New Age Islam
News Bureau
09 September
2020
Asif Pervaiz in Lahore court
along with Sajid Christopher (right), lawyer Saif Ul Malook (black jacket) and
a police officer.
-----
• Taliban Name
Mawlavi Abdul Hakim, A Hardline Insurgent Cleric as Chief Negotiator for Afghan
Peace Talks
• Alongside
Mosque in Ayodhya, A 200-Bed Multi-Specialty Hospital With World Class
Facilities
• Stop Buckling
to Vernacular Schools and Islamisation, Putrajaya Urged
• Iranian People
Hold Rallies against Sacrilege of Holy Quran, Islam Prophet
• At Least 37 Million
Displaced by US’s So-Called War on Terror: Study
• UK Launches
Review into Terrorism Reinsurance Fund
• Fears of ISIS
Resurgence as Syria Attacks Escalate
Pakistan
• Pakistani
Christian, Asif Pervaiz, Sentenced to Death for Insulting Prophet Muhammad
• Pakistan to
hold National Assembly, Senate sessions next week to get FATF bills passed
• Country
heading towards anarchy, says Ahsan Iqbal
• Pakistan
lawmaker warns of nuclear war over Kashmir
--------
South Asia
• Taliban Name
Mawlavi Abdul Hakim, A Hardline Insurgent Cleric as Chief Negotiator for Afghan
Peace Talks
• Two Myanmar
soldiers at ICC after confessing to Rohingya killings: Reports
• ‘Spoilers'
could thwart Afghan peace efforts: experts
• US envoy meets
Baradar, Haqqani ahead of peace talks
• Afghan
Assassination Bid: Vice President Survives Attack Which Kills, Wounds 2 Dozen
--------
India
• Alongside
Mosque in Ayodhya, A 200-Bed Multi-Specialty Hospital With World Class
Facilities
• Jaishankar
expresses condolence for victims of Baitus Saldam mosque gas explosion
• Terrorists
hurl grenade at security forces' camp in J&K's Pulwama, no damage caused
--------
Southeast Asia
• Stop Buckling
to Vernacular Schools and Islamisation, Putrajaya Urged
• Lack of Local
Media Coverage on China Defence Minister’s Visit to Malaysia Puzzling, Says
Chin Tong
• Muhyiddin in,
Mazlan Bujang out as Johor Bersatu chief
• Dr M publishes
proposed no-confidence motion against Muhyiddin
• Najib not
remorseful after court found him guilty of corruption, says judge
• Indonesia to
launch certified program for preachers
• UN welcomes
Indonesia’s acceptance of Rohingya refugees
--------
Mideast
• Iranian People
Hold Rallies against Sacrilege of Holy Quran, Islam Prophet
• Palestinian
President bans offensive statements towards Arab leaders including UAE
• Emirati
official: Even war on Gaza won’t affect deal with Israel
• Hamas, PLO
criticize GCC demand for apology over denouncing UAE-Israel
• EU expresses
concern about Israeli demolitions in West Bank, al-Quds
--------
North America
• At Least 37
Million Displaced by US’s So-Called War on Terror: Study
• US President
Trump to Host Israel-UAE Deal Signing Ceremony on Sept 15
• Alleged
Boogaloo members face terrorism charges in Minnesota
--------
Europe
• UK Launches
Review into Terrorism Reinsurance Fund
• Manchester
bomber was seen 'praying' at venue before attack
• Charlie Hebdo,
market attacks turned widow into fugitive
• Russia offers
to mediate between Cyprus, Turkey in maritime dispute
• UK Supreme
Court to hear jihadist bride's citizenship case in November
• Portuguese
alleged ISIS supporters have 'link' to kidnapped British photographer
--------
Arab World
• Fears of ISIS
Resurgence as Syria Attacks Escalate
• Charity
Founded by Syrian Tycoon Rami Makhlouf Has Facebook Page Removed
• First official
Israeli trade delegation visits UAE with CEO of Israel’s biggest bank
• Lebanon,
Israel getting closer to negotiating disputed borders: US official
• Saudi crown
prince’s Misk Foundation under review amid espionage scandals: Report
--------
Africa
• ISIL Claims
Responsibility for Deadly Tunisia Knife Attack
• Truck Bomb in
Somalia Kills 3 and Wounds 3, Including a U.S. Soldier
• About 10
Malian soldiers killed in militant attack, army says
Compiled by New
Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/pakistani-christian-asif-pervaiz-sentenced/d/122821
--------
Pakistani Christian, Asif Pervaiz, Sentenced to Death for Insulting Prophet Muhammad
Sep 8, 2020
Asif Pervaiz in Lahore court
along with Sajid Christopher (right), lawyer Saif Ul Malook (black jacket) and
a police officer.
-----
ISLAMABAD: A Lahore-based court on Tuesday sentenced a Christian man to death for having committed “blasphemy”, under the strict Pakistani anti-minorities religious laws.
Asif Pervaiz,
37, has been in custody since 2013, when he was charged with sending
blasphemous text messages to his former supervisor at work, his lawyer
Saif-ul-Malook said.
The trial court
rejected his testimony in which Pervaiz rebuffed the charges against him and
sentenced him to death.
Malook said the
complainant, one Muhammad Saeed Khokhar, is a supervisor in a hosiery factory
where Pervaiz worked under him.
“The court
convicted Pervaiz even though there was no evidence to implicate him in the
case,” Malook said.
“He denied the
allegations and said that this man (the complainant) was trying to get him to
convert to Islam,” the counsel added.
Speaking in his
own defence in court earlier in the trial, Pervaiz claimed the supervisor
confronted him after he left work at the factory, and when he refused to
convert to Islam, he was accused of having sent blasphemous text messages to
the man.
Ghulam Mustafa
Chaudhry, Khokhar’s lawyer, refuted the statement made by Pervaiz.
“He (Pervaiz) is
making this claim of conversion because he has nothing in his defence,”
Chaudhry said.
Last month, an
Ahmadiyya man was shot dead inside a courtroom in Peshawar in the northwest by
a youth over blasphemy allegations that the accused had been facing for two
years.
It was followed
by the killing of a colleague by a private security guard over an argument
about religion. In December last year, a court in Multan sentenced blasphemy
accused Junaid Hafeez, a Fulbright scholar, who has been in prison for more
than six years, to death.
At least 42
blasphemy-related cases were registered across Pakistan in the last month.
Most of those
accused of blasphemy belong to the Shia Muslim sect, who have been booked under
Sections 295-A and 298 of the Pakistan Penal Code for allegedly insulting the
companions of Prophet Muhammad.
Similarly,
members of the Ahmadiyya and Christian communities are also among the people
accused of blasphemy.
Amid a rise in
such cases, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said it was gravely
concerned at the recent surge in blasphemy cases against the minorities.
According to the
US Commission on International Religious Freedom, up to 80 people are known to
be imprisoned in Pakistan on blasphemy charges, with half of them facing life
in prison or the death penalty.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/pakistan-court-sentences-christian-man-to-death-for-blasphemous-texts/articleshow/78003437.cms
--------
Taliban Name
Mawlavi Abdul Hakim, A Hardline Insurgent Cleric as Chief Negotiator for Afghan
Peace Talks
By Ayaz Gul
September 05,
2020
FILE - Mullah Abdul Ghani
Baradar, the Taliban group's top political leader, arrives with other members
of a delegation for talks in Moscow, May 28, 2019. The top Taliban negotiator
says a negotiating team has been finalized for intra-Afghan negociations.
----
ISLAMABAD -
Afghanistan’s warring factions are set to begin their first direct peace talks
early next week in Qatar amid U.S.-led international calls for them to seize
the “historic opportunity” to end the country’s long war.
The
U.S.-brokered dialogue, known as intra-Afghan negotiations, will bring to the
table in Doha representatives of the Afghan state and the Taliban insurgency,
which runs its political office in the capital of the Gulf nation.
The Taliban
announced on Saturday the names of their 21-member negotiating team, led by
Mawlavi Abdul Hakim, a hardline insurgent cleric and a close confidant of the
Taliban’s reclusive chief, Hibatullah Akhundzada. Hakim has been heading the
Islamist group’s own judicial system enforced in Taliban-held Afghan areas.
“We have formed
a strong and inclusive team for intra-Afghan negotiations. It mostly comprises
members of the Rehbari Shoura [Taliban leadership council], and the Islamic
Emirate’s [Taliban] chief justice has been appointed as the team leader,”
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told VOA.
Officials said
the negotiating teams would try to agree on a permanent cease-fire and a
political power-sharing arrangement to govern Afghanistan.
The peace
process stems from a February agreement Washington sealed with the Taliban to
extricate American troops from the country and close the longest U.S. war. The
landmark accord was negotiated and signed in Doha on February 29.
Afghan Minister
of Economy Mustafa Mastoor told an online forum Saturday evening that Kabul’s
negotiating team was “fully ready” to depart to Doha “most probably tomorrow
[Sunday].”
Cease-fire
An insurgent
cease-fire is a priority for Kabul, but it may not come up in the inaugural
interaction with the Taliban, the minister told the forum organized by the
Pakistan-based Jinnah Institute think tank.
"The first
meeting definitely is to break the ice and just to meet each other and then
start with the easier issues and going towards the difficult ones,” Mastoor
said.
Stefano
Pontecorvo, NATO’s civilian representative to Afghanistan, in his address to
the forum cautioned that the dialogue would not be easy and that both sides
would need to show “flexibility, good faith and determination” to end the
deadly conflict.
"First and
foremost, a significant reduction in violence must top the negotiation agenda
to give people confidence in the process and its outcome. Popular support is
essential for a durable outcome,” Pontecorvo said.
“This moment for
peace is unique, and the stakes are high. The Afghan people and the world are
watching. They will not forget or forgive whoever loses this occasion,” the
NATO envoy warned.
'Political
disunity'
Pontecorvo noted
with concern that political differences among leaders in Kabul could undermine
the work of the state negotiating team.
"There is
no doubt whatsoever that the perceived political disunity of Afghan leadership
is a concern for all of us, for NATO and for the international community, as it
also impacts on the cohesiveness of the team,” he said.
Meanwhile, U.S.
peace envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad, who signed the deal with the
Taliban, was traveling to Doha to advance ongoing efforts to promote the
immediate start of the negotiations.
“The Afghan
people are ready for a sustainable reduction in violence and a political
settlement that will end the war. Afghan leaders must seize this historic
opportunity for peace. … Now is the time to start,” said a pre-visit State
Department announcement.
Began after 9/11
The war in
Afghanistan began with the U.S.-led military invasion of the country to punish
and remove the Taliban from power days after the September 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks on America that al-Qaida leaders plotted from sanctuaries in
Afghanistan.
Since then, more
than 150,000 people, including Afghan civilians and local as well as foreign
military troops, are estimated to have been killed and millions left homeless
in the poverty-stricken country.
The U.S.-Taliban
deal requires Washington to withdraw all American and allied troops from
Afghanistan by July 2021 in return for insurgent counterterrorism assurances.
The Taliban have also pledged to seek political reconciliation with other
Afghan factions to end decades of hostilities in the country.
The U.S. has
reduced the number of its troops in the country from around 13,000 to 8,600
since signing the deal with the Taliban. President Donald Trump said last month
that the number of troops would be reduced to between “4,000 and 5,000" by
the November U.S. Election Day.
The intra-Afghan
talks were originally scheduled for March 10, but months of delays over a
prisoner swap between the Taliban and the Kabul government, as stipulated in
the deal, hampered U.S. diplomatic efforts to kick-start the dialogue.
https://www.voanews.com/south-central-asia/taliban-name-cleric-chief-negotiator-afghan-peace-talks?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1504744_
--------
Alongside Mosque
In Ayodhya, A 200-Bed Multi-Specialty Hospital With World Class Facilities
Sep 09, 2020
The hospital
that would come up on the 5-acre land in Dhannipur village in Ayodhya along
with the mosque would be a multi-specialty 200-bed hospital with world class
facilities, the Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation (IICF) said.
IICF is the
trust set up by the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board (UPSCWB) for the
construction of the mosque at Ayodhya on the land allotted by the UP government
in compliance with the Supreme Court order.
The hospital
will be part of Indo-Islamic Centre Complex in Ayodhya village that will also
include a community kitchen and an Indo-Islamic Research Centre. The research
centre will have a museum and a library too.
IICF spokesman
Athar Hussain said the maximum area of land would be allocated to the hospital,
which will also be the largest public utility establishment at the Indo-Islamic
complex. The name of the hospital, whose construction is expected to start in
next couple of months, is yet to be finalised.
“We plan to
develop a multi-specialty hospital that would be equipped with the state of the
art facilities. The entire hospital would be established in two phases. In the
first phase, the arrangement for 100 beds would be made at the hospital while
in the second phase 100 more beds would be added to it,” Hussain said.
IICF office
bearers said the hospital would offer best treatment in cancer care,
transplants, spine, heart, robotics, orthopaedics, emergency and others.
Officials said that hospital would help in serving the society and play a major
role in bridging gap between the communities.
On September 1,
the trust had appointed a Lucknow- based architect-cum-town planner and a
founder of dean faculty of Architecture Jamia Milia University, Delhi to design
the mosque that would come up in Dhannipur village, Ayodhya in place of the
Babri Masjid. The trust has also appointed noted Indian academician and food
critic Pushpesh Pant as consultant curator for the food archive a - section of
the museum that would be a part of the Indo Islamic Centre Complex
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/alongside-dhannipur-mosque-in-ayodhya-a-200-bed-multi-specialty-hospital/story-9ghYXb0Ew9DlBT23My2B5I.html
--------
Stop buckling to
vernacular schools and Islamisation, Putrajaya urged
Minderjeet Kaur
September 8,
2020
PETALING JAYA:
Federal officials in Putrajaya have been urged to tackle head-on the
“arrogance” of vernacular schools and also stop the “Islamisation” of national
schools as a measure to instill unity within young people.
Universiti
Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) professor Teo Kok Seong, an expert in
ethnolinguistics, said vernacular schools were an obstacle to national unity as
the majority of children enrolled there were only proficient in their mother
tongue.
“The trend is
that only the smart ones know Malay and English. The others can only speak
their mother tongue,” he told FMT.
Teo, who was
formerly on the National Education Blueprint committee, recalled that the
government in the past had tried to standardise the Malay syllabus by lowering
the standard of the Malay language in national schools.
This was done so
that it could meet “halfway” with the quality of the Malay syllabus in
vernacular schools but Chinese education groups had refused to budge, he said.
“The Chinese
group leaders said that this will erode the identity of Chinese schools,” he
said.
The government
had also tried to encourage vernacular schools to have more Malay language
lessons, to ensure that the Chinese school students had more exposure to the
national language. But again the Chinese educationists wanted Malay to be
taught through translation, he said.
“They wanted
Mandarin teachers to teach Malay by translating Malay into Mandarin. It is
almost like teaching Japanese to foreign students through translation,” he
said.
Some Form 1 and
Form 2 students (who had come from vernacular schools) dropped out as they were
unable to cope with the Malay subjects in secondary schools.
Recently, Deputy
Youth and Sports Minister Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal had said that the
PPBM Youth wing continues to support the abolition of vernacular schools in the
country. He said vernacular schools have not produced students who possess a
“strong national identity”.
Government
‘giving in to Islam-based NGOs’
Teo said the
government had also been giving in to Islam-based NGOs, causing national
schools to look more like religious schools, prompting more parents to send
their children to vernacular and private schools.
He said the
issue has reached a point where the government is unable to carry out any
reforms for fear of backlash from society.
However, the
government must stop giving in to such NGOs. “The politicians need to directly
tackle the vernacular and national school issues. They need to seriously think
of the next generation and not just the next elections,” he added.
Teo suggested
that government officials must first admit that there are problems within both
vernacular and national schools and “talk about the unpleasant things.”
“They need to
tackle the problem head on. Whether the issue is sensitive or not, they need to
do something because our education system is hurting society,” he said.
Teo also said
the government needs to review the quality of teachers and education so that
national schools will become the place for all parents to have their children
educated.
Deep reforms
needed in national schools
Lim Teck Ghee, a
former World Bank senior social scientist, said national schools have been
slowly becoming more Islamic in character.
“That has been
the trend for more than a few years now. It partly accounts for why not only
non-Malay but also many Malay parents are sending their children to vernacular
schools,” he told FMT, adding that this trend is likely to continue.
Due to that, he
said it will be difficult for national schools to attract non-Malay school kids
without deep reform.
The deep reforms
should include higher standards of education, less emphasis on religion and
language, a multiracial staff, and nurturing a genuinely multiracial
environment.
“Unfortunately
this is not likely to happen so the exodus of non-Malay and more affluent Malay
kids from national schools will continue,” Lim said.
He added it is a
few politicians who are creating disunity by using the vernacular schools as
the scapegoat for the nation’s racial and religious problem.
Six years ago,
Lim said in the Dewan Rakyat, Muhyiddin Yassin, who was then the education
minister, stated that “the status of vernacular education in the country is
written in “black and white” in the National Education Blueprint and is a fact
that has to be accepted.
He also stated
that “the government is firm on its stand that vernacular schools are part of
the nation’s legacy and forms part of the nation’s education landscape”.
“Let’s leave
vernacular schools alone and concentrate on improving the learning and teaching
standard of all schools in the national system,” he said.
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2020/09/08/stop-buckling-to-vernacular-schools-and-islamisation-putrajaya-urged/
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Iranian People
Hold Rallies against Sacrilege of Holy Quran, Islam Prophet
Sep 08, 2020
The protestors
deplored the French government for supporting the blasphemous acts against the
sanctities of Muslims, chanted slogans against Macron who supported them under
the pretext of advocacy for freedom of expression.
The slogans
chanted by the protestors underlined that sacrilege of the holy Quran and
Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) indicates the arrogant governments’ weakness and such
acts will backfire on them.
In relevant
remarks on Monday, Iran’s Judiciary Chief Seyed Ebrahim Rayeesi deplored the
recent insulting moves against the Holy Quran and Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), and
warned of the West and Israel’s plots to undermine Islam’s power and might in
the world.
Rayeesi made the
remarks, addressing the Judiciary officials in Tehran.
He expressed
regret and condemned sacrilege of Islamic sanctities in certain European states
concurrent with the UAE’s normalization of ties with Israel, and said, “They
are part of a precise scenario compiled in a thinking chamber."
Rayeesi warned
that the West and Israel want to damage Islam’s power and might in the world,
saying that such devilish acts will instead increase public hate for their
plotters.
He said that
sacrilege of the holy Quran is insult to all divine books and blasphemy against
Islam’s Prophet (PBUH) is insult to all prophets (PBUH) and mankind.
During an
illegal gathering on August 28, supporters of right-wing Danish politician
Rasmus Paludan, who leads the anti-Islamic group, Tight Direction (Stram Kurs),
burned a copy of Holy Qur’an in the Southern Swedish city of Malmo.
Also, on
September 1, the ill-reputed French Magazine Charlie Hebdo also republished
blasphemous cartoons of the Prophet of Islam on the eve of the trial of
suspects in a deadly attack on the paper’s office five years ago.
Iranian Foreign
Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh strongly condemned the insult to Prophet
Mohammad (PBUH) by the ill-reputed French Magazine Charlie Hebdo, stressing
that the move has injured the feelings of all Muslims in the world.
https://en.farsnews.ir/newstext.aspx?nn=13990618000269
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At least 37
million displaced by US’s so-called war on terror: Study
08 September
2020
A new report has
revealed that at least 37 million people have been displaced as a result of the
wars waged by the United States across the world on the pretext of countering
terrorism since the September 11, 2001 attacks.
The report,
titled Costs of War, was published by the United States’ Brown University on
Tuesday, weeks before the country enters its 20th year of waging wars around
the world that began with the invasion of Afghanistan on October 7, 2001.
“Using the best
available international data, this report conservatively estimates that at
least 37 million people have fled their homes in the eight most violent wars
the US military has launched or participated in since 2001,” Brown University
said of the report’s findings.
The university
said that the number was of people, mostly civilians, displaced in and from
Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, the Philippines, Libya, and Syria,
where fighting has been the most significant.
It stressed that
the figure was a “conservative estimate” and the real number might range
between 48 million and 59 million.
The authors of
the report said the figure did not include the millions of other people who
have been displaced in countries witnessing smaller US operations, including
those in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, and Niger.
“This has been
one of the major forms of damage, of course along with the deaths and injuries,
that have been caused by these wars,” said David Vine, a professor of
anthropology at American University and the lead author of the report.
“It tells us
that US involvement in these countries has been horrifically catastrophic,
horrifically damaging in ways that I don’t think that most people in the United
States, in many ways myself included, have grappled with or reckoned with in
even the slightest terms.”
The Brown
University said the figures were obtained from the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which has compiled data on forced
displacement worldwide since 1951.
The September
11, 2001 attacks, or the 9/11 attacks, were a series of strikes in the US that
killed nearly 3,000 people and caused about $10 billion worth of property and
infrastructure damage.
US officials
said the attacks were carried out by 19 al-Qaeda terrorists, 15 of them being
Saudi Arabian officials.
The official
account of the attacks, however, have been questioned by some.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/09/08/633633/US-war-on-terror-displaced-Brown-University-
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UK launches
review into terrorism reinsurance fund
SEPTEMBER 3,
2020
LONDON (Reuters)
- Britain’s finance ministry has launched a review of terrorism reinsurer Pool
Re, which helps insurers pay out claims on property damage caused by terror or
militant attacks.
The Treasury
said its latest five-yearly review was designed to ensure the UK’s terrorism
reinsurance market worked effectively and in the public interest.
It will consider
whether the level of risk sharing between the state and private firms is
appropriate and whether its rules should be updated, given ongoing growth of
the terrorism reinsurrance market, the ministry said.
The reinsurance
fund, set up in 1993, acts as a backstop to insurers paying out claims on
property damage and business interruption.
It is financed
by the insurance industry with government backing, and pay outs depend on the
British government deeming an attack to be terror-related.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-reinsurance-terrorism/uk-launches-review-into-terrorism-reinsurance-fund-idUSKBN25U0X6?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1504744_
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Fears of ISIS
resurgence as Syria attacks escalate
Nicky Harley
September 3,
2020
ISIS attacks
escalated significantly in August when more than 35 assaults left at least 76
pro-Assad fighters dead in Syria, marking the largest number of killings since
2017.
According to a
new report by the Counter Extremism Project, Homs saw the greatest number of
documented attacks with 12, while 10 assaults were reported in Deir EZ Zor,
followed by Raqqa with nine.
Experts
monitoring the situation have warned the increase in attacks shows the group
has now redeveloped a “robust logistical and strategic capability”.
“In August, ISIS
militants carried out at least 35 attacks, killing at least 76 pro-Assad regime
fighters in the Homs, Deir EZ Zor, Raqqa, Hama, and Aleppo governorates,”
research analyst Gregory Waters, of the Counter Extremism Project, said.
“These attacks
constitute a major escalation in ISIS’s insurgency. The overall number of
attacks, high-quality attacks and reported pro-government deaths exceeded those
from any month since ISIS lost control of this region in 2017.
“The more than
two-fold increase in attacks compared with previous months in Raqqa is
overshadowed only by the more than three-fold increase in attacks in Deir EZ
Zor.”
The Counter
Extremism Project has been conducting monthly chronicles online in its ISIS
Redux: The Central Syria Insurgency on the number of attacks by the terror
group in central Syria.
Mr Waters said
for eight days straight in August the militant group carried out at least two
attacks daily.
“The rate of
documented attacks in August is unmatched since 2018,” he said.
“ISIS’s ability
to carry out such frequent same-day attacks implies that the group has
developed a robust logistical and strategic capability.”
In July the
militants had been responsible for 23 attacks, killing at least 29 pro-regime
fighters in Homs, Deir EZ Zor, Raqqa, Hama and Aleppo.
“July marked the
third month in a row that ISIS carried out at least one high-quality attack in
all four provinces in which it is active,” Mr Waters said.
“More
significantly, July marked the first month of sustained ISIS activity in
regime-held Aleppo province since the terrorist group was expelled in 2017.”
The figures for
June saw 14 attacks carried out, killing 26 fighters and represented a
“continued geographic expansion of ISIS attacks”, Mr Waters added.
Mr Waters said
August’s targeting of Deir EZ Zor, focused primarily in the western urban belt
stretching from Deir EZ Zor city along the Euphrates to Ma’adan, marks a new
expansion of ISIS activity.
Where the ISIS
attacks are coming from
The attacks,
which are believed to be from cells originating in Jebal Bishri to the west and
Raqqa to the north, culminated in an ambush on August 27 that killed 30
pro-regime National Defence Fighters (NDF), along with the NDF sector commander
for western Deir EZ Zor.
“Most of the men
killed, including the commander, hailed from the local Busaraya tribe,” Mr
Waters said.
“The massacre
triggered a massive mobilisation of members from the pro-regime Liwa al-Quds,
Qaterji Forces and NDF deploying to the region to conduct their own anti-ISIS
operations in lieu of what one tribal fighter told this author was an
abandonment by the Syrian army.
“The tribal
response triggered by the massacre will most likely push ISIS cells back on to
Jebal Bishri where they will hunker down and wait out the operation,” he said.
Their operation,
which is currently ongoing, has led to the deaths of two ISIS fighters to date.
Mr Waters has
also warned that ISIS’s raid on the T4 pumping station in Homs shows ISIS
fighters still have “considerable freedom of movement close to major regime
strategic points”.
He believes this
month Raqqa, west Deir EZ Zor, and west Mayadeen will continue to be the main
targets for attacks.
“While it is
unlikely that September will see the same growth or severity of attacks as in
August, this month’s trends will likely continue – that is, Raqqa, west Deir EZ
Zor and west Mayadeen will continue to be the hotspots for the near future,” he
added.
“In Homs, ISIS
will continue its strategy of exerting pressure around the city of Sukhnah, no
doubt seeking some opportunity to raid the city’s warehouses, while sending out
groups to attack regime positions further west, similar to the T4 attack.
“East Hama and
south-east Aleppo both experienced a decrease in ISIS attacks in August,
partially owing to the formation of local defence militias. ISIS will want to
renew its activity in these areas and may take the opportunity to do so while
pro-regime forces are so heavily focused on western Deir EZ Zor.”
https://www.thenational.ae/world/fears-of-isis-resurgence-as-syria-attacks-escalate-1.1072528?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1504744_
--------
Pakistan
Pakistan to hold
National Assembly, Senate sessions next week to get FATF bills passed
Sep 8, 2020
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan government has decided to hold a new session of the National Assembly
and the Senate on September 14 and 15 respectively to pass important bills,
including one related money laundering and terrorist financing, which was
earlier rejected by the upper house of Parliament.
The decision to
call the fresh sessions was taken during a meeting between Prime Minister Imran
Khan and his adviser on parliamentary affairs Babar Awan on Monday, according
to a media report.
Awan called on
the prime minister following the postponement of the Senate and National
Assembly (NA) sessions scheduled for Monday.
According to a
press release, various matters of importance came for discussion during the
meeting.
It has been
decided that the fresh session of the National Assembly will be held on
September 14 and that of the Senate on September 15, Awan told Dawn newspaper.
He said the
FATF-related money laundering and terrorist financial bill and other bills
would be tabled before the two houses for fresh legislation.
The Paris based
Financial Action Task Force (FATF) put Pakistan on the grey list in June 2018
and asked Islamabad to implement a plan of action by the end of 2019 but the
deadline was extended later due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Asked why
already convened sessions of the Senate and the NA were shelved, the adviser
said they were postponed due to the devastation caused by the recent rains
across the country.
Regarding the
FATF-related bills, he said the government would not allow any delay in the passage
of “bills of national interest”.
In reply to a
question about the convening of a joint sitting of parliament to get the
FATF-related bills passed if the Opposition objected to them again, he said no
date for the sitting had been decided so far.
Two days ago,
Awan had said the government was considering referring the Anti-Money
Laundering (Second Amendment) Bill and the Islamabad Capital Territory Waqf
Properties Bill — both rejected by the Senate — to the joint sitting of
Parliament.
The 104-member
Opposition-dominated Senate had rejected the two bills on August 25 through a
voice vote.
In its third and
final plenary held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic in June, the FATF
decided to keep Pakistan in the "grey list" as Islamabad failed to
check the flow of money to terror groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and
Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).
With Pakistan's
continuation in the 'grey list', it will be difficult for the country to get
financial aid from the IMF, World Bank, ADB and the European Union, thus further
enhancing problems for the nation which is in a precarious financial situation.
If Pakistan
fails to comply with the FATF directive by October, there is every possibility
that the global body may put the country in the 'Black List' along with North Korea
and Iran.
The FATF is an
inter-governmental body established in 1989 to combat money laundering,
terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the
international financial system.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/pakistan-to-hold-national-assembly-senate-sessions-next-week-to-get-fatf-bills-passed/articleshow/77994374.cms
--------
Country heading
towards anarchy, says Ahsan Iqbal
Amir Wasim
09 Sep 2020
ISLAMABAD:
Poverty and unemployment are rising due to “bad governance” of the Pakistan
Tehreek-i-Insaf-led government, leading the country towards “social anarchy”,
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s secretary general Ahsan Iqbal said on Tuesday.
Allowing the
present rulers to stay in power will be detrimental for the people as well as
the country’s security, the PML-N leader said at a news conference.
Ahsan Iqbal
termed the present government “the worst fascist regime” in the country’s
history, saying that “if we do not block Prime Minister Imran Khan’s way now,
time will never forgive us”.
Lashing out at
the government’s policies in almost all sectors, the PML-N leader alleged that
Prime Minister Imran Khan had destroyed the administrative structure through
bad governance and by ignoring merit.
Mr Iqbal
regretted that Pakistan had gone down in the Global Innovative Index because of
the government’s decision to stop funds for universities and research
programmes.
Claims the
opposition is united and will come out with a joint strategy on Sept 20
Instead of
focusing on research and development, he alleged, the government was spending
all its energy on “pursuing regressive policies”.
In an apparent
reference to the disappearance of an official of the Securities and Exchange
Commission of Pakistan (SECP) from Islamabad, Ahsan Iqbal wondered what image
the country would have in the outside world when people were being kidnapped
right from the centre of the capital.
“This country
does not need any enemy. Imran Khan’s government is the worst fascist regime.
Like (Indian PM Narendra Modi), Imran Khan wants to become Pakistan’s Hitler,”
he said.
“We want to give
a message to Imran Khan that we will not bow before his fascist agenda.
Register fake cases and put us in jail, but we will not surrender to your
oppression.”
Mr Iqbal said the
PML-N would protect fundamental rights and would not hesitate in offering any
sacrifice for this purpose.
“We will not let
this country go under dictatorship,” he added.
The PML-N leader
accused the federal government of deliberately going into confrontation with
Sindh over Karachi.
In a reference
to the recent statement of Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, Mr Iqbal alleged
that the present government was making the enemy’s job easy by pushing the
nation into a “hybrid war”.
In reply to a question,
the PML-N leader claimed that the opposition was united and expressed the hope
that it would come up with a joint strategy against the government at the
multi-party conference to be held on Sept 20.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1578635/country-heading-towards-anarchy-says-ahsan-iqbal
--------
Pakistan
lawmaker warns of nuclear war over Kashmir
Aamir Latif
08.09.2020
KARACHI,
Pakistan
A Pakistani
lawmaker on Monday urged the international community, including the UN, to
swiftly act to sop “genocide” of Kashmiris by Indian security forces, warning
the world against a “brewing” nuclear conflict on the long-smoldering Kashmir
dispute.
Addressing a
seminar in the capital Islamabad, Shehryar Khan Afridi, chairman of the
parliament’s Kashmir committee, claimed New Delhi was using backdoor channels
to resume talks to Pakistan. However, he said his country would not talk to
India unless Kashmir issue was on the agenda.
Kashmir, he
further said, became a key issue in the global digital space and that Pakistan
would not allow India to mislead the world on the ongoing “genocide” there.
“We are reaching
out to all the global platforms to raise Kashmir [issue],” he said adding that
the parliament’s committee was engaging with 22 global forums to sensitize the
world on the lingering dispute.
Sardar Masood
Khan, president of Pakistani-administered Kashmir, also known as Azad Kashmir,
charged that extrajudicial killings have become a norm in disputed Jammu and
Kashmir.
Indian forces,
Khan went on to argue, arrest youth and later gun them down in fake police
“encounters.”
“The world knows
well about the Indian atrocities being committed by the occupational forces in
occupied Kashmir but commercial interests are major hurdle in taking action
against India,” he added.
Apart from
issuing half a million domiciles to non-Kashmiris, he said, India was planning
to award citizenship rights to 1.7 million migrant workers as well.
Disputed region
Kashmir, a
Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and
claimed by both in full. A small sliver of Kashmir is also held by China.
Since they were
partitioned in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars -- in 1948, 1965
and 1971 -- two of them over Kashmir.
Also, in Siachen
glacier in northern Kashmir, Indian and Pakistani troops have fought
intermittently since 1984. A cease-fire came into effect in 2003.
Some Kashmiri
groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for
independence, or for unification with neighboring Pakistan.
According to
several human rights organizations, thousands of people have reportedly been
killed in the conflict in the region since 1989.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/pakistan-lawmaker-warns-of-nuclear-war-over-kashmir/1966285
--------
South Asia
Two Myanmar
soldiers at ICC after confessing to Rohingya killings: Reports
08 September
2020
Two Myanmarese
soldiers have been taken to the International Criminal Court (ICC) after
confessing to their participation in the 2017 massacre of countless Rohingya
Muslims, two news organizations and a rights group say.
The two men
admitted to killing dozens of villagers in northern Rakhine State and burying
them in mass graves, according to The New York Times, the Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation, and the non-profit Fortify Rights, citing statements the men made
on videos filmed in Myanmar earlier this year.
In the videos,
the two men also provide the names of the Myanmarese army battalions that were
involved in the brutal campaign, the villages they destroyed, as well as the
locations of mass graves.
The pair
describes very similar orders from different superiors to kill or shoot “all”
the Rohingya Muslims they encountered, and says that women, children, and
elderly people were among their victims.
The reports said
the men had been in the custody of the Arakan Army (AA), a Buddhist rebel group
calling for greater autonomy for Rakhine, when they made the admissions.
The reports said
the men appeared together on the Bangladesh border in mid-August, retelling
their stories, and requesting protection.
With their
transfer to ICC custody, the soldiers are now potential witnesses to genocide.
The ICC last
year approved a long-awaited full investigation into the crimes against the
Rohingya minority.
Myanmar has not signed
up to the ICC but the court ruled last year that it had jurisdiction over
crimes against the Rohingya minority because Bangladesh, where many Rohingya
survivors are now refugees, is a member.
The Gambia,
acting on behalf of the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC),
has also launched a separate case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ),
the United Nations (UN)’s top court, also based in The Hague. Both Gambia and
Myanmar are signatories to the 1948 Genocide Convention, which compels all
signatory states to prevent and punish the crime of genocide.
A United Nations
fact-finding mission had previously found that “the gravest crimes under
international law” had been committed in Myanmar and called for genocide
trials.
In August 2017,
the Myanmarese military and Buddhist mobs started a campaign of murder, rape,
and torture against the Rohingya in Myanmar that UN investigators later said
was conducted with “genocidal intent.”
Some 740,000
Rohingya survivors fled to Bangladesh. Countless others didn’t make it.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/09/08/633624/Myanmar-Rohingya-soldiers-ICC-confess
--------
‘Spoilers' could
thwart Afghan peace efforts: experts
Islamuddin
Sajid
09.09.2020
ISLAMABAD,
Pakistan
"Spoilers"
could derail ongoing peace efforts in Afghanistan, Pakistani defense experts
and former diplomats warned Tuesday.
Speakers at a
webinar organized by the MUSLIM Institute, a think tank based in Pakistan's
capital Islamabad, stressed the need for immediate action against actors
seeking to thwart the prospects for peace in the war-torn country, even as all
of the stakeholders seemed concerned as well as in agreement regarding the
success of the intra-Afghan dialogue.
"An
uncomfortable India, the release of prisoners on both sides, the diversity of
opinion among pressure groups within Afghanistan, the financial dependency of
the Afghan government along with the financial future of the country, the share
of the Taliban in the future political and administrative government, the return
of refugees and the type of future constitution of Afghanistan are some prime
issues which need to be addressed for the successful transition of intra-Afghan
dialogue," said former Pakistani army general Lt. Gen. Amjab Shuaib.
Earlier,
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi repeatedly warned US and
Afghan leaders of “spoilers,” referring to his country's arch-rival India, and
said they could derail the landmark peace deal between Washington and the
Taliban signed in Doha in February this year.
Speakers
highlighted that the Taliban are not ready to accept a Western type of
democracy and suggested the international community to present possible
alternatives to the Afghan Jirga by accommodating their cultural ethos.
Former Pakistan
Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua said there are many variables that need to be
looked at in great detail for the peace process to succeed.
MUSLIM Institute
Chairman Sahibzada Sultan Ahmed Ali said "Afghanistan is often known as
the heart of Asia. An economically and politically stable Afghanistan is in the
interest of Pakistan.
"Pakistan’s
security will also improve if Afghanistan’s security is improved. However, it
is not just Pakistan; other regional countries will benefit as well. Pakistan
has always maintained that the Afghan peace process should be Afghan-owned and
Afghan-led," he added.
The defense
experts and former diplomats believed that the Afghan peace process is at a
critical juncture, and that critical juncture can go in any direction.
"We cannot
forget that there will also be a contest within Afghanistan as well. There are
key differences that need to be resolved," said Maria Sultan, an
Islamabad-based defense analyst.
She suggested
that all ethnic groups in Afghanistan need to be integrated into society.
"No one
will invest in Afghanistan if there is no peace or security. Looking at the
long-term Afghan policy, from Pakistan’s perspective, Pakistan is fully
investing in the peace process," she said.
In the changing
regional apparatus, Afghanistan’s peace and stability have become indispensable
for regional development.
"Whether it
is China’s Belt and Road Initiative, Pakistan’s China-Pakistan Economic
Corridor, or the TAPI Pipeline, peace in Afghanistan is the first and foremost
prerequisite. In the century of emerging Asia, the heart of Asia holds the
ultimate position for its prosperous future," said Zafar Nawaz Jaspal, an
Islamabad-based analyst and professor at Quaid-i-Azam University.
Former Maj.
General of Pakistan army Khalid Amir Jaffery, former Pakistani Ambassador Abdul
Basit and other experts also addressed the webinar.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/-spoilers-could-thwart-afghan-peace-efforts-experts/1967245
--------
US envoy meets
Baradar, Haqqani ahead of peace talks
09 Sep 2020
KABUL: The US
Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, has
held a meeting in Doha with the head of a new team of Taliban negotiators due
to open peace talks with a team representing the Afghan government, the group said
on Tuesday.
The
negotiations, the result of an agreement between America and the Taliban, are
to begin in Doha after the release of the last half-dozen or so of the 5,000
Taliban prisoners. The Afghan negotiators had been expected to fly from Kabul
to Doha this week, but are awaiting a signal from the Afghan government that
the release — to which Western governments have objected — is going ahead.
In Doha, the
head of the Taliban’s political office, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, and the new
head of the Taliban’s negotiating team, Abdul Hakim Haqqani, met Mr Khalilzad
as well as Qatar’s deputy prime minister on Monday, Taliban spokesman Dr
Mohammad Naeem said in a statement shared on Twitter.
Negotiations are
to begin in Doha after release of last half a dozen or so of 5,000 Taliban
prisoners
“Issues related
to the prisoners’ release and immediate start of the intra-Afghan talks were
discussed,” Mr Naeem said.
Talks with
American officials had for the last two years been led by Mr Baradar, who
finally signed a peace deal with Washington earlier this year, paving the way
for an international troop withdrawal and intra-Afghan negotiations.
Last week,
however, Taliban supreme leader Haibatullah Akhunzada announced that a new,
21-member team would be headed by Mr Haqqani and not Mr Baradar, a co-founder
of the Taliban, who has been left out entirely.
Three Taliban
commanders based in Afghanistan told Reuters that senior fighters on the ground
had in recent weeks expressed reservations about Baradar’s dominance in the
talks.
However, Taliban
officials told Reuters the team had been changed to give it power to take
decisions on the spot.
Mr Haqqani, the
Taliban’s former shadow chief justice, also heads its powerful council of
religious scholars, according to two senior Taliban officials who did not want
to be named.
One official
said Mr Akhunzada trusted Mr Haqqani more than anyone else in the group. “(His)
presence basically means our supreme leader himself will attend the peace
talks,” the official said. A diplomat following the peace process from Kabul
told Reuters on condition of anonymity that Baradar “might be effective, but
Haqqani is senior. What we know is this was done to have a more authoritative
team that can take the decision over there.”
https://www.dawn.com/news/1578613/us-envoy-meets-baradar-haqqani-ahead-of-peace-talks
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Afghan
assassination bid: Vice president survives attack which kills, wounds 2 dozen
09 September
2020
Afghanistan’s
First Vice-President Amrullah Saleh has been lightly injured in a bomb attack
targeting his convoy in the capital, Kabul, but two dozen other people have
been killed and wounded.
The bomb attack
targeted Saleh’s convoy as he left his home and was heading to work in Kabul on
Wednesday.
A video was
released on Facebook soon after the attack, showing Saleh, with bandages on his
left hand.
“I am fine but
some of my guards have been wounded. My son, who was in the car with me, and I
are both fine,” Saleh said.
“I have some
burns on my face and hand. The blast was strong,” he added.
Initial reports
had said that Saleh had escaped the attack unharmed.
The Afghan
Interior Ministry put the number of casualties at 10 fatalities and over a
dozen injured.
Saleh, a former
intelligence chief and President Ashraf Ghani’s first deputy, has so far
survived several assassination attempts, including one on his office last year
that killed 20 people.
Taliban say not
behind attack
No group has yet
claimed responsibility for the attack. But Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed
said the group “has nothing to do” with it.
The blast came
as the Afghan government is expected to begin peace talks with the Taliban
militant group in the Qatari capital of Doha.
Officials warned
that rising violence was endangering the negotiations, which are aimed at
ending nearly two decades of war in the country.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/09/09/633670/Afghanistan-vice-president-assassination-Amrullah-Saleh-
--------
India
Jaishankar
expresses condolence for victims of Baitus Saldam mosque gas explosion
Sep 08, 2020
Dhaka
[Bangladesh], September 8 (ANI): External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has
expressed condolence to victims of the gas explosion in the Baitus Saldam
mosque in Bangladesh, which claimed at least 24 lives.
"External
Affairs Minister of India Dr S Jaishankar wrote to Hon'ble Foreign Minister of
Bangladesh Dr AKA Momen conveying his heartfelt sympathy and deepest
condolences to victims of the unfortunate accident at the Baitus Saldam Mosque
in Narayanganj on Friday, 4 Sep 2020," India in Bangladesh tweeted.
According to Al
Jazeera, the fire service officials suspect that the explosion on September 4
was caused by leakage from the pipeline in the mosque.
While at least
24 people were killed, dozens of injured worshipers are still receiving medical
treatment.
The explosion
occurred on Friday evening when people had gathered in the mosque for the
evening prayer. (ANI)
https://www.aninews.in/news/world/asia/jaishankar-expresses-condolence-for-victims-of-baitus-saldam-mosque-gas-explosion20200908165440/
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Terrorists hurl
grenade at security forces' camp in J&K's Pulwama, no damage caused
Sep 8, 2020
SRINAGAR:
Terrorists on Tuesday fired an underbarrel grenade launcher (UBGL) towards a
security forces' camp in the Tral area of Jammu and Kashmir but there was
damage caused by the explosion, officials said.
The ultras fired
the UBGL grenade towards a CRPF camp at Nowdal in the Tral area of Pulwama
district, they said.
The officials
said the grenade exploded without causing any damage.
Some gunshots
were also heard after the blast, they said.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/terrorists-hurl-grenade-at-security-forces-camp-in-jks-pulwama-no-damage-caused/articleshow/78003296.cms
--------
Southeast Asia
Lack Of Local
Media Coverage On China Defence Minister’s Visit To Malaysia Puzzling, Says
Chin Tong
09 Sep 2020
BY R. LOHESWAR
KUALA LUMPUR,
Sept 9 — Former defence deputy minister Liew Chin Tong has highlighted today
the lack of local media coverage of China’s State Councillor and Defense
Minister Wei Fenghe’s visit to Malaysia on Monday.
The senator said
the issue was puzzling, and urged Putrajaya not to take sides in the dispute
between the United States and China amid rising tensions on the South China
Sea.
“I too have no
idea why there was no media coverage on the visit. It’s a big and important
event.
“China and the
US are two great powers who have importance in the region so I really can’t
tell you why local media were not given coverage and you guys had to find out
from your sources in China,” Liew said during a press conference today in
Parliament.
Chinese state
media Xinhua reported on Monday that Wei called on Prime Minister Tan Sri
Muhyiddin Yassin to strengthen defense cooperation between the two countries.
Muhyiddin was
also quoted saying that Malaysia is willing to work with China to strengthen
bilateral cooperation in all fields including defence, economy and trade, and
education.
The event was
not covered by Malaysian state news agency Bernama and state broadcaster RTM.
After visiting
Malaysia, on Tuesday Wei met his Indonesian counterpart Prabowo Subianto in
Jakarta and is expected to do the same in Brunei and the Philippines.
Liew said during
this “strategic competition” between the two superpowers, Malaysia should stay
neutral but make its voice and opinions heard.
“Our country is
in a crisis region where anything can happen anytime especially in the South
China Sea where the US and China are in strategic competition,” he said.
“A crisis in
South-east Asia needs Malaysia to be a leading voice and not to take sides. The
main thing we must tell these two countries is that Asean nations do not want
to choose between the two.
“We need them
both but we will not pick a side,” added Liew.
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2020/09/09/lack-of-local-media-coverage-on-china-defence-ministers-visit-here-puzzling/1901593
--------
Muhyiddin in,
Mazlan Bujang out as Johor Bersatu chief
08 Sep 2020
BY BEN TAN
JOHOR BARU, Sept
8 — Outgoing Johor Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) chief Mazlan Bujang
has vacated his post to make way for party president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
He confirmed
that Muhyiddin has been appointed as the new state chief.
“Despite being
replaced, my loyalty is still with Bersatu and I will continue with my state
government role as an exco.
“I have no problem
with the appointment, and it is part and parcel of politics,” Mazlan told Malay
Mail briefly when contacted today.
Mazlan was
appointed as the Bersatu chief in April last year and has helmed the Johor wing
for the last 17 months that also saw Bersatu exit the Pakatan Harapan (PH)
coalition to establish the ruling Perikatan Nasional (PN) pact in February this
year.
An earlier
statement had confirmed Muhyiddin’s appointment as the new Johor Bersatu
chapter chief. The appointment is effective today.
Muhyiddin, who
is also the prime minister, is no stranger to Johor politics as he is from the
state and was once its mentri besar when he was with Umno under the Barisan
Nasional (BN) coalition.
He understands
the southern state’s unique politics and also has good ties with the Johor
palace.
The 73-year-old
seasoned politician and experienced government administrator is also the
long-serving Pagoh MP and also Gambir assemblyman.
Johor has been
described as an important frontline state for Bersatu. The two most recent
former mentri besar — Datuk Osman Sapian and Datuk Dr Sahruddin Jamal — were
from the Malay-based party.
Even during PH
rule, Johor was a model state for Bersatu as it went on to contest against
Umno. At present, Bersatu has allied with Umno, PAS and BN to form the ruling
PN pact.
Earlier today,
Bersatu announced the appointment of the party’s supreme council members, state
and bureau chiefs.
The appointments
were made by Muhyiddin at a Bersatu meeting in Petaling Jaya, Selangor last
night.
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2020/09/08/muhyiddin-in-mazlan-bujang-out-as-johor-bersatu-chief/1901339
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Dr M publishes
proposed no-confidence motion against Muhyiddin
September 9,
2020
PETALING JAYA:
Dr Mahathir Mohamad has published his proposed motion of no confidence against
Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, saying he has to do so as it will never see
the light of day in the Dewan Rakyat.
In a blog post,
the former prime minister said the present administration had twice put the
motion on the back-burner, prioritising government matters.
“This way, the
motion will never be debated in the Dewan Rakyat,” he said.
In his 35-point
motion, Mahathir explained the reason for the motion, including Muhyiddin’s
decision to work with Umno and PAS to form a Malay-Muslim government to prevent
DAP from “destroying the Malays”.
“The claim that
DAP can destroy the Malays does not make sense.
“Malays are not
so easily destroyed. The attempts by the British to wrest (control of) the
Malay states through the Malayan Union was stopped by the Malays,” he said,
adding even the Malayan Communist Party failed to do it by force.
If DAP tried to
destroy the Malays, he said, Muhyiddin, as the then home minister, could have
declared the party and its activities illegal.
He said he could
not accept Muhyiddin’s reasoning to join forces with Umno as it would be a
betrayal of the voters who rejected the Najib Razak-led administration.
This ultimately
lead to the “Sheraton Move”, which triggered a political crisis leading to
Mahathir’s resignation as prime minister and Perikatan Nasional forming the
federal government.
“How YB Pagoh
(Muhyiddin) became prime minister is shameful.
“This has never
happened in Malaysia until now. He himself has admitted that the Perikatan
Nasional government is not one chosen by the people,” he said.
Mahathir said
that while he had accepted former Umno leaders to join PPBM when he was the
chairman, this was subject to conditions.
He said he could
not agree to accepting Umno en bloc as per the wishes of its president Ahmad
Zahid Hamidi.
“I am sad that
my comrade would rather choose Najib, the enemy, and reject me. And accept his
comrades into the party we founded.”
Mahathir also
accused Muhyiddin of rewarding his supporters with positions and sacking PPBM
leaders who opposed him, a move he said went against the party’s rules.
He also cited
the removal of professionals from government-linked companies and the appointment
of politicians to replace them.
The Langkawi MP
also claimed that Muhyiddin’s appointment as prime minister without going
through a general election went against the Constitution and would lead to
people losing faith in the electoral system.
“It is clear the
people’s voices no longer have value in Malaysia because the party rejected by
the people can form the government through the backdoor.
“I propose the
Perikatan Nasional government hand power back to the rightful (party),” he
added.
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2020/09/09/dr-m-publishes-proposed-no-confidence-motion-against-muhyiddin/
--------
Najib not
remorseful after court found him guilty of corruption, says judge
V Anbalagan
September 9,
2020
KUALA LUMPUR:
Najib Razak did not express any remorse after he was found guilty of seven
counts of corruption in relation to RM42 million belonging to SRC
International.
Trial judge Mohd
Nazlan Mohd Ghazali said the former prime minister even maintained his defence
of no knowledge of the RM42 million in his mitigation.
On July 28,
Nazlan allowed Najib to personally address the court after his defence lawyer,
Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, had also undertaken an extensive exercise.
Najib, who ended
his mitigation by taking the “Islamic oath”, said he had never
demanded the
RM42 million, never planned for it and that it was also never offered to him.
“He additionally
stated that he had no knowledge of the RM42 million,” Nazlan said in his
written judgment made available yesterday.
Nazlan said he
could not deny Najib had made contributions to the well-being and betterment of
the people of the nation, probably in many different ways, for he was, after
all, the prime minister for nine years.
“Political
history will continue to debate whether he has done on balance more good than
harm. But this very process would arguably be inimical to the ideals of a clean
administration that does not tolerate corruption and abuse of power,” he said.
He said whether
the moral compass of the nation required some recalibration was deserving of a
separate discourse.
“What this court
seeks to affirm is the sanctity of the rule of law and the supremacy of the
Constitution.
“No one – not
even one who was the most powerful political figure and the leader of the country
– enjoys a cloak of invincibility from the force of the law,” he said.
Nazlan said
Najib’s conviction on all seven charges of abuse of position, criminal breach
of trust and money laundering constituted nothing less than an absolute
betrayal of trust.
For this reason,
he said he considered the conviction for abuse of position under Section 23 of
the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act as the most serious transgression
among the three given his position of trust as the prime minister and finance
minister when the offences were committed.
He said all the
offences for which the accused was convicted manifestly involved deliberate
planning and premeditation over a period of time.
Najib was
sentenced to 12 years’ jail and fined RM210 million for abuse of power and 10
years on each of the three counts of criminal breach of trust and money
laundering.
The judge,
however, ordered the jail terms to run concurrently, which means Najib will
serve 12 years in jail.
Nazlan allowed
the application by the defence to stay the jail sentence in view of the hefty
fine imposed.
Najib has filed
an appeal in the Court of Appeal while the prosecution has cross-appealed on
inadequacy of sentence.
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2020/09/09/najib-not-remorseful-after-court-found-him-guilty-of-corruption-says-judge/
--------
Indonesia to
launch certified program for preachers
Katharina Reny
Lestari
September 08,
2020
Indonesia’s Religious
Affairs Ministry will soon launch a certified program for thousands of
preachers in the predominantly Muslim country to improve their national
insights, according to an official.
Kamaruddin Amin,
the ministry’s director general of Islamic education, said in a statement on
Sept. 7 that the program will be launched by the end of this month and will
target 8,200 preachers from all six recognized religions — Islam, Buddhism,
Confucianism, Catholicism, Protestantism and Hinduism — for the first batch this
year.
The program will
involve religious organizations including the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI)
and government institutions including the Agency for Pancasila Ideology
Education (BPIP) and the National Counterterrorism Agency.
Pancasila, or
five principles, refers to the national ideology that stipulates belief in one
God, a just and civilized society, a united Indonesia, democracy guided by
consensus, and social justice for all citizens.
Amin, however,
said the program will not be binding.
“A certified
program for preachers aims to improve preachers’ capacities. They will be given
certificates after joining the program. Meanwhile, professional certification
is given to lecturers and teachers, who are paid in accordance with the
existing standard after being certified,” he said.
“It does mean
that those who do not have certificates cannot preach or those who have
certificates can preach,” he added, calling the program “an affirmation.”
Father Antonius
Benny Susetyo, an expert at the BPIP, acknowledged that Indonesia — a country
with diverse religions — must provide preachers with insights on plurality and
diversity.
“Religious
leaders in Indonesia must deliver sermons containing the values of Pancasila
and interreligious harmony,” the priest, former executive secretary of the
Commission for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs at the Indonesian Bishops’
Conference, told UCA News.
“Certification
is not an issue. The most important thing is that religious leaders have the
responsibility to maintain national insights: their commitment to maintaining
unity. This must become ‘a habitus’ among religious leaders in Indonesia,” he
said.
Father Susetyo
claimed the planned certified program for preachers has no connection to the
government’s fight against radicalism.
“We must see it
in the context of maintaining nationality. There must be universal religious
values that we can agree with,” he said.
Meanwhile,
Abidin Wakano, a Muslim preacher and an adviser to the MUI Maluku chapter,
suggested that the program should be carried out continually.
“Never focus
merely on certification. An ongoing program is what matters,” he told UCA News.
He believes that
the program will be more effective “if it also involves the state Islamic
universities and colleges as well as Islamic boarding schools because they have
good comprehensive study methods.”
“Real
certification is not about a piece of paper but a transformation of knowledge.
And it can be done through education and training programs,” Wakano said.
https://www.ucanews.com/news/indonesia-to-launch-certified-program-for-preachers/89437
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UN welcomes
Indonesia’s acceptance of Rohingya refugees
8th Sep 2020
By Peter Kenny
GENEVA (AA): The
UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) on Monday welcomed the landing of approximately 300
Rohingya refugees on the northern coast of Aceh, Indonesia, after seven months
at sea.
An unknown
number of the refugees need medical attention after their ordeal, said the
UNHCR.
Among the group,
two of three are women and children, and more than 30 of them are estimated to
have died during the voyage.
The UNHCR said
around 330 Rohingya refugees were understood to have embarked on the journey
from Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, in February.
“Their hazardous
ordeal has been prolonged by the collective unwillingness of states to act for
more than six months,” said the refugee agency.
It cited the
Bali Process as the only existing regional coordination mechanism able to
convene states on such maritime movements.
However, the
process has failed to deliver comprehensive, regional action to predictably
save lives through rescue and disembarkation, the organization added.
“The group had
repeatedly tried to disembark over more than 200 days at sea, to no avail,
“Refugees have
reported that dozens passed away throughout the journey.”
The UN agency
said it and others have repeatedly warned of dire consequences if refugees at
sea are not permitted to land safely and expediently.
“Ultimately,
inaction over the past six months has been fatal,” said UNHCR.
The agency said
its staff in Aceh are supporting local authorities to assess the needs of the
refugees.
“The immediate
priority is providing first aid and medical care as required. All will be
tested for COVID-19 under standard health measures in Indonesia for all
arrivals,” said the agency.
It added that at
the time of the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal crisis five years ago, the Bali
Process states acknowledged the need for a reliable and collective response to
this genuinely regional challenge.
The Bali Process
was launched in 2002 as a mechanism co-chaired by Australia and Indonesia to
take life-saving action for refugees stranded at sea. Still, hundreds of
Rohingya people died at sea in 2015 in the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal crisis
despite the initiative.
“Having created
a mechanism to convene governments from across the region for precisely this
purpose, the promise of that commitment remains unfulfilled,” said UNHCR.
The Rohingya,
described by the UN as the world’s most persecuted people, have faced
heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in
2012.
According to
Amnesty International, more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly women, and
children fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched
a crackdown on the minority Muslim community in August 2017, pushing the number
of persecuted people in Bangladesh above 1.2 million.
http://muslimnews.co.uk/news/south-east-asia/un-welcomes-indonesias-acceptance-rohingya-refugees/
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Mideast
Palestinian
President bans offensive statements towards Arab leaders including UAE
Tuqa Khalid
08 September
2020
Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas banned any offensive statements or actions towards Arab
leaders, including UAE leaders, the presidency’s spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh
said on Tuesday.
The spokesman
also stressed Palestine’s keenness on protecting the brotherly relations with
all Arab countries on the basis of mutual respect, Palestinian news agency WAFA
reported.
For all the
latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Abu Rudeineh
added that Arab countries must adhere to the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative.
The UAE and
Israel announced on August 13 that they would normalize diplomatic relations in
a US-brokered historic deal.
Palestinians
seek a state on land occupied by Israel since the 1967 Middle East war, with
East Jerusalem, also captured then by Israel, as their capital. Israel deems
Jerusalem to be its eternal, indivisible capital.
Israel agreed as
part of the accord with the UAE to suspend plans to annex parts of the occupied
territories, but Palestinians said they were blindsided by the announcement and
rejected it, calling it a “betrayal.”
The Secretary
General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Nayef al-Hajraf called on the
Palestinian leadership, including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, to
apologize for the “irresponsible language of incitement and threats” towards
the Gulf countries that was used by some Palestinian factions’ leaders during a
meeting on September 3.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/09/08/Palestinian-President-bans-offensive-statements-towards-Arab-leaders-including-UAE
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Emirati
official: Even war on Gaza won’t affect deal with Israel
08 September
2020
A senior Emirati
official says the normalization deal between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and
the Israeli regime will not be affected even by another Israeli war on the
Palestinian territory of the Gaza Strip.
Ali Al-Nuaimi,
the chairman of the defense, interior, and foreign affairs committee of the
Emirati parliament, told Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth on Tuesday that “warm
peace with Israel” would endure such crises as a “war on Gaza.”
The United
States announced on August 13 that the UAE and Israel had reached a deal to
normalize their relations. The Emirates sought to portray that deal as an
attempt to forestall Israeli plans to annex occupied Palestinian territories.
All Palestinian factions condemned the deal, nevertheless.
Palestinian
leaders called the deal by the Emirates — an Arab country — a stab in the back
of the fellow-Arab Palestinians and a betrayal of their cause.
Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said soon after the announcement of the deal
that the annexation plans in question remained on the table.
Israel has waged
three wars on Gaza, in 2008-09, 2012, and 2014, each time killing and wounding
thousands of men, women, and children. The regime has also fully blockaded Gaza
since 2007.
Al-Nuaimi, the
Emirati official, however accused the Palestinian leadership of being “stuck in
the past” for opposing the normalization deal with Israel.
He said he
expected the agreement to be finalized this month and Emirati Crown Prince
Mohammad bin Zayed to visit occupied territories soon.
He also
confirmed that direct flights would start between the Emirates and Israel after
a signing ceremony of the deal.
The Emirati
official also said he expected Israel to drop its objection to the United
States’ sales of advanced stealth F-35 warplanes to the Emirates.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/09/08/633626/UAE-Israel-deal-normalization-another-war-Gaza
--------
Hamas, PLO
criticize GCC demand for apology over denouncing UAE-Israel
08 September
2020
The Hamas
resistance movement and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) have
condemned the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) for demanding an apology
from the Palestinians over their stance against the contentious peace deal
between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel.
“The Hamas
movement and other Palestinian factions have adopted genuine patriotic and
nationalist positions in rejection of the normalization agreement between the
Occupation (Israel) and the UAE,” Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said.
He added, “Hamas
did not attack anyone, but rather emphatically rejected the UAE’s decision to
sign a normalization deal with the Zionist regime.”
Qassem then
thanked Arab nations as well as peoples of Persian Gulf littoral states over
their rejection of the normalization agreement.
On Monday, GCC
Secretary-General Nayef al-Hajraf condemned what he described as “the
irresponsible language of incitement and threat” issued by some participants in
a meeting of Palestinian factions held in Beirut last Thursday.
Hajraf called
upon Palestinian leaders, including President Mahmoud Abbas, to apologize for
their “provocative statements.”
Similarly, a
member of the PLO’s executive committee dismissed the GCC chief’s demand for an
apology from Palestinian leaders as “improper and reprehensible.”
The meeting of
the chiefs of Palestinian factions “sought to confront [US President Donald
Trump’s so-called] deal of the century and combat the threat of normalization
[with Israel],” Wasel Abu Yousef noted.
“The position
declared by representatives of Palestinian factions is not a secret. We have
always clearly and publicly announced our positions vis-à-vis various
Palestinian, Arab and international issues,” he pointed out.
Israel and the
UAE agreed to a US-brokered deal to normalize relations on August 13.
Emirati
officials have described the normalization deal with the Tel Aviv regime as a
successful means to stave off annexation and save the so-called two-state
solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but Israeli leaders lined up to
reject the bluff.
The Palestinians
have vehemently censured the UAE-Israel peace deal, which runs counter to a
long-standing Arab consensus that any normalization of ties with the Tel Aviv
regime has to come in the context of the settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict and the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state.
They say the
UAE, as an important Arab player in the region, has stabbed fellow Palestinians
in the back.
They also say
the agreement does not serve the cause of the Palestinians.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/09/08/633594/Hamas-PLO-criticize-GCC-apology-demand-for-denouncing-UAE-Israel-
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EU expresses
concern about Israeli demolitions in West Bank, al-Quds
08 September
2020
The European
Union (EU) has voiced concern about the demolition of Palestinian houses and
structures by Israel in the occupied West Bank.
On Tuesday, EU
missions in Jerusalem al-Quds and Ramallah said in a statement that the
demolitions, which include structures that had been built by funds from the EU
or EU member states, had led to the displacement of Palestinians and negatively
affected Palestinian communities.
The EU missions
said that from January to August 31, a total of 107 residential units and 46
other units, including shops and storerooms, had been razed in East Jerusalem
al-Quds alone.
They also
expressed concern that the demolitions had continued in the occupied
territories after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early March and
despite “the various obligations of the occupying power under international
humanitarian law,” calling on the Tel Aviv regime to halt the demolitions.
“In line with
the EU’s long-standing position on Israel’s settlement policy, illegal under
international law, and actions taken in that context, such as forced transfers,
evictions, demolitions and confiscations of homes, the EU once again urges the
Israeli authorities to halt demolitions of Palestinian structures,” said the
missions.
They concluded
the statement by saying that the current demolition policy was in violation of
international law and “undermines the viability of the two-state solution and
the prospect for a lasting peace in the region.”
Israeli
officials have issued nearly 650 demolition orders against Palestinian-owned
structures in Jerusalem al-Quds since the beginning of the current year.
Israel’s
demolition of Palestinian homes and structures in occupied Jerusalem al-Quds
and elsewhere in the West Bank are part of a plan by the regime to expand
settlements and force Palestinians from their homes and land.
Israeli
authorities claim that demolition orders are carried out because the
Palestinian-owned structures have been built without the required construction
permits. Palestinians, on the other hand, argue that such authorization is
routinely denied.
More than
600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli
occupation of the Palestinian territories of the occupied West Bank and East
Jerusalem al-Quds.
All Israeli
settlements are illegal under international law.
Israeli forces
arrest 50 Palestinians in West Bank
Late on Monday
and in the early hours of Tuesday, Israeli forces stormed different areas of
the occupied West Bank and arrested at least 50 Palestinians, Ma’an news agency
reported.
The report said
that Israeli forces arrested 43 Palestinians in al-Khalil (Hebron) and detained
seven others in Bethlehem and Ramallah cities.
The arrest
campaign has been the largest since the beginning of this year, said a
statement by the Palestinian Prisoners Club on Tuesday, adding that Israeli
forces had arrested more than 3,000 Palestinians in the West Bank between
January and August.
In a separate
report, the Palestinian Information Center said that the arrest campaign was
aimed at detaining members and some leaders of the Palestinian resistance
movement of Hamas.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/09/08/633640/EU-Israel-demolitions-
--------
North America
US President
Trump to host Israel-UAE deal signing ceremony on Sept 15
08 September
2020
US President
Donald Trump will hold a September 15 signing ceremony for a groundbreaking
Middle East agreement normalizing relations between Israel and the United Arab
Emirates, a senior White House official said on Tuesday.
As part of the
deal, announced at the White House on August 13 following what officials said
were 18 months of talks, the Gulf state agreed to normalize relations with
Israel, while Israel agreed to continue with plans to suspend its annexation of
the West Bank.
For all the
latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
The senior White
House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu and UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed
al-Nahyan, would lead the two delegations to the ceremony.
Trump and other
administration officials have said they expect Saudi Arabia and other countries
to follow suit in recognizing Israel.
Iran has
dismissed the agreement, which also served to firm up opposition to Tehran, a
regional power seen by the UAE, Israel and the United States as the main threat
in the Middle East.
The deal falls
short of any grand Middle East peace plan to resolve decades of conflict
between Israel and the Palestinians despite Trump's pledge to do so with efforts
led by White House adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Trump proposed a
peace plan in January that heavily favored the Israelis, but it has not
advanced in any significant way.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/09/08/US-President-Trump-to-host-Israel-UAE-deal-signing-ceremony-on-Sept-15
--------
Alleged Boogaloo
members face terrorism charges in Minnesota
September 5,
2020
MINNEAPOLIS (AP)
— Two men who prosecutors say are members of an anti-government extremist
group, who toted guns on Minneapolis streets during unrest following the death
of George Floyd and spoke about shooting police, blowing up a courthouse and
killing politicians, have been charged with federal terrorism counts.
Michael Robert
Solomon, 30, of New Brighton, Minnesota, and Benjamin Ryan Teeter, 22, of
Hampstead, North Carolina, are members of the “Boogaloo Bois,” authorities say.
They are charged
with conspiring to provide and attempting to provide material support to a
foreign terrorist organization, for allegedly building firearms suppressors
that they believed they sold to Hamas, and for allegedly offering to fight as
“mercenaries” for the group.
Assistant
Attorney General John Demers said in a statement that people who seek to engage
in terrorist activity will be held accountable, “no matter what witch’s brew of
ideological motivations inspire” them.
Solomon and
Teeter made their first court appearances via videoconference Friday in U.S.
District Court. They were both appointed federal defenders, but attorneys were
not immediately assigned to comment on their behalf.
Floyd, a Black
man, died May 25 after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee
against Floyd’s neck for nearly eight minutes, as Floyd repeatedly said he
couldn’t breathe. His death, captured on bystander video, sparked protests in
Minneapolis and beyond.
Authorities
began investigating the Boogaloo Bois after learning that some members were
discussing violence and were armed during the unrest in Minneapolis. Boogaloo
supporters, who use the movement’s name as a slang term for a second civil war
or collapse of civilization, frequently show up at protests armed with rifles
and wearing Hawaiian shirts.
According to an
FBI affidavit, Solomon posted a message on Facebook on May 26 asking people to
contact him on an encrypted platform. That same day, Teeter publicly posted:
“Lock and load boys. Boog flags are in the air, and the national network is
going off.” His public posts show he then traveled from North Carolina to
Minnesota.
A witness told
the FBI that Solomon was seen openly carrying a firearm and said he was part of
a Boogaloo Bois subgroup called the “Boojahideen,” and was willing to protect
the witness from police, white supremacists and looters. Solomon allegedly said
his mission was to get police out of the city. Later, the witness invited
Solomon, Teeter and another person to stay at the witness’s house, where they
spoke about committing acts of violence against police and other targets, the
affidavit says.
The witness said
Solomon and Teeter talked about attacking a National Guard Armory to steal
weapons and bombs. A paid informant, whom Teeter and Solomon believed to belong
to Hamas, later recorded a conversation in which Solomon, Teeter and another
person talked about shooting police.
During many
conversations, Solomon and Teeter told the informant that the views of Hamas —
a Palestinian Islamic political party — aligned with their own anti-government
views and that they wanted to work as “mercenaries” on behalf of Hamas’ armed
wing so they could earn cash for the Boogaloo movement. They said they needed
money to recruit members and buy land for a Boogaloo training compound.
According to the
affidavit, they came up with a plot to blow up a historical county courthouse
in northern Minnesota so they could “make a statement,” but then delayed that
plan. Solomon later said: “I want to murder a bunch of U.S. politicians. That’s
the statement I want to make.”
Solomon and
Teeter met an undercover FBI employee, whom they believed to be a more senior
member of Hamas, and offered to build firearms suppressors and other weapons
for the group. They believed the suppressors they sold went to Hamas to be used
overseas to attack Israeli and U.S. forces, the affidavit said.
When the
undercover FBI employee asked to explain killing politicians, Solomon said he
would “build a gallows ... in front of the Congress building in D.C. and just
start hanging politicians left and right.” When discussing possible security,
Teeter said he can shoot from a distance and, “you can’t stop threats that you
can’t see,″ the affidavit said.
https://apnews.com/1c6bd2d39c9b44cb5aa5c77d887e4686?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1504744_
--------
Europe
Manchester
bomber was seen 'praying' at venue before attack
7 Sep 2020
The Manchester
Arena bomber was spotted “praying” at the venue 50 minutes before he carried
out the attack and asked what he had in his rucksack, the inquiry into the
bombing has heard.
It was one of
two possible “missed opportunities” to stop Salman Abedi in the hour before the
bombing on 22 May 2017, the public inquiry into the attacks heard.
Opening the
inquiry on Monday, its chairman stressed he was “not looking for scapegoats”
but searching for the truth about how Salman Abedi planned and executed the
suicide attack, which killed 22 people and injured a further 260.
The inquiry,
which is being heard in a modified court room at Manchester magistrates court,
could not begin until Abedi’s younger brother, Hashem, was tried and convicted
of helping to plan the attacks, after being extradited from Libya last year. He
was sentenced to at least 55 years in prison in August.
The inquiry
opened with a minute’s silence to commemorate the 22 people killed in the May
2017 attacks, after their names were read out by Paul Greaney QC, counsel to
the inquest.
Families of the
bereaved attended the hearing, with others watching from an annex and many
others via YouTube, with spaces restricted due to Covid-19. Greaney reassured
them that the inquiry will “leave no stone unturned”.
The inquiry, set
up by the home secretary last year, will establish “how that attack came to
occur, whether it could have been prevented, whether the emergency response to
the attack was adequate, and what steps may be taken in future to prevent a
recurrence”, said Greaney.
The inquiry will
hear evidence which shows “that at least once, and possibly on two occasions,
someone drew attention to Salman Abedi acting suspiciously” said Greaney.
Two people
working at the Arena as part of an “anti-bootlegging operation” both described
seeing a man matching the appearance of Abedi at 21.41, 50 minutes before
before he detonated his bomb in the City Room foyer, said Greaney. One, William
Drysdale, remembers seeing someone with a large backpack sitting down in the
mezzanine overlooking the City Room and “believed that he was praying”, Greaney
said. CCTV footage shows Drysdale approaching an officer from British Transport
Police shortly afterwards.
Two further
witnesses, a couple who had taken their daughter and her friend to the concert
and returned to pick them up, remember seeing a man thought to be Abedi who
they thought “looked suspicious”, said Greaney. CCTV shows them approaching a
member of security staff, who then went to talk to a colleague at 22.23, eight
minutes before the detonation.
The father said
he approached a man matching Abedi’s description and asked: “What have you got
in your rucksack?” The man didn’t reply, so the witness told him: “It doesn’t
look very good, you know, what you see with bombs and such, you with a rucksack
like this in a place like this. What are you doing?” The man responded: “I’m
waiting for somebody, mate, have you got the time?”
The witness said
he raised his concerns with Mohammed Agha, an Arena security guard, but felt
“fobbed off”.
“Whether these
represent missed opportunities to prevent what happened that night or reduce
its scale is, as will be perfectly obvious, an issue of very considerable
importance,” said Greaney.
The inquiry was
shown CCTV footage of Abedi carrying out “hostile reconnaissance” at the Arena
on three occasions in the days leading up to the attack. He had landed at
Manchester airport on 18 May from Libya and travelled into Manchester, first
checking on a vehicle in which he had stored explosives and then arranging to
rent a flat at Granby House, near the Gay Village, from where he would later
assemble the bomb.
That evening,
Abedi was caught on CCTV going to the Arena and to the City Room foyer, where
he eventually detonated the bomb. Dressed all in black, he waited there for
several minutes, hands behind his back, staring at queues building up outside
the box office in what Greaney called a “chilling” image. “He was getting a
feel, no doubt, for the general area,” said Greaney, describing hostile
reconnaissance as “purposeful observation by terrorists or other criminals with
the intention of collecting information to inform the planning of a hostile act
against a specific target”.
“None of this
behaviour that we’ve seen would necessarily have been identified as suspicious
on this occasion. But the security experts are of the opinion are of the
opinion that this was, without doubt, an initial general reconnaissance by
Salman Abedi, which he used to identify CCTV locations and the ingress and
egress routes from the arena and he may have spotted on this occasion that the
raised level of the City Room was at that stage a CCTV blind spot,” said
Greaney.
The inquiry,
which will last into spring 2021, is being chaired by Sir John Saunders, a
retired high court judge.
He has been
criticised by families of the bereaved, as well as survivors, for agreeing to
hear evidence behind closed doors relating to whether the attack could have
been prevented – particularly as Abedi was known to the security services and
counter-terrorism police.
Justifying the
decision, Saunders said: “To do otherwise would damage efforts to prevent
further attacks and further tragedies such as this one and put more innocent
lives at risk.”
Much of the
inquiry will examine “what led Salman Abedi to do what he did” said Saunders:
“We will try and get a picture of the sort of person he was, how he may have
become radicalised, if he was, and if we can, who radicalised him. Whatever we
find out about Salman Abedi we will never be able to understand why he set out
to kill so many innocent people, including children, and cause the devastation
he did.”
Saunders added:
“This is an exercise in establishing the truth … if I conclude on the evidence
that things went wrong, then I shall say so. But we are not looking for
scapegoats, we are searching for the truth.
“Let us always
remember as we consider the evidence that the person who is directly
responsible for this tragedy is Salman Abedi. He, together with his brother
Hashem, killed 22 people and intended and hoped to kill many more.”
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/sep/07/manchester-bombing-inquiry-launches-promising-to-leave-no-stone-unturned?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1504744_
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Charlie Hebdo,
market attacks turned widow into fugitive
September 5,
2020
PARIS (AP) — The
fugitive widow of the Islamic State killer who plotted attacks against the
Charlie Hebdo satirical newspaper and a kosher market calls home to France once
a year to catch up, her sisters testified, offering new details about one of
the world’s most wanted women.
Hayat
Boumeddiene is the only woman among 14 people being tried in French terrorism
court for the January 7-9, 2015, attacks that left 17 people dead along with
all three attackers, including her husband.
Boumeddiene left
for Syria a few days before the attacks. She and the two men who arranged her
escape are being tried in absentia as accomplices in the attacks.
The other 11
defendants whose two-month trial began Sept. 2 are accused of helping with
logistics, including buying the weapons and tactical gear for brothers Saïd and
Chérif Kouachi and Amédy Coulibaly. Most say they had no idea the plan was for
a mass killing, saying they believed it was for an ordinary crime.
Saadia Benali,
whose family took in Boumeddiene for five years, late Friday described her
fugitive sister’s religious marriage to Coulibaly and the couple’s deepening
belief in ever more radical forms of Islam. Benali herself was dressed head to
toe in the black robe and veil worn by many devout Muslims as she testified.
She said
Coulibaly, a career criminal with multiple convictions for theft and violence
even before he stormed the Hyper Cacher supermarket, “was very sweet, gentle, respectful.”
“He went to the
extreme to avenge his brothers. I think he was someone who was just too
sensitive,” she said. “And Hayat lived for Amédy.”
Benali said
Boumeddiene calls her at least once a year, the last time at the end of 2019.
She said she didn’t bother telling police about it “because I know I’m being
tapped.”
Soon after the
attacks, Boumeddiene called to apologize, said her older sister, Keltoum.
“She apologized
for any trouble she could have caused us, but not for the rest,” Keltoum Boumeddiene
said. She didn’t talk much about her husband, Benali said.
“She just said
ISIS was so proud of what he’d done. She was very protected, she was doing her
thing, euphoric. She tried to get us to come to Syria. She was just in her own
world. I thought she’d been brainwashed,” Benali said.
More recently,
she’s been “less happy, less vibrant than she was at the beginning,” Keltoum
Boumeddiene said. But never has she said she wants to return to France. Her
sisters say she has no children.
Boumeddiene’s
own childhood was troubled. Her mother died when she was 8, and her first
foster family sent her away after she was accused of trying to beat up a
policewoman at age 14. She landed in the Benali family at age 14, and stayed
there until she met Coulibaly at age 19.
She kept her
relationship with Coulibaly hidden at first because her foster father didn’t
want her to marry an African.
“She went back
to her biological father to be able to marry him,” Benali said.
She hasn’t
mentioned any new relationships since, said her older sister, describing their
most recent call as “just catching up. From what she told me, she hasn’t made a
new life for herself. She’s single and surrounded by families and children.”
It was during
one of Coulibaly’s many stints in prison that he met one of the Kouachi
brothers — and most of the 11 other defendants. What most have in common are
past convictions for drug trafficking, violence or organized crime. Most have
used the word “shame” to describe their current predicament.
The only one of
the 11 accused as a direct accomplice in the attacks is Ali Riza Polat, a
friend of Coulibaly’s who described himself as “a man of money, not religion.”
“If I had just
stuck with drugs, I wouldn’t be here,” Polat said. Asked by the judge what he
would do if he leaves prison, Polat was unequivocal.
“I’ll go back to
crime, I tell you that openly. I’m not into religious conflict. I’m not against
anyone.”
As for Charlie
Hebdo and the attack on the supermarket? “You can’t do that. You can’t kill
people, innocent people.”
https://apnews.com/64538987afe114ac194e83320fbe1ab5?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1504744_
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Russia offers to
mediate between Cyprus, Turkey in maritime dispute
08 September
2020
Russia has
offered to mediate between Cyprus and Turkey in a dispute over energy
exploration rights in the Mediterranean Sea.
“As far as your
relations with Turkey are concerned, we are ready to promote dialog,
pragmatically based on mutual interests and in search of decisions, which will
be fair and based on international law,” Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov told Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades during a formal visit to the
island country’s capital of Nicosia on Tuesday.
Tensions have
escalated between Turkey on the one side and Greece and Cyprus on the other in
recent months over commercial rights in the eastern Mediterranean, which is
believed to be rich in natural gas.
Cyprus has been
divided into two parts since 1974. The northern third is run by a Turkish
Cypriot administration recognized only by Turkey, and the southern two-thirds
is governed by the internationally-recognized Greek Cypriot government.
Last Tuesday, US
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also contacted the Cypriot president to announce
that Washington was partially lifting its 33-year arms embargo on Cyprus.
The announcement
drew strong reaction from Turkey, which promised to take unspecified
countermeasures.
Turkey started
sailing a seismic research vessel and escorting naval ships in waters disputed
by fellow NATO member Greece in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, heightening
tensions with Athens over the limits of their continental shelves.
Greece has
deployed its own naval ships to shadow the Turkish vessels. Last month, one of
the Turkish vessels was involved in a minor collision with one of the Greek
ships.
Meanwhile,
France has stepped up its military presence in the area and cooperation with
both Greece and Cyprus in gestures of support.
Greece and
Turkey almost went to war in 1974 over Cyprus.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/09/08/633605/Russia-mediate-Cyprus-Turkey
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UK Supreme Court
to hear jihadist bride's citizenship case in November
SEPTEMBER 7,
2020
LONDON (Reuters)
- The UK Supreme Court will hear arguments in November for and against the
government’s decision to remove the UK citizenship of a British-born woman who
went to Syria as a schoolgirl to join Islamic State.
The case of
Shamima Begum has been the subject of a heated debate in Britain, pitting those
who say she forsook her right to citizenship and is a security threat, against
those who argue she should not be left stateless but rather face trial in
Britain.
Begum, who was
born to Bangladeshi parents, left London in 2015 when she was 15 and traveled
to Syria via Turkey with two schoolfriends. In Syria, she married an Islamic
State fighter and lived in the capital of the violent jihadist group’s
self-declared caliphate.
Britain stripped
her of her citizenship after she was discovered in 2019 in a detention camp in
Syria, where three of her children died. The government argued Begum was a
threat to national security and should not be allowed to return.
But the Court of
Appeal ruled in July that Begum should be let back into Britain to give her a
chance to appeal against the removal of her citizenship, a ruling the
government called “very disappointing”.
Five Supreme
Court justices will hear the government’s appeal against the July ruling as
well as Begum’s appeal against the original decision to strip her of her
citizenship during two days of hearings on Nov. 23 and 24.
Begum angered
many Britons by appearing unrepentant about seeing severed heads and saying a
suicide attack that killed 22 people in the English city of Manchester in 2017
was justified.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-security-begum/uk-supreme-court-to-hear-jihadist-brides-citizenship-case-in-november-idUSKBN25Y17H?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1504744_
--------
Portuguese
alleged ISIS supporters have 'link' to kidnapped British photographer
Simon Rushton
September 5,
2020
A terror cell
linked to a convicted ISIS-supporting British cleric went on to kidnap
journalist John Cantlie in Syria, a court will hear next week.
The court will
be told that two Portuguese defendants, Romulo Rodrigues da Costa and Cassimo
Ture, were part of the London-based Leyton cell that included a number of other
Portuguese nationals.
They allegedly
met in London before some of them travelled to Syria and became prominent ISIS
members, The Telegraph reported on Saturday.
They are due to
appear in court in Lisbon on Monday.
It has been
previously reported by the Sunday Times that members of the cell had links to
Anjem Choudary, who has been convicted of inviting support for a proscribed
organisation.
Rodrigues da
Costa is a hip-hop music producer whose brothers have been identified as known
associates of high-profile Western ISIS members and Ture is an alleged Isis
financier and recruiter.
The pair, and
six other defendants, are accused of supporting or funding the cell. The other
six are all missing, believed to be dead or detained in Syria.
Among the
missing defendants are Celso Rodrigues da Costa and Sadjo Ture. They are both
suspected of a role in the kidnap of Mr Cantlie, a British war photographer, in
July 2012.
Mr Cantlie is
still missing and has appeared in a number of ISIS videos.
Mr Choudary, who
was once known for vocally supporting ISIS, now lives in Iford, east London,
with strict licence conditions.
Ahead of next
week’s trial at Lisbon’s Court of Justice, the full indictment was released, in
which alleged codewords were also made public.
According to
prosecutors, ‘Bongofia’ was the British police, ‘Clisman’ or ‘Klinsmann’ was
Germany after the former football star, and Syria was ‘Discoteca’ or disco.
https://www.thenational.ae/world/europe/portuguese-alleged-isis-supporters-have-link-to-kidnapped-british-photographer-1.1073255?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1504744_
--------
Arab World
Charity founded
by Syrian tycoon Rami Makhlouf has Facebook page removed
Lemma Shehadi
09 September
2020
The Facebook
page of the Al Bustan Association, a Syrian charity founded by sanctioned
tycoon Rami Makhlouf, was removed this week, amid rumors that the influential
organization is being co-opted by President al-Assad.
The Al Bustan
Association supported Assad’s war efforts through hand-outs to the families of
fallen soldiers, and funding a loyalist militia of the same name. This,
alongside Makhlouf’s family pedigree, allowed him to command influence in the
Alawite community, that is also loyal to Assad.
For all the
latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
It not yet known
who deleted the page and when. Yet the move followed a report in Syrian media
that Al Bustan offices in Daraa now operate a new charity, al-Areen, which is
fronted by Assad and his wife Asma.
“It is clear
that they want to replace Makhlouf and his influence,” said Ayman Abdelnour, a
US-based activist and president of Syrian Christians for Peace. “They are
operating and ready to take over all of [Al Bustan’s] buildings.”
Makhlouf is
Assad’s first cousin and one of the regime’s chief financiers. Estimates of his
hidden wealth start at $5bn, and documents in the Panama Papers reveal how he
helped the sanctioned Syrian regime access funds.
His influential
aunt Aniseh, who came from a notable Alawite family, was Hafez al-Assad’s wife
and the mother of Bashar.
Yet since April
this year, Makhlouf has been embroiled in a public feud with Assad over who
should pay to save Syria’s collapsing economy. Makhlouf aired his grievances
through a series of videos on his Facebook page, and became the first regime
insider to publicly criticise the president from within the country.
Government
measures against Makhlouf included freezing his assets and those of his family,
arresting his employees and imposing a temporary travel ban. Yet his family’s
inextricable ties to the Assads have made him a difficult opponent to remove.
Charities at the
heart of Makhlouf-Assad feud
Charities - both
Makhlouf’s and Assad’s - are at the heart of this ongoing dispute.
When Makhlouf
spoke out for the first time against government measures to seize his assets,
he mentioned his charitable work. Weeks later, after Al Bustan iterated its
loyalty to Assad on Facebook, Makhlouf publicly donated $2.9million.
Just weeks after
Makhlouf’s first video, President’s wife Asma al-Assad, who runs her own
network of charities, launched a nationwide campaign to support the families of
fallen soldiers.
Then, in June,
she and Assad launched Al-Areen. “As long as Al Bustan exists, the people will
connect it to Rami Makhlouf, ” said Abdelnour, who likened the creation of
Al-Areen as a “rebrand.”
So far, little
is known about Al Areen’s administrative structure and operations. The charity
was registered in the city of Hama and its board members have yet to be
announced. A promotional video published on Al Areen’s Facebook page last week
is narrated by both Assad and his wife Asma. “It’s the first time they appear
together and as equals,” said Abdelnour.
Yet despite
attempts to curb Makhlouf's financial might and erode his influence, the
tycoon's fate in Syria remains uncertain.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/09/09/Charity-founded-by-Syrian-tycoon-Rami-Makhlouf-has-Facebook-page-removed
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First official
Israeli trade delegation visits UAE with CEO of Israel’s biggest bank
Emily Judd
08 September
2020
The first
official Israeli trade delegation arrived in the UAE on Tuesday, including the
CEO of the biggest bank in Israel.
Dov Kotler, the
head of Bank Hapoalim, landed in Dubai and is set to meet with government
officials and the heads of the largest banks in the UAE, according to Reuters.
It is the first
ever official Israeli trade delegation in the UAE.
Kotler said the
visit is “a unique opportunity to establish economic relations and cooperation
between our countries and their financial systems, which will yield economic
growth for both parties,” according to Reuters.
First Abu Dhabi
Bank, the UAE’s largest bank, said last week that it will open discussions with
“leading financial institutions in Israel, namely Bank Hapoalim and Bank
Leumi,” following last month’s historic agreement between the UAE and Israel.
“The discussions
will look to establish banking relationships that will strengthen financial and
economic cooperation between UAE and Israel, focusing on correspondent banking,
bilateral trade, and technology and innovation,” First Abu Dhabi Bank said in a
statement on Twitter.
The visit
follows the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on September 1 between the
two countries on banking and finance.
Next Monday, a
second delegation from another leading bank in Israel, Bank Leumi, will travel
to the UAE. The group will be led by Chairman Samer Haj Yehia.
Bank Hapoalim
and Bank Leumi are Israel’s number one and two banks, respectively.
An Israeli
minister said Monday that annual trade between Israel and the UAE is expected
to reach $4 billion.
“Within three to
five years trade between Israel and the United Arab Emirates will reach $4
billion,” Israeli Intelligence Minister Eli Cohen told Israel’s Reshet Bet
radio station.
The UAE issued a
decree abolishing a previous law that mandated an economic boycott of Israel on
August 29.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/business/economy/2020/09/08/First-official-Israeli-trade-delegation-visits-UAE-with-CEO-of-Israel-s-biggest-bank
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Lebanon, Israel
getting closer to negotiating disputed borders: US official
Joseph Haboush
09 Sep 2020
Beirut and Tel
Aviv are getting closer to agreeing on a framework on their disputed borders, a
senior US official said Tuesday days after returning from a trip to the region.
Lebanon and
Israel are technically in a state of war, but recent studies showing potential
offshore natural gas reserves have drawn the attention of Washington to mediate
an agreement to both countries’ borders.
For all the
latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Several US
envoys have attempted to find common ground between the two countries; however,
US Assistant Secretary of Near Eastern Affairs David Schenker said Tuesday
progress was being made.
“I think we’re
getting closer, and this will open the opportunity for both Lebanon and Israel
to make some real progress,” Schenker told reporters in a phone briefing.
The US diplomat
was referring to an agreement that would provide the framework for “actually
starting to negotiate on the borders.”
Schenker said
the framework was important and should have been completed “a long time ago.”
He would not
elaborate on the points which are holding up a final agreement.
Senior political
sources familiar with the ongoing discussions between Lebanon and the US said
that Schenker was expected to announce the agreement during his trip to Beirut
last week.
This appears to
have been pushed. “I hope to be able to come over to Lebanon and sign this
agreement in the coming weeks,” Schenker said.
The UN
peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) continues to work to reach an agreement
on the land border, which is currently separated by a UN-demarcated Blue Line.
Lebanon disputes 13 of the 200 points along its southern border.
At least three
different US envoys have exerted significant diplomatic efforts to help resolve
the maritime border dispute. In 2012, Frederic Hof, most notably, proposed
dividing the disputed waters along what became the “Hof Line.” This would see
Lebanon take 500 sq. km. out of the 842.
During his trip
to Beirut last week, Schenker shunned Lebanese officials in a sign of
Washington’s frustration with the ruling elite. Hundreds of thousands of
Lebanese protesters took to the streets last October, demanding an end to
endemic corruption.
Nevertheless,
Schenker said he did speak with a top adviser to Lebanon’s parliament speaker.
“I hope and I
believe that we are making some incremental progress and looking forward to
finishing up with this framework agreement so you and the Israelis can …
negotiate about your borders,” Schenker told Al Arabiya English.
“This has gone
on way too long. It’s been an unfortunate waste of time,” he added.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/2020/09/08/Lebanon-Israel-getting-closer-to-negotiating-disputed-borders-US-official
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Saudi crown
prince’s Misk Foundation under review amid espionage scandals: Report
09 September
2020
Saudi Crown
Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s flagship “charity” foundation is said to be under
review in the kingdom after it was mired in a series of scandals, including
involvement in espionage activities on US soil.
Citing a Saudi
official, the Financial Times newspaper reported on Tuesday that the review was
ordered by the Riyadh government after the US Justice Department appeared to
refer to the Misk Foundation and one of its senior officials in a lawsuit in
November against two former Twitter employees and a third man.
The trio was
accused of spying on users of the social media platform on behalf of the Riyadh
regime.
The organization
and its former secretary general Bader al-Askar were also named as defendants
alongside bin Salman in another suit filed in the US in August by Saad
la-Jabri, an ex-Saudi intelligence official living in exile.
“It [the
allegations in the lawsuits] has brought scrutiny to something that has done
phenomenal things,” said the Saudi official, who requested anonymity. “I’m
pretty sure the crown prince was furious that this jewel was linked to this.”
Bin Salman
founded the Misk Foundation in 2011, years before he was appointed heir to the
Saudi throne.
The foundation
has been a crucial tool in the crown prince’s efforts to promote his brand
overseas and sign partnerships with international entities, including the UN,
the Gates Foundation, Bloomberg, Harvard University and General Electric.
However, Misk’s
affiliation to bin Salman caused both the Gates Foundation and Harvard to cut
their ties with the organization in the wake of the state-sponsored killing of
dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the kingdom’s consulate in
Istanbul in October 2018.
The US Justice
Department’s lawsuit referred to “Foreign Official-1” who was secretary general
of “Organization No 1” founded by a Saudi royal. The description matches Askar
and Misk, respectively.
The filing said
the defendants accused of spying for Riyadh in 2014 and 2015 had interactions
with Foreign Official-1, and that he provided them with “gifts, cash payments
and promises of future employment in exchange for non-public information about
Twitter users.”
Meanwhile,
Jabri’s lawsuit also said bin Salman had sent a hit squad to Canada to
assassinate him less than two weeks after Khashoggi’s murder.
The Misk
Foundation conspired with Askar and the crown prince to “covertly recruit
individuals to serve as agents and who participated in the hunt” for Jabri in
the US, the suit read, adding that the “campaign” offered employment at the
organization as a “reward” for those who aided bin Salman and Askar.
It also quoted a
person close to the Jabri family as saying that in September 2017, Misk
employees repeatedly asked one of his sons and his friends for contact details
for the ex-Saudi intelligence official and his wife, as well as about his
residency status in the US.
Around that
time, the lawsuit asserted, bin Salman and his aides sent threatening messages
to Jabri, who had left the kingdom in May 2017, trying to force him to return.
Back in June,
Saudi activists had raised questions about Askar’s whereabouts as his social
media accounts had fallen quiet.
Soon afterwards,
activity on his Twitter account resumed, but sources told the Middle East Eye
(MEE) news portal that the former Misk secretary general had been detained.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/09/09/633664/Saudi-Arabia-bin-Salman-Misk-Foundation-scandals
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Africa
ISIL claims
responsibility for deadly Tunisia knife attack
7 Sept 2020
The ISIL (ISIS)
armed group claimed responsibility on Monday for a knife attack in Tunisia that
killed one National Guard officer and wounded another as security forces
rounded up more suspects.
The attack on
Sunday in a tourist district of the coastal city of Sousse saw a group of
assailants ram a patrol of the National Guard with a vehicle before stabbing
the officers.
They were chased
by security forces before three attackers were shot dead in an ensuing gun
battle, the Guard said, describing it as a "terrorist" act.
The armed group
said its "fighters" carried out the attack in a brief statement by
its propaganda arm Amaq on the Telegram messenger service.
"Photos
show that one of the attackers was wearing a T-shirt with a specific
inscription to Daesh [ISIL]," said Mokhtar Ben Nasr, former head of the
National Counter-Terrorism Commission, stressing it was difficult to establish
precise links between the group and its supporters.
Tunisia, since
its 2011 revolution, has been hit by a string of attacks that have killed
dozens of security personnel, civilians, and foreign tourists.
Sunday's
incident took place close to the site of the deadliest attack when 38 people -
most of them British tourists - were killed in a 2015 beachside shooting
rampage.
Family arrested
Tunisian
authorities on Monday said they had arrested seven people over the attack.
The wounded
officer was "in a stable condition", the interior ministry spokesman
said.
National Guard
officer Sami Mrabet, a 38-year-old father of two, was buried on Monday in his
hometown of Moknine south of Sousse, in the presence of more than 1,000 people,
including several government officials.
Since Sunday, 43
people have been questioned and seven arrested, Guard spokesman Houcem Eddine
Jebabli told private station Radio Shems.
They included
"the wife of one of the assailants, who described her husband as a
'martyr' during the interrogation", he said.
Two brothers of
one of the attackers and a person suspected of recruiting them were also
arrested, he added.
He said the
attackers were twin brothers and a third man from the marginalised northwestern
region of Siliana. He did not confirm or deny reports of a fourth assailant.
Jebabli said the
twins had visited Facebook pages dealing with "explosive and armed
attacks", but had stayed under the radar of the authorities.
Tunisia's
President Kais Saied - on a visit on Sunday to the scene of the knife attack -
said police were investigating whether it was planned "by individuals or
an organisation".
Prime Minister
Hichem Mechichi promised to "eradicate terrorists as soon as
possible".
Mechichi, in a
statement from his office, urged Tunisians "not to be afraid" of
assailants, whom he described as "microbes".
Sunday's attack
was the first since March when a suicide operation against security forces
protecting the US embassy in Tunis killed a Tunisian police officer and left
several others wounded.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/09/isil-claims-responsibility-deadly-tunisia-knife-attack-200907155806696.html?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1504744_
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Truck Bomb in
Somalia Kills 3 and Wounds 3, Including a U.S. Soldier
By Abdi Latif
Dahir
Sept. 7, 2020
NAIROBI, Kenya —
Three Somali military officers were killed and two others injured along with an
American service member in a bombing in southern Somalia on Monday, the
authorities said, the latest example of a deadly insurgency that has continued
to wreak havoc in the Horn of Africa nation.
Officials in
Jubaland State said an explosives-laden pickup truck exploded around 8 a.m. at
a military outpost in the Jana Abdalle area in the Lower Juba region of
southern Somalia. The attack came just days after Somali forces, with the
support of American military personnel, reclaimed the area from the Somali
terrorist group Al Shabab.
The authorities
said the area, about 37 miles from the port city of Kismayo, had been used by
the group as a hub to raise funds by taxing and extorting civilians moving
across the region.
In recent years,
the Shabab, who are a branch of Al Qaeda’s terrorist network and seek to
overthrow Somalia’s Western-backed government, have lost many of the cities and
villages they once controlled. Despite facing a record number of drone strikes,
the group has morphed into a more nimble and lethal outfit, carrying out
massive attacks against civilian and military targets across Somalia and
neighboring countries.
No group has so
far claimed responsibility for the attack on Monday, but pro-Shabab media
outlets reported that the extremist group had carried it out.
“After their
defeat, we were expecting attacks like this,” Mohamed Ahmed Sabrie, the
director of communications at the office of the regional president of Jubaland,
said in a phone interview. “But nothing will stop us from freeing more areas
from the Shabab and ensuring the safety of our people. We will do all we can.”
Mr. Sabrie said
the wounded were airlifted to Kismayo for treatment.
Col. Chris
Karns, the director of public affairs for the United States Africa Command,
said in a statement that the U.S. forces were assisting Somali troops as part
of efforts to curb the reach and movement of Shabab militants.
The wounded
service member, he said, was “in stable condition and receiving treatment for
injuries that are not assessed to be life-threatening.” At least one Shabab
fighter was killed during the attack, the U.S. Africa Command said.
Recent attacks
by the Shabab include an assault last month at a popular hotel in the Somali
capital, Mogadishu, that left 11 people dead and 18 others injured. That attack
happened just days after 19 guards and inmates were killed after members of the
insurgency attempted to escape Mogadishu’s central prison.
In June, the
Shabab attacked a Turkish military base in Mogadishu, and in January, the group
killed three Americans after they targeted a Kenyan military base used as an
outstation by American troops. In late December, the group was blamed for
detonating an explosives-laden truck that killed 82 people, including 16
university students.
The incessant
attacks have cost the lives of hundreds of people, including prominent
journalists, rights advocates, politicians, religious leaders and
entrepreneurs.
To weaken the
Shabab’s presence, Somali forces work alongside troops from the African Union
peacekeeping operations, which include forces from Kenya, Djibouti, Burundi,
Uganda and Ethiopia. There are also about 650 to 700 U.S. troops in Somalia,
most of them Special Operations forces, who are fighting the Shabab from small
outposts alongside local troops.
Hussein Mohamed
contributed reporting from Mogadishu, Somalia.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/07/world/africa/somalia-attack-us-soldier.html?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1504744_
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About 10 Malian
soldiers killed in militant attack, army says
SEPTEMBER 4,
2020
BAMAKO (Reuters)
- Militants killed around 10 Malian soldiers on Thursday near the west-central
town of Guire, the army said, the deadliest such attack against the armed
forces since an Aug. 18 military coup.
International
powers fear the ousting of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita could further
destabilise the West African nation and undermine the fight against insurgents
linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State in the wider Sahel region.
The latest
attack, which targeted a resupplying mission, took place at 6 p.m. and also
caused injuries and material damage, the army said in a statement on Friday.
Reinforcements
have been dispatched to the area, it said.
Islamist groups
operate in arid central and northern Mali, using the area as a base to attack
soldiers and civilians in neighbouring Burkina Faso, Niger and beyond.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mali-security/about-10-malian-soldiers-killed-in-militant-attack-army-says-idUSKBN25V28T?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1504744_
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