Teenager Inspired by Anders Brevik Convicted in the UK

July 22, 2019 Article

A teenager who saw Anders Breivik and those behind the Columbine High School massacre as his “poster boys” has been convicted of attempting to possess a firearm and ammunition with intent to endanger life.

Kyle Davies, 19, ordered a Glock 17 handgun and five rounds of ammunition from an online gun dealer on the dark web after developing a “deep and persistent” interest in mass shootings during his A-Levels.

The order was intercepted by Homeland Security at Newark Airport in New York, with police arresting Davies at his home in Gloucester after delivering a dummy package to him.

A jury at Gloucester Crown Court unanimously convicted Davies of attempting to possess a firearm with intent to endanger life and attempting to possess five rounds of ammunition with intent to endanger life.

Their verdicts followed a two-week trial at the court.

Davies insisted he had bought the gun and ammunition to kill himself and was not planning a mass shooting.

But when officers searched his bedroom after his arrest, they discovered handwritten notes relating to planning a massacre and Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people in Norway in 2011.

A USB drive contained thousands of pages of documents relating to massacres and explosives, including a number of how-to guides.

Officers from the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit said they had stopped Davies at “phase one” of his plan and found no evidence that he had identified a target.

Judge Paul Cook will sentence Davies at a later date, telling the defendant that he required reports to assess the level of danger he poses to the public.

Detective Inspector Kevin Till, of the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit, said: “The depth of research Davies had carried out and the extent of his planning under what he himself termed ‘phase one’ leaves us in no doubt he was intending to follow in the footsteps of the murderers he idolised.

“The intervention by Homeland Security at Newark Airport undoubtedly led us to a very dangerous individual.

“A meticulous investigation, closely supported by forensic experts and the CPS, has clearly shown his intent to harm others and, ultimately, ensured he never had the opportunity to move on to ‘phase two’.”

Howard Phillips of the CPS said: “Davies’ notes did not identify a target and did not demonstrate an ideology or aim that would support a charge under terrorism legislation.

“The challenge for the CPS was therefore to prove that his intent when purchasing the hand gun was to endanger the lives of others, and not just to take his own life as he claimed.

“We will thankfully never know what the consequences would have been had the gun and ammunition Davies attempted to import actually made it into his hands.”

James Mancuso, of Homeland Security Investigations in London, said: “We stand shoulder to shoulder with our UK law enforcement partners and their fight against firearms trafficking.

“Through this partnership, we have been able to prevent a man from obtaining a firearm and ammunition, which has potentially foiled a mass casualty event.

“We commend the dynamic and impressive work of the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit and other UK law enforcement teams that participated in this operation.

“Their dedication to ensuring the safety of their residents has undoubtedly saved lives.”

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Categories: Anders Brevik, Columbine School, Kyle Davies, News

Salih Khater – Guilty of Trying to Kill Cyclists & Police Officers Outside the Houses of Parliament

July 17, 2019 Article

A student has been found guilty of trying to kill cyclists and police officers outside the Houses of Parliament.

Salih Khater, 30, ploughed his Ford Fiesta into a pedestrian and a group of cyclists who had stopped at a red light in Parliament Square on August 14 last year.

He then careered into a security lane and crashed into barriers as two police officers jumped out of the way.

The attack was caught on CCTV footage which was played in court.

The Old Bailey heard Khater, of Highgate Street, Birmingham, wanted to cause maximum carnage and it was “miraculous” that no-one was killed.

But Khater claimed he came to London to find the Sudanese embassy to get a visa, “got lost” around Westminster and panicked.

The jury deliberated over two days before rejecting his explanation and finding him guilty of two charges of attempted murder.

Khater made no reaction as he was found guilty of the charges.

Mrs Justice McGowan remanded him into custody to be sentenced on October 7. She ordered pre-sentence reports to help her determine Khater’s potential dangerousness.

Jenny Hopkins, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “It was only quick reactions and good luck that stopped Salih Khater killing anyone when he drove his car into cyclists and police officers outside Westminster.

“His driving was so precise and determined that it was difficult for skilled accident investigators to repeat the manoeuvre he carried out.

“Whatever his motives, this was not an accident. It was a deliberate attempt to kill and maim as many people as possible.”

During the trial, prosecutor Alison Morgan QC said Khater’s attack was “premeditated and deliberate”.

She said: “He caused widespread fear and chaos but miraculously, and contrary to his intentions, he did not kill anyone that day.

“Those who were faced with a vehicle being driven at them at high velocity somehow, and largely by their quick responses, managed to avoid death or very serious injury.”

Ms Morgan told jurors Khater’s reason for the attack was unclear but by targeting officers guarding the Palace of Westminster the defendant had a “terrorist motive”.

The court heard how Khater was born in Sudan and was granted asylum in Britain in 2010, after claiming he had been tortured in his home country.

In the months before the attack, the defendant showed signs of “paranoia” about British authorities, it was claimed.

He had failed his accountancy exams at the University of Coventry and his work as a security guard had dried up.

On May 24 last year, he emailed Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to express concern about an “event” involving the intelligence services, the court heard.

The day before the attack, Khater had travelled to Peterborough and unsuccessfully applied for a fast-track UK passport, the court heard.

He then set off from Birmingham to London just before 10pm, arriving after midnight.

Evidence from his mobile phone showed he had looked up maps for 10 Downing Street and Westminster on the internet as potential “deliberate targets”.

CCTV captured Khater arriving in Parliament Square just before 1am and driving around Westminster, checking the layout for the attack five or six hours later.

He then parked up and rested for four-and-a-half hours in Windmill Street in Soho before returning to Parliament Square for further reconnaissance.

He went on to do four laps of the square before launching the rush-hour attack.

Pedestrian Paul Brown was crossing the road when Khater’s car “came out of nowhere” and hit him, causing bruising and grazes.

Krystof Tokarski and Anya Breen were cycling to work and were waiting at traffic lights when Khater revved his engine and knocked them down.

Mr Tokarski suffered grazes and a broken little finger while Ms Breen was thrown over the bonnet, fracturing her collar bone.

Other people were trapped under their bikes, with some screaming in pain.

The defendant made a sharp turn into a slip road, going 32mph, forcing Pc Darren Shotton and Pc Simon Short to dive out of the way.

As armed police removed Khater from the car, the defendant confirmed he was acting alone but failed to explain himself.

Giving evidence, Khater said he wanted to return to Sudan to visit his sick mother and had Googled Downing Street and Westminster in his bid to find his way around central London.

He told jurors he “got lost” and “panicked” when he collided into cyclists and was trying to pull over when he crashed into barriers in the security lane.

He said: “I remember something made me panic. The car was not in my full control at the time.”

Commander Clarke Jarrett, head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said: “Salih Khater carried out an appalling act to deliberately target both members of the public and police officers, trying to kill and injure them.

“My thoughts are with the victims and I hope today’s verdict means those affected can begin to put the ordeal behind them.

“Through our investigation, we found that Khater acted completely alone.

We made extensive inquiries and searched his address and his digital devices, seeking evidence that could explain why he did this.

“Khater remained silent throughout our investigation and only at his trial offered the implausible explanation that it was an accident.

However, the evidence showed otherwise and he now faces a considerable time in prison.”

The post Salih Khater – Guilty of Trying to Kill Cyclists & Police Officers Outside the Houses of Parliament appeared first on Faith Matters.

Categories: cyclists, News, Salih Khater, terrorist attack, Westminster

Farhad Salah, Guilty of Terror Plot Using Bomb in Remote Controlled Vehicle

July 12, 2019 Article

An Iraqi-Kurd man has been found guilty of planning a terror attack using a bomb in a remotely-controlled vehicle.

Farhad Salah, 24, was found guilty at Sheffield Crown Court on Friday of preparing to commit acts of terrorism.

Jurors heard that Salah posted on social media about using a driverless car in an attack. But the jury cleared his co-defendant, Chesterfield chip shop owner Andy Star, 32, who was charged with the same offence.

This is the second time Salah and Mr Star have been tried on these charges. A jury failed to reach verdicts on either man following a trial last year.

Judge Paul Watson QC told Mr Star a decision had been made that he should not face a second retrial and a not guilty verdict was recorded in his case.

He said Mr Star could go free but was informed that he will continue to be detained on immigration matters.

The judge said Salah will be sentenced on July 24. Prosecutors told the five-week trial that Salah and Mr Star were in the early stages of testing small improvised explosive devices when they were arrested in high-profile raids on their homes in a Sheffield community centre and a Chesterfield fish and chip shop in December 2017.

But Mr Star has always insisted that gunpowder and other items found in his flat above the chip shop were all connected to his long-standing interest in fireworks. Salah was found guilty on a majority of 10 to 2 after the jury deliberated for almost three days.

When the judge recorded Star’s formal acquittal, a woman shouted “Terrorist” loudly from the jury box. Counter-terror police said Salah was not close to achieving his aim of putting a device in a vehicle but officers believe he was a “very real risk to the safety of the public in the UK”.

The raids in Sheffield and Chesterfield happened in the months following the Manchester Arena explosion, the terror attacks on Westminster and London Bridge, and at a time when there were fears that another atrocity was being planned for the Christmas period.

But police said they have never been able to identify Salah’s intended target.

Opening the case, prosecutor Anne Whyte QC told the jury: “The intention was to manufacture a device which would be placed in a vehicle but controlled remotely so that no-one had to martyr themselves in the process.”

She said that, a week before he was arrested, Salah messaged a contact on Facebook saying: “My only attempt is to find a way to carry out martyrdom operation with cars without driver, everything is perfect only the programme is left …”

The prosecutor said: “Farhad Salah had decided that improvised explosive devices could be made and used in a way here in the UK that spared his own life preferably but harmed others he considered to be infidels.”

The court heard how both defendants are Iraqi nationals.

Salah arrived at Heathrow Airport in December 2014 and applied for asylum. This application had not been determined by the time he was arrested. Mr Star was arrested in 2008 on suspicion of being an illegal immigrant and later told officials he had arrived in the UK by lorry.

He was given “leave to remain” in 2010 and eventually given refugee status, with “indefinite leave to remain” in February 2016.

At the beginning of the trial, Miss Whyte told the jury that Salah was a supporter of Islamic State (IS), despite him being an Iraqi-Kurd – a nationality usually associated with the fight against the terror group.

Gunpowder, homemade fuses and explosive chemicals were found when Mr Star’s Mermaid Fish Bar, in Chesterfield, was raided by armed police and similar items were found in the Fatima Community Centre, in Sheffield, were Salah lived.

Prosecutors told the jury that the items found in the raided premises showed the pair were testing small-scale explosive devices at both locations and the primary “laboratory” was at the chip shop, but Mr Star told police and both his trials that it was just paraphernalia connected with making fireworks.

Salah, of Brunswick Road, Sheffield, showed no emotion as he was led from the dock.

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Categories: Farhad Salah, News, Terror Plot

Rami Malek Says He Asked for Reassurances Before Accepting James Bond Terrorist Character

July 3, 2019 Article

Rami Malek said he sought assurances about his character in the upcoming James Bond film before taking the role.

The Oscar-winning actor, who is of Egyptian descent, revealed he spoke with director Cary Fukunaga and asked if the terrorist he had been asked to play had any religious affiliations.

Only when Malek was told religion would play no part did he sign up for the as-yet-untitled film.

Speaking to the Mirror, he said: “It’s a great character and I’m very excited. But that was one thing that I discussed with Cary.

“I said, ‘We cannot identify him with any act of terrorism reflecting an ideology or a religion. That’s not something I would entertain, so if that is why I am your choice then you can count me out’.

“But that was clearly not his vision. So he’s a very different kind of terrorist.

“It’s another extremely clever script from the people who have figured out exactly what people want in those movies.”

Malek, who won the best actor Academy Award in February for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury in Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, will star in Bond 25 alongside Daniel Craig, who will reprise his role as 007.

Also appearing in the film are Lashana Lynch and Ana De Armas, who are new to the franchise, while Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris and Ben Whishaw are all returning.

The film, set for release in April next year, has been plagued by issues during filming.

A “controlled explosion” damaging the outside of the famous 007 Stage at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire left a crew member suffering a “minor injury”.

And Craig, 51, underwent “minor ankle surgery” after injuring himself during filming in Jamaica.

The post Rami Malek Says He Asked for Reassurances Before Accepting James Bond Terrorist Character appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Categories: James Bond, News, Remi Malek, terrorism

Prevent Advisory Groups Within Areas Like Redbridge Are Inviting Groups Who Have a Torrid History

June 10, 2019 Article

We within Faith Matters, have made the decision to disengage from any further association with the Redbridge Prevent Advisory Group. This group, which is meant to provide advice, support and scrutiny where possible on local Prevent programmes, now constitutes of some individuals who are part of groups who see nothing positive in Prevent and who regularly lambast counter-extremism work at every turn. Their position is nothing more than a form of posturing against the Government, whilst seeking to build a culture of victimisation within local communities.

Depressingly, allied to this, is the fact that the Home Office has an advisory role with Prevent Advisory Groups on a national basis. It seems that Home Office civil servants don’t want to ‘rock the boat’ around what is taking place in Redbridge and this highlights a depressing approach to countering extremism. It is the old tactic of seeking to ‘win over’ groups who frankly, want the legitimacy of being able to attack the Government through such platforms. It simply plays to their audiences that they have nurtured with a steady diet of fear mongering and victim baiting.

One of the representatives now being included is from a group that has actively attacked other projects, had a history of staff making antisemitic comments and which has sought to attack Prevent at every opportunity. It has also had associates promote the return of Hamas operative Khalid Meshal to Gaza with a narrative using Islamic verses. Another former supporter of the very group that is being invited to be on the Redbridge Advisory Group, promoted material that suggested that Israel should be ‘relocated to the United States’. Both had played a significant set of roles in the organisation that is now being given a seat at the table of the Redbridge Advisory Group.

The leader of Redbridge Council, Cllr Jas Athwal, has been steadfast in his desire to challenge and counter extremism and he has repeatedly said that all forms of extremism must be challenged. He has shown leadership in this matter and it is therefore concerning that officers and their counterparts in the Home office have approved the inclusion of an individual associated with such a group. This not only sends out the wrong message to those Muslims who have been attacked by such groups, it also sends a huge message to Jewish communities who have repeatedly spoken out against such groups. It says that their voices are being set aside in the battle against extremism, in order to ‘tick box’ engagement, whilst undermining the very values of tolerance, fairness and balance that we all seek to defend.

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Categories: countering extremism, Faith Matters, Jas Athwal, News, Opinions, Prevent Advisory Group, Redbridge Advisory Group

Hanzalah Patel and Safwaan Mansur – Convicted of Preparing for Terrorist Acts

May 20, 2019 Article

Two friends convicted of preparing for terrorist acts in support of the so-called Islamic State after trying to reach Syria have been jailed.

Safwaan Mansur, from Birmingham, and Hanzalah Patel, from Leicester, travelled to Turkey in 2016 and 2017 after checking out an area near the Syrian border on TripAdvisor, a two-week trial was told.

Prosecutors alleged that the men had attempted to explain away their travel plans as an “innocent camping holiday”.

The men were each sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court on Monday to 14 years in prison, West Midlands Police said.

At the men’s trial, jurors heard that the pair, who spent nine days in jail in Turkey in 2017 after being arrested at an Istanbul hotel, bought camping equipment, outdoor survival clothing and airline tickets before travelling initially to Germany.

Prosecutors alleged that Mansur, 22, of Hampton Road, Aston, and Patel, also 22, of Frederick Road, Leicester, undertook a 24-hour bus journey from Istanbul to near the Syrian border during a previous visit to Turkey in 2016.

The men were arrested at Heathrow Airport in 2017 after being reported missing by family members.

Patel’s father contacted police in June that year after becoming concerned, having learned that his son had lied about leading prayers at a mosque in Germany.

During subsequent questioning by police, the men’s trial heard that Mansur said he had gone to Turkey’s Hatay province – described in court as a “transit area” for Syria – in 2016 to “have a look” like “lots of other tourists”.

Claiming items including water purifiers and solar chargers were found in the men’s luggage, Simon Davis, prosecuting, told the court: “Mr Patel, when interviewed, throughout maintained a no comment stance, as was his right.”

Jurors were told that Mansur said items in his luggage were gifts for friends at a mosque in Germany, where he intended to stop off en route to or from Turkey.

Outlining Mansur’s account, Mr Davis told the jury panel: “The people at the mosque liked outdoor pursuits like camping – that was the explanation being given.”

Lawyers acting for both defendants said the men had formed a “naive and idiotic” plan to cross into Syria, but had no intention of fighting or committing acts of terrorism.

However, jurors convicted the pair after trial, on April 1.

Following sentencing, acting head of the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit Chief Superintendent Shaun Edwards said: “If anyone is concerned that a friend or family member is thinking of travelling to Syria, it is very important that they tell us as soon as possible.

“Police and other agencies can offer support to help safeguard those who are vulnerable to radicalisers.

“The sooner we can intervene, the better chance we have of preventing people from becoming embroiled in the conflict and facing potential prosecution.”

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Categories: Hanzalah Patel, Islamic State, News, Safwaan Mansur, Syria

Roman Kneblewski – An Ultra-Nationalist, Anti-Migrant and anti-LGBT Activist in Finchley

March 13, 2019 Article

The Polish Catholic Parish in Finchley has just announced on it’s website that this year it’s Lent Retreat – (17 to 20 March) – will be led by Roman Kneblewski, a radical priest from Poland known for his ultra-nationalist, anti-immigrant and anti-LGBT messages:

Kneblewski repeatedly praised ONR (‘Obóz Narodowo-Radykalny’ or ‘National-Radical Camp’), a Polish Fascist youth movement.

He is on record as saying:

“I wouldn’t condemn Fascism. If by Fascism we mean Francoism for example, which saved Catholic Spain from communist criminals, then I’m all for it.”

He also expressed full support for Jacek Międlar, an extremist former priest who is banned from entering the U.K. Kneblewski stated that Międlar’s anti-Semitic and hateful rhetoric is in fact a “language of love”. He also called Międlar “a good Catholic and a good Pole”.

Photo of Kneblewski and Międlar together

In a sermon, Kneblewski repeatedly called refugees heading for Europe an “invasion of Islamists”, adding that should they come to Poland, they would “slit throats, rape women and force children to become Muslims”.

In the same sermon he stated:

“Those invaders come here and they want benefits which they see as a tribute owed to them by us, infidel dogs” and: “Whoever encourages to accept those invaders is a sinner”.

On his Facebook profile, he wrote: “The Qur’an should be burned! Burn it, nothing else!”

He also approved of burying pig carcasses on mosque construction sites as a possible method of preventing mosques from being built.

Kneblewski is also known for his hostility to LGBT communities. In an online sermon he called homosexuality a “heinous perversion”.

Speaking about Anna Grodzka, the first Polish  transgendered politician, Kneblewski stated:

“Some individuals shouldn’t even see a psychiatrist but a vet. And I will have to see a gastro-enterologist as I’m getting a gag reflex”.

Kneblewski also hosted a lecture by Paul Cameron, an American anti-LGBT pseudo-scientist, in his parish in Poland. The lecture was titled “The Myths of Homo-Propaganda”.

Considering there are thousands of Catholic priests in Poland, most of whom preach a message of love, peace and respect, one has to ask why would the Polish Parish in Finchley choose such an individual to lead their faithful during a Lent Retreat? It is a legitimate question and we will be letting the relevant authorities know.

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Categories: Jacek Miedlar, LGBT hate, News, Polish Catholic Parish, Roman Knebleswki

Bosnian women struggle to return female relatives, children from Syria

March 11, 2019 Article

A quarter of a century after their own country was devastated by war, three Bosnian women are struggling to bring home loved ones caught up in Syria’s ruinous conflict and the collapse of Islamic State rule.

The Bosnian government, in common with its counterparts across Europe, lacks a clear plan to deal with the families of defeated fighters of the ultra-hardline militant group.

For Bosnia, the predicament has a particular historical resonance: Bosnian Muslims generally practise a mainstream form of Islam, but some adopted radical beliefs from the foreign fighters who came to the country during its 1992-95 war and fought with Muslims against Orthodox Serbs and Catholic Croats.

When Syria’s war broke out in 2011, some Bosnians joined Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. But the three Bosnian women say the daughters and a sister whose return they seek — plus their nine children — have played no role in militancy.

“Our only goal is to bring our children back home and finish this agony as soon as possible,” said Senija Muhamedagic from the northwestern town of Cazin, who joined forces with two other women to press authorities to help their relatives return.

Their daughters and sister, stuck with their children in a camp in northern Syria since November 2017, are desperate to return, saying they were forced to go to Syria by radicalised husbands and were ready to face charges at court if needed.

Alema Dolamic, whose sister was left widowed with three children after her husband was killed in fighting in 2017, has created a closed Facebook page for families of the people from the Western Balkans who are still in Syria to exchange information.

“It’s been going for five years, I practically don’t have my life anymore,” Dolamic told Reuters in her home near the central town of Tesanj.

“I am trying to imagine reunion with her, with children, but it’s unimaginable,” she said, showing the pictures of the children on her phone.

“THE CHILDREN ARE NOT GUILTY”

Hundreds of people are believed to have left Europe to fight for Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. With the Islamist militant group down to its last shred of territory, more and more of them are asking to come home.

According to Bosnian intelligence, 241 adults and 80 children left from 2012-2016 from Bosnia or the Bosnian diaspora for Syria and Iraq, where 150 more children were born.

About 100 adults, including 49 women, remained there while at least 88 have been killed or died. About 50 have returned to Bosnia, including seven children.

“I feel terrible, miserable, because the children are not guilty, they did not have a choice,” said the third woman, from Sarajevo, awaiting a government decision on the repatriation of her 22-year-old daughter and her two children from Syria.

“Every day I think, my God, when will this child of mine come, to see her, to hold her, to feel her, and then anything may happen, it won’t matter anymore.”

The three women have been talking to police, security and intelligence agencies and government ministries for more than a year, supplying them with information and documents in the hope that their children, who they say were not involved in any military activities, would come back.

But as elsewhere in Europe, the Bosnian authorities have been slow to address the families’ pleas, their concern being the security challenges that might arise with the return of people from a war zone and environment of militancy.

REPATRIATION STILL NOT IN SIGHT

Their reunion still seems distant.

The Bosnian central government announced last year it would set up a coordination body to deal with the return of Islamic fighters and their families, but it has yet to be formed. It does not help that a new government has not been established after a general election in October.

“There are certainly security aspects of their return, it cannot be perceived as if just some women and children should be returned to Bosnia from somewhere,” Security Minister Dragan Mektic told Reuters.

Mektic said Bosnia was obliged to accept the women who held its citizenship but not their children who were never registered as Bosnian citizens, adding also that it could not be determined with certainty if their warrior husbands were really killed.

And even if they return, they are set to face a difficult process of re-socialisation and reintegration in a country where programmes to address such problems do not exist, warned Vlado Azinovic, an expert on terrorism and lecturer at the Sarajevo University School for Political Sciences.

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Categories: Bosnian Women, children, Islamic State, News, Syria

Extremism – Italy: Islamic State fighter wants to return to Italy, warns of ‘sleeper cells’

March 11, 2019 Article

An Islamic State fighter detained in Syria urged Italy on Saturday to let him come home to start a new life, saying he had abandoned the self-styled jihadist “caliphate” after growing disillusioned with its rulers.

Mounsef al-Mkhayar, a 22-year-old of Moroccan descent who grew up in Italy, spoke to Reuters in his first interview since surrendering to the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) two months ago.

He has been in prison since emerging from Baghouz, a tiny village in eastern Syria where the SDF is poised to wipe out the last vestige of Islamic State rule – which once spanned a third of Iraq and Syria.

Mkhayar gave an account of growing chaos among jihadists on the brink of defeat, and of disputes in the ranks as top commanders fled Syria.

But he said Islamic State was also planning for the next phase, smuggling out hundreds of men to set up sleeper cells across Iraq and eastern Syria: “They said ‘We must get revenge.’”

Mkhayar is one of thousands from all over the world who were drawn to the promise of an ultra-radical Sunni Islamist utopia overriding national borders. Kurdish security officials identified him as Italian, and he said he holds Italian citizenship.

“I wish to return to Italy to my family and friends … for them to accept and help me to live a new life,” said Mkhayar, who walks on crutches after shelling injured his leg. “I just want to get out of this movie, I’m tired.”

FROM MILAN TO MAYADIN

Mkhayar was sentenced to eight years in jail by a Milan court in 2017 for spreading Islamic State propaganda and trying to recruit Italians to its cause, according to Italian media. As a result, he is likely to have to serve this sentence if he does return to Italy.

Reuters interviewed him at a security office in northern Syria in the presence of an SDF official.

As it nears victory, the SDF has struggled with the dilemma of holding fighters who travelled from abroad to join Islamic State along with women and children.

Before the final assault on Baghouz, the Kurdish-led SDF said it had around 800 foreign militants in jails and 2,000 of their wives and children in camps. Since then, the numbers have ballooned.

The SDF wants them sent back where they came from. But foreign governments generally do not want to receive citizens who may be hard to prosecute, and who pledged allegiance to a caliphate that left behind of a trail of butchery.

Once an atheist with an affinity for rap music and a dream of moving to America, Mkhayar joined Islamic State at 18.

He said he had spent most of his life in Milan with an aunt he calls his mother, before being placed in a home for troubled youths overseen by an Italian priest. He spent a month in prison on drugs charges.

Then he began immersing himself in Islamic State videos on YouTube and speaking to recruiters on Facebook. It took him only a month to decide to move to Syria with a friend four years ago.

His friend was later killed on the battlefield. After military and religious training, Mkhayar fought on various fronts. As Islamic State lost its Syrian headquarters at Raqqa, he left for Mayadin on the Euphrates river in Syria, then moved further east across the desert, towards the Iraqi border.

“WE’RE GETTING OUT”

Amid a string of military defeats in eastern Syria, Islamic State leaders were in disarray, killing off rival clerics and commanders known as emirs, Mkhayar said.

He said he had tried to quit the fighting but had been imprisoned, and then dispatched back to the frontlines as attacks intensified.

He wound up in Baghouz, where he said the jihadists were split between wanting to give up or fight to the death.

Mkhayar said his wife, a Syrian Kurdish woman from Kobani whom he had married three years ago, helped convince him to leave.

“‘That’s it,’ we said, ‘we’re getting out.’ I saw my little daughter turning weak. I was scared my children would die.”

Mkhayar said he could not sleep thinking about his wife and two daughters in a camp for displaced people in another part of northeast Syria. His wife is due to give birth in a month.

He said he still believed in the idea of a caliphate for Muslims, but accused Islamic State rulers of governing their land like “a mafia”, seeking only to make money and violating their own rules with impunity.

Commanders had stolen money and fled to Turkey, Iraq or Western Europe while ordering people to stay and defend Islam, he said.

“This is my belief and I won’t change it, but here in Islamic State, in reality this doesn’t exist … There is no justice,” he said.

“Honestly, I came here too fast … When I arrived, I found another story.”

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Categories: Baghouz, Islamic State, Kurdish, Mayadin, Milan, Mkhayar, News

IS Brides: Two Belgian women, renouncing Islamic State, fear kids will never go home

March 10, 2019 Article

Two Belgian women who joined Islamic State in Syria said on Sunday they were losing hope they will ever go home after a Belgian court overturned a ruling to repatriate them with their six children.

Tatiana Wielandt and Bouchra Abouallal, each 26, said that as much as it pains them, they would send the children to Belgium for a better life and stay behind if it came to that.

“What do I wish to receive? A ticket home,” Abouallal said at the sprawling Ain Issa camp enclosed by wire fences in northern Syria. “I understand people are afraid … They are judging us but they don’t know us.”

European nations are wrestling with how to handle militants and their families seeking to return as Islamic State’s self-declared caliphate crumbles.

The prospect of repatriation has sparked a fierce public debate in Brussels and other European capitals, where there is little sympathy for the families of jihadists with the trauma of attacks still fresh. Few governments want to take back their citizens, who may be hard to prosecute.

Last year, a judge ordered Belgium to return the two women and the children they had with militants. But the state fought the case, fearing it would set a precedent, and won an appeal in February.

“These children can’t live. They have no education. They have nothing,” Wielandt told Reuters in the women’s first interview since the Belgian state won the appeal. Her youngest son, blond and barefoot, clung to her clothes.

The government sought to make a distinction between the mothers – sisters-in-law who were convicted in absentia of being Islamic State militants – and the children who officials say cannot be guilty of their parent’s actions.

Like other parents across Europe, the grandmother of the six children, aged from 10 months to seven years, has tried to bring them back for over a year.

Belgium says it will stick by a 2017 decision to allow back all children under 10 from Iraq and Syria, but it is no longer under pressure from its judiciary to act in the case of the six.

U.S.-backed forces in Syria, holding thousands of foreign jihadists along with their wives and children, say they cannot keep them forever.

HOUSE FULL OF TOYS

Wielandt and her school friend said they turned against Islamic State as they saw its militants brutally murder people, including foreigners who had joined its cause.

They got smuggled out of Islamic State territory and surrendered to the Kurdish forces in Ain Issa in late 2017 after the jihadists lost their base in Syria’s Raqqa city, where they lived. They said they spent two months in prison before being sent to a camp in the northeast.

The sisters-in-law are among 17 Belgian women and 32 children in Syria, security sources say.

Wielandt converted to Islam to marry Abouallal’s brother when they were still teens. Soon after, they left with their husbands for Syria – each with a baby – like more than 400 Belgians who headed to the conflict zone.

Their husbands died within a year. Each pregnant with a second child, the two widows returned to Belgium in 2014.

When Abouallal’s mother, Fatiha, was away on vacation a few months later, they fled again – leaving her heartbroken with an empty house full of toys near Antwerp.

Abouallal said they went to Syria in 2015 after feeling under “pressure” when police questioned them in Belgium or people blamed them for Islamic State attacks in Europe.

“I was thinking I’m going to live my whole life like this,” she added. “And we still had a little bit this ideology.”

“I NEED TO GET PUNISHED”

The second time they joined Islamic State, both married again and had children: Wielandt to a Dutch militant, who was killed, and Abouallal to a man from Trinidad, who surrendered with them.

The sisters-in-law said they stood ready to face jail time and get help. Abouallal said she burst into tears the last time she heard a plane flying overhead.

“I don’t even fight this. I made a mistake and I need to get punished for it,” she added. “If I ever go back to Belgium, I hope they give me an injection or whatever to forget this whole part of our lives.”

Nearly a month ago, they were moved to the Ain Issa camp, where the children live among scores of tarpaulin tents in the dirt.

They said they received threats from more extremist women for showing their faces or not wearing black.

“I don’t have a lot of hope anymore,” Abouallal said, her eyes filling with tears. “I know my mother did everything for us after everything we did to her.”

The post IS Brides: Two Belgian women, renouncing Islamic State, fear kids will never go home appeared first on Faith Matters.

Categories: Ain Issa, Bouchra Aboualla, IS Brides, News, Tatiana Wielandt