on the website.

The investigations into the two men meant both were simultaneously arrested on March 1, 2017 on suspicion of terrorism offences in a coordinated operation.

They were interviewed and bailed pending further enquiries. A search of their home addresses recovered a number of digital media devices which identified that Ahad and Kamali had been the website administrators.

On June 21, 2018, Ahad was further arrested for possession of an article from a terrorism propaganda magazine which gave instructions on how to assemble an AK47 automatic rifle. Again he gave a no-comment interview and was released on bail. Then on July 10, 2018, Ahad was charged with four counts of dissemination of a terrorist publication, contrary to Section 2 of the Terrorism Act (TACT) 2006 and one count of possession of a document or record likely to be of use to a terrorist, contrary to Section 58 of the TACT 2000.

On August 9, 2018, Kamali was charged with seven counts of dissemination of a terrorist publication, contrary to Section 2 of the TACT 2006.

Following a trial, Ahad was convicted on December 10, 2019 on all the counts of terrorism for which he was charged. Kamali was convicted on the same day of four counts of dissemination of terrorist publications. The jury did not reach a verdict in relation to the remaining three counts.

Ahad was today (Wednesday, February 12) sentenced at the Old Bailey to four-and-a-half years’ imprisonment for the charges of dissemination of a terrorist publication and three years’ imprisonment for possession of a document or record likely to be of use to a terrorist, to run concurrently - making a total of four-and-a-half-years’ imprisonment. Once he is released, he must serve a further year on licence and will be subject to a 10-year Part 4 Notification Requirements Order, meaning he must notify the police of particular changes in his circumstances.

Kamali was sentenced to four-and-a-half years’ imprisonment in total for the four counts of dissemination of a terrorist publication of which he was found guilty. He must then serve a further 12 months on licence. He is also subject to a 10 year Part 4 Notification Requirements Order.

The judge ordered that the remaining three counts on which the jury did not return a verdict should remain on file.

So, they will both be out next year and back in business. Radical Muslims need to be separated from sane western societies, permanently.

Two Indonesian maids jailed for terrorism

financing offences in Singapore

Shaffiq Alkhatib, Court Correspondent 
Straits Times

Two Indonesian maids were jailed yesterday after pleading guilty to terrorism financing offences.

The separate court cases, under the Terrorism (Suppression of Financing) Act, involved Turmini, 31, and Retno Hernayani, 37.

Turmini was sentenced to three years and nine months in jail for her role in remitting cash totalling $1,216.73 to a man in Indonesia who supported the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group.

Retno's jail term is 11/2 years. She had collected $100 in donations from her friends in Singapore and added $40 from her own pocket before remitting the monies to her fiance, Fikri Zulfikar, a known supporter of terrorist entities.

TURMINI'S CASE
Turmini, who goes by one name, is from a village in Cilacap in Central Java and arrived in Singapore in 2012 to be a domestic worker.

Yesterday, Deputy Public Prosecutor Nicholas Khoo told District Judge Christopher Tan that the $1,216.73 she had donated for terrorism financing is so far the largest amount before the courts.

The donations were made through her unsuspecting employer who was duped into remitting the monies into a bank account belonging to a man called Edi Siswanto, who supported ISIS and its Indonesia-based affiliated group, the Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD). The employer had thought it was a joint bank account belonging to Turmini's mother and brother.

DPP Khoo said cash was remitted on five occasions, "which was the most number of occasions any offender has donated to terrorism".

The maid pleaded guilty to three charges involving more than $800. Two similar charges linked to the remaining amount were considered during sentencing.

The court heard from DPP Tan Hsiao Tien that Turmini met Edi, whom she also knew as "Zubair", in 2018 via Facebook. He was a member of a purported religious charity called Aseer Cruee Centre (ACC) and told her that if she wanted to go to heaven, she must support organisations like ISIS and JAD that were "trying to uphold Islamic law".

Later that year, she befriended on Facebook one Rozaliany Rozz who asked her to download messaging app Telegram to learn about ISIS.

Turmini was exposed to many articles on ISIS and JAD, DPP Tan said. From 2018 until the middle of last year, she chatted with Edi almost daily on WhatsApp and their conversation included ISIS matters.

As part of an arrangement, the court heard, Turmini's entire salary was held by her employer for safekeeping. Her employer would help her remit money to her family whenever she needed to do it.

On three occasions, between September 2018 and January last year, Turmini asked her boss to remit cash to Edi's bank account. It was not mentioned in court how her offences came to light but she was arrested last Aug 22.

Her lawyer Mohamed Muzammil Mohamed asked for a one-year jail term, saying Turmini had been "easily influenced" to support the terrorist groups owing to her "shallow knowledge and exposure to the real teachings of the Islamic religion".

He also told Judge Tan that after serving her sentence, she plans to enrol herself in a mainstream religious school in Indonesia to "learn more about the true teachings of the religion".

RETNO'S CASE
Retno, who is from a village in Lampung, Sumatra, came to work in Singapore in 2006.

Yesterday, she pleaded guilty to two charges .

In 2012, she befriended a fellow Indonesian called Tuning Ambarwati while on an MRT train.

Two years later, she found out about ISIS after reading Tuning's Facebook posts on the group.

In 2018, she developed an interest in ISIS and in April that year, Tuning introduced her to Fikri, an ISIS sympathiser who wanted to join the terror group in Syria.

Fikri became her fiance and she wanted to go with him to Syria.

On March 10 last year, she met three other Indonesian maids in Paya Lebar. The trio, all aged 33, were Anindia Afiyantari, Yulistika and Nurhasanah.

During the meeting, the women agreed to donate to ACC to help the families of JAD members who had died or were in prison. They also wanted to support JAD's activities, which included violent causes.

All contributed cash and Retno remitted the monies to Fikri in Indonesia. She was arrested on Aug 20 last year.

The case involving Anindia is pending while Tuning, Yulistika and Nurhasanah left Singapore last year before investigations started.

For each charge under the Terrorism (Suppression of Financing) Act, offenders can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined up to $500,000.

Seems like a modest start, but, it's a start.

Egypt condemns deadly terrorist attack on

border army barracks in Algeria

CAIRO, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Egypt condemned on Wednesday a recent terrorist attack that targeted an Algerian army barracks near its border with Mali and left one soldier dead.

In a statement, the Egyptian foreign ministry expressed Cairo's solidarity with the Algerian people and government, extending condolences to the family of the deceased soldier.

The ministry also highlighted Egypt's rejection of terrorism and extremism of all forms.

On Feb. 9, a bomb-laden car raced to a military barracks in the Algerian town of Timiaouine before exploding at the entrance, killing a soldier.

In 2019, the Algerian army killed 15 terrorists and arrested 25 others, while 44 surrendered to authorities.

The North African nation deployed tens of thousands of troops along the border with Mali and Libya to thwart intrusion of terrorists and arms.

Turkish prosecutor indicts Assyrian priest

on terrorism charges

By SCF - February 12, 2020

A Turkish prosecutor has drafted an indictment against Sefer (Aho) Bileçen, an Assyrian priest who was arrested and released pending trial in January, charging him with membership in a terrorist group, the Gazete Karınca news website reported.

The Assyrian Church is called the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East.

The indictment included accusations based on an informant’s testimony and a 2018 gendarmerie report claiming that Bileçen’s monastery was visited by alleged members of terrorist groups.

During his four days under arrest in January, Bileçen had been questioned with regard to allegations.

While he has not denied claims that he offered food to the militants, he insisted that he only did it as a requirement of his faith, and not by a motivation to aid the group.

The prosecutor’s indictment on the other hand pointed out that the priest did not report the militants to law enforcement, asserting that his statement makes it clear he was aware of the visitors’ identity.

Bileçen’s monastery is located in the country’s predominantly Kurdish Southeast, which for decades has been the scene of armed clashes between security forces and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Turks consider PKK to be terrorists. 

The Assyrians are an autochthonous (indigenous rather than descended from migrants or colonists) Christian group who were the victims of massacres and forced displacement at the beginning of the 20th century in what is today recognized by many as genocide by the Ottomans against Christians, during WWI.

The atrocity lead to God's judgment on the Ottomans and they were overthrown by Ataturk, who promptly established a secular government that stood for nearly 100 years until Erdogan purged the high ranks of the military of anyone who wasn't a devout Muslim. Since then, he has been slowly trying to establish his own Caliphate. At least, IMHO.

/turkishminute.com

This Week's 3rd Terrorist Attack in Europe - 2 Killed in German Synagogue on Jewish Holy Day

2 people killed in shooting outside German synagogue

on holiest day in Judaism

By JON HAWORTH, MORGAN WINSOR and GUY DAVIES, ABC News

Two people were killed in a shooting in the east German city of Halle on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year.

Multiple gunshots were fired by the attacker near a synagogue and then in a kebab shop in the areas of Ludwig-Wucherer-Strasse and Humboldstrasse, which are about a 5-minute walk away.

The shooting began around noon local time, an eyewitness told ABC News. The suspected attacker fled the scene in a car towards south of Halle and was arrested outside the town at around 3:30 pm local time. A video of the shooting was reportedly posted online.

The unnamed victims were one male and one female, and police said the male is thought to be a "visitor" to the local area.

Police gave no further details about the target of the attack, although they did not rule that more people could have been involved. Federal prosecutors, who usually handle cases involving suspected terrorism or cases dealing with national security, have now taken over the investigation.

It is unknown how many people were inside the synagogue at the time of the incident, but the head of Halle's Jewish community, Max Privorotzki, told Der Spiegel that he estimated there were about 70 to 80 people inside.

"We have at least two crime scenes," local policeman Ralf Karlstedt told national broadcaster RTL. "One person died as the result of a shooting in the area Ludwig-Wucherer-Strasse, another one in the area of the Humboldstrasse. We first received information that there is one suspect, who was armed. There have since also been suggestions that there potentially there have been more people involved, but that at this point is not confirmed. We currently know of at least one suspect."

"The suspect then fled in a car. The police were able to trace a vehicle, which has been secured outside of Halle. The police arrested one suspect," he added.

"I heard a blast around noon. My wife came running to me screaming, 'Someone is shooting outside!'" Splett told ABC News. "I ran to the window looked outside and saw a man wearing a steel helmet. His face was all red, either painted or maybe he has a skin disease. He was very calmly shooting with a double-barreled gun arbitrarily at a group of people. Those people at first weren't realizing what was going on at first. They then all ran away."

"The shooter then went back to his car, opened the trunk and got out a handgun. He had a whole arsenal of guns in his trunk. A woman in the kebab place under my flat screamed. After about half an hour lots of police came in terrifying gear. They said we can't leave our house and if we do, we can't come back inside," he said.

The German government's secretary of state, Heiko Maas, drew a link between the shooting and anti-Semitism in the country.

"The fact that on the reconciliation festival #YomKippur shots were being fired at a synagogue hits us right in the heart," he posted on Twitter in German. "We all have to fight against anti-Semitism in our country. My thoughts are with the dead and injured, their relatives, and the police in these difficult hours. #Halle."

The European Parliament held a moment of silence to commence its session on Wednesday to mark the ongoing situation in Halle.

At this point, the killer(s) could be either Muslim radicals or far-right skin-heads as antisemitism is growing considerably in Europe, thanks, in part, to the growing population of Muslims.

‘Anti-Semitism Spreading Like Poison’: France Stained by Weekend of Vandalism & Year of Hate Crimes

Strasbourg's Grand Rabbi inspects graves desecrated with anti-Semitic graffiti in 2018 © Reuters / Vincent Kessler

France’s interior minister has vowed to take a tougher stance on hatred, after multiple incidents of anti-semitic vandalism, and a spike in anti-Jewish hate crimes last year.

Parisians were greeted with crudely daubed anti-Semitic slogans on shop fronts last weekend, including swastikas sprayed over images of late politician and Holocaust survivor Simone Veil, and the German word for Jews (“Juden”) sprayed on a bagel shop in the city center.  

A memorial tree planted in honor of a young Jewish man, tortured to death in a 2006 attack, was also chopped down. Visiting the suburb where the tree once stood, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner declared that “anti-Semitism is spreading like a poison, like a venom.”

“It’s rotting minds, it’s killing,” Castaner continued, before vowing to crack down on anti-Jewish hatred.

Yellow Vests blamed by some

Castaner did not blame any particular group for the spread of anti-Semitism, but some within the French government and media were quick to blame extremists among anti-Government ‘Yellow Vest’ demonstrators. Government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux linked the graffiti to an arson attack on the home of Parliamentary Speaker Richard Ferrand one week earlier, believed to be the work of the Yellow Vests. The Union of French Jewish Students also pinned blame for the racist daubings on the Yellow Vests.

The bagel bakery’s owner disputes the link, and said that the graffiti appeared on his shop hours before protests broke out nearby.

video 4:11

Most vicious attacks by Muslim extremists

The video above manages to ignore the role of Islam in the growing antisemitism in France, but it has a major role.

Moreover, France has been struggling with anti-Semitism long before protests began last November. The number of reported anti-Semitic attacks in France rose 74 percent last year to 541, up from 311 in 2017. The most vicious of these attacks was carried out by Islamic extremists, who have revived an ancient religious conflict on the streets of modern France.

After surviving the Vichy government’s roundup of Jews in 1942, 85-year-old Mireille Knoll was was stabbed to death and set on fire in her apartment last March by her Muslim neighbor. Prosecutors said the attack was motivated by the neighbor’s anti-Semitic beliefs.

One year earlier, another elderly Jewish woman, Sarah Halimi, was killed by a Malian man who shouted: “Allahu Akbar,” before throwing her out of a window. In 2015, a gunman pledging allegiance to the Islamic State terror group killed four people in a Kosher supermarket in Paris, while 2012 saw three children and a teacher from a Jewish school in Toulouse killed by an Islamist fanatic.

Ilan Halimi, whose memorial tree was vandalized over the weekend, was abducted and ransomed by a group of attackers who believed that all Jews were rich, and could afford to pay up. His family could not afford the ransom, and Halimi died after being tortured for three weeks. In court, the ringleader of the attackers appeared unrepentant, declaring“all Jews are my enemies” and pointing upwards while saying: “Allahu Akbar.”

All radical Muslims are completely insane!

After every attack, the French government pledged to do more to combat anti-Semitism. However, some of France’s Jewish population – the largest in the world behind the United States and Israel – have had enough. An EU-wide survey last year found that French Jews were among the most likely to consider emigrating to Israel, where citizenship is a birthright for Jews worldwide. More than 20,000 of France’s roughly half a million Jews made the one-way trip since 2014.

“In two months we’ll be emigrating to Israel because of the anti-Semitism in Europe,” one French woman told the survey. “Nothing is being done about it. So we are leaving voluntarily.”

As this article points out, radical Muslim are responsible for the most heinous acts of antisemitism, but is it likely that the extraordinary influx of apparently moderate Muslims into Europe is feeding the growing hatred of Jews? Are EU countries addressing this issue in any way? If they don't act soon, most of Europe will be as antisemitic as Nazi Germany was in the late 1930s.

Top Pakistan Court Upholds Christian Woman's Blasphemy Acquittal

A Rare Win in the War on Christianity

Move could pave way for Asia Bibi to seek asylum in Canada

The Associated Press 

Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman, sits next to the governor of Punjab province after visiting her in jail on Nov. 20, 2010. Her conviction for making derogatory remarks about Islam was overturned last October. (Asad Karim/Reuters)

Pakistan's top court on Tuesday upheld its acquittal of a Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy, clearing the last legal hurdle and freeing Asia Bibi to leave the country in a move that dealt a blow to radical Islamists who had demanded her execution.

Following the landmark decision, Bibi will finally be able to join her daughters, who earlier fled to Canada where they have been given asylum.

Bibi's lawyer, Saiful Malook, said in an op-ed published by the Washington Post last month that his client's most likely destination would be Canada if she were allowed to leave Pakistan.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in November that talks were underway with Pakistani officials over the case, but he could not say more because of "a delicate domestic context."

On Tuesday, a spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada said in an emailed statement that "Canada is prepared to do everything we can to ensure the safety of Asia Bibi."

Malook, who returned to Islamabad after fleeing the country amid death threats, called the court decision a victory for Pakistan's Constitution and rule of law. The three-judge Supreme Court panel had "insisted on very strict proofs of blasphemy" and found none, he said.

Pakistan's Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, who led the panel of judges, dismissed the petition filed by radical religious leaders. The extremists had petitioned the court to overturn its acquittal and send her back to prison for execution. He (Khosa) said in court that Bibi's accusers were guilty of perjury and if the case had not been so sensitive, they should have been jailed for life.

"The image of Islam we are showing to the world gives me much grief and sorrow," Khosa said.

Bibi, who spent eight years on death row and has been under guard at a secret place since her acquittal last October, was overjoyed at the news she heard over the TV.

"'I am really gratefully to everybody. Now after nine years it is confirmed that I am free and I will be going to hug my daughters,'" a friend quoted Bibi as saying. The friend spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, fearing for his safety.

Following her October acquittal, radical religious parties took to the streets to protest, calling for the killing of judges who acquitted Bibi and for the overthrow of Prime Minister Imran Khan's government. They also filed the last-minute appeal for a review of the Supreme Court acquittal.

The protests were spearheaded by the radical Tehreek-e-Labbaik party, whose single-point agenda is protection of Islam and the Prophet Muhammad.

Maybe they should start trying to protect Islam from liars who abuse the law to settle personal grievances. As the judge said, that would show Islam in a much better light. The pattern of mass hysteria at the mere suggestion of blasphemy belongs in the 7th century, not the 21st.

Controversial blasphemy law

Bibi's case goes to the core of one of Pakistan's most controversial issues — the blasphemy law, often used to settle scores or intimidate followers of minority religions, including minority Shia Muslims. A charge of insulting Islam can bring the death penalty.

But the accusation on its own is sometimes enough to whip up vengeful mobs, even if the courts acquit defendants. A provincial governor who defended Bibi was shot and killed, as was a government minority minister who dared question the blasphemy law.

Bibi, who always insisted that she was innocent, has said she will leave the country as soon as her legal battles are over. Her lawyer, who fled the country after receiving death threats, returned to Pakistan for the final review.

Bibi's ordeal began on a hot day in 2009 when she brought water to fellow farmhands who refused to drink from the same container as a Christian woman. Two of her fellow farm workers argued with Bibi and later accused her of insulting Islam's Prophet.

Students from a Muslim seminary shout slogans as they demand punishment for Bibi during a rally in Karachi on Nov. 26, 2010. (Athar Hussain/Reuters)

Following protests after Bibi's acquittal, the authorities arrested radical clerics Khadim Hussain Rizvi and Mohammad Afzal Qadri, both leaders of the Tehreekk-e-Labbaik party, and several of their followers for destroying public property during rallies against Bibi and for inciting their followers to violence. The clerics and the others remain in custody.

The cleric petitioning the court for Bibi's return to death row, Qari Salam, is linked with Rizvi's Tehreek-e-Labbaik party.

The party said Monday it will not accept any decision in favour of Bibi's release and asked its followers to prepare for more mass protests.

Pakistani police stepped up security around the Supreme Court in Islamabad ahead of its decision Tuesday.

Mass hysteria is easy to invoke when the whole country is made up of radical Muslims. Imran Khan needs a lot of prayer if he is going to bring Pakistan into the 20th century. He needs a spectacular miracle to bring it into the 21st century.

Islamist Extremism Caused 84,000 Deaths Worldwide in 2017, New Report Says

121 Islamic Extremist groups; 84,000 deaths; 66 countries; in 2017

By OLIVIA GAZIS CBS NEWS 

A new report tracking the roots, spread and effects of violent Islamist extremism found that 121 groups that share elements from a common ideology are now operating worldwide. Their activities resulted in the deaths of 84,000 people – nearly 22,000 of them civilians – in 66 countries in 2017, the report found.

In remarks at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, DC, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Thursday that Islamist extremism is "global and growing."

"It didn't begin with al Qaeda; nor will it end with the defeat of ISIS," Blair said.

7841 attacks in 2017

The "Global Extremist Monitor," which was produced by Blair's eponymous non-profit, the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, drew on hundreds of English-language news sources that reported on incidents of violent extremism in 2017. There were a total of 7,841 attacks – an average of 21 per day –in 48 countries, it said, with war-torn Syria topping the list of countries most affected by violent extremism. Overall, Muslims were the most frequent victims of deadly attacks.

29 Jihadist groups in Syria in 2017

Twenty-nine violent Islamist groups were actively engaged in conflict in Syria in 2017, the report said, with ISIS responsible for 44 percent of all attacks. Half of all civilian fatalities recorded globally were documented in Syria.

A separate, recent UN report said there are between 20,000 and 30,000 ISIS fighters still operating across Iraq and Syria, though its self-proclaimed physical caliphate has been all but eliminated.

Blair, who was Britain's prime minister at the time of the September 11 attacks, and under whose leadership the country engaged alongside the U.S. in the Iraq war, called on the international community to rely less on security measures and more on soft power and development initiatives to combat violent extremism.

"Security measures obviously have in many ways been effective and must remain in place," he said. "But the reality is, security alone will only slow the violence."

In a panel discussion following Blair's presentation, counterterrorism and insurgency expert Bruce Hoffman echoed his remarks, saying security, countermeasures and kinetics have "an absolutely vital role," but added, "to actually break the cycle of recruitment and regeneration that is sustaining these groups, you have to target…education, countering the falsehoods, and, of course, building local leadership," Hoffman said.

Fellow panelist Farah Pandith, who served during the Obama administration as the State Department's first-ever special representative to Muslim communities, said action and investment were especially urgent as groups like ISIS broaden their recruitment efforts for operational gain.

"It is not just about young men; it's also about young women," she said. "ISIS and other groups…have understood very smartly that it isn't useful for them to just look at one part of the population; they need to look at everyone."

"So they're looking at men and women, girls and boys," Pandith said.

The report identified 181 female suicide bombers in 2017.

In his call for global commitments, Blair stressed the importance of investment in public and private education systems to promote religious tolerance and literacy.

"The essential thing, in my view, is to deal with the ideology," Blair said, "and not just the violence."

And yet, you want to promote religious tolerance, which, I presume, would include Islam. That makes no sense. How do you educate someone about the insanity of Islam while teaching tolerance of it? You need to teach that radical Islam is sheer insanity and you need to lock-up those who believe in it and are living in western society. 

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince is Really Shaking Things Up in the Kingdom

Corruption is Everywhere

I'm curious to know what drives the Crown Prince to take on corruption in a country where corruption is expected? He is not a Muslim radical, so what motivates him?

It is very unusual to see a Muslim country become less radical on its own, so this appears to be a good thing. I hope he lives long enough to make a difference.

11 Saudi princes, 4 ministers arrested as crown prince

unleashes crackdown on corruption – report

Saudi’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman © Bandar Al-Jaloud / AFP

Saudi Arabia has ordered the arrest of at least 11 Saudi princes and four incumbent ministers of the Saudi government, Al-Arabiya reported, citing sources. Among those detained are the minister of the National Guard and the minister of economy.

A new anti-corruption committee chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was created late Saturday by royal decree of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, published by Saudi Arabia’s official news agency on Saturday.

The decree appoints the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, to lead the committee, granting it broad powers to fight corruption. The committee is exempted from “laws, regulations, instructions, orders and decision” while performing its wide range of duties, namely “identifying offenses, crimes, persons and entities” complicit in corruption, and gives it the power to impose punitive measures on those caught red-handed. Those include asset freezes, travel bans and arrests.

The committee made its first arrests hours after it was created, detaining 11 princes, four current ministers as well as “tens” of ex-ministers of the Saudi government in connection with newly opened corruption probes, Al-Arabiya reported.

Minister of the National Guard Prince Miteb bin Abdullah and Economy Minister Adel Fakeih are among those arrested, Al Arabiya cited a senior Saudi official as saying, on condition of anonymity. Alwaleed al-Ibrahim, owner of television network MBC, was also detained.

Dozens of former ministers were arrested by the Crown Prince committee, including a former governor of Riyadh province, former finance minister, and former chief of the Royal Court.

The committee said it is relaunching a probe into the devastating floods that killed over 120 people in the city of Jeddah in 2009, while inflicting millions in property damage. In wake of the wide-ranging investigation, concluded in December 2014, the Saudi court found 45 people guilty, including senior officials, on charges of bribery, misuse of power and public funds, money laundering and illicit business operations.

Another high-profile case resumed by the anti-corruption committee is the investigation into the outbreak of the so-called Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus in Saudi Arabia in 2014, which resulted in nearly 300 deaths and the ouster of the country’s health minister.

Most senior Saudi officials in charge of state oversight, investigation and prosecution will sit on the committee, which will comprise the attorney general and the heads of state security, anti-corruption authority, audit bureau, and the chair of the monitoring and investigation commission.

“In view of what we have noticed of exploitation by some of the weak souls who have put their own interests above the public interest, in order to illicitly accrue money,” the Saudi King said in a statement, explaining the need to form the body.

Crown Prince Salman, appointed the heir of the Saudi throne in June, is known for his reform-minded views. The prince, who held a number of key government positions even before his elevation, is said to be behind a series of the latest domestic reforms in the ultra-conservative country, loosening a grip on the state's strict social laws.

In one of the latest policy moves, the Saudi government lifted a ban on women driving. Crown Prince Salman reportedly spearheaded the milestone policy change, persuading his father, the king, to review the restriction. Earlier, women in Saudi Arabia were also permitted to use state services without male guardians.

The prince hinted last month that he would not stop at that, promising a return from hardline interpretation of the religion to what he described as “moderate Islam,” while vowing to eradicate extremist beliefs inside the country.

‘Arabian Warren Buffett’ among those arrested in Saudi corruption crackdown – reports

Saudi billionaire Prince AlWaleed bin Talal © Hamad I Mohammed / Reuters

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, one of the richest people in the world, has been allegedly arrested amid Saudi Arabia’s sudden anti-corruption crackdown. The multi-billionaire has stakes in major US enterprises and has been dubbed the “Arabian Warren Buffett.”

Bin Talal was among the 11 Saudi princes arrested by a new anti-corruption committee just hours after it was created by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, various media outlets reported, citing unnamed sources within the Saudi government.

A grandson of the first Saudi king, Alwaleed bin Talal was listed as the 45th richest man in the world by Forbes in 2017. Bloomberg Billionaires Index put him in 50th place in a similar ranking. The Saudi prince’s fortune amounts to between $18 billion and $19 billion, according to various estimates.

The Saudi multi-billionaire is the founder, CEO and almost sole owner of the Kingdom Holding investment company, which has a market capitalization of over $12 billion. His investment activities have led to him being dubbed the “Arabian Warren Buffett,” as the prince has stakes in several major western corporations and in particularly made successful early bets on Apple and Netscape Communications.

Now, Alwaleed bin Talal holds major stakes in such US companies as Citigroup, Apple and Twitter. His company has also been a “significant investor” in Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation since 1997.

The prince’s investments include several luxury hotel chains and he particularly invested in the Four Seasons Hotel George V in Paris, the Savoy in London and the Plaza in New York. Apart from that, he is known for doing business with such prominent western businessmen as Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch and Michael Bloomberg.

He also received a western education, being awarded a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Menlo College in California. The prince was also frequently seen with top western politicians and Wall Street executives, including Lloyd C. Blankfein, the chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, and even British royals.

He also had an extraordinary western media profile for a Saudi national and virtually became an unofficial public face of the Saudi kingdom finance in the West as he often gave interviews to various media. Most recently, he spoke to CNBC's Squawk Box and expressed serious doubts about the future of the Bitcoin cryptocurrency.

Notably, the prince has somewhat controversial relations with US President Donald Trump. During Trump’s election campaign, the Saudi multi-billionaire called him “a disgrace not only to the GOP but to all America” and called on him to withdraw from the presidential race, predicting that Trump “will never win.” Still, later, he congratulated Trump on his election victory.

In October 2017, he praised Trump’s governing style and straight talking in an interview with CNBC. "President Trump has his own way of governing," he said at that time.

Alwaleed bin Talal, however, has long been a kind of outsider within the ruling elite of the ultraconservative Muslim kingdom – due to his liberal views and open advocacy of women’s rights. He particularly hired a first Saudi female pilot for his jet at a time, when there was no prospect of women being allowed even to drive. At the same time, he has never openly opposed the ruling elite.

He also reportedly had no major differences with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is now heading the committee that launched the crackdown on corruption. In October, bin Talal publicly declared his support for Mohammed bin Salman by telling CNBC that he fully backs the crown prince’s reforms and had repeatedly expressed similar proposals concerning diversification of the Saudi economy for years.

With no official statement issued, the reasons behind Alwaleed bin Talal’s arrest remain a mystery. However, it already prompted a reaction from the stock markets. Shares in his Kingdom Holding Co. fell by 7.5 percent in trading Sunday, despite the fact that the company announced profits amounting to 247.5 million riyals ($66 million) in the third quarter.

"This is going to cause some immediate apprehension in terms of investors looking at Saudi Arabia," Graham Griffiths, a senior analyst at Control Risks focusing on Saudi Arabia, told AP, referring to the crackdown. He also called Alwaleed bin Talal “someone who has been represented as a face of the kingdom, someone that a lot of people have done business with and are comfortable doing business with."

Tens of Thousands of Radical Muslims in UK, EU

Number of Islamic radicals feared to be in UK revealed by

EU counter-terrorism chief

© Reuters

The UK has the largest number of Islamist radicals in the EU, the EU counter-terrorism chief says, just as home-grown terrorists are found to pose the “predominant” threat.

According to Gilles de Kerchove, the UK has identified between 20,000 and 25,000 fanatics.

MI5 considers 3,000 of them “worrying,” and 500 are under “constant and special attention,” the chief said.

By comparison, France is thought to be home to 17,000 radicals, and Spain around 5,000.

 “I wouldn't like to put a concrete figure on it, but (in Europe) tens of thousands, more than 50,000,” de Kerchove told Spanish newspaper El Mundo.

I should hope so - there are nearly 50,000 in UK, France and Spain alone.

“We must select those who are really worrying and the most dangerous, and they should be monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

This comes as security sources told Sky News that the threat posed to the UK by Islamic State jihadists returning home is not as severe as initially thought by police and intelligence services.

On the other hand, there is an unprecedented terrorist threat from home-grown terrorists who have been encouraged or instructed to carry out attacks.

“As IS comes under pressure in Raqqa, as they did in Mosul, the impetus to go and join them has started to dissipate, but their message remains potent for those willing to listen.

“Part of the problem is that propaganda has democratized the threat so that self-starters and lone actors can view material that is pumped out encouraging them to get out with knives or vehicles to launch these low-tech attacks.”

More than 800 Britons have travelled to Syria and Iraq to fight with Islamic State. But the number of people who have returned is actually significantly less than expected.

While 350 fighters have already made their way back home, up to 200 are believed to have been killed while fighting in the Middle East, while many of the others fear prosecution.

The source said: “We now think that fewer are likely to return from Syria and Iraq than had previously been feared, partly because they are likely to have been killed in the fighting as it escalates and partly because those that survive are likely to seek refuge in other countries.

“The threat from those who have never left the UK for Syria and Iraq is the predominant threat – they are still highly motivated and increasingly they are taking direction from individuals in the Middle East.”

840,000 Muslims in Europe Feel Disconnected from Their Country

Every fifth European doesn’t want a Muslim neighbor - survey

© Mike Kemp / Getty Images

Around a fifth of European citizens do not want to live next door to adherents of the Islamic faith, a fresh survey has revealed.

The research, which was carried out by Germany’s Bertelsmann Stiftung foundation as part of the Religious Monitor 2017 project, saw 10,000 people interviewed in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France and the UK, which between them are home to some 14 million Muslims.

“20 percent of citizens questioned say they do not want to have Muslims as neighbors,” Bertelsmann Stiftung said.

According to the survey, the level of concern over Islam is the highest in Austria (28 percent) and lowest in France (14 percent).

According to Muslimpress, the same survey revealed that around 31 percent of people in the five countries didn’t want to live near refugees in general, regardless of their religion.

Bertelsmann Stiftung also addressed discrimination against Muslims in the European labor market in its paper.

“Everywhere, except in the UK” highly religious Muslims have more difficulty finding a job in accordance with their qualification than less devoted Islam followers, according to the foundation’s findings.

Is there a difference between 'highly religious' Muslims and 'radical' Muslims? Obviously, some employers don't think so. 

“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

Muslims were also being paid less, especially in Germany, as they usually occupy low-wage positions, it added.

“So far, no country in western Europe has found a convincing strategy that addresses both equal opportunity as well as respect for religious diversity,” Yasemin El-Menouar, Islam expert at Bertelsmann Stiftung, said.

At the same time, other data gathered by Religious Monitor 2017 suggested that Muslims are well-integrated into mainstream society in Europe.

Second- and third-generation Muslims living in Europe have much better knowledge of the local language, better levels of education and better jobs, compared with those who are recent arrivals to the EU.

Well, Duh! What would you expect?

The children of most immigrants are learning the tongue of their country of residence as their first language, Bertelsmann Stiftung said.

Over 90 percent of immigrant kids have French as their primary language in France, with 80 percent of Muslims born in Britain learning English as children.

“Seventy-five percent of Muslims regularly spend their free time with non-Muslims,” the research said.

According to Bertelsmann Stiftung, around 94 percent of Muslims, interviewed by the foundation, said that they felt connected with their European country they live in.

Which, of course, means that 6% don't. 6% of 14 million Muslim is 840,000 people who feel no connection to the land they live in. Many of them probably resent that their children or grandchildren prefer to speak English or French or German and hang around with non-Muslim friends. How many of them want their children to live in the ways of the 'old country', which, of course, they would never want to live in again?