Those Funding Hafiz Saeed, Azhar Outfits Face 10 Years’ Jail, Fine: Pakistan
New Age Islam News Bureau
7
Jan 2018
Photo: The government has banned companies and individuals from making donations to the JuD, the FIF and other organisations on the UNSC sanctions list.
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• Iraqi Baath Party Attempting to Return to Power with Israel, S. Arabia's Support
• Germany Urged to Stop Support of Iran’s Mullah-Regime
• Pakistan Inciting J&K Youths against India, Says Home Minister
• Arab States to Push For East Jerusalem as Palestine Capital
• Canadian Liberal MP Labels Anti-Islamic State Protesters ‘White Supremacists’
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Pakistan
• Those Funding Hafiz Saeed, Azhar Outfits Face 10 Years’ Jail, Fine: Pakistan
• Pakistan Does Not Have an Alliance with the US, Claims Foreign Minister
• Rumours rife Imran has married a third time
• Pakistan frees 147 fishermen held for trespassing
• Balochistan Assembly dissolution won’t hit Senate polls
• Pakistan reluctant to act against Taliban, HQN amid US pressures
• Zehri seeks Nawaz's help as political crisis brews in Balochistan: sources
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Arab World
• Iraqi Baath Party Attempting to Return to Power with Israel, S. Arabia's Support
• Countdown Starts for Turkish Military Operation against SDF at Border with Syria
• More Terrorist Commanders Killed in Clashes with Syrian Army in Eastern Damascus
• Terrorists' Drone Attack on Russia-Run Training Centre in Syria Warded off
• IRGC Commander: Dispatch of Missiles to Yemen Impossible
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Europe
• Germany Urged to Stop Support of Iran’s Mullah-Regime
• Islamic State’s First Leader Denies He Has Been Captured, West Wonders If He Exists
• 'I'm not racist - I have Muslim mates,' claims man who wrote he wanted to burn mosques on Facebook
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India
• Pakistan Inciting J&K Youths against India, Says Home Minister
• Man, Attacked After Killing of Hindu Activist, Dies
• Palestine denies Pak media report on ambassador who shared stage with Hafiz Saeed being reinstated
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Mideast
• Arab States to Push For East Jerusalem as Palestine Capital
• Iranians Rally for Fifth Day in Show of Unity, Strength
• Iran parliament holds special meeting on protests
• Turkish Media Blame CIA Agent for Recent Unrests in Iran
• Ayatollah Hakim urges youth not to adapt Western style
• Muslims Need To Cooperate Against Divisive US Policies: Shamkhani
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North America
• Canadian Liberal MP Labels Anti-Islamic State Protesters ‘White Supremacists’
• Wife of Muslim Murderer 'Knew' He Would Attack Pulse Nightclub
• Russia does not have great deal of influence over Pak: US official
• Pentagon still in touch with Pakistani military: Mattis
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South Asia
• Osama Bin Laden's 12-Year-Old Grandson ‘Dies A Martyr’, Claims Al-Qaida
• 17 Militants Killed, Wounded In Uruzgan Airstrikes
• 16 Taliban and ISIS militants killed, wounded in Nangarhar operations
• Afghan deputy governor abducted in Peshawar is released
• Child abducted for suicide attack brainwashing purposes rescued
• Ata Mohammad Noor accuses ARG Palace of massive corruption
• More than 2,000 Afghans killed in Syria conflict
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Southeast Asia
• Rohingya Insurgents Say They Have No Option But To Fight Myanmar
• Jewish groups urge Senate panel to advance bill targeting Burma for persecution of Muslims
• 9 Islamist extremists, 1 soldier killed in Maguindanao encounter
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Africa
• Nigerian President Murdered A Saint 'Sheikh Mahmoud Turi'
• Clashes in Cairo after detainee die at police station
• Nigerian Army: 1,050 Boko Haram Militants Surrender
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/those-funding-hafiz-saeed-azhar/d/113843
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Those funding Hafiz Saeed, Azhar outfits face 10 years’ jail, fine: Pakistan
Agencies | Updated: Jan 7, 2018
HIGHLIGHTS
The warning was part of a countrywide advertisement in Urdu, which has been published in all major local newspapers of the country.
The advertisement lists 72 groups, including Jamat-ud- Dawa, Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation and Lashkar-e-Tabia of Saeed and Jaish-e-Mohammad of Masood Azhar.
The government has banned companies and individuals from making donations to the JuD, the FIF and other organisations on the UNSC sanctions list.
Hafiz Saeed. (Reuters file photo)Those funding Hafiz Saeed, Azhar outfits face 10 years’ jail, fine: Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: Days after the US suspended more than $1 billion in security assistance to Pakistan, Islamabad said on Saturday that those providing funds to banned groups, including the so-called charities run by Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, will face up to 10 years in prison along with a hefty fine. Their properties can also be confiscated, it said.
On Thursday, the US had said that the assistance would be resumed only after Pakistan took "decisive action" against terror groups it had long nurtured and harboured. Earlier on January 1, President Trump had tweeted, "The US has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid... and they have given us nothing but lies and deceit... No more!"
In what is being seen as a reaction to the US action, Pakistan on Saturday took out ads in newspapers across the country listing 72 groups, including Jamat-ud-Dawa, Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation and Lashkar-e-Taiba of Saeed and Jaish-e-Muhammed of Masood Azhar, banning aid to them.
It said that according to Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997 of Pakistan and under UN security council act of 1948 it was a crime to provide funding to those groups which have been banned or are on the watchlist.
Those giving funds to such individuals or groups may face "five to 10 years in jail or up to Rs 10 million fine or both", it said.
Their movable or immovable property can also be confiscated. Pakistan has banned Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) from collecting donations on Monday, after US President Donald Trump accused Islamabad of giving nothing to the US but "lies and deceit" and providing "safe haven" to terrorists.
Trump, in a scathing tweet, at the start of the new year said that Pakistan fooled American authorities and got$33 billion in the name of fighting terrorism.
The government has bannedcompanies and individuals from making donations to the JuD, the FIF and other organisations on the UNSC sanctions list.
The advertisement reminds the people that they should make sure that their money given as charity does not end up in wrong hands.
The move comes after the US increased pressure on Pakistan to move decisively against all militants groups allegedly operating from its soil.
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/those-funding-banned-groups-will-face-up-to-10-years-jail-pakistan/articleshow/62398119.cms
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Iraqi Baath Party Attempting to Return to Power with Israel, S. Arabia's Support
TEHRAN (FNA)- Arab media sources revealed attempts by certain Baath party leaders to return to the political scene with the help of Israel and Saudi Arabia and by recruiting a number of extremist Sunni figures.
The Arabic-language Al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper reported that recently a number of leaders of the Sunni Tahalof al-Qowa coalition have held a meeting with the Israeli ambassador in Amman.
"The meeting had been planned several months ago and it was recently held in Jordan and a number of members of the coalition met with the Israeli envoy and his deputy under tight security measures," it added.
Also, the Arabic-language Sadr al-Khalij news website quoted high-ranking political sources as saying that AmedAbdolmajid al-Sa'adoun, a senior Baath party leader, has participated in a forum held by a party named National Honor gathering in Baghdad, headed by Vasah al-Sadid, one of the tribal leaders residing in Amman.
Informed sources said that the gathering was held with the support of Thamer al-Sabhan, the former Saudi ambassador to Baghdad, in Iraq whose goal was returning the Baath party to power under a new title.
In relevant remarks in August, a former Iraqi legislator revealed that a senior advisor to US President Donald Trump is in negotiations with the Baath leaders in Iraq to return the dissolved party to power under a new name.
"A delegation of the dissolved Baath party is negotiating with the US officials, specially Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law and senior advisor, to study the possibility for its return to Iraq's political process after changing its name," Kamel al-Dulaimi, also leader of the National Tashih Movement, was quoted as saying by Iraq's al-Rased website.
"We have access to certain intelligence which proves that the delegation is pursuing Baath party's return to power in Iraq under a new name," he added.
Kushner visited Iraq with the chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff in April.
en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13961017000822
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Germany Urged To Stop Support Of Iran’s Mullah-Regime
BY BENJAMIN WEINTHAL JANUARY 6, 2018
BERLIN – The German government is under fire for not reversing its largely pro-regime policy and for providing humanitarian aid to an alleged Iranian mass murderer – and possible replacement as the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic – who oversaw the country’s brutal justice system for a decade.
The possible successor of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Ayatollah Mahmoud HashemiShahroudi, is currently in a neurological center for treatment in the German city of Hanover.
“The nationwide protests against the Islamist mullah regime in Iran make it obvious that the federal government’s Iran policy has reached a dead end. For decades, Germany’s Iran policy has supported an Islamist dictatorship that today can only be upheld with utmost violence against its own people. We demand an end of the collaboration with a terror-spreading regime which is rejected internally and externally, by the people of Iran and by Iran’s neighbors. We expect clear political support of the demands for freedom and democracy in Iran,” Ulrike Becker, a spokeswoman for the German-based Stop the Bomb campaign, said in a statement sent to The Jerusalem Post last week.
The anti-Iranian-regime NGO seeks to improve human rights in Iran and to end the country’s work on nuclear weapons.
NasrinAmirsedghi, a German-Iranian dissident who has written extensively on human rights violations in the Islamic Republic, told the Post on Friday that “my enemy is a system, whose representatives have for 39 years terrorized not only the Iranian people but the entire world.”
German-Iran relations crisscross many sectors, raising questions about Chancellor Angela Merkel’s commitment to combating Iranian terrorism and its lethal antisemitic policies toward the Jewish state.
A spokesman for Merkel said on Wednesday that “Germany is still one of the most important trade partners of Iran.” German exports to Iran in 2016 – the most recent year for data – totaled €2.59 billion. In 2016, Klaus-Dieter Fritsche, a German state secretary responsible for intelligence, met with Iran’s top spy and cleric Mahmoud Alavi.
Stop the Bomb founding member FathiyehNaghibzadeh said on January 1: “I call on Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel to take a clear stance against the dictatorship in Iran and to support the freedom-loving people. Silence or even support of the mullahs will isolate Germany and Europe in the region and worldwide.”
The Iranian dissident added, “In 2009, the West abandoned millions of Iranian people who demonstrated for months against the fundamentalist dictatorship. It has been claimed that only the middle class has demonstrated while poor people still supported the Islamist system.
Now, the uprising has started in the provinces, and the slogans of the poor against the fundamentalists are even more radical.”
A spokesman for the Merkel administration referred the Post to a January 3 briefing that said the Merkel administration is closely “watching what is happening on the ground” in Iran because the “situation remains unclear.” According to the briefing, the German government said an “improvement in the human rights situation is an important concern” and the Merkel administration acknowledged that human rights have not improved under the so-called moderate Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.
Meanwhile, in the German state of Lower Saxony, the medical treatment of Shahroudi, the former head of Iran’s infamous Justice Ministry from 1999 to 2009, prompted referral to the public prosecutor. Olef Reichert, spokesman for the state governor, wrote the Post by email on Friday, saying that the “Lower Saxony government welcomes the decision by the Lower Saxony justice minister to clarify the matter with the state prosecutor.”
The nature of the prosecutor’s investigation is unclear.
The mass-circulated German paper Bild reported that the center is treating Shahroudi for a brain tumor.
A public letter was sent to Stephan Weil, the Social Democratic governor of Lower Saxony, accusing Shahroudi of being responsible for executing adolescents. The letter said the state of Lower Saxony was harboring an “Iranian regime butcher.” The letter also stated Shahroudi “should be charged and condemned for his crimes against humanity.”
Weil’s office forwarded the letter to the Justice Ministry, which sent it to the prosecutor for investigation. The HannoverscheAllgemeineZeitung paper in Hanover first reported on the letter and Shahroudi’s medical treatment.
Volker Beck, a Middle East expert and former Green Party lawmaker, tweeted to his nearly 90,000 followers: “A mass murderer enjoys German medicine and humanitarian protection?” On Shahroudi’s watch as justice minister he allowed the arbitrary arrests of political and human rights activists, the torture of prisoners and the closure of reform newspapers. He is a strict disciple of Khamenei and was a student of Khamenei’s predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the revolutionary founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Video footage on Twitter on Saturday showed anti-Iranian regime demonstrators protesting Shahroudi’s stay in front of the medical center.
Post press queries to Dr.MadjidSamii, the president of the International Neuroscience Institute in Hanover, where Shahroudi is being treated, were not immediately returned. Samiitraveled with the German foreign minister to Iran, as part of his first 2015 business delegation to Iran after the nuclear deal was reached. Samii is considered a close ally of the ruling clerical regime.
“I question how Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel can sleep with a good conscience after his business trip to meet with the mullahs, the enemies of the West,” Amirsedghi said about the visit.
jpost.com/International/Germany-urged-to-stop-support-of-Irans-mullah-regime-532985
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Pakistan Inciting J&K Youths against India, Says Home Minister
TNN | Jan 7, 2018
NEW DELHI: Home minister Rajnath Singh, while addressing the country's top police officers at the IB's annual DG/IG meet, said that terror infrastructure in Pakistan continues to exist and the western neighbour is leaving no stone unturned to incite J&K youth against India.
The senior BJP leader also asked the DGPs/commissioners of states/UTs and central agencies to make sure that incidents of communal violence like religious riots, desecration of religious places, smuggling or killing of cows are dealt with strictly, sources told TOI.
Singh added that terror infrastructure in the form of training camps, launch pads and communication control stations of terrorists continue to exist in Pakistan and PoK.
"The financing of separatists and infiltration of terrorists from across the border is an area of concern. The separatists take advantage of any law and order situation to instil anti-India sentiments among people," Singh said.
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/pakistan-inciting-jk-youths-against-india-says-rajnath-singh/articleshow/62398287.cms
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Arab states to push for east Jerusalem as Palestine capital
Agencies | Jan 7, 2018
AMMAN: Jordan said on Saturday that the Arab League will push for international recognition of east Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital, after President Donald Trump last month recognised the contested city as Israel's capital.
Jordan's foreign minister Ayman Safadi made the announcement at a joint news conference with Arab League chief Ahmed AbulGheit after talks to decide on a joint Arab response to Trump. The meeting was attended by the foreign ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and the Palestinian authority as well as by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) minister of state for foreign affairs.
"There is a political decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and we will strive to reach an international political decision to recognise a Palestinian state... with (east) Jerusalem as its capital," Safadi said.
In 2012, the UN General Assembly recognised a state of Palestine in lands Israel captured in 1967, including east Jerusalem, as an observer state, but many Western countries stopped short of bilateral recognition. Under a broad international consensus, the fate of Jerusalem is to be determined in negotiations.
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/arab-states-to-push-for-east-jerusalem-as-palestine-capital/articleshow/62398466.cms
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Canadian Liberal MP Labels Anti-Islamic State Protesters ‘White Supremacists’
7 Jan 2018
An MP of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party slammed protests in his city directed against returning Islamic State fighters, calling the protestors “racists” and “white supremacists.”
Liberal Party MP for St. Catherines Chris Bittle took to Facebook earlier this week to condemn a protest against Islamic State fighters returning from the Middle East to Canada in front of his office.
When white supremacists schedule a protest at your office you know you're doing something right.
8:28 PM - Jan 2, 2018
219 219 Replies 34 34 Retweets 128 128 likes
Twitter Ads info and privacy
For Mr Bittle, the four or so people who carried signs reading “Jail ISIS Fighters” were, in his words, “white supremacists”, using the issue of Islamic State fighters to “promote their hateful, racist views.”
Since making the post Bittle has received over two thousand comments, with many asking Mr Bittle to point out the protesters’ links to white supremacist movements or ideologies. While Bittle did link to an post allegedly made by a person who he claimed led the protest which contained anti-Muslim imagery, many were not satisfied.
When one user asked Bittle to “put Canadians first” and refuse entry for returning Islamic State fighters, Bittle said “returning fighters are Canadians who have not been charged with a crime”. He added that most returnees had come back to Canada under the previous conservative government.
Returning Islamic State fighters have become a major issue in Canada, with many seeing the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau being incredibly weak on the issue.
Many slammed Mr Trudeau when he insisted that returning fighters would be deradicalised with podcasts and poetry, and that many of the returnees would be “an extraordinarily powerful voice for preventing radicalization.”
Justin believes terrorists should keep their Canadian citizenship?! cpcp.cc/EPE-_o #elxn42 #cdnpoli
3:41 AM - Sep 29, 2015
81 81 Replies 189 189 Retweets 129 129 likes
According to official Canadian statistics, around 60 Islamic State fighters have returned to Canada, although the Liberal government refers to them as “extremist travellers.”
One of the biggest critics of Trudeau has been Conservative leader Andrew Scheer, who in November got into a heated exchange in the House of Commons with the Prime Minister, questioning why he is “so focused on reintegration and not putting these people in jail.”
breitbart.com/london/2018/01/07/canadian-liberal-mp-labels-anti-islamic-state-protesters-white-supremacists/
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Pakistan
Those funding Hafiz Saeed, Azhar outfits face 10 years’ jail, fine: Pakistan
Agencies | Updated: Jan 7, 2018
The warning was part of a countrywide advertisement in Urdu, which has been published in all major local newspapers of the country.
The advertisement lists 72 groups, including Jamat-ud- Dawa, Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation and Lashkar-e-Tabia of Saeed and Jaish-e-Mohammad of Masood Azhar.
The government has banned companies and individuals from making donations to the JuD, the FIF and other organisations on the UNSC sanctions list.
Hafiz Saeed. (Reuters file photo)Those funding Hafiz Saeed, Azhar outfits face 10 years’ jail, fine: Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: Days after the US suspended more than $1 billion in security assistance to Pakistan, Islamabad said on Saturday that those providing funds to banned groups, including the so-called charities run by Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, will face up to 10 years in prison along with a hefty fine. Their properties can also be confiscated, it said.
On Thursday, the US had said that the assistance would be resumed only after Pakistan took "decisive action" against terror groups it had long nurtured and harboured. Earlier on January 1, President Trump had tweeted, "The US has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid... and they have given us nothing but lies and deceit... No more!"
In what is being seen as a reaction to the US action, Pakistan on Saturday took out ads in newspapers across the country listing 72 groups, including Jamat-ud-Dawa, Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation and Lashkar-e-Taiba of Saeed and Jaish-e-Muhammed of Masood Azhar, banning aid to them.
It said that according to Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997 of Pakistan and under UN security council act of 1948 it was a crime to provide funding to those groups which have been banned or are on the watchlist.
Those giving funds to such individuals or groups may face "five to 10 years in jail or up to Rs 10 million fine or both", it said.
Their movable or immovable property can also be confiscated. Pakistan has banned Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) from collecting donations on Monday, after US President Donald Trump accused Islamabad of giving nothing to the US but "lies and deceit" and providing "safe haven" to terrorists.
Trump, in a scathing tweet, at the start of the new year said that Pakistan fooled American authorities and got$33 billion in the name of fighting terrorism.
The government has bannedcompanies and individuals from making donations to the JuD, the FIF and other organisations on the UNSC sanctions list.
The advertisement reminds the people that they should make sure that their money given as charity does not end up in wrong hands.
The move comes after the US increased pressure on Pakistan to move decisively against all militants groups allegedly operating from its soil.
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/those-funding-banned-groups-will-face-up-to-10-years-jail-pakistan/articleshow/62398119.cms
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Pakistan Does Not Have an Alliance with the US, Claims Foreign Minister
Dawn.comJanuary 07, 2018
Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif on Friday claimed that Pakistan does not have an alliance with the United States (US).
“We do not have any alliance," Asif said during an interview with the Wall Street Journal. "This is not how allies behave," he added, referring to US President Donald Trump's administration's decision to suspend its entire security assistance to Pakistan.
The suspension of security assistance for Pakistan ─ announced last week ─ comes as the Trump administration seeks more cooperation from Islamabad as part of its strategy in Afghanistan.
State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert said during the announcement that the suspension would remain in effect until Pakistan "takes decisive action" against groups such as the Taliban that are "destabilising the region and targeting US personnel".
During his interview with the Journal, Foreign Minister Asif said that Pakistan had made a "huge mistake" when it agreed to join America's campaign in Afghanistan in 2001, in the wake of the 9/11 terror attack.
He added that the move had engendered a terrorist backlash against Pakistan.
Asif maintained that Washington has turned Islamabad into a "whipping boy" for its failures in Afghanistan.
While speaking about the successes of Pakistan's recently launched counter-terrorism operations, Asif said that Islamabad would not allow the Afghan war to be fought on Pakistan's soil.
“We have relative calm in Pakistan at the moment,” Asif said. “But if we go against these people [Afghan insurgents], then the war will again be fought on our soil, which will suit the Americans.”
In the new year, Washington has increased pressure on Islamabad to "do more" in the fight against terrorism.
Washington has stated that the suspension of military aid, which came after Trump accused Pakistan of "lies and deceit", is part of America's South Asia strategy.
The development has followed in the aftermath of an increasingly terse back-and-forth between Washington and Islamabad since Trump announced the policy.
In Pakistan, the move has been seen as the first step to implementing Trump’s pledge to tighten economic restrictions on Islamabad.
Despite the tension, however, US and Pakistani officials remain in contact with each other. US Defence Secretary James Mattis on Friday said that the Pentagon was maintaining its communication with the Pakistani military establishment even after the suspension of military assistance.
Foreign Secretary TehminaJanjua has said that Pakistan will continue to engage with Washington as far as possible, because America is not only a global power but also has a regional presence, and "for us it’s almost our neighbour".
dawn.com/news/1381391/pakistan-does-not-have-an-alliance-with-the-us-claims-foreign-minister-khawaja-asif
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Rumours rife Imran has married a third time
Omer Farooq Khan | TNN | Updated: Jan 6, 2018
ISLAMABAD: Cricketer-turned politician and chief of the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan has secretly married a woman he used to visit for spiritual guidance, a local newspaper reported on Saturday. Mufti Saeed, a PTI core committee member, performed the wedlock on January 1, according to report.
The report claimed that Imran came in touch with the woman a couple of years ago.
"The PTI chairperson began 2018 by tying the knot with the woman on the night of January 1 in Lahore and came straight from there the next day to appear before the anti-terrorism court in Islamabad that granted him bail," reported English daily The News.
Saeed had also performed Khan's nikah when he entered into his second marriage with Reham Khan, a TV anchorperson, on January 8, 2015.
Monday's ceremony took place at the residence of a close confidante of the bride who is said to be Khan's friend.
The bride reportedly had filed for the dissolution of her first marriage with a government servant few months ago. Her former husband said that they opted for separation "for spiritual reasons". He, however, denied his ex-wife has married Khan.
Khan had first tied the knot with Jemima Goldsmith on May 16, 1995, which ended in divorce after nine years on June 22, 2004. His second marriage was with Reham, which lasted only 10 months.
PTI leaders, however, denied the reports of their chief's third marriage. "Ridiculous! When SC deprives IK's detractors from doing accusatory stories of corruption, they create stories of his 'marriage'! Somewhat pathetic too!" tweeted Dr Shireen Mazari, PTI's chief whip.
NaeemulHaq, Khan's spokesperson, said, "I can say with absolute confidence that nothing like this occurred. Even if he marries, he will do after the general elections of 2018."
Mufti Saeed, however, was reluctant to issue any denial.
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/rumours-rife-imran-has-married-a-third-time/articleshow/62396536.cms
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Pakistan frees 147 fishermen held for trespassing
Mohammad RazaJanuary 07, 2018
Pakistan on Sunday released 147 Indian fishermen, held for reportedly trespassing into its territorial waters, from Karachi's Malir jail, jail administration officials told DawnNews.
The process of returning the fishermen who were jailed eight months ago to their country has been initiated, as they are set to travel to Lahore this afternoon on the Allama Iqbal Express from the Karachi Cantonment railway station, officials added. The train will depart at 2pm.
In Lahore, the fishermen will cross the Wagah Border and return home, the officials added.
The travel expenses of the fishermen are being borne by the Edhi Foundation. Some 262 Indian fishermen remain imprisoned at Malir jail still, officials have said.
"The prisoners are kept in good conditions here. Non-Muslims are granted religious freedom, as well," Superintendent Malir Jail Hassan Sehto told DawnNews.
"We want the message that Pakistanis take care of the fishermen to reach India," he added.
"Never in our history have an Indian prisoner and a Pakistani prisoner fought. In fact, the Pakistani prisoners share with the Indians things that their families bring for them when they visit them in jail."
The fishermen of India and Pakistan occasionally stray into the other country’s waters during their fishing trips and are caught and put into jails where they remain imprisoned for long periods of time.
Civil society organisations in both the countries have been urging their respective governments to enter into an agreement as prescribed by the international maritime laws so that whenever the fishermen of one country are caught in the other they, after verifying their data, could be released immediately.
But such an arrangement is yet to be reached and the fishermen ─ and their families ─ of both the countries continue to suffer.
dawn.com/news/1381394/pakistan-frees-147-fishermen-held-for-trespassing
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Balochistan Assembly dissolution won’t hit Senate polls
Amir WasimUpdated January 07, 2018
ISLAMABAD: The prevailing crisis in Balochistan, created by the no-confidence motion against Chief Minister SanaullahZehri, will have no impact on the coming Senate elections in March if it remains limited to the province itself.
During background interviews, politicians, lawyers and constitutional experts were found unanimous in their views that even if the Balochistan Assembly is dissolved before March, it will have no effect on the Senate polls as long as the remaining four electorates (three provincial assemblies and National Assembly) remain intact.
However, they believe that the absence of 11 senators from Balochistan in the 104-member house can affect the outcome of election of chairman and deputy chairman of the Senate and that too in case of a close fight.
They are of the view that a real crisis can be created only if after dissolution of the Balochistan Assembly, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) also dissolve the assemblies of Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, respectively, sacrificing their governments a few months before the completion of their tenure.
Even if provincial assembly is dissolved, remaining four electorates will elect senators, experts believe
Interestingly, the country’s Constitution is silent on the issue perhaps because the makers of the first basic document in 1973 had not foreseen any such situation.
The political crisis in Balochistan that unfolded last week after some legislators submitted a no-trust motion against CM Zehri has deepened to such an extent that the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) and its allies in Islamabad now believe that it will impact not only the Senate elections but also the current set-up as they feel that the crisis in the province might extend to KP and Sindh — where the PTI and the PPP, respectively, are at the helm — to stop the coming elections for the upper house of parliament.
Deputy Chairman of the Senate Maulana Abdul GhafoorHaideri while talking to reporters in Islamabad on Friday had alleged that the “troika” of Imran Khan, Asif Zardari and Pakistan AwamiTehreek chief AllamaTahirulQadri wanted to topple the government before March.
Similarly, Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal had vaguely referred to “hidden forces” for “creating a situation” in the country in which no one was sure whether the Senate election would be held in March or not.
Former chairman of the Senate Nayyar Hussain Bokhari said there was no question of putting off elections of the upper house if one electoral college was missing as other provinces could not be deprived of their right of electing their representatives for the upper house only because of the crisis in one province.
He said as the members of the National Assembly elected the senators from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and Islamabad, therefore, it could be said that out of six units represented in the Senate, five would be present even if the Balochistan Assembly faced dissolution as a result of the prevailing crisis.
Mr Bokhari, who is also the secretary general of the PPP, said since Balochistan would not be completely wiped out from the Senate as its 12 members, out of 23, would be present in March, elections of Senate chairman and deputy chairman would be considered “legitimised”. He was, however, of the view that in case of a close fight for the offices, the losing candidates could challenge the election before the court.
The former Senate chairman said one seat of the National Assembly from Fata had been lying vacant since 2013, but it did not mean that the whole assembly would stop functioning.
Mudassir Rizvi of the Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen), when contacted, said he did not foresee any crisis in the wake of no-confidence motion against the Balochistan CM. He said after the passage of the 18th Constitution Amendment, the process of dissolution of a provincial assembly had become complicated.
Mr Rizvi said if the vote of no-confidence against Mr Zehri succeeded, then the MPAs would be asked to elect a new chief minister. And if the new chief minister would desire to dissolve the assembly, he would have to consult the leader of the opposition for appointment of caretaker set-up.
He, however, said a crisis-like situation could be created even without dissolution of the provincial assembly if a significant number of MPAs from Balochistan submitted resignations. In that situation, he said, the technical formula under which the quota of votes was reserved for election of a senator could be affected. He said since the constitution was silent in this regard, the matter could be referred either to the court or the Election Commission of Pakistan.
The Senate comprises 104 members — 23 each from the four federating units, eight from Fata, and four from Islamabad.
The 23 seats allocated to a province comprise 14 general seats, four reserved for women, four for technocrats and one for minority member.
The term of a senator is spread over six years, but 50 per cent of the total members retire after every three years and then elections are held for new senators. Elections to fill the seats allocated to each province are held in accordance with the “system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote”.
Fata senators are elected by members of National Assembly from the area whereas four senators on the reserved seats from Islamabad are elected by the members of the National Assembly.
dawn.com/news/1381360/balochistan-assembly-dissolution-wont-hit-senate-polls
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Pakistan reluctant to act against Taliban, HQN amid US pressures
By KHAAMA PRESS - Sun Jan 07 2018
Pakistan seems to be reluctant to act against the leadership councils of the Taliban and Haqqani network which the Afghan and US officials believe are based in the key cities of Pakistan.
The foreign minister of Pakistan Khwajah Asif has told the Wall Street Journal that Islamabad would not allow the Afghan war to be fought on Pakistan’s soil.
“We have relative calm in Pakistan at the moment,” Asif said. “But if we go against these people [Afghan insurgents], then the war will again be fought on our soil, which will suit the Americans,” he added.
This comes as pressures on the rise on Islamabad to act against the Afghan Taliban, Haqqani network, and other terrorists having safe havens in Pakistan.
The US President Donald Trump last week criticized Pakistan in strong words for harboring the terrorist groups despite receiving billions in aid to support the counter-terrorism efforts in Afghanistan.
“The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!” Trump said in a Twitter post on Monday.
The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told reporters on Tuesday that “The administration is withholding $255 million in assistance to Pakistan. There are clear reasons for this. Pakistan has played a double game for years.”
A senior US State Department official said last week that “We believe that there is significant evidence that leadership of the Haqqani Network resides inside Pakistan and is able to plan and execute from Pakistan attacks inside Afghanistan. So the disagreement is much more about those facts than it is on our overarching goals in the strategy. And we need them to address these sanctuaries in order for us to be able to be enabled to succeed in Afghanistan.”
khaama.com/pakistan-reluctant-to-act-against-taliban-hqn-amid-us-pressures-04212
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Zehri seeks Nawaz's help as political crisis brews in Balochistan: sources
ArifMalikJanuary 07, 2018
Balochistan Chief Minister SanaullahZehri contacted former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Sunday, seeking the latter's help in defeating a no-confidence motion against him in the provincial assembly, well-placed sources at Sharif's JatiUmra residence told DawnNews.
During the phone call between the two PML-N leaders, Zehriapprised Sharif of the political situation in Balochistan and requested his help regarding the political crisis unfolding in the province, the source said.
The government in Balochistan led by Zehri faced a sudden crisis last week when some treasury MPAs filed a no-confidence motion and important ministers and advisers — notably home minister SarfrazBugti and fisheries minister SarfarazDomki — switched camps, sparking a series of resignations and sackings.
Following the development, Zehri's coalition partners — the PashtunkhwaMilliAwami Party (PKMAP) and the National Party (NP) — publicly offered him some words of support, even as at least one of NP's own MPA was among signatories of the motion.
Terming the no-confidence motion a conspiracy, the PML-N president told Zehri that the moves were a part of a plan to prevent Senate elections — scheduled for March — from happening on time, the source said.
According to the source, Sharif assured Zehri that undemocratic behaviour would not be accepted and that the people's mandate was the first priority of PML-N.
Balochistan Assembly dissolution won’t hit Senate polls
According to politicians, lawyers and constitutional experts interviewed by Dawn, even the dissolution of Balochistan Assembly — let alone a no-confidence motion against Zehri — will have no impact on the Senate elections as they will go ahead on time.
Unless Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies are also dissolved, 11 missing Senators from Balochistan, in case of the assembly's dissolution, will only play a role if a closely fought battle is experienced for the chairman and deputy chairman positions of the upper house.
dawn.com/news/1381402/zehri-seeks-nawazs-help-as-political-crisis-brews-in-balochistan-sources
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Arab World
Iraqi Baath Party Attempting to Return to Power with Israel, S. Arabia's Support
TEHRAN (FNA)- Arab media sources revealed attempts by certain Baath party leaders to return to the political scene with the help of Israel and Saudi Arabia and by recruiting a number of extremist Sunni figures.
The Arabic-language Al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper reported that recently a number of leaders of the Sunni Tahalof al-Qowa coalition have held a meeting with the Israeli ambassador in Amman.
"The meeting had been planned several months ago and it was recently held in Jordan and a number of members of the coalition met with the Israeli envoy and his deputy under tight security measures," it added.
Also, the Arabic-language Sadr al-Khalij news website quoted high-ranking political sources as saying that AmedAbdolmajid al-Sa'adoun, a senior Baath party leader, has participated in a forum held by a party named National Honor gathering in Baghdad, headed by Vasah al-Sadid, one of the tribal leaders residing in Amman.
Informed sources said that the gathering was held with the support of Thamer al-Sabhan, the former Saudi ambassador to Baghdad, in Iraq whose goal was returning the Baath party to power under a new title.
In relevant remarks in August, a former Iraqi legislator revealed that a senior advisor to US President Donald Trump is in negotiations with the Baath leaders in Iraq to return the dissolved party to power under a new name.
"A delegation of the dissolved Baath party is negotiating with the US officials, specially Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law and senior advisor, to study the possibility for its return to Iraq's political process after changing its name," Kamel al-Dulaimi, also leader of the National Tashih Movement, was quoted as saying by Iraq's al-Rased website.
"We have access to certain intelligence which proves that the delegation is pursuing Baath party's return to power in Iraq under a new name," he added.
Kushner visited Iraq with the chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff in April.
en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13961017000822
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Countdown Starts for Turkish Military Operation against SDF at Border with Syria
TEHRAN (FNA)- The Turkish Army troops are coordinating the last preparations to kick off their large-scale attack on the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the town of Afrin in Aleppo province, a Russian media outlet reported on Sunday.
The Arabic-language website of Russia's state news agency, Sputnik, quoted a security source as saying that the Turkish Army has set up a field hospital in Qomlo region in Hatay province at the border with Syria.
Sputnik further said that the army is preparing for an imminent operation in a region between Idlib province and the town of Afrin, adding that security officials in Qomlo region have adopted severe security measures, deploying a large number of policemen in the region.
A military source, meantime, said that more than 15,000 Turkish soldiers have deployed in Kilis at border with Afrin, adding that the army has dispatched a large volume of military hardware, including heavy cannon and personnel carriers to border checkpoints in Kilis region.
Field sources confirmed on Friday that the Turkish Army set up another military base near the town of Afrin that is under the control of the SDF in Northern Aleppo, adding that the army deployed over 800 soldiers at the base.
The Kurdish-language Hawar news quoted field sources as saying that the Turkish army has embarked on establishing a new base next to Mount Qor in the village of Balilo in Rajo region near the town of Afrin.
It added that 800 Turkish soldiers in black uniforms are constantly patrolling along the borderline in military vehicles.
Tens of military vehicles and modern equipment have been sent to the new base, Hawar news said.
In the meantime, the Turkish army has increased its monitoring towers and artillery units near Mount Qor.
en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13961017000720
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More Terrorist Commanders Killed in Clashes with Syrian Army in Eastern Damascus
TEHRAN (FNA)- Two notorious field commanders of Al-Nusra Front (Tahrir al-Sham Hay'at or the Levant Liberation Board) have been killed in the Syrian Army troops' operation in Eastern Ghouta, dissident-affiliated websites reported on Sunday.
The news websites reported that Emir and Commander of Al-Nusra Abu TallalQabouni together with his deputy Abu Mohammad al-Tahoun were killed in the army troops' attacks near the Vehicles Management Centers in Harasta.
Relevant reports said on Saturday that the army men, backed up by the army's artillery unit and Air Force, attacked the terrorists near the Vehicles Management Center in Harasta region, taking control over several buildings near the Police Anti-Crime Office in Southwestern Harasta near the town of Arbin.
The army men, meantime, seized control over eight buildings in al-Ajamineighborhood in the town of Harasta and a mosque in the town.
en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13961017000650
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Terrorists' Drone Attack on Russia-Run Training Center in Syria Warded off
TEHRAN (FNA)- Terrorists' drone attack on a military center that is under the Russian forces' supervision in Homs province was repelled after the pro-government soldiers' fire shot down the drone, a Russian media outlet reported on Sunday.
The Arabic-language website of the RT quoted RusskayaFisna website as reporting that Ahrar al-Sham terrorists, for the second day in the current month, carried out a drone attack on a center of the Syrian army troops that is under the supervision of the Russian military men.
The Russian forces are training the Syrian soldiers how to demine lands, the RT said, adding that the Russian soldiers were the main target of the terrorists' drone attack.
The soldiers around the center tracked and targeted the drone.
In relevant developments but in Lattakia province on Thursday the Russian Defense Ministry reported that two military servicemen were killed in late December mortar shelling of the Humeimim airbase in Syria by militants.
"On December 31, 2017, at nightfall, the Humeimim airfield came under a sudden mortar fire from a mobile militant subversive group. Two military servicemen were killed in the shelling," the ministry said.
Ministry also stated that reports on seven aircraft destroyed by militants at the Humeimim airbase in Syria on December 31 are not true.
"A report in the Kommersant newspaper on the alleged destruction of seven Russian warplanes at the Humeimim airbase is fake. Russia’s air group in Syria is combat ready and continues to accomplish all its missions in full," the ministry added.
The Kommersant newspaper earlier wrote citing some sources that on December 31 militants from one of terror groups shelled the Humeimim airbase with mortars destroying four Sukhoi Su-24 bombers, two Sukhoi Su-35S fighter jets, one Antonov An-72 transport plane and an ammunition depot. According to the paper, more than ten military servicemen could be injured.
The Russian air campaign in support of anti-terrorist efforts by the Syrian authorities lasted from September 2015 to December 2017. In mid-December, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Humeimim Airbase to announce the withdrawal of Russian troops from the country.
Russia played a vital role in the defeat of ISIL, Jabhat al-Nusra (Al-Nusra Front) and other terror groups in the country. According to the Defense Ministry, around 60,000 militants were eliminated during the operation.
The Syrian army said last week that it seized a large volume of American-made weapons and ammunition from the terrorists during the mop-up operations in DeirEzzur.
While purging terrorists from different districts of the city of DeirEzzur, the army units gained access to a large cache of mortar rounds, different types of machine-guns, rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and shoulder-mounted rockets, including some manufactured by the US.
The army forces also seized wireless and radio broadcasting stations in one of ISIL's headquarters while purging terrorists from al-Sayyal village in the outskirts of Albu Kamal city East of DeirEzzur.
en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13961017000591
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IRGC Commander: Dispatch of Missiles to Yemen Impossible
TEHRAN (FNA)- Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari dismissed allegations that Iran has sent missiles to Yemen, describing it impossible as the poor Arab country is under a tight siege by the Saudi-led coalition.
"The Americans and the puppet rulers affiliated to them have told many lies against the Islamic Republic so far and have raised many allegations against Iran," General Jafari was quoted as saying by the Iranian media on Sunday.
"How is it possible to send weapons, specially missiles, to a country which is fully under siege and even medical aid and foodstuff may not be sent to," he asked.
General Jafari reiterated that it is impossible for the Islamic Republic of Iran to supply missiles to Yemen, adding, "The US officials are also aware that the missiles fire were from Yemen and have been reproduced to have a longer range."
In relevant remarks late in November, Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami and General Jafari dismissed US officials' allegations about the supply of Iranian missiles to the Yemeni Ansarullah group.
"The US can't accuse Iran of any event that happens in the region, although this is not unlikely of the enemy to raise such accusations," General Hatami said.
"The enemy uses any opportunity to level accusations against Iran and we firmly reject it," he added.
"Does anyone ask the US what they supply to Saudi Arabia," General Hatami said.
Meantime, General Jafari dismissed the allegations that Iran has supplied Ansarullah with missiles that hit the Saudi airport as "baseless".
"We don’t have the means and possibility to send missiles to Yemen and the missiles belong to themselves and they have increased their range," he underlined.
General Jafari said that the allegations are of a series of "baseless remarks and allegations" that US President Donald Trump has leveled against Iran.
en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13961017001367
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Europe
Germany Urged to Stop Support of Iran’s Mullah-Regime
BY BENJAMIN WEINTHAL JANUARY 6, 2018
BERLIN – The German government is under fire for not reversing its largely pro-regime policy and for providing humanitarian aid to an alleged Iranian mass murderer – and possible replacement as the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic – who oversaw the country’s brutal justice system for a decade.
The possible successor of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Ayatollah Mahmoud HashemiShahroudi, is currently in a neurological center for treatment in the German city of Hanover.
“The nationwide protests against the Islamist mullah regime in Iran make it obvious that the federal government’s Iran policy has reached a dead end. For decades, Germany’s Iran policy has supported an Islamist dictatorship that today can only be upheld with utmost violence against its own people. We demand an end of the collaboration with a terror-spreading regime which is rejected internally and externally, by the people of Iran and by Iran’s neighbors. We expect clear political support of the demands for freedom and democracy in Iran,” Ulrike Becker, a spokeswoman for the German-based Stop the Bomb campaign, said in a statement sent to The Jerusalem Post last week.
The anti-Iranian-regime NGO seeks to improve human rights in Iran and to end the country’s work on nuclear weapons.
NasrinAmirsedghi, a German-Iranian dissident who has written extensively on human rights violations in the Islamic Republic, told the Post on Friday that “my enemy is a system, whose representatives have for 39 years terrorized not only the Iranian people but the entire world.”
German-Iran relations crisscross many sectors, raising questions about Chancellor Angela Merkel’s commitment to combating Iranian terrorism and its lethal antisemitic policies toward the Jewish state.
A spokesman for Merkel said on Wednesday that “Germany is still one of the most important trade partners of Iran.” German exports to Iran in 2016 – the most recent year for data – totaled €2.59 billion. In 2016, Klaus-Dieter Fritsche, a German state secretary responsible for intelligence, met with Iran’s top spy and cleric Mahmoud Alavi.
Stop the Bomb founding member FathiyehNaghibzadeh said on January 1: “I call on Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel to take a clear stance against the dictatorship in Iran and to support the freedom-loving people. Silence or even support of the mullahs will isolate Germany and Europe in the region and worldwide.”
The Iranian dissident added, “In 2009, the West abandoned millions of Iranian people who demonstrated for months against the fundamentalist dictatorship. It has been claimed that only the middle class has demonstrated while poor people still supported the Islamist system.
Now, the uprising has started in the provinces, and the slogans of the poor against the fundamentalists are even more radical.”
A spokesman for the Merkel administration referred the Post to a January 3 briefing that said the Merkel administration is closely “watching what is happening on the ground” in Iran because the “situation remains unclear.” According to the briefing, the German government said an “improvement in the human rights situation is an important concern” and the Merkel administration acknowledged that human rights have not improved under the so-called moderate Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.
Meanwhile, in the German state of Lower Saxony, the medical treatment of Shahroudi, the former head of Iran’s infamous Justice Ministry from 1999 to 2009, prompted referral to the public prosecutor. Olef Reichert, spokesman for the state governor, wrote the Post by email on Friday, saying that the “Lower Saxony government welcomes the decision by the Lower Saxony justice minister to clarify the matter with the state prosecutor.”
The nature of the prosecutor’s investigation is unclear.
The mass-circulated German paper Bild reported that the center is treating Shahroudi for a brain tumor.
A public letter was sent to Stephan Weil, the Social Democratic governor of Lower Saxony, accusing Shahroudi of being responsible for executing adolescents. The letter said the state of Lower Saxony was harboring an “Iranian regime butcher.” The letter also stated Shahroudi “should be charged and condemned for his crimes against humanity.”
Weil’s office forwarded the letter to the Justice Ministry, which sent it to the prosecutor for investigation. The HannoverscheAllgemeineZeitung paper in Hanover first reported on the letter and Shahroudi’s medical treatment.
Volker Beck, a Middle East expert and former Green Party lawmaker, tweeted to his nearly 90,000 followers: “A mass murderer enjoys German medicine and humanitarian protection?” On Shahroudi’s watch as justice minister he allowed the arbitrary arrests of political and human rights activists, the torture of prisoners and the closure of reform newspapers. He is a strict disciple of Khamenei and was a student of Khamenei’s predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the revolutionary founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Video footage on Twitter on Saturday showed anti-Iranian regime demonstrators protesting Shahroudi’s stay in front of the medical center.
Post press queries to Dr.MadjidSamii, the president of the International Neuroscience Institute in Hanover, where Shahroudi is being treated, were not immediately returned. Samiitraveled with the German foreign minister to Iran, as part of his first 2015 business delegation to Iran after the nuclear deal was reached. Samii is considered a close ally of the ruling clerical regime.
“I question how Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel can sleep with a good conscience after his business trip to meet with the mullahs, the enemies of the West,” Amirsedghi said about the visit.
jpost.com/International/Germany-urged-to-stop-support-of-Irans-mullah-regime-532985
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Islamic State’s First Leader Denies He Has Been Captured, West Wonders If He Exists
By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 6 January 2018
Iraqi soldiers from the 1st Iraqi Army Division and U.S. Soldiers board a U.S. Marine Corps CH-53 Super Stallion helicopter at Camp Ramadi, 15 Nov. 2015 (DoD photo by Staff Sgt. Daniel St. Pierre, U.S. Air Force)
The leader of the Islamic State (IS) when it was declared in October 2006 was Hamid al-Zawi (Abu Umar al-Baghdadi). Al-Zawi was killed in April 2010 and replaced in May 2010 by the current leader of the IS movement, Ibrahim al-Badri (Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi), who more explicitly embraced the title of “caliph”. On 12 May 2009, al-Zawi gave his seventeenth speech, entitled UmalaKadhabun (عملاءكذابون), which translates to something like “Lying Agents” or “Deceitful Spies”. The speech was released by IS’s Al-Furqan Media Productions and a translation was made by a pro-IS online outlet, The Jihadist Media Elite. The transcript is reproduced below.
Al-Zawi’s speech came in response to reports that he had been captured. The Iraqi Army first issued the claim that it has Abu Umar al-Baghdadi in custody on 23 April 2009. This report came simultaneous with a wave of terrorist attacks by IS that killed more than eighty people. On 24 April, IS carried out a gruesome atrocity at the shrine in Kadhimiya in northern Baghdad, slaughtering sixty people. These attacks were part of IS’s sectarian campaign: the first wave struck Iranian pilgrims in Baquba, people distributing aid to refugees in the Shi’a-majority Karrada district of Baghdad, and a Shi’a mosque in Tikrit; the second attacked a shrine that contains the tomb for Seventh Shi’i Imam, Musa al-Kadhim, and also the ninth Imam, Muhammad al-Taqi al-Jawad.
Then-Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki made a statement on 26 April 2009 that ostensibly confirmed that Abu Umar had been arrested. Al-Maliki even issued a picture:
Image from Al-Iraqiya TV of the man in Iraqi custody, whom the government claimed was Abu Umar al-Baghdadi. (AP Photo, 28 April 2009)
This was controversial on its face because at this time the very fact of Abu Umar was contested. As The New York Times put it, Abu Umar had not appeared in public and the politics in Baghdad surrounding the case made telling up from down difficult, leaving a “question as to whether he actually exists”. This is May 2009: two-and-a-half years after Abu Umar became IS’s emir. (More extraordinary was the August 2009 report in the Times that “Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia had now teamed up with another militant group, the Islamic State of Iraq”, which was based off a briefing by the U.S. commander, Maj. Gen. Robert L. Caslen Jr., overseeing operations in IS’s final stronghold in Mosul!)
The origins of this confusion go back to July 2007, when the U.S.-led Coalition arrested IS’s media emir, Khalid al-Mashadani (Abu Zayd al-Mashadani), and al-Mashadani had told the Americans what they wanted to hear: Abu Umar was a fiction, a character played in his audio messages by an Iraqi named Abu Abdullah al-Naima, and really the entire “Islamic State” structure was a front for al-Qaeda, with the strings being pulled by foreigners, led by the Egyptian Abu Hamza al-Muhajir or Abu Ayyub al-Masri, who was himself often misidentified in those years as Yusuf al-Dardiri. (Abu Hamza’s real name is Abdul Munim al-Badawi).
The version of events in which Abu Umar was a mere figurehead was even reported by Abu Sulayman al-Utaybi, briefly IS’s chief judge. Abu Sulayman defected from IS in August 2007, that ambiguous period when al-Qaeda in Iraq had formally been dissolved but IS retained extensive connections al-Qaeda, and reported to al-Qaeda’s leadership that Abu Hamza had said: “A man will be found [to be IS’s leader,] whom we will test for a month. If he is suitable, then we will keep him … If not, we will look for someone else.”
The U.S. military claimed in September 2008 that the Abu Umar position had been back-filled.
There were those, notably NibrasKazimi, who doubted this version of events at the time. And in May 2008, a police chief in Haditha, Colonel Fareq al-Je’eify, had revealed to Al-Arabiya that Abu Umar was really al-Zawi, and that al-Zawi had been an officer in al-Amn al-Amm, the domestic security service (secret police) of Saddam Husayn’s regime. Al-Zawi was dismissed in the late 1980s, al-Je’eify said, because of his extremist tendencies, something that stopped happening a decade later. Al-Je’eify provided what proved to be the correct picture:
Hamid al-Zawi, the real Abu Umar al-Baghdadi, released by Al-Arabiya, May 2008
The controversy only really resolved itself on 18 April 2010, when al-Zawi was killed in the company of al-Badawi. The man the Iraqi government had presented as Abu Umar was Ahmad Abd al-Ahmad Khamis al-Majma’i. Al-Mashadani had been willfully misleading, and in doing so had brought off an historic information operation that protected not only al-Zawi but Abdurrahman al-Qaduli (Abu Ali al-Anbari), who probably would have been the first leader of IS had he not been arrested in June 2006. The Americans never knew who they had, and when al-Qaduli was released in 2012, after the American withdrawal, he moved to Syria, and led the way in piecing together the caliphate.
Praise God. We praise Him and seek His aid. Whoever God leads cannot be led astray. To such as God rejects from His guidance, there can be no guide. I testify that there is no God, but Allah alone and there is none other. I testify that Muhammad is His servant and His messenger.
Now then:
The most high God has said, “Verily, God guides not one who is a Musrif [transgressor, liar]” [Ghafir (40): 28]. And the messenger of God, blessing and peace be upon him, said, as found in Sahih al-Bukhari, “Truth leads to righteousness, righteousness leads to paradise, and a man must be trustworthy in order to be trusted. Furthermore, lying leads to immorality, and immorality leads to hell fire. The man who lies will be written off by God as a liar.”
Abu Hurayra, may Allah be pleased with him, recorded that the messenger of God, blessings and peace be upon him, said, “There are three ways to be a hypocrite: By lying, not keeping a promise, and by betraying a trust”.
Everyone was surprised by the lies of the rulers in the Ba’th palaces in the Green Zone when they once again claimed that they had arrested this humble servant of God. I thought that they would just put that out for a few hours in order to absorb the severity of the mujahideen’s attacks. However, they put out the rumor about it, and they believed their lies to the extent that they issued the picture of a man, whom they tortured, claiming that this is a picture of Abu Umar al-Baghdadi. We don’t know where they got it or who the man is. But their prisons are filled with oppressed Sunni worshipers of God.
With a simple comparison between what these agents’ lies and the lies of the idol worshipers of Quraysh, we will find that the idol worshippers had more honour and dignity than them.
As for these agents today, their souls are like the souls of slaves. Within themselves and with [other] people, they are more despicable than flies. You see that they are not ashamed of immorality because lying is immorality. More than that, it is the source of immorality, since the prophet said, blessing and peace be upon him, “Lying leads to immorality.”
Lying is a weak, Satanic idea. It does not have a leg to stand on when it faces the actions and words of the mujahideen. The devils come down upon the liar. As the Most High said, “Shall I inform you upon whom the devils descend? They descend on every lying, sinful person, [into whose ears] they pour hearsay vanities, and most of them are liars.”
There is no doubt that these Rafida [“rejectionists”, i.e. Shi’is] are serving, and drawing near to, the devil by lying. They are, as the Shaykh of Islam, Ibn Taymiyya, may God have mercy upon him, said about them, and he is their arch enemy: “There is no sect among Muslims that is more lying, or confirming lies as truth and converting truth into lies, than [Shi’is], especially when the hypocrisy among them is clear to the rest of the people.” As for the Sunnis in general and especially their sons, the mujahideen, who are drawing near to God by saying the truth, they believe God and are truthful to the people. Al-Zahri, may Allah have mercy on him, says, “By God, though a herald would call from heaven that God permitted lying, I would not lie.” These are the Sunnis, and these are their scholars, and not the scholars of taqiyya [dissimulation, deceit] and immorality.
It is known, that truthfulness is the basis of good deeds and the sum total of them. It is the characteristic of the Sunnis. Lying is the basis of evil deeds and their pattern, and is the mark of the Rafida, the worshipers of men like Al-Zahra and Al-Husayn.
Abu Hurayra, may Allah have mercy on him, said, “The messenger of God, blessing and peace be upon him, said, as found in Sahih Muslim, ‘There are three whom God will not talk to on the Day of Judgment, will not commend them and will not look at them, and they will have painful torture: an adulterous elder, a lying king, and an arrogant poor man’.” He also narrated, “There are three that God hates: a lying king, an arrogant poor man, and a miserly rich man.”
kyleorton1991.wordpress.com/2018/01/06/islamic-states-first-leader-denies-he-has-been-captured-west-wonders-if-he-exists/
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'I'm not racist - I have Muslim mates,' claims man who wrote he wanted to burn mosques on Facebook
7 JAN 2018
A dad who threatened to murder Muslims after the Manchester bombing claims: ‘I’m not racist - I have Muslim friends’.
Andrew Littlefair faces jail after Facebook posts calling for people to burn mosques and the Quran.
In one post he wrote: “Give me bullets for my gun - I’ll shoot every b****** one”.”
But now he claims to be living in fear of attack following his rant.
“I live in a quiet street, and there are a lot of angry people at the moment,” said the frightened 50-year-old.
“I live around a lot of Muslim people and I have Muslim friends who know I’m not racist, but it is the people who are not my friends that worry me.
“I’m worried this being out there is putting me at risk.”
Teesside Magistrates’ Court heard Littlefair wrote the posts in retaliation to a pair of deadly UK terror attacks last summer.
The June 4 rant came the morning after the London Bridge terror attack, and less than a fortnight after the Manchester Arena bombing.
In one post, he wrote: “It’s time to unite and fight wipe out this disgusting desease (sic) they call Islam.
“My grandad didn’t fight an die for this!!”
Following Wednesday’s court hearing, Littlefair blamed the booze and claims his words were taken “out of context”.
“It was a stupid, drunken rant which I did after seeing pictures of all those bairns after the bombings,” said the 50-year-old.
“Yes I had a few drinks on the night before and I’d opened a can that morning.
“But to say I want to kill Muslims - I mean, I couldn’t hurt a fly.
“And I know I shouldn’t have said Muslims - I should have said ISIS.
“ISIS are not people, they are brainwashing people.
“But I have Muslim friends and I’ve spoke to some and they are disappointed.
“But this doesn’t show me for who I am.”
He admitted six counts of publishing threatening religious material intending to stir up religious hatred.
Teesside Magistrates’ Court heard the starting point for this is 12 months custody.
“I can’t stop worrying and I can’t eat,” said Littlefair, of Trefoil Court, Norton.
“(My daughter) is in bits thinking I’m going to go to prison - I’m a 50-year-old and it doesn’t feel good to face prison for the first time.
"I just got myself a good, steady job and have to go back to work but I can’t concentrate.
“I just hope to go it is a suspended sentence.”
Magistrates granted him unconditional bail to appear at Teesside Crown Court on a future date.
gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/im-not-racist-muslim-mates-14119792
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India
Pakistan Inciting J&K Youths against India, Says Home Minister
TNN | Jan 7, 2018
NEW DELHI: Home minister Rajnath Singh, while addressing the country's top police officers at the IB's annual DG/IG meet, said that terror infrastructure in Pakistan continues to exist and the western neighbour is leaving no stone unturned to incite J&K youth against India.
The senior BJP leader also asked the DGPs/commissioners of states/UTs and central agencies to make sure that incidents of communal violence like religious riots, desecration of religious places, smuggling or killing of cows are dealt with strictly, sources told TOI.
Singh added that terror infrastructure in the form of training camps, launch pads and communication control stations of terrorists continue to exist in Pakistan and PoK.
"The financing of separatists and infiltration of terrorists from across the border is an area of concern. The separatists take advantage of any law and order situation to instil anti-India sentiments among people," Singh said.
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/pakistan-inciting-jk-youths-against-india-says-rajnath-singh/articleshow/62398287.cms
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Man, Attacked After Killing of Hindu Activist, Dies
Kevin Mendonsa | TNN | Updated: Jan 7, 2018, 15:02 IST
MANGALURU: Abdul Basheer, 47, who brutally attacked by four persons on late night of January 3 to avenge the death of Hindu activist Deepak Rao in Katipalla, succumbed to his injuries at a private hospital on Sunday.
According to sources, Basheer had multiple injuries due to severe attack on Wednesday night. Several surgeons treated him and multiple surgeries were conducted over the period. He was declared dead around 8am.
Soon after the announcement a large number crowd started to gather at the mortuary. People representatives: U T Khader, minister for food and civil supplies and MLA B A Mohiuddin Bava and former minister Krishna J Palemar visited the mortuary. However, crowd asked leave from spot Palemar, who was trying to speak to media. Crowd shouted slogans against him for utilising mortuary for political gain.
Meanwhile, police said that there is no permission for holding funeral procession. Burial will be held either at 4pm or 7pm as they are awaiting for Basheer's son who is in Abu Dhabi. One of the relatives said that Irfan, who works in Abu Dhabi had landed there three months ago. He is expected to take flight from Dubai in the noon. Once he reaches to Mangaluru, we will take the body to Basheer's home at Akash Bhavan from mortuary. After public viewing the body it will be taken to the Juma Masjid at Kuloor followed by burial.
Basheer is survived by a wife and 3 boys, one daughter. Eldest son is married, daughter is pursuing her PU and younger son is class 8 student.
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mangaluru/abdul-basheer-succumbs-to-his-injuries-at-hospital/articleshow/62401601.cms
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Palestine denies Pak media report on ambassador who shared stage with Hafiz Saeed being reinstated
Sunday 7 January 2018
Palestine has reinstated its ambassador to Pakistan Walid Abu Ali who was recalled for sharing a stage with JuD chief and 26/11 Mumbai terror attack Hafiz Saeed, reported Pakistani media.
Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC) chairman Maulana Tahir Ashrafi told Geo News that he had asked for the Walid Abu Ali to be reinstated and that the ambassador would return to Pakistan and resume his duties from Wednesday.
However, the Palestine Embassy in New Delhi denied the reports and said that Walid Abu Ali was still in Palestine and didn't know where 'they got the information'. The Palestine FM also denied the story and said their official statement had been published last week.
We don't know from where you got this information about Palestine Ambassdor to Pakistan being reinstated. As per our knowledge he is very much in Palestine as of now: Palestine Embassy in New Delhi to ANI on Pak media's reports on Palestine reinstated its ambassador to Pakistanv pic.twitter.com/wZJZ5QgxkP
We don't know from where you got this information about Palestine Ambassdor to Pakistan being reinstated. As per our knowledge he is very much in Palestine as of now: Palestine Embassy in New Delhi to ANI on Pak media's reports on Palestine reinstated its ambassador to Pakistan pic.twitter.com/tUzZokC98k
@ANI
We deny this information. Our ambassador in Pakistan is in Palestine and our position was declared by our official statement which we have published last week: Palestinian Foreign Ministry on Pakistan media's reports that Palestine reinstated its ambassador to Pakistan
5:24 PM - Jan 7, 2018
The Palestinian Authority had described as an "unintended mistake", but "not justified" the presence of its ambassador to Pakistan at an event also attended by Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed and decided to recall him immediately.
India had issued a strong demarche to Palestine after its Ambassador to Pakistan, Walid Abu Ali, was seen sharing stage with JuD chief Saeed during an event in Rawalpindi organised to express solidarity with Jerusalem.
"On the basis of the principled and firm Palestinian position, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates considered the participation of our Ambassador in Pakistan in a mass rally in solidarity with Jerusalem, held in Rawalpindi and in the presence of individuals accused of supporting terrorism is an unintended mistake, but not justified," a statement from the Palestinian Authority (PA) said.
The External Affairs Ministry (MEA) had condemned the act by the Palestinian Ambassador in strong words and called it "unacceptable". "The government has strongly conveyed to the Palestinian side that the Palestinian Ambassador's association with terrorist Hafiz Saeed, who is proscribed by the United Nations, at an event in Rawalpindi on December 29 is unacceptable," the MEA said.
Pakistan had defended Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed's participation in a pro-Palestine rally, saying the JuD chief's UN proscription does not place any restrictions on the freedom of expression.
Saeed and Palestinian Ambassador to Pakistan Walid Abu Ali participated in the rally in garrison city of Rawalpindi.
Pakistan Foreign Office (FO) in statement said the country's unambiguous and steadfast support to the Palestinian cause was well known and several rallies had been held since the US announced to recognise Jerusalem as capital of Israel.
"The Ambassador of Palestine has participated in many of these meetings. The public meeting held yesterday was yet another demonstration of the Pakistani strong sentiments in support of the Palestinian cause," it said.
"This public rally was attended by thousands of people from all walks of life. More than 50 speakers addressed the rally, including Hafiz Saeed. Contrary to the impression being created, UN proscription does not place any restrictions on the freedom of expression," the FO said.
"The people and Government of Pakistan respect the Palestinian Ambassador s active participation in events organized to express solidarity with the people of Palestine," it said.
Saeed, who was among the speakers, accused Jewish, Zionists and Hindu leadership of destroying the world peace.
He urged the Muslim countries to send their armies if the US moved its embassy to Jerusalem.
dnaindia.com/world/report-palestine-reinstates-ambassador-to-pakistan-who-shared-stage-with-hafiz-saeed-pak-media-report-2573590
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Mideast
Arab states to push for east Jerusalem as Palestine capital
Agencies | Jan 7, 2018
AMMAN: Jordan said on Saturday that the Arab League will push for international recognition of east Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital, after President Donald Trump last month recognised the contested city as Israel's capital.
Jordan's foreign minister Ayman Safadi made the announcement at a joint news conference with Arab League chief Ahmed AbulGheit after talks to decide on a joint Arab response to Trump. The meeting was attended by the foreign ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and the Palestinian authority as well as by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) minister of state for foreign affairs.
"There is a political decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and we will strive to reach an international political decision to recognise a Palestinian state... with (east) Jerusalem as its capital," Safadi said.
In 2012, the UN General Assembly recognised a state of Palestine in lands Israel captured in 1967, including east Jerusalem, as an observer state, but many Western countries stopped short of bilateral recognition. Under a broad international consensus, the fate of Jerusalem is to be determined in negotiations.
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/arab-states-to-push-for-east-jerusalem-as-palestine-capital/articleshow/62398466.cms
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Iranians Rally for Fifth Day in Show of Unity, Strength
TEHRAN (FNA)- People took to the streets in four other major cities across the country on the fifth consecutive day of nationwide rallies to reiterate support for the Islamic establishment following scattered riots in some parts of the country.
The Iranian people held rallies in Rasht, Yazd, Shahr-e Kord and Qazvin on Sunday as a bunch of other Iranian cities and towns were the scene of massive rallies in the past few days.
Tens of thousands of Iranian people rallied in Sari, Amol, Yazd, Semnan, Kerman and Ilam on Saturday.
They shouted slogans and carried placards, condemning violence and sedition.
They also carried images of Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei and Iran's flag to show allegiance to them.
Last week, a number of peaceful protests began in several areas across the country, with the participants calling on authorities to address their economic issues.
However, the economic protests in a number of Iranian towns in the past few days turned into riots each comprised of a few hundred protesters after the peaceful gatherings were overshadowed when armed elements and vandals showed up among ordinary protesters and began to launch attacks on public property, police stations and religious sites.
The original protesters soon left the streets upon calls by the authorities so security forces could deal with the rioters and sporadic violence, which continued in some towns and cities for several days.
Then on Wednesday, hundreds of thousands of Iranian people in different cities and towns poured to the streets to condemn the recent riots and chaos in the country and show support for the Islamic Revolution.
People across the country, including Khuzestan, Qom, Kermanshah, Ilam, Gilan, Alborz, Lorestan, North Khorassan, Golestan and Hamedan provinces, gathered in important squares and streets of their cities and towns to show unity and deplore hijack of the recent economic protests in Iran by rioters in the country.
They chanted "Death to the US", "Death to Israel" and "Death to the Seditionist" slogans to condemn US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's support for the recent riots in Iran.
They also carried placards which called on the government to pay attention to the legal demands of the people to improve life standards, create more jobs and decrease inflation.
On Thursday, millions of Iranian people across the country held fresh rallies to voice support for the Islamic Republic and denounce violence and riots.
Demonstrators flooded the cities in towns and cities, including, Mashhad, Isfahan, Shiraz, Rasht, Birjand, Babol, Hamedan, Neishabour, Chalous, Yasouj, Ardabil and Uroumiyeh, for the second consecutive day yesterday.
Demonstrators were holding up national flags and portraits of Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, shouting pro-establishment slogans.
The participants also held the US and the Israeli regime responsible for the recent wave of violence in Iran.
Also, people continued rallies across the country, including the capital Tehran, on Friday to show their solidarity with the Islamic Republic and condemn the recent scattered riots in some areas of the country.
In Tehran, thousands of Tehrani worshippers rallied after Friday prayers and condemned the meddling by the US, Israel and Britain in Iran's internal affairs to incite violence and riots in the country.
Iranians in Tabriz, Sari and Kerman also rallied and shouted slogans against the foreign-backed violence, while holding up placards and national flags.
The Tehrani worshippers and Iranians in other cities chanted slogans such as "Down with the US", "Down with Israel" and "Down with Trump.
Ayatollah Khamenei warned on Tuesday that the enemies have mobilized all their power and tools to hit a blow at Iran, alluding to certain foreign states' role in the recent riots in the country.
"The enemy has always been waiting for an opportunity and a breach to enter and hit a blow to the Iranian nation," Ayatollah Khamenei said, addressing the families of the Iranian martyrs in Tehran.
"During the events in the past few days, the enemies of Iran allied to create problem for the Islamic Republic by different tools in their hands, including money, weapons, policy and security organizations," he added.
Ayatollah Khamenei said that the nation's spirit of bravery, sacrifice and faith blocks the enemy and its hostilities, adding that he will speak with people about the recent protests and unrests in Iran in due time.
en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13961017000852
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Iran parliament holds special meeting on protests
AFP | APJanuary 07, 2018
The Iranian parliament held a closed-door meeting on Sunday to discuss the deadly protests that hit the country last week, while more pro-regime rallies were held in several cities.
Lawmakers interrogated Interior Minister AbdolrahmaniRahmaniFazli, Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi and secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani, parliament's ICANA website reported.
Some voiced concern over the internet controls put in place during the unrest, including a ban on Iran's most popular messaging app, Telegram, which officials said had been used to incite violence.
“The parliament is not in favour of keeping Telegram filtering in place, but it must pledge that it will not be used as a tool by the enemies of the Iranian people,” Behrouz Nemati, spokesman for the parliament's presiding board, wrote on Instagram, which was also temporarily blocked during the unrest.
Many Iranians use Telegram as their main source of news and a way of bypassing the highly restrictive state media, with almost a third of Iran's 80 million people using the app daily.
Some 9,000 online businesses have been disrupted by the blocking, semi-official news agency ISNA reported, quoting a report by the culture ministry's digital media centre.
The protests began on December 28 over economic issues before quickly spiralling out of control and turning against the regime as a whole, leaving 21 dead.
The protests, which vented anger at high unemployment and official corruption, were the largest seen in Iran since the disputed 2009 presidential election, and some demonstrators called for the overthrow of the government.
Hundreds of people have been detained since the protests began. They include around 90 university students, reformist lawmaker Mahmoud Sadeghi was quoted as saying by the semi-official ISNA news agency.
Pro-government rallies were again held in several cities on Sunday, this time in Qazvin, Rasht, Shahr-e Kurd and Yazd.
Tens of thousands of people have participated in similar rallies in the past few days.
The rallies are “the people's response to the rioters and troublemakers and their supporters,” said state television.
It also repeated official claims that the unrest was orchestrated by the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia with the complicity of “anti-revolutionary” groups.
Iran's Guard claims victory against anti-government protests
Iran's Revolutionary Guard today said that the nation and its security forces have ended the wave of unrest linked to anti-government protests that erupted last month.
In a statement on its website, the Guard blamed the unrest on the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia, as well as an exiled opposition group known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, and supporters of the monarchy that was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The Guard is a powerful paramilitary force loyal to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Many of the demonstrators protested against the Guard's massive budget, its costly interventions across the region, and against the supreme leader himself.
Iranian lawmakers held a closed session on Sunday in which senior security officials briefed them on the protests and the conditions of the detainees, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.
“It was emphasised that foreign elements, and in particular the United States, played a basic role in forming and manipulating the recent unrest,” IRNA quoted lawmaker Jalal Mirzaei as saying.
The United States and Israel have expressed support for the protests, which began on Dec 28 in Iran's second largest city, Mashhad, but deny allegations of fomenting them.
In recent days, government supporters have held several mass rallies across the country to protest the unrest.
dawn.com/news/1381404/iran-parliament-holds-special-meeting-on-protests
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Turkish Media Blame CIA Agent for Recent Unrests in Iran
TEHRAN (FNA)- The Turkish media outlets said Michael D'Andrea, the man in charge of the CIA operations in Iran, has led the recent unrests and riots in a number of Iranian cities and towns.
The Turkish-language Takvim newspaper reported that D'Andrea has masterminded the violent protests which killed 20 people in Iran.
It added that D'Andrea has sent 900 agents disguised as businesspersons to Iran to ignite unrests and riots in the Iranian cities and towns.
Earlier, the Turkish-language Aksam newspaper had also released a similar report.
The Turkish media revelations were made after Secretary of Iran's Expediency Council (EC) Mohsen Rezayee disclosed that the US, remnants of the former Iraqi dictator Saddam's regime, Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO, also known as the MEK, PMOI and NCRI) and Saudi Arabia masterminded the recent unrests in Iran within the framework of an operations room in Erbil of the Iraqi Kurdistan region.
"An operations room was formed in Erbil a few months ago, led by Michael D'Andrea, the man in charge of the CIA operations in Iran; also the chief of staff of Saddam's son and Saddam's brother-in-law along with a representative of Saudi Arabia and a representative of Monafeqin (hypocrites as MKO members are called in Iran) were in there. Certain reports have also claimed the presence of the UAE's representative in the operations room and we are studying them," Rezayee said on Saturday.
He said that the operations room had plotted to start its activities in Iran late in fall, using social media, and then hit a blow to the Islamic Republic early and mid winter, adding that they had named the project as "Fruitful Convergence".
Rezayee, also a former top commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), further explained that they wanted to take control of the Iranian cities from the government in the first phase, smuggle weapons to the country to kill people and then pressure the UN Security Council to impose new sanctions against Iran under the US pressure, adding that in the second phase they wanted to pave the ground for the MKO members to enter Iran and then make the Europeans accompany them in measures against Tehran.
"And this is the overal points of the Erbil scenario," he concluded.
Iranian people took to the streets across the country for the fourth consecutive day on Saturday, to show their solidarity with the Islamic Republic and condemn the recent scattered riots in some areas of the country.
Thousands of Iranian people rallied in Sari, Amol, Yazd, Semnan, Kerman and Ilam on Saturday.
They shouted slogans and carried placards, condemning violence and sedition.
They also carried images of Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei and Iran's flag to show allegiance to them.
Also in Tehran on Friday, thousands of worshippers rallied after Friday prayers and condemned the meddling by the US, Israel and Britain in Iran's internal affairs to incite violence and riots in the country.
Iranians in Tabriz, Sari and Kerman also rallied and shouted slogans against the foreign-backed violence, while holding up placards and national flags.
The Tehrani worshippers and Iranians in other cities chanted slogans such as "Down with the US", "Down with Israel" and "Down with Trump.
Last week, a number of peaceful protests began in several areas across the country, with the participants calling on authorities to address their economic issues.
However, the economic protests in a number of Iranian towns in the past few days turned into riots each comprised of a few hundred protesters after the peaceful gatherings were overshadowed when armed elements and vandals showed up among ordinary protesters and began to launch attacks on public property, police stations and religious sites.
The original protesters soon left the streets upon calls by the authorities so security forces could deal with the rioters and sporadic violence, which continued in some towns and cities for several days.
Then on Wednesday, hundreds of thousands of Iranian people in different cities and towns poured to the streets to condemn the recent riots and chaos in the country and show support for the Islamic Revolution.
People across the country, including Khuzestan, Qom, Kermanshah, Ilam, Gilan, Alborz, Lorestan, North Khorassan, Golestan and Hamedan provinces, gathered in important squares and streets of their cities and towns to show unity and deplore hijack of the recent economic protests in Iran by rioters in the country.
They chanted "Death to the US", "Death to Israel" and "Death to the Seditionist" slogans to condemn US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's support for the recent riots in Iran.
They also carried placards which called on the government to pay attention to the legal demands of the people to improve life standards, create more jobs and decrease inflation.
On Thursday, millions of Iranian people across the country held fresh rallies to voice support for the Islamic Republic and denounce violence and riots.
Demonstrators flooded the cities in towns and cities, including, Mashhad, Isfahan, Shiraz, Rasht, Birjand, Babol, Hamedan, Neishabour, Chalous, Yasouj, Ardabil and Uroumiyeh, for the second consecutive day yesterday.
Demonstrators were holding up national flags and portraits of Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, shouting pro-establishment slogans.
The participants also held the US and the Israeli regime responsible for the recent wave of violence in Iran.
Ayatollah Khamenei warned on Tuesday that the enemies have mobilized all their power and tools to hit a blow at Iran, alluding to certain foreign states' role in the recent riots in the country.
"The enemy has always been waiting for an opportunity and a breach to enter and hit a blow to the Iranian nation," Ayatollah Khamenei said, addressing the families of the Iranian martyrs in Tehran.
"During the events in the past few days, the enemies of Iran allied to create problem for the Islamic Republic by different tools in their hands, including money, weapons, policy and security organizations," he added.
Ayatollah Khamenei said that the nation's spirit of bravery, sacrifice and faith blocks the enemy and its hostilities, adding that he will speak with people about the recent protests and unrests in Iran in due time.
en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13961017000321
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Ayatollah Hakim urges youth not to adapt Western style
January 7, 2018
The senior cleric further advised the younger generations to utilize their potential to promote the Islamic beliefs and principles based on logic and avoid giving in to momentary temptations and worldly desires which are against the Islamic cultures and Ahlulbayt’s (as) doctrine.
(AhlulBayt News Agency) - In a meeting with a group of Iraqi youth in the city of Najaf on Saturday, January 6, senior Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Muhammad Saeed al-Hakim elaborated on the life of Prophet Muhammad (as) and the hardship he went through to deliver Islamic principles and guidelines to the people of his time. The cleric remarked that Prophet Muhammad (as) did so to gain Allah almighty’s satisfaction and divine bounty.
The senior cleric further advised the younger generations to utilize their potential to promote the Islamic beliefs and principles based on logic and avoid giving in to momentary temptations and worldly desires which are against the Islamic cultures and Ahlulbayt’s (as) doctrine.
“Ahlulbayt (as), through their eminent moral virtues and adherence to right path of Islam, inspired the whole world and gained global respect.” The cleric added.
In the end, Grand Ayatollah Hakim asked the youth not to waste their valuable lifetime adapting Western lifestyle and traditions, since those Western societies are looking for solutions to their own problems.”
en.abna24.com/news/grand-ayatollahs/ayatollah-hakim-urges-youth-not-to-adapt-western-style_876203.html
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Muslims need to cooperate against divisive US policies: Shamkhani
Sun Jan 7, 2018
A senior Iranian official has told Pakistan's national security adviser that Muslim nations need to forge closer cooperation given the US policy to create divisions among them.
"The United States' dishonest, duplicitous and divisive policy towards Muslim countries, including Iran and Pakistan, requires that they bolster cooperation against America in addition to maintaining vigilance and taking preventive measures," Ali Shamkhani said Sunday.
The secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council made the remarks during a meeting with Lieutenant General Nasser Khan Janjua whose country, like Iran, has recently come under unprecedented attacks by US President Donald Trump.
Shamkhani underlined the need to safeguard joint borders between Iran and Pakistan and make joint efforts to fight drugs as well as human and weapons trafficking.
"We will not allow some countries to affect relations between the two countries through sending weapons and hiring terrorists to create insecurity on their borders," he added.
The Iranian official further touched on the necessity of lifting the Saudi blockade on Yemen, saying Muslim countries and the international community support political talks among Yemeni groups and seek an end to the bombardment and siege of the country.
Shamkhani also described the Palestinian issue as the top priority of the Muslim world.
The official highlighted cultural and religious commonalities between Iran and Pakistan and called for enhanced ties in all sectors, especially in countering their common threats.
The Pakistani official, for his part, highlighted the need for Muslim countries to exercise vigilance against foreign conspiracies hatched to increase rifts among them.
He further emphasized that Islamabad would develop its security and economic cooperation with Tehran.
presstv.com/Detail/2018/01/07/548122/Iran-Ali-Shamkhani-Pakistan
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North America
Canadian Liberal MP Labels Anti-Islamic State Protesters ‘White Supremacists’
7 Jan 2018
An MP of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party slammed protests in his city directed against returning Islamic State fighters, calling the protestors “racists” and “white supremacists.”
Liberal Party MP for St. Catherines Chris Bittle took to Facebook earlier this week to condemn a protest against Islamic State fighters returning from the Middle East to Canada in front of his office.
When white supremacists schedule a protest at your office you know you're doing something right.
8:28 PM - Jan 2, 2018
219 219 Replies 34 34 Retweets 128 128 likes
Twitter Ads info and privacy
For Mr Bittle, the four or so people who carried signs reading “Jail ISIS Fighters” were, in his words, “white supremacists”, using the issue of Islamic State fighters to “promote their hateful, racist views.”
Since making the post Bittle has received over two thousand comments, with many asking Mr Bittle to point out the protesters’ links to white supremacist movements or ideologies. While Bittle did link to an post allegedly made by a person who he claimed led the protest which contained anti-Muslim imagery, many were not satisfied.
When one user asked Bittle to “put Canadians first” and refuse entry for returning Islamic State fighters, Bittle said “returning fighters are Canadians who have not been charged with a crime”. He added that most returnees had come back to Canada under the previous conservative government.
Returning Islamic State fighters have become a major issue in Canada, with many seeing the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau being incredibly weak on the issue.
Many slammed Mr Trudeau when he insisted that returning fighters would be deradicalised with podcasts and poetry, and that many of the returnees would be “an extraordinarily powerful voice for preventing radicalization.”
Justin believes terrorists should keep their Canadian citizenship?! cpcp.cc/EPE-_o #elxn42 #cdnpoli
3:41 AM - Sep 29, 2015
81 81 Replies 189 189 Retweets 129 129 likes
According to official Canadian statistics, around 60 Islamic State fighters have returned to Canada, although the Liberal government refers to them as “extremist travellers.”
One of the biggest critics of Trudeau has been Conservative leader Andrew Scheer, who in November got into a heated exchange in the House of Commons with the Prime Minister, questioning why he is “so focused on reintegration and not putting these people in jail.”
breitbart.com/london/2018/01/07/canadian-liberal-mp-labels-anti-islamic-state-protesters-white-supremacists/
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Wife of Muslim Murderer 'Knew' He Would Attack Pulse Nightclub
BY MICHAEL WALSH JANUARY 6, 2018
This will come as exactly no surprise to anybody who understands Islamic terror. The only issue is why more Americans aren't furious about it -- and don't fully support the president's travel ban from known inimical Muslim political entities.
A handwritten statement given to the FBI by the wife of Pulse nightclub gunman Omar Mateen says she saw him prepare for the deadly attack for months and knew that the LGBT nightclub was his target.
The 12-page statement, quietly released by federal authorities at the end of December in a batch of records in the case, was taken hours after the June 12, 2016 shooting. The attack left 49 dead and dozens of others injured. Noor Salman was questioned for hours, without a lawyer, after authorities learned her husband was the gunman behind the attack.
She was arrested last year on federal charges of providing material support to a terrorist and tampering with evidence but has pleaded not guilty, claiming she was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. She said Mateen abused her and claims she did not know of his plot. But her defense conflicts with the signed statement she gave to the FBI, which details her knowledge of Mateen's planning and his path to carry out an attack on behalf of the Islamic State.
Of course it does. By now, Real Americans have become all to familiar with the Islamic doctrine of taqiyya, which permits Muslims to lie to the kuffar in the furtherance of their "religious" aims. What's interesting is how quickly these imported adversaries adopt the vocabulary of victimhood via "women's rights" and fashionable conditions such as PTSD. And don't forget lawfare:
The statement includes that during a two-year span before the attack. Mateen would browse jihad websites almost everyday and frequently watch beheading videos. He was angry and frustrated about treatment of Muslims in the Middle East and talked about retaliating against Americans. "He said if he did jihad everybody would know who he is," Salman wrote in the statement.
Salman's attorneys have been fighting against the use of the statement in court, claiming that she was in custody and had not been read her Miranda rights, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
The place for Muslims "angry and frustrated" about the treatment of Muslims in the Middle East is... the Middle East, preferably in their own "countries" -- not the United States of America. But the Left, always on the march, has latterly begun to define as a civil right the unfettered movement of millions of Muslims into the U.S., for no good beneficial purpose. Their objective is to use the language of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s to transform "immigration" from a privilege to a universal right, and thus render meaningless our perception of who and what a Real American is.
pjmedia.com/homeland-security/wife-muslim-murderer-knew-attack-pulse-nightclub/
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Russia does not have great deal of influence over Pak: US official
PTI | Jan 7, 2018
WASHINGTON: Amid increased bonhomie between Russia and Pakistan, the White House believes that Moscow does not have a great influence on Islamabad, a senior Trump Administration official has said.
"I don't particularly believe that there is a great deal of influence that Russia is asserting (over Pakistan) even though I do acknowledge they have a better relationship than they had five years ago," a senior administration official has said.
The official was responding to questions on the recent increase in relationship between Russia and Pakistan and how much influence it has over Islamabad.
"But Russia as of now does not have a great deal of influence over Pakistan, with which its ties is relatively new," the official said who on condition of anonymity.
"I think the Russia-Pakistan relationship is still something relatively new," the senior administration official said noting that Pakistan, being an independent country is making its own assessment and doing what it considers is in its own interests.
However, the official said that the Russian thinking that the Taliban can help fight ISIS is a flawed approach.
Most of the US soldiers who perished last year were in operations against ISIS in Afghanistan.
"So we take threat (from ISIS) very seriously. That brings me to Russia. Yes, we see Russia and Pakistan having better relations and they have had in the past. We also see Russia asserting unhelpful propaganda trying to say we created ISIS and support ISIS," the official said.
ISIS is a threat to Pakistan. And we see Pakistan seeking to deal with the ISI threat. This is an area where we would like to cooperate with Pakistan," the official added.
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/russia-does-not-have-great-deal-of-influence-over-pak-us-official/articleshow/62399481.cms
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Pentagon still in touch with Pakistani military: Mattis
Anwar IqbalUpdated January 07, 2018
WASHINGTON: US Defence Secretary James Mattis on Friday said that the Pentagon was maintaining its communication with the Pakistani military establishment, including with Army Chief Gen Qamar JavedBajwa, even after suspending its security assistance to Pakistan.
“I think, yesterday Gen Joseph Votel was on the phone with Gen Bajwa, the chief of the army staff. And we’ll continue to coordinate this,” he said at an afternoon news briefing at the Pentagon.
“Obviously, we’ll continue talking with one another, as we are at all times,” said the US defence chief, but he did not clarify if the conversation took place before or after Washington announced the aid suspension on Thursday.
As commander of the US Central Command, Gen Votel is directly responsible for US war efforts in Afghanistan where Washington still maintains about 14,000 troops and other military assets.
Mr Mattis said the Trump administration considered all possibilities before suspending its military assistance to Pakistan and was not worried about Islamabad shutting off supplies to Afghanistan in retaliation.
“I’m not concerned, no,” he said when asked if the suspension could lead Pakistan to cut off supply lines, adding that he had not received any indication from Islamabad that it might block supply lines.
Trump backs plan to use suspended aid money in US
Mr Mattis said “no” again when asked if he was worried that China would move in to fill the gap created by the absence of US military aid to Pakistan.
Also on Friday, a senior Trump administration official told journalists in Washington that the suspension would cost Pakistan an estimated $2 billion in military funding and equipment during the current and next fiscal years.
Unlike Mr Mattis, the official acknowledged that Islamabad could cut off supply routes to Afghanistan but insisted that “unless we deal with the Pakistan sanctuary issue, it will undermine all of our other efforts in Afghanistan”.
At a third briefing, two US State Department officials said the suspension could affect Foreign Military Financing carried forward from 2016 as well as previous funds not yet been spent or delivered.
US media reports indicated that the suspension could also jeopardise almost $1bn of US military equipment, some of which are already in the pipeline.
But analysts, who spoke to various media outlets, said it’s highly unlikely that the US will freeze all its supplies to Pakistan.
At the State Department briefing, officials indicated that Washington could make “exemptions” for programmes deemed vital to US national security.
At the Pentagon, Secretary Mattis acknowledged Pakistan’s sacrifices in the war against terrorism but said the aid suspension was part of the new US strategy for South Asia.
“Pakistan has lost more troops total than all of NATO, coalition combined in the fight against them. But we’ve had disagreements strong disagreements on some issues, and we’re working those,” he said.
Asked if he believed the civilian government was capable of assisting US counterterrorism efforts in the region, Mr Mattis said: “I would say the Pakistan government is capable of doing what we’re trying to do together, yes. Absolutely.”
Bill to end aid proposed
Meanwhile on Saturday, President Donald Trump posted another tweet on Pakistan, backing a Republican Senator’s plan to fund infrastructure projects with suspended aid to Pakistan.
“Good Idea Rand!” in response to a tweet from Senator Rand Paul about ending aid to Pakistan.
Senator Paul said in his tweet, “I’m introducing a bill to end aid to Pakistan in the coming days. My bill will take the money that would have gone to Pakistan and put it in an infrastructure fund to build roads and bridges here at home.”
“We’ve sent Pakistan $33 billion since 2002. What did we get for it? Well Pakistan didn’t even help us find Bin Laden, even though he was living in one of their cities for years,” he said in a video statement on Twitter.
Mr Paul, who said he has been fighting to end aid to Pakistan for years, called President Trump’s recent proposal to suspend aid “a breakthrough”.
dawn.com/news/1381361/pentagon-still-in-touch-with-pakistani-military-mattis
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South Asia
Osama bin Laden's 12-year-old grandson ‘dies a martyr’, claims al-Qaida
Chris Baynes | The Independent | Updated: Jan 6, 2018
Osama bin Laden's eldest grandson has died, according to a letter written by the boy's father and obtained by terror monitors.
The former al-Qaida leader's son Hamza described Osama bin Hamza bin Laden, thought to have been aged 12, as a "hero cub" and "martyr" but gave no cause of death.
One report, citing jihadi sources, suggested the boy had been killed in an air strike on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border but others said he was more likely to have succumbed to an illness.
The letter, translated into English by al-Qaida propaganda arm the Global Islamic Media Front, was addressed to the bin Laden family. It was posted on Twitter by terrorism cyber-monitor Jihadoscope. "We condole ourselves and you on the martyrdom of our hero cub ... the grandson of our bravery," wrote Hamza bin Laden.
He said his son, named after the former al-Qaida leader, "often acted out the image of his martyrdom, lying on the ground, eyes closed and smiling slightly" as he played with other children. He added the boy had been "sad to a point we did not expect" at the death of his grandfather, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks on New York's World Trade Centre and the world's most wanted terrorist until he was killed by US forces in 2011.
Saudi-owned news channel Al-Arabiya, citing sources familiar with the matter, said the boy's death at some point last year was "most likely due to an illness he caught and not receiving proper medical attention". But Arabic news website Arabi 21 reported claims he had been killed in an air raid on an al-Qaida base.
Last year the boy's father Hamza bin Laden was added to the US counter-terrorism blacklist amid fears he was emerging as the jihadi group's new figurehead. In November he called for jihadis to avenge his father's death with terror attacks targeting the US.
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/osama-bin-ladens-12-year-old-grandson-dies-a-martyr-claims-al-qaida/articleshow/62395990.cms
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17 militants killed, wounded in Uruzgan airstrikes
By KHAAMA PRESS - Sun Jan 07 2018
At least seventeen anti-government armed militants were killed or wounded during the latest airstrikes conducted in southern Uruzgan province of Afghanistan.
The ministry of defense of Afghanistan said the new airstrikes were carried out in the vicinity of Tarinkot city, the provincial capital of Uruzgan.
A statement by MoD said at least ten militants were killed, seven were wounded, and some of their weapons and ammunition were destroyed during the airstrike.
The anti-government armed militant groups including the Taliban insurgents have not commented regarding the report so far.
Uruzgan is among the restive provinces in southern parts of the country where the Taliban insurgents and militants belonging to the other insurgent groups are actively operating in its various districts and often carry out insurgency activities, including coordinated attacks.
At least eight Taliban insurgents were killed in a series of airstrikes carried out on the Taliban hideouts in this province nearly a week ago.
According to the local officials, the airstrikes were carried in the vicinity of Tarinkot city, the provincial capital of Uruzgan during the ongoing counter-terrorism operations.
Uruzgan police chief Abdul Qari Omari confirmed that eight Taliban insurgents were killed in the airstrikes and five others were wounded.
khaama.com/17-militants-killed-wounded-in-uruzgan-airstrikes-04211
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16 Taliban and ISIS militants killed, wounded in Nangarhar operations
By KHAAMA PRESS - Sun Jan 07 2018
At least sixteen Taliban insurgents and ISIS militants were killed or wounded during separate operations in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan.
The 201st Silab Corps of the Afghan army said a militant affiliated with the ISIS terrorist group was killed and another militant was wounded during an airstrike in DehBala district.
The Silab Corps officials the airstrike was carried out by the US forces using the unmanned aerial vehicle.
In the meantime, the provincial government media office in a statement said at least three Taliban insurgents were killed and eleven others were wounded during the clashes in Momand Dara and Ghani districts.
The statement further added that a local commander of the group was also among those wounded and another militant was arrested alive and some weapons were also confiscated.
The anti-government armed militant groups including the Taliban insurgents have not commented regarding the report so far.
Nangarhar is among the relatively calm provinces in East of Afghanistan but the security situation of the province has started to deteriorate during the recent years.
The provincial government media office in a statement said Thursday at least six ISIS militants were killed in an airstrike conducted in Gorgori area of Haka Mina district during the counter-terrorism operations by the ground forces.
The statement further added that airstrikes were also carried out on ISIS training camp in Esta Karan and Gorgori areas, leaving ten ISIS militants as they were receiving training.
According to the governor’s office, airstrikes were also carried out on two ISIS compounds in Shabe area of the district, leaving at least five militants dead.
khaama.com/16-taliban-and-isis-militants-killed-wounded-in-nangarhar-operations-04209
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Afghan deputy governor abducted in Peshawar is released
APJanuary 06, 2018
An Afghan official abducted in Peshawar last October has been freed by his captors and returned home.
Qazi Mohammad Nabi Ahmadi, the deputy governor of Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province, was kidnapped while visiting a doctor in Peshawar, near the border. No one has claimed the kidnapping, and it's unclear who abducted him.
Ahmadi is a member of the Hezb-e-Islami party of GulbuddinHekmatyar, a former warlord who fought in the 1990s civil war and recently made peace with the Kabul government.
Zardasht Shams, Afghanistan's deputy ambassador in Islamabad, said on Saturday that Ahmadi had rejoined his family in Kunar.
He said the official's brother, Habibullah, who was also abducted, remains missing. The family has been approached for ransom, but it's unclear whether any has been paid.
dawn.com/news/1381195/afghan-deputy-governor-abducted-in-peshawar-is-released
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Child abducted for suicide attack brainwashing purposes rescued
By KHAAMA PRESS - Sun Jan 07 2018
The Afghan police forces have rescued a child who was kidnapped from the outskirts of Kabul as the militants were looking to train and brainwash him for a suicide attack.
The local security officials in MaidanWardak province said the 12-year-old boy was rescued during an operation from the vicinity of Jalrez district.
The officials further added that the child was kidnapped few days ago from the vicinity of Company area of Kabul and was shifted to MaidanWardak so that the militants can train him for the future attacks.
The anti-government armed militant groups including the Taliban insurgents have not commented regarding the report so far.
This comes as the Afghan police forces arrested a young boy recruited by the anti-government armed militant groups for a suicide mission.
The provincial government media office in Nangarhar said late in October last year that the 13-year-old boy was arrested from the vicinity of Haska Mina district.
The statement further added that the boy has been identified as Waqat who was arrested during a search operation.
The boy was recruited by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group loyalists, the statement said, adding that the boy is originally a resident of Chaparhar district of Nangarhar.
khaama.com/child-abducted-for-suicide-attack-brainwashing-purposes-rescued-04210
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Ata Mohammad Noor accuses ARG Palace of massive corruption
By KHAAMA PRESS - Sun Jan 07 2018
The chief executive of Jamia-e-Islami Ata Mohammad Noor has accused the ARG Presidential Palace of massive corruption, claiming that millions are being embezzled in large contracts under different pretexts in the office of the president.
Noor made the latest claims during a gathering in northern Balkh province of Afghanistan as a deadlock still persists between him and the government due to the circumstances surrounding his resignation.
He claimed that evidences and documents are available with him to prove that millions have been embezzled in large contracts, specifically pointing towards the fuel contracts for the national defense and security forces.
The ex-governor of Balkh province further added that the contracts are being awarded only to the companies that share interests with the Palace in corruption while the other companies have been blacklisted.
He went on to claim that the national procurement commission has become the epicenter of the corruption which was formed to review the large contracts.
The Afghan government has not formally commented regarding the latest claims of Noor so far.
This comes as a deadlock still persist between Noor and the government over the controversies surrounding his dismissal from the Balkh government.
Noor admitted that he submitted his resignation but he had several demands before stepping down and none of them has been met by the government while his resignation has been approved.
khaama.com/ata-mohammad-noor-accuses-arg-palace-of-massive-corruption-04207
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More than 2,000 Afghans killed in Syria conflict
By KHAAMA PRESS - Sun Jan 07 2018
More than two thousand Afghan nationals fighting in the ranks of the Fatemiyoung brigade in Syria have been killed, it has been reported.
According to a cultural official of Fatemiyoung brigade ZohairMujahid, around eight thousand Afghans have also been wounded in the conflict.
This brigade has given more than 2,000 martyrs and 8,000 wounded for Islam,” he said in an interview with the reformist Shargh newspaper published Saturday.”
The last toll was provided by the veterans organisation in March, which said 2,100 volunteers had died without specifying how many were foreign recruits, according to AFP.
The report by AFP also adds that Tehran offers Iranian citizenship to the families of those foreign fighters “martyred” in the conflicts of Syria and Iraq.
This comes as reports emerged earlier suggesting that the deputy chief executive Haji Mohammad was spotted in a gathering of the Fatemiyoun brigade operating under the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to fight in Syria, a move which has further sparked concerns among the people regarding the fate of the Afghan youths who die and those returning to the country from the Syrian conflict.
Mohaqiq reportedly attended the gathering in Tehran to praise the youths and Fatemiyoun brigade for the turning the conflict in Syria into the favor of the regime in power led by Bashar Al-Assad.
He reportedly hailed the leader of Hezb-e-Ullah Hasan Nasrullha and the commander of the Fatemiyoun brigade for their recent victory in the war.
khaama.com/more-than-2000-afghans-killed-in-syria-conflict-04206
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Southeast Asia
Rohingya insurgents say they have no option but to fight Myanmar
Reuters | Jan 7, 2018
YANGON: Rohingya Muslim insurgents said on Sunday that they have no option to fight what they called Myanmar state-sponsored terrorism to defend the Rohingya community, and they demanded that the Rohingya be consulted on all decisions affecting their future.
The ArakanRohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) launched raids on the Myanmar security forces on August 25, which sparked sweeping counter-insurgency operations in the Muslim-majority north of Rakhine State that led to widespread violence and arson and an exodus of some 650,000 Rohingya villagers to Bangladesh.
The United Nations condemned the Myanmar military campaign as ethnic cleansing. Buddhist-majority Myanmar rejected that.
But since the August raids, the small insurgent group has launched few if any attacks until Friday, when its fighters ambushed a Myanmar military truck, wounding several members of the security forces.
"ARSA has ... no other option but to combat 'Burmese state-sponsored terrorism' against the Rohingya population for the purpose of defending, salvaging and protecting the Rohingya community," the group said in a statement signed by leader Ata Ullah and posted on Twitter.
"Rohingya people must be consulted in all decision-making that affects their humanitarian needs and political future."
The ARSA claimed responsibility for the Friday ambush but gave no details of the clash.
A Myanmar government spokesman declined to make any immediate comment saying he had yet to read the statement. A military spokesman declined to make any immediate comment about the security situation in the north of Rakhine State.
The area is largely off-limits to reporters.
Authorities have previously said attacks by the insurgents would be met with force and they ruled out any negotiations with "terrorists".
The ARSA dismisses any links to Islamist militant groups and says it is fighting to end the oppression of the Rohingya people.
Rohingya have been denied citizenship, freedom of movement and access to services such as healthcare. Myanmar regards them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.
Serious communal violence between Rohingya and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists erupted in 2012 and sporadic unrest followed.
The violence that began in August and the refugee crisis it caused has drawn international condemnation and raised doubts about Myanmar's transition to democracy after nearly 50 years of military rule.
ARSA did not say where leader Ata Ullah was but Myanmar suspects the insurgents flee into Bangladesh then slip back into Myanmar to launch attacks.
Myanmar and Bangladesh have been discussing a plan to repatriate the refugees but more insecurity in Myanmar is likely to raise even more doubts about how quickly that might happen.
The refugees complain that they have not been consulted about their repatriation.
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/rohingya-insurgents-say-they-have-no-option-but-to-fight-myanmar/articleshow/62399915.cms
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Jewish groups urge Senate panel to advance bill targeting Burma for persecution of Muslims
January 7, 2018 7:08am
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Twenty-four Jewish groups encompassing all major religious streams urged a Senate panel to advance a bill that would penalize Burma for its treatment of its Rohingya Muslim minority.
“Passing this legislation through your committee and the full Senate would send a powerful message to the Burmese military and the global community that the United States will not be silent or inactive in the face of mass atrocities,” said the letter sent Friday to Sens. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and Ben Cardin, D-Md., respectively the top Republican and Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee.
Among those signing were Reform, Conservative, Orthodox and Reconstructionist umbrella bodies as well as major civil rights groups including the American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League. Also signing was the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the consensus-driven umbrella for Jewish public policy groups.
The bill, as described in the letter, “would mandate targeted U.S. sanctions to help end the Burmese military’s atrocities against the Rohingya people, provide refugee assistance for the Rohingya, and establish a mechanism to address accountability around crimes committed against the Rohingya and other ethnic minorities in Burma.”
Cardin, who is Jewish, has told reporters in recent days that he believes the bill will advance soon.
“We cannot remain silent as Jews, for whom the words ‘never again’ require us to act, nor as global citizens, in the face of senseless acts of brutality,” the letter says.
Burma, also known as Myanmar, has been accused of ethnically cleansing Rohingya from its country. The hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fleeing the country since August is believed to be the world’s fastest-growing refugee crisis. Burma, a Buddhist majority country, says it is only targeting militants.
Israeli human rights groups have sued to stop Israel from selling arms to Burma.
jta.org/2018/01/07/news-opinion/united-states/jewish-groups-urge-senate-panel-to-advance-bill-targeting-burma-for-persecution-of-muslims
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9 Islamist extremists, 1 soldier killed in Maguindanaoencounter 0
BY THE MANILA TIMES ON JANUARY 7, 2018
TEN people were killed in an encounter on Saturday night between members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and government troops who were conducting security operations in Maguindanao, the military said on Sunday.
Capt. Arvin Encinas, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division (ID), said five of the nine BIFF men killed were based on body count while the remaining four were culled from intelligence reports.
Encinas said an unidentified soldier was also killed while another was wounded in the gunbattle at Barangay Maitumaig, Datu Unsay.
He said the BIFF group encountered by the 64th Division Reconnaisance Company was under the faction of Imam Karialan who had about 50 members.
The firefight happened at about 7:23 p.m. on Saturday and lasted until midnight when military units also launched air and artillery fire missions in support of the troops who were fighting the Islamist extremists.
“We cannot determine if Karialan was there during the encounter but he released a statement confirming that his men were the ones who engaged our troopers,” Encinas said.
“We have ongoing pursuit operations in the area of the encounter,” he added.
Encinas also said that the scene of the battle was in an unpopulated area of Maitumaig village. DEMPSEY REYES
manilatimes.net/9-islamist-extremists-1-soldier-killed-maguindanao-encounter/372874/
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Africa
Nigerian president murdered a saint 'Sheikh Mahmoud Turi'
January 7, 2018
One of the leading lights of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria and a close confident of Sheikh IbraheemZakzaky was Sheikh Mahmoud Turi. The commander that led the Gelleysu massacre screamed to his sniper that “that is Turi Shot him”. And they shot him in his heart.
(AhlulBayt News Agency) - One of the objectives of the brutal and inhuman Zaria Genocide by the wicked mass murderer tyrant Buhari was to kill His Eminence Sheikh IbraheemZakzaky and other leading lights of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria.
One of the leading lights of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria and a close confident of Sheikh IbraheemZakzaky was Sheikh Mahmoud Turi. The commander that led the Gelleysu massacre screamed to his sniper that “that is Turi Shot him”. And they shot him in his heart.
Buhari’s army specifically targeted Sheikh Mahmoud Turi at the residence of Sheikh Zakzaky during Zaria Genocide and assassinated him. They brutally murdered a Man of God. They murdered a Saint who fasted in day time and stand in prayers at night.
It is a great honor to me to be counted as his student. In late 80s when Sheikh Zakzaky was imprisoned in River State, Sheikh Mahmoud Turi based in Kaduna taught us great things. He groomed and updated us intellectually, spiritual discipline and character development.
I remained eternally grateful to this Great man. God bless him! Today I met the eldest daughter, Sister Fatima Ameera, of Sheikh Turi, a PhD student in Tehran University, Iran. Daughter of a Great Martyr to the cause of truth, justice and righteousness.
en.abna24.com/news/report/nigerian-president-murdered-a-saint-sheikh-mahmoud-turi_876179.html
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Clashes in Cairo after detainee dies at police station
AFP | Jan 6, 2018
CAIRO: Clashes erupted between Egyptian protesters and policemen today outside a Cairo police station over the death of a young man in custody, security sources said.
The protesters torched 10 cars including three police vehicles, they said.
Nine people were injured and 40 people arrested in the overnight clashes in Cairo's Moqattam district which saw some protesters throw petrol bombs as police responded with tear gas and birdshot, they said.
The security sources said a young man nicknamed Afroto, who was arrested on Friday for alleged drug trafficking, died after a violent brawl with other detainees.
But protesters accused the police of being responsible for his death. They set fire to tyres and cars near the police station, leading the fire brigade to intervene.
Calm returned to Moqattam later in the morning after Cairo's security chief pledged a probe into the detainee's death, promising not to obscure any police involvement.
The prosecutor examined the body and ordered an autopsy.
Egypt has tried and sentenced several policemen for violent deaths in detention in recent years.
Rights groups have repeatedly denounced alleged torture and deaths in detention.
Egypt's interior ministry has said it does not condone torture but said there have been "individual" cases of abuses.
Police abuses fuelled a 2011 uprising that toppled veteran dictator Hosni Mubarak and ushered in years of political instability.
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/clashes-in-cairo-after-detainee-dies-at-police-station/articleshow/62394525.cms
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Nigerian Army: 1,050 Boko Haram Militants Surrender
TEHRAN (FNA)- The Nigerian Army announced on Saturday 1,050 insurgents surrendered to troops in Lake Chad and Monguno general area of operations.
The army also said many insurgents were on the run, and warned communities to watch out for the fleeing Boko Haram militants as their enclaves in Lake Chad region came under intense onslaught, Africa News reported.
OnyemaNwachukwu, a colonel, said 250 fighters of the Al Barnawi-led faction of the insurgents had surrendered to Nigerian Army, following artillery and aerial bombardments by troops of Operation Lafiya Dole of their enclaves in Lake Chad basin.
He added that 700 insurgents also surrendered to troops at Monguno in an ongoing clearance operation.
Nwachukwu stressed that MammanNur, a factional leader of the insurgents, sustained fatal injuries while one of his wives was killed in the operation.
He called on the insurgents to surrender, underlining that the Federal Government had provided a window through the Operation Safe Corridor to encourage the insurgents' voluntary surrender.
"We call on Boko Haram insurgents to abandon the futile struggle; take advantage of the Safe Corridor programme and surrender to troops in any location nearest to them," he said, adding that "We guarantee their safety and incorporation into the programme for de-radicalisation and rehabilitation."
The situation in Nigeria remains unstable due to the activities of the militant group Boko Haram, which has caused mayhem in the African country through dozens of bombings, armed attacks and abductions.
Boko Haram has been blamed for more than 20,000 deaths during its eight-year insurgency, which has spilled over into neighbouring countries and created a vast humanitarian crisis with millions displaced and hungry.
Thousands have been killed and hundreds of thousands have been displaced as a result of eight years of Boko Haram militancy, which has also affected Nigeria’s neighbors, including Niger, Cameroon, and Chad.
Boko Haram gained international notoriety after its fighters kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls in the town of Chibok, while about 100 girls are still missing.
President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has claimed the group has technically been defeated as a result of a massive operation that began in early 2015, but the latest attacks shows the group’s continued ability to stage hit-and-run raids.
However, civilians and security forces in Northern Nigeria are still targeted in sporadic attacks, while the government warned that the group can still attack civilians at soft targets such as mosques, markets, and camps for displaced people.
en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13961017001364
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/those-funding-hafiz-saeed-azhar/d/113843