Jemaah Islamiah Malaysia Leader Hambali, ‘Southeast Asia’s Osama bin Laden’ Detention At Guantanamo, Is Not Just An Artefact Of History
New
Age Islam News Bureau
12
December 2021
A US soldier
walks next to the razor wire-topped fence at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Photo: AFP
-----
• Jemaah Islamiah Malaysia Leader Hambali, ‘Southeast Asia’s
Osama bin Laden’ Detention At Guantanamo, Is Not Just An Artefact Of History
• No Permission, Second Time In Less Than Two Weeks
For 'Aarti' At Mathura Mosque
• Pakistan’s Political System Is Not Islamic: Taliban Spokesman
Zabiullah Mujahid
• Canadian PM: Nobody Should Ever Lose Their Job
Because Of They Wear Or Their Religious Beliefs
Southeast Asia
• Sarawak DCM Refutes Claims That State Govt Had Given
Grants In Millions To Churches
• Dr M: Pakatan leaders took time to change
‘Opposition mindset’ after becoming ministers due to zeal to right old wrongs
-----
India
• Any Person Actively Associated With Islamic Research
Foundation Of Zakir Naik To Face Charges under UAPA: Maharashtra ATS
• Kerala: Case Registered Against Muslim League
Leaders, Workers for Violating Covid Protocol During Protest
-----
Pakistan
• Sufism Can End Extremism: Pakistan FM
• US and West use Islamic countries for wars,
conflicts: President Alvi
-----
North America
• Sinai tribes hunt Islamic State bomb makers
• US allows money transfer to Afghanistan
-----
Mideast
• City University Of New York Supports BDS, Calls For
Boycotting Israeli Regime
• Gantz: I told the US I’ve ordered the IDF to prepare
a strike against Iran
• Israel Conferred With US Before Attacking Iran's
Nuclear Sites
• A year on, Iran’s execution of dissident leaves
exiles rattled
-----
Arab world
• Gulf Islamic Investments Acquires US Office
Portfolio For $100m
• Saudi Arabia Designates 2022 As ‘Year Of Saudi
Coffee’
• Thousands of residency, labour, border violators
arrested across KSA
• Saudi Arabia reports 53 new COVID-19 cases, 1 death
-----
Africa
• Algerian President Receive Holy Book Of Quran From Great
Mosque Of Paris
• MoFA Strongly Condemns Terrorist Attacks on Mosque
and Bus in Nigeria
• Chief Imam, 10 Others Kidnapped In Sokoto During
Prayers
• You’re pathetic – Aisha Yesufu blasts Bishop
Oyedepo, Islamic group over Buhari
-----
Europe
• UK To Allocate Nearly $100 Million In Humanitarian
Aid To Afghanistan
• Scunthorpe's first purpose built mosque opens after
20 year wait
• London cops shoot man dead near Kensington Palace
• UK and US warn of ‘serious consequences’ if Russia
invades Ukraine as G7 meets in Liverpool
• Covid booster jabs extended to over 30s as NHS steps
up fight against Omicron
-----
South Asia
• Daesh claims responsibility for explosions in Kabul
• Bangladesh capable of protecting itself from
external aggression: PM
• Myanmar man pleads guilty in plot to attack UN envoy
Compiled by New
Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/jemaah-islamiah-hambali-guantanamo/d/125945
--------
Jemaah Islamiah Malaysia Leader Hambali, ‘Southeast
Asia’s Osama bin Laden’ Detention At Guantanamo, Is Not Just An Artefact Of
History
A US soldier
walks next to the razor wire-topped fence at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Photo: AFP
-----
Susan Sim
12 Dec, 2021
Two decades after Singapore began cracking down on a
pan-Southeast Asia terrorist group calling itself Jemaah Islamiah (JI), the
network’s operations leader, Hambali, remains at Guantanamo Bay awaiting trial.
The evidence against him shows that he took orders and money from the al-Qaeda
mastermind behind 9/11 to stage terrorist attacks in the region, including the
deadly Bali bombings in 2002, and was planning yet more attacks when captured
in 2003. In the second of a two-part feature, Susan Sim, who was a journalist
in Jakarta during the events of September 11, 2001, takes a look at his legacy
of mayhem.
In late August this year, a US military commission in
Guantanamo Bay charged Hambali and two Malaysians he had recruited for an
aborted al-Qaeda suicide attack on the United States – Mohd Farik bin Amin,
alias Zubair, and Mohammed Nazir bin Lep, alias Lillie – with conspiracy,
murder, terrorism and attacking civilians.
The charges centred on two terrorist attacks in
Indonesia where Americans had been among the casualties. Hambali himself does
not appear to dispute his involvement in both attacks. But the charge sheet
also implicates him in every significant JI activity up to and a year beyond
his capture.
In addition to his planning of the Bali bombing and
facilitating the financing of the Jakarta Marriott Hotel bombing he is accused
of scheming with senior al-Qaeda leaders to carry out post-9/11 attacks against
US interests; a plot to use an all-Malaysian cell to hijack an aeroplane and
fly it into the Library Tower (now known as the US Bank Tower) in Los Angeles;
and helping al-Qaeda develop an anthrax programme by providing Malaysian
microbiologist Yazid Sufaat.
When a summary was read out to Hambali during a
hearing in March 2016 to determine if his “continued law-of-war detention” was
warranted, his response, as read out by his personal representatives and
publicly released, was that “he wants nothing more than to move on with his
life and be peaceful. He hopes to remarry and have children to raise.”
During his time at Guantanamo, Hambali had learned
English and taught himself Arabic and “enjoys watching the programmes Planet
Life [and] Blue Planet” on DVD, they said, adding: “His father and uncles were
all teachers, so [studying] came naturally for him.”
While mostly compliant, Hambali’s jailers noticed that
he did use the daily prayers and lectures he led to “promote violent jihad”
among fellow detainees, and said they believed he was using his language
classes and status as “teacher” to exert undue influence over others.
Then, as now, Hambali’s pleasant demeanour and
religious knowledge is thought to have helped him recruit acolytes and command
their loyalty. But not all those who plotted alongside him were so enamoured by
his leadership.
Ali Ghufron, a JI leader better known as Mukhlas who
was executed in 2008 by Indonesia for his role in the Bali bombings, happily
provided photo identification of Hambali to Thai investigators – apparently
aggrieved that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) had named the younger man leader of
al-Qaeda operations in Southeast Asia despite him being two years Mukhlas’
junior, and having trained in Afghanistan at a later date.
Armed with this photo, Thai Police Major-General
Tritot Ronnaritivichai spent almost eight months hunting Hambali in 2003. With
the country hosting the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum that year, he
could not afford to have a wanted terrorist – who US and regional security
services had announced was based in Bangkok – on the loose, he told me when we
met five years later.
Hambali was indeed plotting more attacks at this time,
as Tritot would discover after the arrest of Malaysian co-conspirator Mohd
Farik bin Amin, alias Zubair, in June 2003.
Thai investigators captured Zubair while on the trail
of a more elusive target: Mohammed Nazir bin Lep, a Malaysian better known in
JI circles as Lillie who police knew had been in contact with one of KSM’s
couriers, though they did not know what Lillie looked like.
Tritot’s team, working alongside the US Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA), tracked Lillie to a Bangkok building where they
jammed the mobile phone signal in an attempt to flush him out. Soon enough, a
man emerged who Tritot said “just looked out of place” and the police swooped
in.
But the foreigner was Zubair, who for a month after
his arrest kept silent – both to protect Hambali’s plans, and to stop the authorities
knowing how close they had come to getting their man. Lillie, as Tritot would
later realise while reviewing a video recording of Zubair’s arrest, had stepped
behind a pillar when the police emerged.
In the flat Zubair and Lillie shared, Tritot’s team
found a note tucked into the pages of an old newspaper that outlined a plan to
use a surface-to-air missile (SAM) to shoot down an Israeli El Air flight
taking off from Don Maung airport in Bangkok.
Hambali had wanted to buy an old Vietnam war-era heat-seeking
missile from the black market in Cambodia, but Lillie, who had trained to use
SAMs in an al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan in early 2001, knew it required a
trigger component not easily available. Hambali had also ordered Lillie to
survey the Jewish quarter in Bangkok to identify Jewish stores, restaurants and
the synagogue and to plan an attack. Lillie, noting the presence of a
backpacker’s left-luggage store next to a store selling gas canisters in the
vicinity, had suggested that a bomb left in a backpack would have great
explosive force when the gas canisters caught fire.
In the end, Hambali was caught because he broke his
own rules on operational security. Although he moved every few months with his
wife, Hambali stayed in constant communication with other al-Qaeda and JI
operatives. He tasked Zubair and Lillie with planning terrorist operations,
casing targets, and facilitating money transfers, and they left trails that
eventually led to his hideout when they were caught through a combination of communications
intercepts, intelligence sharing by regional security services, surveillance of
known criminal syndicates, and old-fashioned police intuition. He appeared to
believe his co-conspirators would never betray him.
At the time of Zubair’s arrest, Hambali was in
Cambodia with another JI member to plan attacks against Western embassies in
Phnom Penh and to buy weapons. On his return to Thailand, he tasked Lillie with
obtaining new passports. However, Tritot had anticipated this and had put known
forging syndicates under surveillance. Lillie, whose identity Zubair eventually
revealed under interrogation, was arrested as soon as he came to collect the
fake documents. Unlike Zubair, Lillie broke almost immediately and gave
Hambali’s location away – a flat in an area of Ayutthaya city popular with
businessmen and workers from South and East Asia.
Tritot learned from Lillie that Hambali was armed with
an M16 rifle and two pistols. Wanting to avoid a firefight, the police
major-general attempted to lure the terrorist out by getting the building’s
landlord to tell him he had a call on the lobby telephone. When the landlord
turned heel and ran, however, Hambali spotted Tritot and a brief scuffle
ensued.
“He scratched my hand when I grabbed his gun,” Tritot
told me, nodding at a framed pistol in his office bearing the legend,
“Operation Black Magic, August 11, 2003”. Hambali had left the other Norinco
pistol in the flat with his wife.
“Hambali looked surprised when we arrested him but he
knew he would be caught if he stayed in Thailand too long,” Tritot said. “He
said nothing when we put him in a van to drive straight back to Bangkok.”
It was almost midnight on August 11, 2003, when Tritot
began his interrogation of Hambali. “Are you Hambali?” he asked. To his surprise,
Hambali replied, “Yes. I surrender to you.”
Tritot told me, half in jest, that when the CIA asked
him to provide a code-name for the Hambali operation, he chose “Black Magic”
because that was what he used. The CIA told the world it was the waterboarding
of al-Qaeda suspects in its black sites that worked magic. In subsequent years,
the capture of Hambali became one of the “Eight Most Frequently Cited Examples
of Plots Thwarted and Terrorists Captured Provided by the CIA as Evidence for
the Effectiveness of the CIA’s Enhanced Interrogation Techniques”, a US Senate
report on the CIA’s use of torture noted in 2014. In the CIA’s telling, it was
information provided by Majid Khan after being waterboarded and deprived of
sleep that led to the capture of Zubair, which subsequently led to Hambali’s
location.
The CIA’s representations were “inaccurate”, the
Senate report said, concluding instead that “the intelligence that led to
Hambali’s capture in Thailand was based on signals intelligence, a CIA source,
and Thai investigative activities.”
For years, the CIA also sought to obscure these “Thai
investigative activities”. When my friend and colleague Ali Soufan, a decorated
former FBI special agent who had opposed the CIA’s use of torture, wrote an
account of how Tritot captured Hambali in his 2010 book The Black Banners, the
CIA insisted he cut out every word even though none of the material had come
from US sources. It was only in 2018, when the Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex
Gibney and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Raymond Bonner, who were making a
documentary about torture, challenged the CIA’s censorship of Ali’s book in
court, did the agency reverse this redaction and the numerous other cuts it had
demanded on national security grounds.
If there were ever any doubts as to the pivotal role
Tritot and his team played in Hambali’s capture, they were dispelled by the
CIA’s actions. As Ali and I used to joke, if Tritot’s account were not
accurate, why try to censor it? After all, I had seen in Tritot’s office a glass
plaque with an embedded bullet that he said the CIA had presented to him.
Addressed to him by name and emblazoned with US and Thai flags, the plaque said
“H, August 2003, The Right Team At The Right Time”.
The US government’s case against Hambali might have
been made stronger by Majid Khan’s plea agreement with a US military court that
recently sentenced him to 26 years’ imprisonment; among the charges Khan pled
guilty to was one of delivering US$50,000 from al-Qaeda to Hambali to fund the
bombing of the Jakarta Marriott Hotel in August 2003.
But if found guilty, might Hambali get a sentence much
longer than time served? The US Senate report also revealed that he had been
subjected to “enhanced interrogation techniques” in US custody. At his
sentencing hearing in late October, Majid Khan provided such graphic
descriptions of his torture by the CIA that seven of the eight-member military
jury later denounced his brutal treatment as a “stain on the moral fibre of
America” and urged clemency on his behalf. Even if that is not granted, Khan’s
plea deal means he is eligible to be released as soon as next February.
Hambali has no such plea agreement. Indeed, he refused
to take part in his periodic review at Guantanamo Bay in November 2019. The
nightmare scenario for Southeast Asia would be if the US, under domestic
pressure to close Guantanamo Bay and repatriate detainees to their countries of
origin, sent Hambali back to Indonesia to stand trial, or if already tried and
sentenced by then, to serve out the remainder of his prison term.
There is no doubt that Hambali helped put Southeast
Asia’s violent extremists on a collision course with the US and its allies,
against what al-Qaeda calls the “far enemy”.
Hambali had been talent-spotted by the leader of Darul
Islam, Abdullah Sungkar himself. Sungkar sent Hambali and others to Afghanistan
to acquire military skills to fight the “near enemy” – the Indonesian state –
not to join Osama bin Laden’s “vanguard of elite fighters” to take jihad
global, to fight what Bin Laden saw as the bigger enemy propping up repressive
regimes: the US.
Perhaps Hambali was seduced by what bin Laden offered
– money, expertise and training. So too perhaps was the JI leadership; “JI
leaders were interested in Osama because of his background – a Saudi
millionaire who sacrificed so much,” Nasir Abas told me.
As leader of JI’s Mantiqi 1 cell, and KSM’s
representative in Southeast Asia, Hambali was able to hand-pick some 150
Indonesians, Malaysians and Singaporeans to undergo training in terrorist camps
in Afghanistan and the southern Philippines between 1997 and 2001, with Imam
Samudra, Noordin M Top and Azahari Husin – the men who planned and built the
bombs for the Bali and Jakarta attacks – among the first trainees he sent.
But when Hambali began urging attacks on the US, in
accordance with a fatwa issued by Bin Laden, some of his fellow JI members said
they balked. “We didn’t understand why he was demonising the US. We had a
different strategy and many of us had problems with Hambali’s direction,” said
one former member. Others questioned why Hambali was seemingly taking orders
from the leader of another group.
Undeterred, Hambali ordered members of Mantiqi 1 to
join in a series of attacks on Christian churches across Indonesia on Christmas
Eve in 2000. He planned the bombings like a gang initiation, a Singapore
counterterrorism official later told me, to ensure his recruits’ commitment to
the cause – but not everyone was entirely on board.
An Indonesian policeman watches as cars burn in the
street following bomb explosions in front of a church in Jakarta on December
24, 2000. Photo: AP
An Indonesian policeman watches as cars burn in the
street following bomb explosions in front of a church in Jakarta on December
24, 2000. Photo: AP
Ali Imron, currently serving a life sentence in
Indonesia for helping to build the bombs used in the 2002 Bali attacks at the
behest of his brother Mukhlas, told me in an interview in 2010 that when he
asked if the Christmas Eve attack had been sanctioned by JI’s leadership,
“Hambali said it was none of my business”.
After agreeing to target a church in East Java, Imron
decided to attend a service beforehand – but what he heard made him place the
bomb he was carrying in a spot “far from people”, he said.
“I listened to the preacher. He didn’t ask people to
attack or hate Muslims,” Imron said. “I was confused. Christians are not
against us. Why attack them?”
Imron, who now works on deradicalisation efforts with
the Indonesian police, said he had never before told anyone about his actions
that day.
“If I had known Hambali was carrying out orders from
another group, from al-Qaeda, I wouldn’t have done it. I was betrayed,” he
said.
The carnage of the Bali bombings created such a public
backlash that the Indonesian police were finally empowered to go after JI. As
former national police chief and current Indonesian cabinet member Tito
Karnavian once told me, it was a “turning point of Indonesia recognising Jemaah
Islamiah as a terrorist group and subsequently revealing the network and
finding that the network is quite extensive, encompassing the Southeast Asian
region”.
Within a year of the attacks, the Indonesian police –
now better equipped, trained and partially funded by Australia and the US – had
arrested many of the JI leaders and operatives, and gained intelligence on
those who underwent training in Afghanistan and the camps set up by JI in Abu
Sayyaf territory in the southern Philippines beginning in 1996.
Several senior JI operatives escaped the dragnet,
however, later surfacing in Mindanao where they kept at least one training camp
operating.
What remained of JI declared it would henceforth focus
on dakwah, or spreading its ideology. When the Australian embassy in Jakarta
was bombed in 2004, Bali again in 2005, and two Jakarta hotels in 2009, JI
distanced itself from the violence, blaming instead a splinter cell led by the
Malaysian terrorist Noordin M Top.
But JI never stopped recruiting. Indeed, it was able
to expand its networks by doubling the number of schools controlled by its
members and sympathisers in the first 15 years after the Bali bombings. When an
Indonesian researcher and I did a study four years ago, we found that the
number had grown from about 31 in 2002 to 66 by 2017.
Many of these newer schools are being run by alumni of
four well-known JI schools, the “Ivy League” of the Indonesian jihadi universe
with its own counterculture and preparation for life as a mujahid (holy
warrior). While many of the schools added secular subjects like information
technology and English language to their religious curriculum, they remain true
to JI founder Abu Bakar Ba’asyir’s vision of the pesantren (religious boarding
school) as “a cauldron for the building-up of a cadre of mujahedin”, bringing
to life “the spirit of war in the path of God”. Signs in the dormitories urge
students to “die as a noble man or die as a martyr”.
The first Indonesian to carry out a suicide bombing
for Islamic State (Isis) in Iraq went to one such JI-linked school. At the age
of 15, Wildan Mukhallad, a student at the Al-Islam boarding school started by
the family of Ali Imron, began dreaming of becoming a suicide bomber after
attending the funerals of Imron’s brothers, Amrozi and Mukhlas, following their
execution in November 2008. Five years later, Wildan was dead, his death
celebrated in a tweet by a pro-Isis account that eulogised him as a martyr who
“after one year of performing jihad in Syria together with Isis, died in a
martyrdom operation in Iraq”. When word spread among Indonesian jihadi circles,
Wildan’s infamy inspired other young Indonesian men to join Isis in Syria.
Faced with competition from acolytes of Isis, JI tried
to outbid its rivals by sending some 60 of its most promising cadres to Syria
for “exposure”. Pro-Isis elements in Indonesia have, however, staged
increasingly audacious terrorist attacks, beginning with a commando-style
attack on the streets of central Jakarta in January 2016, the dispatch of
fighters to help seize the town of Marawi in the Philippines in the summer of 2017,
and at least four successful suicide attacks in Indonesia and the southern
Philippines in the last three years.
The Isis groups also proved themselves to be equal
opportunity instigators with women taking part in the recent suicide attacks,
and in the case of the Surabaya suicide bombings, their children as well.
Still, in a landscape littered with violent actors and
too many corpses, no Southeast Asian terrorist has captured the world’s
attention as much as Hambali did almost two decades ago. His capture, the CIA
said at the time, was the “most significant” since that of his friend and
patron KSM.
However long it takes, Hambali’s victims deserve
justice. For today’s aspiring jihadis, on the other hand, is Hambali the man
merely an artefact of history?
Whatever his currency, the reality is that the
consequences of what he did, even if almost two decades old, continue to
reverberate in the security landscape of the region today. Therein lies the
conundrum for governments – what do you do with Hambali?
Source: scmp
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No Permission, Second Time In Less Than Two Weeks For
'Aarti' At Mathura Mosque
View of Sri Krishna
Janmabhoomi temple and Shahi Idgah mosque, in Mathura. Credit: PTI Photo
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IANS, Mathura
DEC 12 2021
The Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha has been denied
permission to hold 'Aarti' of Lord Krishna at the Shahi Idgah mosque in
Mathura.
In a letter sent to the national president of the
organisation, Rajyashree Chaudhuri, the district administration said permission
has not been granted "in the interest of law and order and peaceful
atmosphere of the city. Section 144, prohibiting pub...
Chaudhuri said: "Earlier, the administration)
refused permission citing communal harmony in the city. This time, they have
said it would violate Covid norms. These are lame excuses."
The Mahasabha has now announced that it would launch a
'referendum' for construction of the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple from January 26
at Kurukshetra, the land where Krishna gave 'Gita' sermons to Arjun.
This is the second time in less than two weeks that
the Mathura administration has stopped the Mahasabha from going ahead with
their programme at the Shahi Idgah.
The outfit had earlier announced it would install
Krishna's idol at the Shahi Idgah on December 6.
Source: firstpost
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Pakistan’s Political System Is Not Islamic: Taliban
Spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid
By Najibullah Lalzoy
Taliban Spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid
----
11 Dec 2021
Deputy Minister of Information and Culture and
spokesman of the Taliban Zabiullah Mujahid said that Pakistan’s ruling
political system does not represent an Islamic system.
Zabiullah Mujahid in his recent interview with Radio
Free of Afghanistan said that Pakistan is still being governed by an imposed
system from abroad.
The spokesman of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan
added that Pakistan’s rulers prioritize economic interests over Islam.
This is the first time that the Taliban talks against
Pakistan’s government and question its political system.
In the meantime, Zabiullah Mujahid in a separate
interview denied TTP’s leader statements over their group being under the
umbrella of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
Source: khaama Press
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original story:
https://www.khaama.com/pakistans-political-system-is-not-islamic-mujahid-786765/
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Canadian PM: Nobody Should Ever Lose Their Job Because
Of They Wear Or Their Religious Beliefs
Canadian PM Justin Trudeau
----
December 12, 2021
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has not
"closed the door" on legal action against a Quebec law that cost a
teacher her job last week because of her hijab, his office said on Friday.
A Grade 3 teacher in Chelsea, Quebec was transferred
to a different position under a Quebec law that forbids public sector employees
in positions of authority from wearing religious symbols, Wayne Daly, interim
chair of the Western Quebec School Board, told Reuters.
He has been inundated with phone calls and emails
since, he said - the vast majority opposing the move. In a hand-drawn card
posted online by human rights advocate Amira Elghawaby, a Grade 3 student
decried the transfer as "not fair."
The mostly French-speaking province of Quebec enacted
the law in 2019 ostensibly to maintain "laicite" - secularism - in
its public service.
The bill, partially upheld by a Quebec court this
spring, has been slammed for targeting Muslims, Sikhs and Jews. Federal party
leaders demanded an apology during a September federal election debate after
the moderator called it discriminatory.
"Nobody in Canada should ever lose their job
because of what they wear or their religious beliefs," Trudeau's office
said in an email. "We haven't closed the door on making representation in
court in the future," it added.
Inclusion and Diversity Minister Ahmed Hussen told
reporters on Thursday it was "premature" to ask the federal
government if it plans to oppose the two-year-old law.
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA), the
National Council of Canadian Muslims and other groups filed documents
supporting their argument before an appeals court, likely next year.
They face an uphill battle because Quebec has invoked
a clause allowing governments to enact legislation that violates some parts of
Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. But support from the federal
government might make a difference, said University of Waterloo politics
professor Emmett Macfarlane.
"Ultimately it is human beings that are being
pushed out of their jobs, human beings that are suffering and fundamental
rights that are being violated."
Source: Abna24
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Southeast Asia
Sarawak DCM Refutes Claims That State Govt Had Given
Grants In Millions To Churches
BY SULOK TAWIE
11 Dec 2021
KUCHING, Dec 11 — Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar
Douglas Uggah today refuted claims by former Anglican Bishop of Kuching and
Brunei Datuk Bolly Lapok that the state government had given grants in millions
to churches after he joined Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB).
“We have no issue at all with him joining politics
after years and years of service to the God Almighty, but his latest statement
to the press is unbecoming of his last office.
Source: Malay Mail
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Dr M: Pakatan leaders took time to change ‘Opposition
mindset’ after becoming ministers due to zeal to right old wrongs
BY G. PRAKASH
12 Dec 2021
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 12 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said
having been in Opposition for over six decades, many Pakatan Harapan (PH)
leaders needed time to make mindset adjustments after they were appointed as
Cabinet members when he took over Putrajaya after winning the 14th general
election.
In his latest book titled Capturing Hope: The Struggle
Continues For A New Malaysia, Dr Mahathir revealed that even after becoming
ministers, PH leaders continued to behave as if they were still in the
Opposition, and that caused problems.
Source: Malay Mail
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India
Any Person Actively Associated With Islamic Research
Foundation Of Zakir Naik To Face Charges under UAPA: Maharashtra ATS
Press Trust of India
December 12, 2021
In view of the Centre extending ban on Islamic
Research Foundation (IRF) of controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik by five
more years, the Maharashtra ATS on Saturday said any person actively associated
with this organisation will be charged with the stringent anti-terror law.
In an advertisement issued in a newspaper, the ATS
said that participating in activities of IRF, collecting donations or becoming
its member will be charged with the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Source: Newsx
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Kerala: Case Registered Against Muslim League Leaders,
Workers for Violating Covid Protocol During Protest
DECEMBER 11, 2021
Kozhikode Police has registered a case against Indian
Union Muslim League (IUML) leaders and party workers over alleged violation of
Covid-19 protocol and obstructing traffic during their protest held on December
9 in Kozhikode beach against the handing over of Waqf Board appointments in
Kerala to the Public Service Commission (PSC). The police have registered the
case against 10,000 workers including leaders.
Source: News18
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Pakistan
Sufism Can End Extremism: Pakistan FM
By Our Correspondent
December 12, 2021
MULTAN: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said
the saints have rendered immense services for the propagation of Islam and
their abode is the source of forgiveness of mankind.
He said by following the teachings of these saints,
extremism, terrorism and sectarianism can be eradicated from the country. The
present day demands that the teachings of the saints be followed in the light
of the Seerat of the prophet.
Source: The News
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https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/916157-sufism-can-end-extremism-qureshi
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US and West use Islamic countries for wars, conflicts:
President Alvi
By Web desk
December 11, 2021
ISLAMABAD – President Dr Arif Alvi has called for
change in the current exploitative world order, where big economies like India
are supported by the world powers.
In an interview, he said: “Today we have a
‘Testosterone’ driven world order, driven by vested interests, human phobias
and hatred. It has a far bigger capacity to destroy the human race than nuclear
weapons”.
Source: Pak Observer
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https://pakobserver.net/us-and-west-use-islamic-countries-for-wars-conflicts-president-alvi/
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North America
Sinai tribes hunt Islamic State bomb makers
Amr Emam
December 11, 2021
An association of Sinai tribes allied with the
Egyptian army is hunting down the explosives experts of the Islamic State (IS)
branch in this Egyptian territory, which will potentially weaken the branch
even more and deprive it of its last survival technique.
IS has resorted to planting explosives on roads used
by Egyptian army troops and policemen fighting them in northern and central
Sinai.
Source: Al-monitor
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https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2021/12/sinai-tribes-hunt-islamic-state-bomb-makers
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US allows money transfer to Afghanistan
By Najibullah Lalzoy
12 Dec 2021
US Department of Treasury announced that they have
made a regulation based on which people will be allowed to transfer money to
Afghanistan.
The new regulation was announced on Saturday, December
11 and it will lift sanctions on all those who are involved in the transfer.
Source: khaama Press
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https://www.khaama.com/us-allows-money-transfer-to-afghanistan-875654756/
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Mideast
City University of New York supports BDS, calls for
boycotting Israeli regime
News Code : 1207644
December 12, 2021
The City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law’s
Student Government Association passed a resolution on December 2 endorsing the
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement targeting Zionist campus
groups like Hillel.
“Israeli academic institutions are complicit in the
occupation and colonization of Palestine and the state’s violence against
Palestinians by developing military hardware, weapons, drones, and surveillance
technologies; offering military training courses and posts for high-ranking
military officers; declaring, via their leaders and other surrogates, their
support for Israeli military offensives; discriminating against Palestinian
students; and repressing voices in support of Palestinians and their struggle
for self-determination,” its resolution states.
Source: En.abna24
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Gantz: I told the US I’ve ordered the IDF to prepare a
strike against Iran
By JACOB MAGID
12-12-2021
HOLLYWOOD BEACH, Florida — Defense Minister Benny
Gantz said Friday that he notified US officials during meetings this week in
Washington that he had instructed the Israel Defense Forces to prepare for a
strike against Iran.
In a briefing with reporters on the sidelines of the
Israeli American Council’s national summit in Florida, Gantz said the order he
gave was to “prepare for the Iranian challenge at the operational level.”
A senior defense official, speaking on condition of
anonymity, indicated that Gantz had presented a timeline for when such an
attack might take place during his meetings with US Defense Secretary Lloyd
Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, but the source did not specify
further.
Source: Times Of Israel
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Israel Conferred With US Before Attacking Iran's
Nuclear Sites
By Ajeet Kumar
12-12-2021
A new investigative report of the New York Times
revealed that Israeli forces sought permission from the United States before
launching an attack on Iran's nuclear project and a missile factory, news
agency Sputnik reported. As per NYT, the report was prepared after consulting
several US and Israeli officials who spoke to the media outlet on the condition
of anonymity. Irrespective of the media report, the Israeli forces denied such
interaction with the US officials related to the destruction of Iran's nuclear
sites. Notably, Iran's Karaj nuclear facility and a missile base were allegedly
targeted by Israeli forces earlier this year.
Source: Republic World
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A year on, Iran’s execution of dissident leaves exiles
rattled
By STUART WILLIAMS
11 December 2021
PARIS (AFP) — A year after dissident Ruhollah Zam was
executed in Iran after apparently being lured from France, his hanging strikes
fear into Iranian opposition exiles over the reach of the Islamic Republic.
Zam, the founder of a popular Telegram channel
despised by the Iranian authorities for its use in November 2019 protests, was
executed on December 12 last year just weeks after leaving France, where he had
refugee status, on a mysterious trip to Iraq.
Colleagues say he was abducted in Iraq by Iranian
forces, taken over the border, paraded on TV, forced to take part in a
televised “confession,” convicted and then hanged with astonishing speed.
Activists argue that his abduction and killing is part
of a long history of reprisals carried out by Iran against opponents living
outside its borders, dating back to the first months after the Islamic
Revolution in 1979.
Source: Times Of Israel
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https://www.timesofisrael.com/a-year-on-irans-execution-of-dissident-leaves-exiles-rattled/
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Arab world
Gulf Islamic Investments acquires US office portfolio
for $100m
MANAMA
12-12-2021
Gulf Islamic Investments (GII), a leading shari’ah-compliant
global financial services firm, has announced that it has acquired the Glen
Forest Office Portfolio; a best-in-class, core-plus suburban office development
in Virginia, US, for $100 million.
The acquisition is GII’s first in Virginia, thus bringing
the value of the firm’s US real estate assets unde management (AUM) to over
$350 million and a total AUM of $3 billion.
The Glen Forest Office Portfolio (Portfolio) consists
of eleven-buildings strategically situated on an 85-acre campus between Glenside
Drive, Forest Avenue, and Interstate 64 in Richmond.
Source: Trade Arabia
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of the original story:
http://www.tradearabia.com/news/CONS_390724.html
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Saudi Arabia designates 2022 as ‘Year of Saudi Coffee’
TAREQ AL-THAQAFI
December 12, 2021
MAKKAH: The Kingdom’s Ministry of Culture has
designated 2022 as “The Year of Saudi Coffee,” celebrating the authentic taste
of a local household staple.
Saudi Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin
Farhan said that the “Saudi Coffee Initiative” would be the umbrella under
which all celebrations would gather as an essential component of the Kingdom’s
culture.
Source: ARAB NEWS
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of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1985321/saudi-arabia
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Thousands of residency, labor, border violators
arrested across KSA
December 11, 2021
RIYADH: Saudi authorities arrested more than 15,000
people in one week for breaching residency, work and border security
regulations, an official report has revealed.
From Dec. 2 to 8, a total of 7,567 people were
arrested for violations of residency rules, while 5,600 were held over illegal
border crossing attempts, and a further 1,902 for labor-related issues.
Source: ARAB NEWS
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1985266/saudi-arabia
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Saudi Arabia reports 53 new COVID-19 cases, 1 death
ARAB NEWS
December 12, 2021
JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia confirmed one new COVID-19-related
death on Saturday, raising the total number of fatalities to 8,852.
The Ministry of Health confirmed 53 new cases reported
in the Kingdom in the previous 24 hours, meaning 550,189 people have now
contracted the disease. Of the current cases, 27 remain in critical condition.
Source: ARAB NEWS
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/1985351/saudi-arabia
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Africa
Algerian President receive holy book of Quran from
Great Mosque of Paris
December 12, 2021
The rector of the Great Mosque of Paris presented a
copy of the French translation of the Quran to Algerian President Abdelmadjid
Tebboune.
Chems Eddine Hafiz, rector of the mosque, met and held
talks with the Algerian official on Thursday in Algiers.
Source: En.abna24
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MoFA Strongly Condemns Terrorist Attacks on Mosque and
Bus in Nigeria
12-12-2021
MANAMA, Bahrain, December 11, 2021/APO Group/ -- The
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Bahrain strongly condemns the two
terrorist attacks on a mosque and a bus in the Federal Republic of Nigeria,
which led to the death and injury of dozens of people, which contradict all
moral, humanitarian and religious values and principles.
Source: Africa-Newsroom
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Chief Imam, 10 Others Kidnapped In Sokoto During
Prayers
BY SAHARAREPORTERS
DEC 11, 2021
Bandits have kidnapped 11 persons including a chief
imam, Aminu Garba, who was preparing to lead Juma’at congregational prayer at
Gatawa Village in Sabon Birni Local Government Area of Sokoto State.
The Imam was kidnapped along with three others on
Friday, a report by Daily Trust said.
The assailants also blocked the Sabon Birni-Gatawa
Road on Saturday, shot three persons and kidnapped seven others.
Source: Sahara Reporters
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http://saharareporters.com/2021/12/11/chief-imam-10-others-kidnapped-sokoto-during-prayers
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You’re pathetic – Aisha Yesufu blasts Bishop Oyedepo,
Islamic group over Buhari
By Seun Opejobi
December 11, 2021
Aisha Yesufu, a popular activist, has berated Bishop
David Oyedepo of Living Faith Church over his latest comment on President
Muhammadu Buhari’s government.
Source: Daily Post
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Europe
UK to allocate nearly $100 million in humanitarian aid
to Afghanistan
By Najibullah Lalzoy
12 Dec 2021
As Afghanistan is still suffering from potentially the
world’s worst humanitarian crisis, Unite Kingdom has announced that they will
allocate the US $99.5 or 75 million pounds in humanitarian aids to Afghanistan.
The allocation of money comes hours after foreign
ministers of G7 met in Liverpool on Saturday, December 11, and discussed the
world’s conflicts including Afghanistan.
Source: khaama Press
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of the original story:
https://www.khaama.com/uk-to-allocate-99-5-m-in-humanitarian-aid-to-afghanistan-65746856/
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Scunthorpe's first purpose built mosque opens after 20
year wait
By Christian Brayford
12 DEC 2021
After more than two decades, Scunthorpe will now have
its very first purpose built mosque and it looks incredible.
It will function as both a place of worship for the
Muslim community and as a focal point for all the people in Scunthorpe who wish
to use it.
Source: Grimsby Telegraph
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of the original story:
https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/news/local-news/scunthorpes-first-purpose-built-mosque-6323096
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London cops shoot man dead near Kensington Palace
11 Dec, 2021
London Metropolitan Police officers confronted and
fatally shot an armed man near Kensington Palace, home of Prince William and
Kate Middleton. The incident is not being treated as terrorism.
Officers were dispatched to Marloes Road in the
central London borough of Kensington on Saturday afternoon to investigate
reports of an armed man entering a bank and a bookmakers. According to a police
statement, the man left the scene in a vehicle and was stopped at Palace Gate
shortly afterwards.
Source: Rt.com
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of the original story:
https://www.rt.com/uk/542928-man-shot-kensington-palace/
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UK and US warn of ‘serious consequences’ if Russia
invades Ukraine as G7 meets in Liverpool
Patrick Daly
12-12-2021
Russia will face “serious consequences” if it invades
Ukraine, the foreign secretary has warned, following the build-up of tens of
thousands of troops at the Ukrainian border.
Liz Truss discussed the threat of a Russian incursion
into Ukraine during talks on Saturday with her US and German counterparts
before a G7 foreign ministers meeting in Liverpool.
With US secretary of state Antony Blinken, Ms Truss
agreed there would be “serious consequences” for Moscow if troops were sent
across the border.
Source: Independent
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of the original story:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/g7-truss-blinken-russia-ukraine-b1974194.html
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Covid booster jabs extended to over 30s as NHS steps
up fight against Omicron
12 December 2021
By Will Taylor
Anyone aged 30 and older in England can book their
Covid booster jab from Monday, as medics look to ramp up jabs to fight the
Omicron variant.
Experts worry its mutations could erode some of the
protection provided by vaccines but they are still seen as the best way of
preventing serious illness from infection.
The addition of over-30s to the programme comes as NHS
England accelerates its booster rollout while experts worry about Omicron's
ability to spread and infect people who've gained some protection from it.
Source: Lbc.co.uk
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South Asia
Daesh claims responsibility for explosions in Kabul
By Najibullah Lalzoy
11 Dec 2021
France Press has reported that ISIS-K/Daesh has
claimed responsibility for three explosions in the West of the Afghan capital
that killed two civilians and wounded at least five more.
Source: khaama Press
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https://www.khaama.com/daesh-claims-responsibility-for-explosions-in-kabul-56845784/
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Bangladesh capable of protecting itself from external
aggression: PM
Dec 12, 2021
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today said Bangladesh has
attained all capabilities to protect its independence and sovereignty from any
external aggressor.
"We believe in peace. Father of the Nation has
given us the foreign policy 'Friendship to all, malice to none'. We believe in
that policy, but if we're attacked from outside, we've attained the capability
to protect our independence and sovereignty," she said.
The Prime Minister was addressing the President Parade
2021 of the 81st BMA Long Course at Bangladesh Military Academy at Bhatiari in
Chattogram, joining it virtually from her official residence Gono Bhaban.
Source: The Daily Star
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Myanmar man pleads guilty in plot to attack UN envoy
Dec 12, 2021
A citizen of Myanmar on Friday pleaded guilty in a
plot to attack or kill the country's pro-democracy UN ambassador, who has
refused junta orders to quit, US officials said.
Source: The Daily Star
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URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/jemaah-islamiah-hambali-guantanamo/d/125945