Islam - Current Day > No Room for Truth about Islam in Germany; UK Mosque links to Terrorists hidden; Bangladesh's Land Jihad

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Germany: Critical research results on Islam banned

and criminalized at universities

MAR 18, 2022 5:00 PM 

BY ROBERT SPENCER

The situation is the same in the U.S. Honest discussion of the motivating ideology behind jihad terrorism just does not happen in universities. If anyone tries to initiate such a discussion, he or she will be shouted down as an “Islamophobe.”

“No criticism of Islam at German universities,” 

translated from “Keine Islamkritik an deutschen Universitäten,”

by Michael Stürzenberger, PI News, March 13, 2022 

On March 1, the groups of professors “Universitas” and “Ratio” active at Goethe University Frankfurt invited to an online event. It was discussed whether some topics are now taboo for research and teaching.

Professor Susanne Schröter, the head of the Frankfurt Research Centre Global Islam and professor at the Institute of Ethnology, reported, according to the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, that the political stance of a young researcher now plays a major role in his or her career.

She herself is defamed by some leftists at universities as an alleged “racist” because she speaks critically about the Muslim headscarf and examines connections between integration and cultural imprinting. Professor Schröter denounced the excesses of “cancel culture”, which seeks to ban politically or morally unpalatable positions from universities.

She reported on doctoral students whose dissertations were not accepted because they had dealt with the “wrong” topics. For example, “honour killings”. She also knew of students who had not been able to realise the projects they had chosen for their Bachelor’s or Master’s thesis: The supervisors found the projects too “hot”. This is true for her own subject:

“If an anthropologist deals with Islamism, his career is over.”

Professor Schröter sees such tendencies, regardless of which political direction they come from, as a threat to academic freedom.

The political scientist and publicist Hamed Abdel-Samad already reported in 2016 that the universities in Augsburg and the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich did not allow him to hold a discussion event on Political Islam and present his research results on the Quran. Hamed Abdel-Samad said:

“The University of Augsburg, which once honoured me with prizes as a role model Muslim, now refuses to allow me to discuss the Koran critically. The University of Munich, which once trusted me to teach German and foreign students about Islamic history, now refuses to let me discuss the results of my research on the Quran in an open dialogue with students and citizens of the city.”

Since these research results are critical of Islam, and that is quite obviously undesirable at German universities. Hamed Abdel-Samad also sees a worrying development in freedom of expression in Germany:

“Universities, intellectuals, Islam functionaries and politicians of the centre parties refuse to face an honest and open debate about Islam. And then they all whine that this debate is being conducted on the right-wing fringe!”

Criticism of Islam is not only fought at universities. Mainstream media are self-censoring, it is taboo for the traditional political parties to criticize Islam, in society one is ostracized and excluded if one expresses one’s opinion openly, and the judiciary threatens to throw one into prison even if one limits public criticism to political Islam.

Greater Manchester Police endorse ‘community event’

at mosque attended by jihad mass murderer

“Public inquiry into Arena bombing hears Greater Manchester Police

turned ‘blind eye’ to extremism,” 

by Darren Boyle, 

MailOnline, 

March 16, 2022:

Didsbury Mosque in south Manchester came under severe criticism on Monday at the Manchester Arena public inquiry into the terror attack, with calls for its status as a charity to be ‘reviewed’ by regulators.

Dr Paul Stott, Head of Policy Exchange’s Security and Counter Extremism Unit, said:

‘The Greater Manchester Police should as a matter of urgency review their endorsement of this event. But they also need to be upfront and have a proper, unflinching look at wider issues, outside of this single event. 

‘The GMP– and indeed the local authority, its representatives, and anyone in public life – must think more carefully about “choosing their friends wisely” when they are looking at which community groups to engage with.’ 

Policy Exchange said it has been urging caution since 2009 in  applying criteria for engagement with Muslim groups.

Lawyers for the families of the 22 people murdered in the Manchester Arena attack said it was accepted the mosque was in no way linked to the bombing or the radicalisation of suicide bomber Salman Abedi, who carried out the outrage on May 22, 2017.

But it was claimed the mosque had hosted extreme Islamist sermons, failed to condemn violence and ‘buried its head in the sand’ over radicals in its congregation.

Salman Abedi was said to have attended the mosque and his father Ramadan and brother Ismail were also involved in positions at the mosque. 

John Cooper QC, representing some of the bereaved families, said: ‘The vast majority of Muslim people are peace-loving, we know that. I know that, every right-minded person knows that.

‘Where pockets of extremism and violent ideology exist, it is imperative that those who seek community leadership confront and combat that extremism without hesitation or equivocation.’

Mr Cooper described the evidence to the inquiry from Fawzi Haffar, the current chair of trustees of Didsbury Mosque, also known as Manchester Islamic Centre, as ‘frankly implausible’.

Mr Haffar claimed the mosque’s Islamic orientation was not extreme but ‘middle of the road’, and he said he was not aware of any links to Libya or knowledge of worshippers going abroad to fight in Syria or Libya.

However, Mr Cooper suggested he downplayed any issues and was more concerned with protecting the mosque’s reputation than putting things right.

He said it was ‘concerning’ and ‘troubling’ that the mosque failed to make any condemnation of violence on its own website and had hosted speeches talking about giving money for ‘jihad’.

An Imam at the mosque, Mohammed El-Saeiti, had delivered a sermon in October 2014 in which he explicitly condemned some terrorist groups.

But Mr El Saeiti said the trustees believed speaking up against terrorists would ‘provoke’ its sympathisers and supporters.

The mosque then failed to support him when he faced a petition for his removal signed by, among others, Ramadan Abedi.

He said after the bombing the mosque’s solicitor, a Mr Hafezi, pressured him to not mention the Abedis’ links to the mosque.

Mr Cooper said it showed the mosque was aware of the presence of extremist and violent sentiment among parts of the congregation, and the south Manchester Muslim community more generally, but adopted a ‘passive’ attitude and preferred to ‘turn a blind eye’.

This approach amounted to a ‘dereliction of duty’ to the community by Didsbury Mosque, Mr Cooper said….

Didsbury, Manchester

Muslim mob screaming ‘Allahu akbar’ attacks

and robs Hindu temple ahead of Holi

MAR 18, 2022 11:00 AM 

BY ASHLYN DAVIS

After unleashing mammoth violence on the Hindus during the Hindu festival of Durga Puja in October 2021, some Muslims in Bangladesh are at it again; this time, the Hindu festival of Holi stands sacrificed at the altar of their frenzied jihad violence. While the Muslims targeted the International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) temple in Noakhali, Chittagong during the Durga Pujas, it was now time for the association’s Dhaka temple to pay the penalty for standing on Islamic soil.

On the evening of Thursday, March 17, a riotous mob of around 200 Muslims launched a violent attack on the ISKCON temple situated on the Lalmohan Saha Street at Wari, Old Dhaka, Bangladesh. The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) reports that a 62-year-old Muslim, vicious attack; under his supervision, the mob of enraged Muslims carrying rods, sticks, hammers, sickles and other makeshift rustic weapons stormed into the Hindu religious establishment. They took down the southern wall of the temple, demolished several old structures, vandalized the premises, desecrated the idols of Hindu deities that had been placed in the temple, and robbed the temple of cash and other expensive articles. Hindu devotees in the temple were not spared, either.  

India Today confirms that three men, Nihar Halder, Sumantra Chandra Shravan, and Rajiv Bhadra, sustained serious injuries during the mayhem. The extent of damage caused by the mob attack can be seen in the images and videos that have been shared across social media, going viral in the early hours of March 18. When the Hindu community across the world was preparing for Holi celebrations, the festival of colors, disturbing video of the chaos at the Sri Sri Radhakanta Jiu Mandir not only shocked the Hindu community, but left damaging and terrorizing effects on its collective psychology.

Hindus from Bangladesh took to Twitter to share their agony, alleging that although the Hindus called the local police, they took no action to curb on contain the bedlam. The violent mob continued to tear down the temple while screaming the slogan “Allahu akbar.”

The Muslim mob abducted a Hindu youth, Nihar, with the intention of murder, but the police were reluctant to rescue him. In a video that Hindu activist Pandit Pradip Chandra shared on social media, an injured ISKCON devotee recounted the appalling details of the attack: “They (the Muslim mob) forcibly took Nihar with them. I informed the police, but they did not believe me. Initially, the police had completely denied the possibility of anyone being abducted. Only after I pleaded with the police multiple times did they start the search for Nihar. We were finally able to find him.”

But the trauma didn’t end.

“While I was returning, they ambushed me and pounced on me. They kicked me, punched me, snatched my phone, injured my back,” he added, showing the fresh wound on his elbow.

The complaint lodged with the police reads that the Muslim mob looted valuables worth 500,000 Bangladeshi taka ($5,800) from the temple. Complainant Sumantra Chandra emphasized that the mobs also hurled stones at the temple and threatened to bury alive the Hindu devotees who were present there.

Sending that this incident would get little to no media attention, an Indian media house reached out to the administration of the destroyed temple. Those officials revealed the plot of Land Jihad behind the attack. Muslims have been eyeing this property for quite some time, and had made attempts to encroach upon it earlier. Though the temple authorities lodged a case against the miscreants, the virulence of the attack on the eve of Holi only demonstrates the inefficiency and insincerity of Bangladesh police; their shameful indifference towards the safety, security and suffering of the Hindu citizens of the Islamic country stands exposed.  

Land Jihad is a common occurrence in Bangladesh; this criminal practice is gradually becoming commonplace in several Indian towns that Muslims dominate. Add to that the occasion of a Hindu festival which incidentally falls on same the day of the Islamic Shab-e-Barat. This provided a seamless combination to incite a Muslim mob to start unrest, eventually destroying properties that belong to “kafirs” and injure some of them, if not kill them.  A lame and futile administration worked to encourage the violent ambitions of these mobs. This is an emerging trend in Bangladesh. As a result, no Hindu festival has passed without bloodshed in recent years.

Military Madness > China wants answers on USA's Biolabs in Ukraine; Macron condemns NATO again; Serb FB fans List NATO's Sins; Ramaphosa blames NATO

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UPDATE - Aug 01, 2025

Please go to: 

Did China ever get answers from USA for its questions about DoD sponsored biolabs in Ukraine?

 

I asked Grok - Elon Musk's AI program on X some tough questions and got some surprising answers:

Original:

China urges US answer on Ukraine biolabs

Beijing’s ambassador to the UN said evidence provided by Russia

deserves a response without double standards

Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, speaks during the UN Security Council meeting discussing the United States' alleged military biological research in Ukraine; March 11, 2022. ©  Getty Images / Liao Pan

Russia’s revelations of documents pertaining to US-backed biological laboratories in Ukraine deserve the world’s attention, and the parties involved need to address those concerns, China’s permanent representative to the UN told the Security Council on Friday.

Having been a victim of chemical and biological weapons, China believes that “any information and leads on biological military activities should trigger heightened concern and attention of the international community to avoid irreparable harm,” Ambassador Zhang Jun said.

“Russia has further revealed the newly discovered relevant documents. The party concerned should respond to questions, and offer timely and comprehensive clarifications to remove the doubts of the international community,” Zhang added.

We do not consider it too much to ask. And, on this issue, no double standards should be applied.

Friday’s UNSC briefing was called by Russia, which shared the evidence obtained from laboratories across Ukraine. Moscow’s permanent representative to the UN, Vasily Nebenzia, argued that if the dangerous pathogens the laboratories were working on had leaked, the impact on Europe would be “difficult to imagine” and could have been worse than the Covid-19 pandemic, in comparison.

According to a briefing by the Russian military on Thursday, the Pentagon-funded labs were working on “biological weapons components,” and may have been connected to suspicious outbreaks of dirofilariasis, tuberculosis and avian flu over the past several years. 

If the pathogens had gotten out of the labs, Nebenzia told the UN Security Council, “the scale of impact, including among the population of European countries, in this case is even difficult to imagine. It is possible that even the coronavirus epidemic could pale [in comparison] to this.”

Washington has for years dismissed as “disinformation” Russian claims of biolabs in Ukraine, and said the US was only funding peaceful medical research there. (Through the Pentagon!!!) Earlier this month, however, senior State Department official Victoria Nuland admitted that the US was concerned about Russia potentially taking control of the labs and their contents.

You should maybe have thought of that before placing them in Russia's back yard. Victoria Nuland was involved in the Orange Revolution and the Maidan coup. She served as the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs at the United States Department of State from 2015 to 2017 under Obama, and US Permanent Representative to NATO from 2005 to 2008  (a recycled Deep Stater). She later bragged about spending $5 bn on the Ukraine coup.

US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland last week testified under oath that there were “biological research facilities in Ukraine,” and that the US was assisting Kiev in destroying research materials so they would not get into Russia’s hands.

Because we wouldn't want those Russians to get their hand on good medical research!!!

Meanwhile, the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu said that the world organization has neither the authority nor the ability to verify the data provided by Russia on the alleged US military biological program in Ukraine.

Russia’s offensive in Ukraine is ‘electroshock’ to NATO

– Macron

France’s president has said he stands by his 2019 characterization of

NATO as ‘brain dead’

French leader Emmanuel Macron speaks during a press conference ahead of the first round of the presidential election

– to be held on 10 April – in Paris, France, March 17, 2022 © AFP / Ludovic Marin/AFP

Russia’s ongoing military offensive in Ukraine has delivered an “electroshock” to NATO, France’s President Emmanuel Macron said during a press conference on Thursday. The remark came in response to a journalist’s question regarding the president’s 2019 characterization of the military alliance as “brain dead,” and whether the French head of state was still of that opinion.

Macron said that he stood by his initial ‘diagnosis,’ taking “full responsibility” for his words; however, according to the French president, Russia’s military campaign against Ukraine has been a wake-up call for NATO.

Macron pointed out that the “war launched by President Putin” at the alliance’s doorstep created an “unusual threat which gives a strategic clarification to NATO.”

He also said that the military alliance in its current form would not cut it, standing by his earlier calls for reform.

In November 2019, Macron told The Economist that the world was witnessing the “brain death of NATO.” The French president also urged Europe to “wake up” after the Trump administration had “turned its back” on European allies, as Macron had put it. He went on to call into question the effectiveness of NATO’s Article Five, under which an attack on one member state would be seen as an attack on the entire military bloc. He concluded that European member states should “reassess the reality of what NATO is,” given America’s shaky commitment to its allies.

At the time, his blunt remarks drew criticism from the likes of then-US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, and then-Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel.

In contrast to his 2019 interview, Macron’s assessment of the situation on Thursday was not all doom and gloom. For example, he emphasized that work to boost the EU’s defense has been underway. According to the French president, at next week’s European Council in Brussels, the bloc’s member states will “conclude” work on its “strategic compass” – an initiative spearheaded by France and aimed at enhancing EU military capabilities. On top of that, Macron noted, a NATO summit in June is expected to “redefine the alliance's frameworks.”

Speaking at the Ottawa Conference on Security and Defense last Wednesday, NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called for a “serious assessment of the longer-term adaptation of NATO – our posture, our presence and also how we can strengthen our ability to reinforce quickly.” The military alliance’s chief said that, in light of Russia’s military campaign against Ukraine, NATO was “faced with a new reality, a new security environment, a new normal.”

NATO could have prevented this war by committing to stop its eastward expansion as was promised many times since Glasnost. Consequently, either NATO is absurdly stupid, or they deliberately wanted a war between Russia and Ukraine.

Whatever NATO proposes to do in June will require increased military spending that will benefit only the military industrial complex, of which Stoltenberg is the chief salesman.

Some NATO member states, such as Germany and Poland, have already announced plans to increase defense spending. Meanwhile, NATO has beefed up its presence on its eastern flank, sending troops and military hardware to Romania.

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Serbian fans list litany of US military campaigns in peace display

Red Star Belgrade fans unveiled the banner before their match against Glasgow Rangers

© Alan Harvey / SNS Group via Getty Images

Fans of Serbian football club Red Star Belgrade issued their own particular message of peace ahead of their European clash with Glasgow Rangers, unveiling banners listing American military incursions on foreign soil spanning more than half a century.

Before kick-off in their Europa League last-16, second leg match in the Serbian capital on Thursday night, home supporters in one section of the Rajko Mitic Stadium produced a display consisting of six rows of text.

Beginning with ‘Korea 1950’ and running to ‘Syria 2011’, the banners listed locations and years coinciding with military action by the US and its allies, with the message at the bottom reading: “All we are saying is give peace a chance.”

Also known as Crvena Zvezda, the Serbian club are sponsored by Russian energy giant Gazprom.

The club’s general director, Zvezdan Terzic, has vowed they will not end the deal despite the Russian company being dropped by the likes of UEFA and German club Schalke 04 in the wake of the military operation in Ukraine. 

Terzic also said Red Star were angered by the recent suspensions of Russian clubs from UEFA and FIFA competitions, noting that Serbian sport had suffered similar sanctions during the Yugoslav conflict.

“We went through this in 1992. There is anti-Russian hysteria in Europe, politics is unnecessarily interfering in sports,” said Terzic earlier in March. 

“We sympathize with the Ukrainian people and the terrible civilian casualties, but the Russian people are close to the Serbs and always will be. Russia is a power that has always been on the Serbian side.”

Elsewhere, Red Star fans have been heard chanting their support for Russia in the stands in recent weeks.

Thursday’s match against Rangers played out amid a typically febrile atmosphere at the 53,000-capacity stadium nicknamed the ‘Marakana’.

The banners showed the NATO interventions in such countries and regions as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Cuba, Vietnam, Panama, Iraq, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Syria and so on.

In 1999, the U.S.-led NATO forces carried out continuous airstrikes for 78 days against Yugoslavia, leaving more than 8,000 civilians dead or injured and nearly 1 million displaced.

South African president blames NATO for Ukraine

President Cyril Ramaphosa says the bloodshed could have been averted

if US-led bloc hadn’t increased instability

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is shown speaking to reporters at a conference last August in Berlin.

© Getty Images / Maja Hitij

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, a potential mediator in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, has faulted NATO for triggering war in the former Soviet republic by expanding eastward onto Moscow’s doorstep.

“The war could have been avoided if NATO had heeded the warnings from amongst its own leaders and officials over the years that its eastward expansion would lead to greater, not less, instability in the region,” Ramaphosa told South African lawmakers on Thursday.

Rather than reaping an expected peace dividend after the Cold War ended in 1991, NATO expanded, adding former Warsaw Pact nations and ex-Soviet republics to its fold, starting with Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic in 1999. 

Another wave came on board in 2004, including Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Albania and Croatia followed in 2009; then came Montenegro in 2017 and North Macedonia in 2020. Ukraine and Georgia have asked to join the bloc.

Moscow has vehemently opposed NATO’s presence close to its borders, and embarked on a mission to obtain security guarantees that would halt the US-led military bloc’s expansion and bar Kiev from joining its ranks. However, the West ignored Russia’s concerns.

President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” on February 24, with a stated goal to “demilitarize and denazify” the government in Kiev, ensuring that it no longer poses a threat to either Russia or the newly recognized Donbass republics, which have suffered seven years of grueling siege. The US and its NATO allies have accused Russia of starting an “unprovoked” war to gobble up Ukraine.

South Africa abstained from backing the United Nations General Assembly resolution that condemned Russia's military action in Ukraine, and chose to stay neutral alongside 34 other countries, including China, India and Pakistan.

The South African president said it’s important to understand the causes of the crisis, but that doesn’t mean agreeing with the Russian invasion.

“We cannot condone the use of force or violation of international law,” said Ramaphosa. 

The president's latest comments came after he revealed last week that he had been asked to help mediate the negotiations between Moscow and Kiev. Ramaphosa said on Thursday that he has already spoken to Putin, who indicated that he’s eager to end the fighting, and hoped to talk soon with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“There are those who are insisting that we should take a very adversarial stance and position against Russia,” the South African leader noted on Thursday, without identifying the countries that have pressured him. “The approach that we have chosen to take, which is appreciated by many, is that we are insisting that there should be dialogue. Screaming and shouting is not going to bring an end to this conflict.”

By remaining neutral, Ramaphosa argued, South Africa can make its voice heard, “not only publicly but also to the parties that are involved in the conflict.”

“War, violence never really solves any problems," he added. “It is for this reason that we say that we would prefer and insist that there should be mediation, there should be dialogue and there should be negotiation.”

Islam - Current Day > 81 Executed Today in Saudi Arabia; ISIS Fanatic jailed in London; Nazanin released from Tehran prison

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The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on Saturday mass executed 81 people

By Sommer Brokaw

Saudi Arabia flag is shown. File photo by Gil C/Shutterstock

March 12 (UPI) -- 

The execution of 81 people in a single day is believed to be the biggest mass execution in the history of the country, surpassing a mass execution in 1980 when 63 people were convicted and beheaded for seizing the Grand Mosque in Mecca in 1979, Deutsche Welle reported.

The executions on Saturday were carried out based on sentences of capital punishment for convictions of terrorism and capital crimes, Saudi's Ministry of Interior announced in the country's state-run Saudi Press Agency.

Among the crimes committed that the ministry announced were the murder of "innocent men, women and children" and aligning with terrorist groups such as ISIS, Al Qaeda and Houthis, targeting Saudi residents.

The ministry also announced that the individual crimes included targeting government personnel, the killing and maiming of law enforcement officers, planting bombs that targeted their vehicles and the smuggling of arms and bombs into the country. Other charges included kidnapping, torture and rape.

The individuals who were executed were found guilty of "committing multiple heinous crimes that left a large number of civilian and law enforcement officers dead," the SPA reported.

Each individual was seen by 13 judges over three separate stages of trial and provided with an attorney, according to the SPA.

Still, a Britain-based campaign group advocating for justice and human rights, Reprieve, condemned the mass execution.

"The world should know by now that when Mohammed Bin Salman promises reform, bloodshed is bound to follow," Reprieve said in a series of tweets condemning the mass execution on Saturday.

"Just last week the Crown Prince told journalists he plans to modernize Saudi Arabia's criminal justice system, only to order the largest mass execution in the country's history," Reprieve continued. "There are prisoners of conscience on Saudi death row, and others arrested as children or charged with non-violent crimes. We fear for everyone of them following this brutal display of impunity."

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia "soon, to beg for Saudi oil to replace Russian gas," Reprieve added.

"We cannot show our revulsion for Putin's atrocities by rewarding those of the Crown Prince," Repreive said. "Johnson must speak up and condemn these killings."

ISIS fanatic is jailed for spreading extremist propaganda

and faking university degree to get hospital job

By CHARLOTTE MCLAUGHLIN FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 15:07 EDT, 14 March 2022 

Ali Abdillahi, 31, put recordings of an Islamist extremist preacher who advocates armed jihad, and two ISIS propaganda videos showing executions and graphic violence online, the Old Bailey was told. 

The view count of the material uploaded to instant messaging app Telegram in July 2020 ranged from 280 to 1,300, the court was also told. 

A notebook also revealed his extremist mindset and a 'pledge of allegiance' to Isis was uncovered on his mobile phone. 

Abdillahi admitted disseminating a terrorist publication, perverting the course of justice and fraud by false representation and has been sentenced to eight years and 10 months in jail. 

Ali Abdillahi, 31, pictured, disseminated terrorist propaganda over instant messaging app Telegram

in July 2020, the Old Bailey was told

In July 2020, he also put fake details on his CV saying he had a biomedical science degree from the University of Hertfordshire to get work as a cardiographer through an agency, the court was told. If it was not for a forged certificate and false details on his CV, Abdillahi would not have got the job at South London's Croydon University Hospital.

However, there were no concerns raised about his work and he earned £2,100 before his employment ended upon his arrest in August 2020.

On Monday, Mr Justice Sweeney jailed him for eight years for disseminating terrorist publications, plus 10 months for perverting the course of justice.

Mr Sweeney said: ‘This is one of the more serious cases of its type. You had showed you committed these offences because of your support for Islamic extremism.’

He added a further three years on extended licence but imposed no separate sentence for the fraud charge.

Justice Sweeney said Abdillahi supported the concept of ‘Armed Jihad’, and viewed IS as the ‘inheritor of Islam’. 

On Monday, at the Old Bailey, pictured, Mr Justice Sweeney jailed him for eight years for disseminating terrorist publications, plus 10 months for perverting the course of justice

Detectives had discovered an invitation-only Telegram group called ‘Sons of Abdullah’ set up by Abdillahi. The videos showed a Syrian pilot being set on fire while alive, beheadings, suicide attacks and people being thrown from roofs. 

Abdillahi's devices were seized and examined after he was arrested at his home in Enfield, north London, August 7 2020 and charged 11 days later.

The Dutch national, of Colgate Place, Enfield, admitted five counts of disseminating a terrorist publication on the second day of his trial last November.

He had previously admitted perverting the course of justice by pretending to have a biomedical science degree from the University of Hertfordshire as part of a bail bid.

He also claimed to be studying for a master's degree but withdrew his application after investigations showed the information was false.

Abdillahi admitted a further charge of fraud by false representation.

Wearing thick-rimmed black glasses and a black suit, Abdillahi, who was born in Somalia and has lived in the UK since the age of seven, spoke only to confirm his identity as he stood in the dock at the Old Bailey. Friends and family looked down from the public gallery as the hearing went on.

Asked by officers why he did it, he claimed he never intended to deceive anyone and had been off his medications. ‘I believe I created a character for myself, and looking back, I do not know what is real and what is not,’ he said. ‘I was convinced I had a degree. My intention was not to lie or anything like that.’

Commander Richard Smith, who leads the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command, said: 'Extremist propaganda online is extremely harmful and is a means by which terrorist groups seek to radicalise people all over the world.

'Abdillahi sent videos and recordings glorifying extremist violence to promote the hate-filled mindset he supported to others.

'Covid-19 restrictions were in force when the investigation was launched but this did not stop officers acting quickly and building a strong case against Abdillahi.'

British charity worker freed in Iran, returns home

after 6 years in prison

By Clyde Hughes

   

Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of imprisoned charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, is seen during a demonstration outside the Iranian Embassy in London, Britain, on June 21, 2019. Zaghari-Ratcliffe was freed and returned to Britain on Wednesday after six years in prison. File Photo by Andy Rain/EPA-EFE

March 16 (UPI) -- A British-Iranian woman who's an executive for a charity has been released after six years in captivity and was allowed to return to Britain, officials said on Wednesday.

Iranian authorities sentenced Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, to a five-year sentence in 2016 after accusing her of trying to overthrow the government in Tehran. She was in the city visiting family.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe and the British government have long denied the charges.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday that Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been released -- along with Anoosheh Ashoori, a woman who was arrested and jailed in Iran in 2017 on spying charges.

"I am very pleased to confirm that the unfair detention of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori in Iran has ended today, and they will now return to the U.K.," Johnson said in a tweet.

"The U.K. has worked intensively to secure their release and I am delighted they will be reunited with their families and loved ones."

British lawmaker Tulip Siddiq also said that before she left Iran, Zaghari-Ratcliffe had remained "under the control of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard."

Along with her original sentence, Iranian authorities gave Zaghari-Ratcliffe a second jail sentence last April for purportedly spreading propaganda against the Iranian government. She lost an appeal in October.

Sister-in-law Rebecca Ratcliffe said Wednesday was an emotional day.

"It feels like we're on the home run now but until she leaves that airport we can't believe it," Ratcliffe said before Zaghari-Ratcliffe left the country, according to BBC News.

Both women are home today, St Patrick's Day, in the UK.

Covid-19 > 9 in 10 COVID Deaths Are in Vaccinated People: UK Report

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9 in 10 COVID Deaths Are in Vaccinated People: Report

Joseph Mercola

 March 15, 2022 Updated: March 16, 2022

Medics take a patient from an ambulance into the Royal London hospital in London on Jan. 19, 2021.

(Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images)

A report released by the UK government has confirmed that 9 out of every 10 deaths related to COVID-19 are found in those who are fully vaccinated. Although the virus variant is the same and the UK approved only one different vaccine (AstraZeneca) from the United States, the data in the U.S. are different. This may be due in large part to the CDC definition used to identify who is “vaccinated.”

U.S. data are also likely to become even more sparse in the coming weeks and months. In addition to the CDC hiding data, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) quietly decided in early February to stop recording deaths attributed to COVID-19.

Data Is Essential

Yet, data is the foundation of scientific analysis. Without it, researchers are unable to analyze statistics and draw conclusions, which leaves public health experts unable to make accurate recommendations. Knowledge gives you the power to make informed decisions based on evidence.

Six months into the pandemic, a report revealed that most Americans had significant misconceptions of the COVID-19 risks. Months later, a second survey demonstrated that not much had changed. While analysts blamed “ignorance of fundamental, undisputed facts on who is at risk” for the so-called misconceptions, others said the politicization of the pandemic was also at fault. But there were other factors at play that skewed the data scientists thought they had.

According to a whistleblower who worked on Pfizer’s Phase 3 COVID injection clinical trials, data were falsified, patients were unblinded, the company hired poorly trained people to administer the injections and follow up on reported side effects lagged way behind. Her testimony was published November 2, 2021, in the British Medical Journal by investigative journalist Paul Thacker.

This is yet another indication that the true number of adverse events and deaths from the shots currently identified as COVID vaccines may never be known. The only logical conclusion to draw is that the data don’t support the Warp Speed production and mass vaccination program initiated in early 2020.

In fact, the shot program not only is ineffective, but also has likely damaged and killed far more people than any health agency will ever publicly admit. It is essential to share this information to help prevent more deaths and damaged lives.

UK Government Report: 90 Percent of Deaths Are in Fully Vaccinated

A reporter from The Exposé points out that while the world has been distracted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the UK government quietly released a report that confirmed 9 in every 10 deaths from COVID-19 in England were in people who were fully vaccinated.

The February 2022 report was from the UK Health Security Agency, which publishes weekly surveillance. The report contains several tables of raw data showing that the vast majority of people who were infected, hospitalized or died from COVID-19 were fully vaccinated.

The Exposé, demonstrated step by step how the data, gathered from Jan. 24, 2022, through February 28, 2022, supported this assertion. In the UK, health authorities differentiate between those who have never received a shot and those who received one, two or three doses. All told, there were 1,086,434 cases of COVID in vaccinated individuals that accounted for 73 percent of all cases during that period.

When children were removed from the equation, vaccinated individuals accounted for 91 percent of all cases. The reporter also compared data taken in 2021 when Delta was the dominant variant against the current report when Omicron is the dominant variant in England. It showed a higher number of children hospitalized for Omicron than for Delta.

Since children have never been at high risk for severe disease from any COVID variant, it begs the question if the current number of children hospitalized with COVID-19 may be due to increased PCR testing—known to have a high false-positive rate—in children hospitalized for other reasons, such as a broken leg or appendicitis.

When children were included in the figures for hospitalization, the data showed 75 percent of those hospitalized with COVID in the current period were vaccinated. But, when children were removed from the equation, 85 percent of the hospitalized individuals were vaccinated. Similar results were found when the data were analyzed for COVID deaths.

This makes one wonder whether the big push to vaccinate children is merely so the data looks less deplorable?

During the four-week period in the current report, vaccinated individuals accounted for 89 percent of deaths. Most interestingly, not only are the deaths in vaccinated individuals rising precipitously, but the number of deaths in those who are not vaccinated is dropping.

Vaccinated Deaths Rising in California

Headlines in the March 7, 2022, Mercury News read, “COVID-19 Deaths in California Among Vaccinated Rose Sharply With Omicron.” The corresponding story added that 10 deaths recorded in Santa Cruz County, California, and nine of those were vaccinated. On the surface, this is similar to findings reported from the UK. Yet, the raw numbers in the United States are different.

This is likely because U.S. data do not differentiate between individuals who have had one, two or three shots. In fact, the U.S. CDC clearly states that you can only be considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving the final dose in the primary two-shot series from Pfizer and Moderna or the one shot from Johnson & Johnson.

Therefore, as the UK analyzes data that identify individuals on the spectrum of having received one of three shots, the United States only counts vaccination if you’re two weeks after your last dose. Since not all patients who are fully vaccinated are identified on admission, analyzing U.S. numbers is difficult, if not impossible. You must ask yourself if this is intentional.

It probably is safe to assume that if a person in the United States is identified as being vaccinated, they are likely fully vaccinated by CDC standards. However, there are also likely individuals lumped into the unvaccinated group who have had one or two shots or may even be fully vaccinated by CDC standards but were not counted as such on admission.

The Mercury News justified the vaccinated deaths, writing: “Of the vaccinated patients who died, one was in his early 100s, three were in their 90s, two were in their 80s, three were in their 70s and most had underlying health problems. The unvaccinated man who died was in his 50s.”

While age is certainly a significant factor in any infectious disease including COVID, the article did not mention any of the other CDC-identified comorbidities that contribute to COVID deaths. To add to the misinformation, the article quoted Dr. Errol Ozdalga, a hospitalist at Stanford, who told the Mercury News that patients admitted during the Delta wave and earlier infections were otherwise healthy.

The implication is that those with comorbidities the CDC identified as increasing the risk of severe illness, such as heart disease, diabetes, obesity, chronic kidney disease and immunocompromised, were not hospitalized with COVID before Omicron.

““That went away with Omicron,” Ozdalga said. The variant has afflicted those with weakened immune systems, those who were “predisposed in some way” to severe illness, he said.” Additionally, without supporting information, the news report included a simple statement:

“Dr. George Rutherford, an infectious disease expert at UC-San Francisco, said the raw numbers make the deaths among the vaccinated look worse than they are — their rates of dying remain far less than the unvaccinated.”

Economist Survey Reveals Significant Vaccine Injury Rate

Economist Mark Skidmore executed a critical online survey using the U.S. population to estimate damage from the COVID-19 shots. He presented the most recent and significant data20 from the ongoing study at the Doctors for COVID Ethics Symposium 3.

His paper seeks to understand the number of people who have died from the COVID shots that he estimates based on the survey. He used the survey to triangulate information from the general population and what they are experiencing.

The participants were asked to report on the adverse events of people they knew best in their social circle — in other words, good friends or family members. The surveys were close to representative of the general population in age, income and gender in December 2021.

Skidmore first presented a list of adverse events the FDA acknowledged could be possible and compared it against the documented data of injury and deaths from the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) published in OpenVAERS.

Some of the most common events on the list were stroke, heart attack, myocarditis, death, thrombocytopenia and venous thromboembolism (blood clots). According to Skidmore, everyone agrees that adverse events can and do occur — the main difference in opinion is how often and how many.

Skidmore then looked at the ratio between COVID illness fatalities and COVID shot fatalities. The ratio in OpenVAERS is 2.6 percent and in VAERS (the number reported by the CDC that doesn’t contain all data originally substantiated) it’s 0.9 percent.

If these numbers reflect reality, the number of people who report injury or death in the survey should be close to zero since the cohort is small enough that it may not capture such a small percentage. Skidmore then asks, if we assume that the survey is a reflection of the true ratio in the population, what is the true population ratio for injury or death after receiving the COVID-19 shot?

From the data collected the ratio reveals there have been 307,997 deaths from the shot. The method used gives a 95 percent confidence interval between 215,018 and 391,410 deaths. Using the same mathematical approach to identify the number of severe adverse events to the general population, the data show there were roughly 1.1 million severe events and 2.3 million less severe events from the shot.

He acknowledges that much of what people see and report is through the lens of their biases. One of those is political affiliation. He showed that people who identified as Democrats reported far fewer shot-related deaths than did Republicans or independents. This likely also affects the number of deaths and adverse events reported to VAERS.

Using the fatality counts by party affiliation, he found that if the Democrat perception was correct, there were 119,000 fatalities compared to 487,000 fatalities if the Republican perception was correct. This gives a potential range of deaths and illustrates the differences in perceptions of people based on how they see the world. However, no matter which number is used, it is still far more than the number of fatalities reported in the VAERS system.

Unprecedented US Death Toll Keeps Rising

While the data from Skidmore and the UK reflect the death rate from COVID-19, it is also important to track the number of all-cause mortality as it’s one of the most reliable data points we have. This statistic is clear-cut. Either a person is dead or they’re not. It does not rely on the reason for death.

In early 2022, mutual insurance holding company OneAmerica announced an increase in the death rate of working Americans, aged 18 to 64, in the third quarter of 2021. Their data show it was 40 percent higher than prepandemic levels.

Other insurance companies have also cited higher mortality rates, including the Hartford Insurance Group that announced mortality increased 32 percent from 2019 and 20 percent from 2020 before the shots. Lincoln National reported death claims have increased 13.7 percent year over year and 54 percent in quarter four of 2021 compared to 2019.

Funeral homes are also posting an increase in burials and cremations in 2021 over 2020. One large German health insurance company reported their company data were nearly 14 times greater than the number of deaths reported by the German government. This data were gathered directly from doctors applying for payment from a sample of 10.9 million people.

The rising death toll that can be linked to the COVID shots is an inconvenient truth for the health agencies that have promoted mass vaccinations with a genetic therapy experiment. In what appears to be a response to this data, Health and Human Services (HHS) have decided to stop the reporting requirements for hospitals and acute care facilities on COVID-19 deaths.

Although the information is published on the HHS website, fact-checkers have claimed the viral social media posts are “false” by simply changing the headline.29 So, while the HHS publicly announced they would no longer require hospitals to report deaths from COVID-19, fact-checkers erroneously report the U.S. government is not ending daily COVID death reporting.

If it helps to sort all this out, an unnamed federal health official actually acknowledged the move to stop reporting COVID-19 hospital deaths when they spoke with a reporter from WSWS, calling the move “incomprehensible.” The official added, “It is the only consistent, reliable and actionable dataset at the federal level. Ninety-nine percent of hospitals report 100% of the data every day. I don’t know any scientists who want to have less data.”

CDC Withholds Data, Fearing Hesitancy and Misinterpretation

When data from multiple sources all reveal the same trends and values, it’s easy to see how the CDC would be unwilling to acknowledge the information or want to release their data for fear it would have a negative impact on the mass vaccination campaign. February 20, 2022, The New York Times reported the CDC still had not published large parts of the data they collected during the pandemic.

While they have published data on the effectiveness of boosters in some individuals, data from people 18 to 49 years were left out. Interestingly, this is also the group who are the least likely to benefit from the shot, since they have some of the lowest rates of severe disease and death as reported by the CDC.

In comments to The New York Times, a CDC spokesperson attempted to justify why the organization had withheld large portions of data since the beginning of the pandemic. She said the data were “not yet ready for prime time,” that the information may be misinterpreted to mean the vaccines are ineffective and that the data they have is based on 10 percent of the U.S. population, which the Times pointed out is the same sample size used to track influenza each year.

Without raw data from the United States, scientists have relied on Israeli data. One study gathered information from 4.6 million people ages 16 and older who had received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine. They compared severe illness and death between those who had the booster and those who did not. The data showed the group from 16 to 29 years had zero deaths whether they were boosted or not.

Likewise, the group from 30 to 39 years had one death whether they were boosted or not. In fact, the difference in death rate did not rise until the participants were 60 to 69 years, at which point the non-boosted group had 44 deaths and the boosted group had 32 deaths.

In an opinion piece, Staten Island Advance’s Tom Wrobleski characterizes the CDC’s decision, writing about what has happened to most people who have been willing to publish data and opinions that go against a national or international health agency’s narrative:

“We’re told to have faith in the CDC, in Dr. Anthony Fauci, in all the experts who are trained to handle public health crises.

But we can’t have trust if vital information is withheld from us. Because then it becomes a case of, “Shut up and do what we say. We’re the experts. You don’t need to know how we come to our decisions. We know what’s best.”

And if you question the received wisdom, you’re suddenly a dangerous person. You’re likened to a terrorist. You’re told you want people to die. You get banned from social media.

If you dare protest, you can have your bank account frozen and your vehicle insurance suspended, as we saw during the Freedom Convoy protest in Canada. You can get trampled by police on horseback.

Withholding information only makes people more skeptical. It breeds suspicion. Or mere doubt. The CDC needs to do better if it wants our trust.”

If you are not a conspiracy theorist after reading this, why aren't you?

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Corruption is Everywhere > Tainted rocket fuel; Hunter's ex-partner rips off Sioux band for millions; Jacob Zuma; Strongman eliminates opposition; Ex-President to be extradited

..

Firm admits selling potentially tainted rocket fuel to NASA

The Texas company pleaded guilty to fraud and agreed to forfeit more than $250,000

(FILE PHOTO) © Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Anahuac Transport Inc. has admitted to delivering potentially tainted rocket fuel to NASA and the Department of Defense (DOD) for rocket launches, according to the US Department of Justice. 

The company’s representatives, Gary Monteau and Brant Charpiot, pleaded guilty to fraud on Wednesday and were banned from federal government contracting for two years.

As part of the plea deal, Anahuac Transport agreed to forfeit $251,401. The amount is comparable with the gross profits the company made from its fraudulent dealings. 

Anahuac was contracted by NASA and the DOD to procure and transport fuel for the rocket launches from approximately 2012 through 2020. 

The firm was required to ensure the tanker trailer it used did not previously contain chemicals that may have adverse reactions with the fuel. However, the tankers had in fact previously contained such substances, and the documents were falsified to claim that they had not. 

Elon Musk’s Space Explorations Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) was among the firms receiving the potentially tainted fuel, the DOJ said. The SpaceX contract saw Musk’s firm deliver supplies for the International Space Station and with military payloads. 

A sentencing date has been set for May 12. Anahuac could be hit with a $500,000 fine and serve up to five years of probation.

So, they cannot contract with the government for 2 years, and they may go to jail for 5 years. Does that mean they can contract with the government for 3 years while in prison?

I'm being facetious, of course, but it seems to me the potential for dramatic catastrophe should eliminate people who are willing to risk the deaths of astronauts, from ever being allowed back in such a position.

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Hunter Biden’s partner gets prison sentence

Biden’s Burisma board colleague sentenced to prison for securities fraud

Devon Archer, who sat on the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma with Hunter Biden (pictured, August 2020), has been sentenced to prison in a fraud case ©  Getty Images/Handout

Devon Archer, a close friend and former business partner of President Joe Biden’s son Hunter, was sentenced on Monday for defrauding a Native American tribe. A federal judge in New York said Archer may go to prison for a year and a day, as well as serve one year of probation and forfeit $14 million in property.

Archer gained notoriety when it emerged he introduced Hunter Biden – his partner at Rosemont Seneca – to the Ukrainian gas company Burisma back in 2014.

Both Archer and Biden sat on Burisma’s board of directors for years, reportedly being paid over $83,000 a month.

Of course, Biden has no expertise in the gas business, however, he does have access to his father.

Monday’s sentence is not related to the Ukrainian gas deals, however, but the June 2018 conviction for conspiracy and securities fraud, over Archer’s role in a bond scheme to defraud an Oglala Sioux tribe to the tune of tens of millions. 

Archer and two other defendants conspired to have the Wakpamni Lake Community Corporation issue a series of tribal bonds and defrauded both the tribe and the buyers of the bonds while pocketing the profits, the court said in 2018. Archer and another defendant had used the bonds to meet capital requirements in broker deals, and used the profits to buy companies “as part of a strategy to build a financial services conglomerate,” according to the Department of Justice.

On Monday, Judge Ronnie Abrams said the crime was too serious to avoid prison time, but cut the sentence down from the 30 months requested by prosecutors, reportedly citing the Covid-19 pandemic as the reason. He also ordered a one-year probation rather than the requested three years. The US government may also seize up to $14 million in assets owned by Archer as restitution to the tribe.

Abrams also gave Archer 60 days to report to prison, but then said he would set a new surrender date pending appeal.

Archer has appealed the sentence all the way to the US Supreme Court, without success. In November 2021, it emerged that Archer had requested – and Judge Abrams had granted – permission to go on over 40 international trips since his indictment and even conviction.

Former president referred for criminal probe

Former South African leader Jacob Zuma and serving minister Gwede Matashe

potentially face graft charges

Former South African President Jacob Zuma at the United Nations General Assembly in 2017.

© Drew Angerer / Getty Images

A South African corruption inquiry investigating allegations of graft during Jacob Zuma’s time in power, has referred the former president and incumbent mineral resources minister Gwede Mantashe for criminal investigation.

The inquiry made the recommendation after a three-year investigation into Zuma’s administration, with the latest report focused on allegations of corruption and fraud regarding a privately-owned company, Bosasa.

“The evidence revealed that corruption was Bosasa’s way of doing business,” the inquiry alleged, accusing the company of having “bribed politicians, government officials, President Jacob Zuma and others extensively.”

Zuma is accused by the inquiry of having passed the company confidential information about criminal investigations into Bosasa, helping to hinder criminal prosecutions in return for bribes. If those allegations prove true, it would mean Zuma violated his obligations under the South African constitution.

Mantashe was also referred for criminal investigation, with the inquiry claiming a criminal probe would lead to a corruption case against him. Bosasa reportedly installed security systems at three properties owned by Mantashe at no cost, which, the inquiry claims, was an attempt to build favor with the then-Secretary General of the ruling African National Congress (ANC). Mantashe admitted the security systems had been installed but claimed nothing was inappropriate about the arrangement.

Bosasa is currently in voluntary liquidation, after banks closed its accounts over the graft allegations.

Zuma denies any wrongdoing and has refused to cooperate with the inquiry, resulting in him being sentenced to 15 months in prison for contempt of court. He was released on medical parole in September but was later ordered back to prison by the High Court. Zuma is currently appealing the order to return to jail.

The inquiry further called for an investigation into ANC officials who, free of charge, arranged an election “war room” for Bosasa. The ANC has not immediately responded to the recommended investigation.

Cambodian court convicts opposition leaders in mass trial

By Thomas Maresca

Exiled Cambodia opposition leader Sam Rainsy was among 21 defendants convicted in a Phnom Penh court

in a verdict rights groups have called politically motivated. File Photo by Mast Irham/EPA-EFE

March 17 (UPI) -- A Cambodian court convicted 21 people, including exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy, on charges including conspiracy to overthrow the government in a decision Thursday that defendants and rights groups blasted as an effort to sideline opponents of strongman Prime Minister Hun Sen.

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court imposed sentences of 10 years to Rainsy and six other senior leaders of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, all of whom were tried in absentia, local news site VOD reported.

Thirteen party activists who were present in court received sentences of five years. One other defendant was given a suspended five-year sentence.

Rainsy, who resides in France, left Cambodia in 2016 to avoid charges that included defamation of Hun Sen, who has held onto power since 1985.

Most of the charges in Thursday's decision revolved around Rainsy's plan to return to Cambodia in 2019, which prosecutors argued was part of a plot to topple the government.

Defendants in court shouted that they were innocent as the verdict was read, while a group of supporters clashed with guards outside the courthouse, VOD reported.

Rights groups were quick to slam the decision as another abuse of power by the Hun Sen government, which has intensified its suppression of political opposition in recent years.

"The mass trial and convictions of political opponents on baseless charges is a witch hunt that discredits both the Cambodian government and the country's courts," Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said.

"Cambodia's politicized courts have facilitated Prime Minister Hun Sen's effort to destroy the last remnants of democratic freedoms and civil and political rights in the country," Robertson said.

Cambodian authorities cracked down on opposition politicians, civil society groups and independent media in the run-up to a scheduled 2018 election. The country's high court ultimately dissolved the Rainsy-founded CNRP, allowing the CPP to run virtually unopposed in an election roundly condemned by international observers.

Western nations including the United States responded with targeted sanctions and visa restrictions, while the European Union ultimately revoked Cambodia's duty-free access to its markets over its worsening rights situation.

Thursday's decision was the second in four mass trials of more than 150 individuals connected to the CNRP.

"The justice system has again been used as a blunt political tool in an attempt to quash opposition to Hun Sen's dictatorship," Rainsy wrote on Twitter after the verdict was announced. "Opposing dictators is a duty, not a crime."

Honduran judge grants U.S. request to extradite former president

By Darryl Coote

An Honduras judge late Wednesday accepted the request to extradite former President Juan Orlando Hernandez

to the United States. Photo by Gustavo Amador/EPA-EFE

March 17 (UPI) -- A judge in Honduras late Wednesday approved the extradition of former President Juan Orlando Hernandez to the United States where prosecutors have accused him of being involved in a narco-trafficking conspiracy.

The Central American nation's Supreme Court of Justice said in a statement that an unnamed judge granted the extradition of the former president "after evaluating the means of evidence presented" by the Court of the Southern District of New York.

Hernandez has three days to file an appeal, the court said.

Until he is extradited, Hernandez will remain detained by the Honduran authorities where he has resided since turning himself over to police on Feb. 15. at the request of the United States.

The former president has been accused by U.S. prosecutors of being involved in narco-trafficking scheme, specifically accepting brides from individuals seeking protection from law enforcement to smuggle drugs into the United States.

The Honduras Supreme Court of Justice said he faces a charge of conspiracy to import a controlled substance into the United States and two firearms-related charges.

The announcement of the extradition follows U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken revealing last month that Hernandez had quietly been added to a list of dozens of former Central American officials barred from entering the United States over accusations of committing corruption.

At the time, Blinken said there were credible reports that the former president was involved in "significant corruption" and that he used the proceeds from narco-trafficking to fund his political campaigns.

The U.S. prosecutors also convicted Juan Antonio "Tony" Hernandez" in 2019 on trafficking charges in a case that listed his brother, the former president, as a co-conspirator. He was sentenced in March of last year to life in prison.

Hernandez was president of Honduras from 2014 to January when President Xiomara Castro was inaugurated.