Moroccan man now facing charges in Canada
after bomb threats in Ontario: OPP
The Ontario Provincial Police provided a brief update Wednesday on their investigation into a series of bomb threats that occurred in Ontario on Nov. 1.
Multiple schools and other public facilities received messages indicating that bombs had been placed at their locations, police said.
The messages also included a demand for money in order to get information on the explosives, police said.
No explosives were ever found.
Late last month, the OPP said an individual believed to be responsible for the threats had been arrested in Morocco, though it was unclear at the time if he’d be charged in Canada.
The suspect is also believed to have been responsible for threats in Belgium that resulted in at least 27 schools in Brussels and a neighbouring region shut down.
“The investigation in this province, by the Ontario Provincial Police Criminal Investigation Branch, has given investigators strong reason to believe the individual from Morocco was also responsible for the threats and major disruption here in Ontario,” provincial police said in a statement at the time.
According to media in Belgium, the threats included a demand of 10 million euros to reveal the location of five bombs. Officials there say the suspect “admitted the deeds to the Moroccan authorities” and that so far there is no evidence suggesting any “terrorist motives.”
Frightening people, including children, is a motive straight out of the Quran. Apparently, the OPP are not aware of this.
The OPP worked with Belgian police in the investigation and obtained an arrest warrant.
An OPP spokesperson told Global News on Wednesday that the accused remains in the custody of Belgian police.
El Hachm El Moussi, 45, from Casablanca, Morocco, is now charged in Canada with two counts each of uttering threats, mischief, and extortion, OPP said.
“The accused has not come to Canada to face the charges,” the OPP spokesperson said.
“The OPP is consulting with the Federal Department of Justice to determine how the accused will appear before the Ontario Court of Justice.”
— With files from Sawyer Bogdan
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Harassment and Persecution Faced by
Egyptian Christians
International Christian Concern, December 18, 2023:
12/18/2023 Egypt (International Christian Concern) — In a harrowing tale of religious persecution, Amina* endured harassment and threats in Beni Suef Governorate last year after moving there to begin her newly married life. However, her happiness was short-lived as she encountered hostility from locals. Disturbing incidents of verbal abuse, including obscene language and threats, became a routine for Amina, solely because of her Christian faith.
The situation took a violent turn when her husband returned home from work one day to find three men waiting for him. They subjected him to a brutal assault, leaving him unconscious before hastily fleeing the scene. Upon regaining consciousness, Amina’s husband was informed about the severity of the threats and attempts to kidnap his wife, coupled with demands for her conversion to Islam.
She shared, “They were harassing me, threatening me, and trying to kidnap me, and that they wanted me to convert to Islam and wear the hijab. When I screamed and threatened to go to the police, they said: ‘You Christians, you worshipers of the cross, will not be able to do anything. This is our city, and we will cleanse it of people like you. Either you are with us, or you are against us, and whoever resists us will not live.’”…
Scores killed in attacks by suspected herders
in Nigeria
A series of attacks on villages in central Nigeria over the last few days have killed nearly 200 people, local authorities said on Wednesday, in the latest case this year of such mass killings blamed on the farmer-herder crisis in the West African nation.
Monday Kassah, president of the local government in Bokkos, Plateau State, said that 148 Bokkos villagers had been killed, while Dickson Chollom, an elected official from the neighbouring local assembly in Barkin Ladi, said "at least 50 people" were killed in the district.
The assailants targeted 17 communities in "senseless and unprovoked" attacks on Saturday and Sunday, burning down most houses in the area, Plateau Gov. Caleb Mutfwang said in a broadcast on the local Channels Television.
"As I am talking to you, in Mangu local governorate alone, we buried 15 people. As of this morning, in Bokkos, we are counting not less than 100 corpses. I am yet to take stock of (the deaths in) Barkin Ladi," Mutfwan said. "It has been a very terrifying Christmas for us here in Plateau."
Amnesty International's Nigeria office told The Associated Press that it has so far confirmed 140 deaths in the Christian-dominated Bokkos and Barkin-Ladi areas of Plateau, based on data compiled by its workers on the ground and from local officials. There were fears of a higher death toll as some people remained unaccounted for.
Some of the locals said that it took more than 12 hours before security agencies responded to their call for help, a claim the AP couldn't independently verify, but which echoes past concerns about slow interventions in Nigeria‘s deadly security crisis, which has killed hundreds this year, including in Plateau.
This is not because of complete incompetence by the military, but is more than likely a directive to respond slowly as most of Nigeria's governments are complicit in the genocide of Christians.
"I called security but they never came. The ambush started 6 in the evening but security reached our place by 7 in the morning," said Sunday Dawum, a youth leader in Bokkos. At least 27 people were killed in his village, Mbom Mbaru, including his brother, he said.
No group took responsibility for the attacks though blame fell on herders from the Fulani tribe, who have been accused of carrying out such mass killings across the northwest and central regions where the decades-long conflict over access to land and water has further worsened the sectarian division between Christians and Muslims in Africa’s most populous nation.
The Nigerian army said it has begun "clearance operations" in search of suspects, with the help of other security agencies, although arrests are rare in such attacks.
Abdullsalam Abubakar, who commands the army’s special intervention operation in Plateau and neighbouring states, said his forces "will not rest" until they find those responsible.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, who was elected this year after promising to tackle security challenges his predecessor had failed to address, instructed security agencies to "scour every stretch of the zone and apprehend the culprits", according to a statement from his office.
He also ordered the "immediate mobilisation of relief resources" for the survivors and prompt medical treatment for the wounded, it added.
Amnesty's Nigeria director Isa Sanusi said Tinubu’s government and others have failed to take "tangible action" to protect lives and ensure justice for victims in the conflict-hit northern region.
"Sometimes they claim to make arrests but there is no proof they have done so," he said. "The brazen failure of the authorities to protect the people of Nigeria is gradually becoming the norm."
And the 'norm' is called genocide!
(FRANCE 24 with AP and AFP)
