Ball bearings in Liverpool bomb could have caused significant death, police say

November 19, 2021 Article

The bomb used in the Liverpool Remembrance Sunday attack was a homemade explosive with ball bearings attached to it and could have caused “significant injury or death”, police have said.

Emad Al Swealmeen, 32, died when the taxi he was a passenger in exploded outside the Liverpool Women’s Hospital just before 11am on Sunday.

In an update on Friday, Assistant Chief Constable Russ Jackson, head of Counter Terrorism Police North West, said: “Although there is much scientific work to do on the device to determine what made it up, we have learned a great deal over the past five days.

“It was made using homemade explosive and had ball bearings attached to it which would have acted as shrapnel.

“Had it detonated in different circumstances we believe it would have caused significant injury or death.

“We still do not know how or why the device exploded when it did, but we are not discounting it being completely unintentional, and it is a possibility that the movement of the vehicle or its stopping caused the ignition.

“We are spending considerable time seeking to understand the way the purchases for the ingredients to make the device were made.

“This is complicated because purchases have spanned many months and Al Swealmeen has used many aliases.

“We are confident however that in time we will get a full picture of what purchases were made and how, and if anyone else was involved or knew what Al Swealmeen was up to.”

He said there was no link between the incident and the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017, which he said involved a different type of device.

Taxi driver David Perry escaped from the explosion with injuries.

Mr Jackson said “significant progress” was being made in the investigation, which includes ongoing searches at addresses in Sutcliffe Street and Rutland Avenue in Liverpool.

He said: “Officers spoke with the brother of Al Swealmeen yesterday evening and this has given us an insight into his early years and an understanding of Al Swealmeen’s life and his recent state of mind which is an important line of investigation.

“We are grateful for members of the public who knew him and have contacted us.”

While an Islamist plot is one line of inquiry, the PA news agency understands investigators are still keeping an open mind and the motivation is still yet to be established.

Police and security services are still thought to be working on the current understanding that the hospital was the intended target.

The asylum seeker, who had converted to Christianity, reportedly arrived in the UK from the Middle East in 2014 and had an application for asylum rejected the following year, but had a fresh appeal ongoing at the time of his death.

Earlier this week, Home Secretary Secretary Priti Patel claimed he had been able to exploit Britain’s “dysfunctional” immigration system by staying in the country.

Police said Al Swealmeen had been renting the property in Rutland Avenue, near Sefton Park, since April and was making “relevant purchases” for his bomb from at least that time.

Read more: Liverpool attacker had been buying bomb parts since April

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Categories: Ball bearings, David Perry, Emad Al Swealmeen, Liverpool bomber, Liverpool Remembrance Sunday, News, terrorism

Liverpool attacker had been buying bomb parts ‘at least since April’

November 17, 2021 Article

The Liverpool bomber had been buying bomb components since at least April, police have revealed.

Assistant Chief Constable Russ Jackson said that Iraq-born Emad Al Swealmeen had rented a property in Liverpool seven months ago and had started making “relevant purchases” for his homemade bomb “at least” since that time.

In an update issued on Wednesday he said: “A complex picture is emerging over the purchases of the component parts of the device, we know that Al Swealmeen rented the property from April this year and we believe relevant purchases have been made at least since that time.

“We have now traced a next of kin for Al Swealmeen who has informed us that he was born in Iraq.”

He also said that the 32-year-old asylum seeker had suffered from periods of mental illness that will “form part of the investigation and will take some time to fully understand”.

Mr Jackson added: “There is much comment in the media about Al Swealmeen and it is clear that he was known to many people. We continue to appeal for people who knew him, especially those who associated with him this year as we try and piece together the events leading up to this incident and the reasons for it.

“At this time we are not finding any link to others in the Merseyside area of concern but this remains a fast moving investigation and as more becomes known we cannot rule out action against others.”

Earlier, Home Secretary Priti Patel claimed that Al Swealmeen, who reportedly arrived in the UK from the Middle East in 2014 and had an application for asylum rejected the following year, had been able to exploit Britain’s “dysfunctional” immigration system by staying in the country.

She said the system was a “complete merry-go-round” with a “whole industry” devoted to defending the rights of individuals intent on causing harm.

Christian convert Al Swealmeen died in the blast in a taxi outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital shortly before 11am on Remembrance Sunday.

Concerns have been raised that some asylum seekers in the city may have pretended to convert to Christianity in order to bolster their visa applications.

Liverpool Cathedral, where Al Swealmeen was baptised in 2015 and confirmed in 2017, said that asylum seekers who convert would be expected to be “closely connected” with the congregation for at least two years before staff would support a visa application.

A spokesman said: “Liverpool Cathedral has developed robust processes for discerning whether someone might be expressing a genuine commitment to faith.

“These include requirements for regular attendance alongside taking part in a recognised Christian basics course. We would expect someone to be closely connected with the community for at least two years before we would consider supporting an application.”

According to newspaper reports, Ms Patel told reporters on her flight to the US capital that the case showed why the Government was right to reform the asylum system.

“The case in Liverpool was a complete reflection of how dysfunctional, how broken, the system has been in the past, and why I want to bring changes forward,” she was quoted as saying.

“It’s a complete merry-go-round and it has been exploited. A whole sort of professional legal services industry has based itself on rights of appeal, going to the courts day-in day-out at the expense of the taxpayers through legal aid. That is effectively what we need to change.”

A couple who took in Al Swealmeen after his appeal against the asylum ruling was rejected insisted that he had been an “absolutely genuine” Christian with a “real passion for Jesus Christ”.

Malcolm and Elizabeth Hitchcott said they had been contacted by Al Swealmeen, who also used the name Enzo Almeni, in 2017 when he was “desperate” for somewhere to stay.

Mr Hitchcott told BBC Radio Merseyside: “He arrived here on April 1 2017. He was with us then for eight months, and during that time we saw him really blossoming in regards to his Christian faith.

“He really had a passion about Jesus that I wish many Christians had, and he was ready to learn.

“He was keen on reading his Bible and every night we used to pray – my wife and him, and if there was anybody else in the house – we prayed for half an hour or so and studied the scriptures.

“He was absolutely genuine, as far as I could tell. I was in no doubt by the time that he left us at the end of that eight months that he was a Christian.”

It is understood however that an Islamist plot is one line of inquiry being considered by police, although investigators are keeping an open mind and the motivation is yet to be established.

Official sources told the PA news agency the current understanding is still that the hospital was the intended target.

The inquiry is examining, among other possibilities, whether the main charge on the device failed to explode and if the homemade explosive TATP was used.

Searches have been carried out at the property in Rutland Avenue that had been rented since April by Al Swealmeen, and a second property in Sutcliffe Street, where officers believe he previously lived.

The incident has been declared a terrorist attack and the UK terror threat level has since been raised from substantial to severe, meaning an attack is “highly likely” rather than “likely”.

The post Liverpool attacker had been buying bomb parts ‘at least since April’ appeared first on Faith Matters.

Categories: Asylum, Christianity, Emad Al Swealmeen, Liverpool bomber

Liverpool attacker had been buying bomb parts ‘at least since April’

November 17, 2021 Article

The Liverpool bomber had been buying bomb components since at least April, police have revealed.

Assistant Chief Constable Russ Jackson said that Iraq-born Emad Al Swealmeen had rented a property in Liverpool seven months ago and had started making “relevant purchases” for his homemade bomb “at least” since that time.

In an update issued on Wednesday he said: “A complex picture is emerging over the purchases of the component parts of the device, we know that Al Swealmeen rented the property from April this year and we believe relevant purchases have been made at least since that time.

“We have now traced a next of kin for Al Swealmeen who has informed us that he was born in Iraq.”

He also said that the 32-year-old asylum seeker had suffered from periods of mental illness that will “form part of the investigation and will take some time to fully understand”.

Mr Jackson added: “There is much comment in the media about Al Swealmeen and it is clear that he was known to many people. We continue to appeal for people who knew him, especially those who associated with him this year as we try and piece together the events leading up to this incident and the reasons for it.

“At this time we are not finding any link to others in the Merseyside area of concern but this remains a fast moving investigation and as more becomes known we cannot rule out action against others.”

Earlier, Home Secretary Priti Patel claimed that Al Swealmeen, who reportedly arrived in the UK from the Middle East in 2014 and had an application for asylum rejected the following year, had been able to exploit Britain’s “dysfunctional” immigration system by staying in the country.

She said the system was a “complete merry-go-round” with a “whole industry” devoted to defending the rights of individuals intent on causing harm.

Christian convert Al Swealmeen died in the blast in a taxi outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital shortly before 11am on Remembrance Sunday.

Concerns have been raised that some asylum seekers in the city may have pretended to convert to Christianity in order to bolster their visa applications.

Liverpool Cathedral, where Al Swealmeen was baptised in 2015 and confirmed in 2017, said that asylum seekers who convert would be expected to be “closely connected” with the congregation for at least two years before staff would support a visa application.

A spokesman said: “Liverpool Cathedral has developed robust processes for discerning whether someone might be expressing a genuine commitment to faith.

“These include requirements for regular attendance alongside taking part in a recognised Christian basics course. We would expect someone to be closely connected with the community for at least two years before we would consider supporting an application.”

According to newspaper reports, Ms Patel told reporters on her flight to the US capital that the case showed why the Government was right to reform the asylum system.

“The case in Liverpool was a complete reflection of how dysfunctional, how broken, the system has been in the past, and why I want to bring changes forward,” she was quoted as saying.

“It’s a complete merry-go-round and it has been exploited. A whole sort of professional legal services industry has based itself on rights of appeal, going to the courts day-in day-out at the expense of the taxpayers through legal aid. That is effectively what we need to change.”

A couple who took in Al Swealmeen after his appeal against the asylum ruling was rejected insisted that he had been an “absolutely genuine” Christian with a “real passion for Jesus Christ”.

Malcolm and Elizabeth Hitchcott said they had been contacted by Al Swealmeen, who also used the name Enzo Almeni, in 2017 when he was “desperate” for somewhere to stay.

Mr Hitchcott told BBC Radio Merseyside: “He arrived here on April 1 2017. He was with us then for eight months, and during that time we saw him really blossoming in regards to his Christian faith.

“He really had a passion about Jesus that I wish many Christians had, and he was ready to learn.

“He was keen on reading his Bible and every night we used to pray – my wife and him, and if there was anybody else in the house – we prayed for half an hour or so and studied the scriptures.

“He was absolutely genuine, as far as I could tell. I was in no doubt by the time that he left us at the end of that eight months that he was a Christian.”

It is understood however that an Islamist plot is one line of inquiry being considered by police, although investigators are keeping an open mind and the motivation is yet to be established.

Official sources told the PA news agency the current understanding is still that the hospital was the intended target.

The inquiry is examining, among other possibilities, whether the main charge on the device failed to explode and if the homemade explosive TATP was used.

Searches have been carried out at the property in Rutland Avenue that had been rented since April by Al Swealmeen, and a second property in Sutcliffe Street, where officers believe he previously lived.

The incident has been declared a terrorist attack and the UK terror threat level has since been raised from substantial to severe, meaning an attack is “highly likely” rather than “likely”.

The post Liverpool attacker had been buying bomb parts ‘at least since April’ appeared first on Faith Matters.

Categories: Asylum, Christianity, Emad Al Swealmeen, Liverpool bomber

Alleged co-founder of neo-Nazi group coined term ‘white jihad’, court hears

November 3, 2021 Article

The alleged co-founder of a neo-Nazi terror group dedicated to starting a race war in Britain has been likened to the Third Reich’s propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels, a court has heard.

Ben Raymond, 32, is accused of setting up the “unapologetically racist” National Action group to wage a “white jihad” and race war in Britain.

Bristol Crown Court heard the group was established in 2013 and was banned under terror legislation in 2016 – joining the likes of the IRA, Isis and al Qaida – becoming the first far-right group proscribed since the British Union of Fascists in 1940.

Barnaby Jameson QC, prosecuting, said: “Terrorists have many faces. Some are obvious. Some are not. Some are harmless-looking, educated and articulate.

“Some you could pass in the street without ever suspecting they were the founder of an organisation so extreme it was banned under the terrorism legislation.

“Some you would never suspect they were steeped in extremist and fanatical ideology. Some you would never suspect they were pre-occupied with thoughts of extreme terrorist violence.

“Some you would never suspect they were continuously scheming to advance a violent terrorist agenda.

“Some of you would never suspect Ben Raymond, the defendant in this case.

“It was the defendant who coined the description ‘white jihad’. The word ‘jihad’ is borrowed from Islamic terrorism.

“The word ‘white’ denotes the stripe of this brand of terror – neo-Nazism – ‘white terror’ with a direct throwback to Nazi Germany.

“The terror celebrated by adherents of Hitler and the architects of the Holocaust. The terror of violent ethnic cleansing.

“For the defendant and his cohorts, the work of Adolf Hitler was, and remains, unfinished. The Final Solution to the Jewish question – to use Hitler’s words – remains to be answered by complete eradication.

“The ultimate aim of this secretive group of white jihadists was all-out race war or ‘Rassenkrieg’. Members of National Action were heavily armed and aggressive. The group was small, secretive and paranoid.”

The court heard National Action was equipped with more than just “knives and attitude” and had access to rifles, a pump action shotgun, a machete, a crossbow and CS gas.

Mr Jameson told the jury Raymond was the “public face” of National Action and was careful not to stockpile weapons or carry out attacks himself.

“His jihad was fought with words and images. He was, like Joseph Goebbels of the original cabal of Nazis, the natural head of propaganda,” he said.

“He gave media interviews, setting out the group’s virulent ethnic cleansing agenda to the media with sometimes transcendental calm. Other times his message was more direct.

“The defendant had a role – pre-ban and post – in the leadership and direction of the group, in its ideology, its activism, its recruitment and its operations security also known as ‘OpSec’.

“While others dealt with the day-to-day running of the group, the defendant became its propagandist and roving ambassador, acting as a point of contact with other neo-Nazi groups in Eastern Europe, Norway and the US.”

Mr Jameson alleged that after it was outlawed in December 2016, it morphed into a new group called NS131 – National Socialist Anti-Capitalist Action – which Raymond was involved with.

He was also accused of creating images for a Midlands-based group called KKK Mafia.

Mr Jameson explained to the jury of seven men and five women the ideology of National Action was rooted in Hitler and based upon the Sturmabteilung, a Nazi paramilitary group active in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s.

He said National Action was against Jews, Muslims, people of colour, Asians, anyone gay, as well as liberals.

Mr Jameson said Raymond had links to other people convicted of being members of National Action, such as soldier Mikko Vehvilainen, Alice Cutter and Mark Jones.

He said he was also linked to Jack Renshaw – who plotted the murder of MP Rosie Cooper – and Zack Davies, who attacked an Asian dentist in a supermarket with a machete.

Raymond, of Beechcroft Road, Swindon, Wiltshire, is accused of seven offences – one of membership of a proscribed organisation contrary to Section 11 of the Terrorism Act and six of possessing a document or record of use to a terrorist contrary to Section 58 of the Act.

According to the charges, the material includes documents entitled “Ethnic Cleaning Operations”, “2083 – European Declaration of Independence by Andrew Berwick”, “Homemade Detonators by Ragnar Benson”, “TM 31-210 Improvised Munitions Handbook”, “Homemade Molotov Cocktail” and “Cluster Bomb”.

The trial continues.

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Categories: Ben Raymond, Final solution, Hitler, Joseph Goebbels, National Action, Nazi Germany, neo-Nazi terror, News, Third Reich

Woman now thought to be Afghanistan’s last Jew flees country

October 31, 2021 Article

For years, Zebulon Simentov branded himself as the “last Jew of Afghanistan.” He charged reporters for interviews and held court in Kabul’s only remaining synagogue. He left the country last month for Istanbul after the Taliban seized power.

Now it appears he was not the last one.

Simentov’s distant cousin, Tova Moradi, was born and raised in Kabul and lived there until last week. Fearing for their safety, Moradi, her children and nearly two dozen grandchildren fled the country in recent weeks in an escape orchestrated by an Israeli aid group, activists and prominent Jewish philanthropists.

“I loved my country, loved it very much, but had to leave because my children were in danger,” Moradi told The Associated Press from her modest quarters in the Albanian town of Golem, whose beachside resorts have been converted to makeshift homes for some 2,000 Afghan refugees.

Moradi, 83, was one of 10 children born to a Jewish family in Kabul. At the age of 16, she ran away from home and married a Muslim man. She never converted to Islam, maintained some Jewish traditions, and it was no secret that she was Jewish.

“She never denied her Judaism, she just got married in order to save her life as you cannot be safe as a young girl in Afghanistan,” her daughter, Khorshid, told the AP from her home in Canada, where she and three of her siblings moved after the Taliban first seized power in Afghanistan in the 1990s.

Despite friction over her decision to marry outside the faith, Moradi stayed in touch with some of her family over the years. Her parents and siblings fled Afghanistan in the 1960s and 1980s. Her parents are buried at Jerusalem’s Har Menuhot cemetery, and many of her surviving siblings and their descendants live in Israel.

But until this week, she had not spoken to some of her sisters in over half a century.

“Yesterday, I saw my sisters, nieces and nephews after around 60 years through a video call. We spoke for hours,” Moradi said. “I was really happy, I saw their children and they met mine.”

“They said ‘it’s like she came back from the grave,’” Khorshid said.

During the first period of Taliban rule, from 1996 until the 2001 US-led invasion, Moradi tried to maintain a low profile. But she risked her life by hiding Rabbi Isaak Levi, one of the few remaining Afghan Jews, from the Taliban.

Levi and Simentov lived together for years in the decrepit synagogue in Kabul but famously despised one another and fought often. The Taliban usually left them alone, but intervened during one such dispute, arresting them, beating them and confiscating the synagogue’s ancient Torah scroll.

IsraAid CEO Yotam Polizer said the organisation, which has provided relief after disasters such as the Japanese tsunami in 2011 and the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, had already extracted the Afghan women’s cycling team and dozens of other Afghans from the country when it heard about Moradi and her family.

He said Afghan diplomats overseas, Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s office, and Jewish businessmen. worked together to get them out.

Now, Moradi and six of her relatives are in Albania, and another 25 relatives made it to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates earlier this week. They hope to secure passage to Canada to reunite with her children who live there.

The post Woman now thought to be Afghanistan’s last Jew flees country appeared first on Faith Matters.

Categories: Afghanistan, Eastern Afghanistan, Flee, Last Jew, News, Taliban, Zebulon Simentov

Pakistan’s government reaches deal with Islamists to end protest

October 31, 2021 Article

Pakistan’s government and an outlawed radical Islamist party reached an agreement to end a 10-day long, and at times deadly violent, rally calling for the closure of France’s embassy and the release of the party’s leader.

Neither foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi nor religious leader Mufti Muneebur Rehman, who took part in the talks, gave any details of the agreement at a news conference in the capital Islamabad.

Thousands of supporters of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Labiak Pakistan party marched from Lahore on October 22 toward the capital Islamabad.

They demanded the expulsion of France’s envoy to Pakistan over publication of caricatures of Islam’s Prophet Mohammed in France.

The protest march saw supporters clash with police at several points along the way.

At least seven police officers and four demonstrators were killed.

“Details and positive results of the agreement will come before the nation in a week or so,” said Mr Rehman, who said he had the endorsement of TLP party leader Saad Rizvi.

The violence erupted a day after the government of prime minister Imran Khan said it would not accept the Islamists’ demand to close the French Embassy and expel the French envoy.

It was not immediately clear on Sunday when the party would end its rally.

Thousands of supporters halted their march in Wazirabad, about 115 miles from the capital on Friday after roads and bridges ahead of them were blocked.

Paramilitary rangers were deployed to stop the protesters from continuing toward the capital.

Sajid Saifi, TLP spokesman, said supporters were ready to “pack up” but were awaiting instructions from the party’s leadership.

He said he hoped party leader Mr Rizvi and all the supporters arrested in recent days would be released soon.

Besides demanding expulsion of the French ambassador, the TLP was also pressing for the release of its leader, Mr Rizvi, who was arrested last year for inciting supporters to stage an anti-France protest.

Mr Rizvi’s party started demanding the expulsion of a French envoy in October 2020 after French President Emmanuel Macron tried to defend caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed as freedom of expression.

Mr Macron’s comments came after a young Muslim beheaded a French school teacher who had shown the caricatures in class.

The images were republished by the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo to mark the opening of the trial over the deadly 2015 attack against the publication for the original caricatures.

Mr Rizvi’s party gained prominence in Pakistan’s 2018 elections, campaigning on the single issue of defending the country’s blasphemy law, which calls for the death penalty for anyone who insults Islam.

The post Pakistan’s government reaches deal with Islamists to end protest appeared first on Faith Matters.

Categories: Charlie Hebdo, France, Government, Islam's Prophet Muhammad, Islamists, Macron, News, Pakistan, Saad Rizvi, Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan, TLP

Satanic teenager jailed for life for murdering sisters

October 28, 2021 Article

A teenager has been jailed for at least 35 years for murdering two sisters as part of a Satanic blood pact.

Danyal Hussein, 19, savagely stabbed Bibaa Henry, 46, and Nicole Smallman, 27, to death in a Wembley park in June last year.

The Old Bailey heard he had embarked on a “campaign of vengeance” against random women in a failed bid to win the Mega Millions Super Jackpot lottery prize of £321 million.

Police tracked him down through DNA and uncovered a handwritten pledge to a demonic entity called King Lucifuge Rofocale to kill six women every six months, which was signed in blood.

Hussein declined to give evidence in his trial, claiming he was not responsible for the killings or for writing the pact.

He was found guilty of two counts of murder and possession of a knife.

Following Hussein’s conviction in July, the sisters’ mother, the Venerable Mina Smallman, said she had “never come across such evil”.

On Thursday, Hussein appeared in court by video link from Belmarsh top security jail for “Covid reasons” while the sisters’ family sat in court.

Mrs Justice Whipple sentenced Hussein to life in prison with a minimum term of 35 years.

She told Hussein: “In the early hours of Saturday June 6 2020 you brutally murdered Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry.

“You had found these two women. You were a stranger to them. You surprised them, you terrified them and you killed them.”

She said Hussein had dragged the bodies away and posed them in an embrace to “defile” them in death.

The judge said the lives of his victims’ loved ones had been “shattered”.

She referred to a victim impact statement by the sisters’ mother who described being “haunted” by the knowledge of how her children suffered.

On the pact with the devil, the judge said: “I am sure you performed these murders as part of that bargain for wealth and power.”

As “bizarre” as the pact seemed, it was part of his belief system, she added.

She told Hussein: “You committed these vicious attacks. You did it to kill. You did it for money and a misguided pursuit of power.”

The defendant sat facing away from the court as he was sentenced.

Earlier, prosecutor Oliver Glasgow QC ruled out a whole life order for Hussein because of his age.

Mr Glasgow said there were “significant” aggravating features, included taking a knife to the scene and destruction of evidence.

He said: “His offending is a product of his belief in Satanism and his belief you could enter into a bargain with a devil.

“That belief system is something he researched for some time.”

In preparation for the killing, Hussein bought knives from Asda and a black balaclava on Amazon and signed up to a lottery betting website.

In the early hours of June 6 last year, he stalked his victims as they celebrated Ms Henry’s birthday in Fryent Country Park in Wembley, north London.

Hussein stabbed Ms Henry eight times, before he slashed Ms Smallman 28 times as she bravely fought back.

He then dragged them into bushes where they lay undiscovered for 36 hours.

During the savage attack, Hussein cut his right hand with the 12cm knife, which he dropped in the grass.

Over the next 10 days, Hussein spent £162.88 on lottery tickets and bets – all without success.

On the evening of June 6, the sisters’ worried loved ones reported them missing, but officers were not deployed to the park until the next day.

Before they arrived, Ms Smallman’s frantic boyfriend Adam Stone, who could not believe she would have left their pet bearded dragon unattended, found the bodies.

Officers then carried out a painstaking search and identified the DNA of an unknown male from blood on the knife, bodies and surrounding scene.

On June 30 last year, in a major breakthrough, a DNA familial link was made to Hussein’s father, who had a past caution.

Within an hour-and-a-half, Hussein was identified on CCTV buying knives in Asda and returning home after the murders.

Searches of his bedroom in south-east London uncovered a book of spells, handwritten demon symbols and two blood pacts.

Jurors were not told of the extent of Hussein’s obsession with demons, spells and potions.

He had come to the attention of police aged just 15 over fears he was vulnerable to radicalisation and violent extremism.

Before the killings, Hussein communicated with others about demons and love potions, and carried out online research about the far-right and Norse mythology.

It is believed he was influenced by the work of an American black magician who has links with a British-based Nazi Satanist group known as the Order of Nine Angles.

Last week, Facebook removed his page and Instagram account and YouTube launched a review.

Two police constables have been charged with misconduct in public office after allegedly sharing pictures of the crime scene on WhatsApp, and are due to enter pleas on November 2.

Separately, the Independent Office of Police Complaints concluded its investigation over the response to the initial missing persons reports.

On Monday, the police watchdog found the level of service provided by the Met over the weekend when the sisters went missing was “below the standard that it should have been”.

The post Satanic teenager jailed for life for murdering sisters appeared first on Faith Matters.

Categories: Bibaa Henry, Danyal Hussein, News, Nicole Smallman, Norse mythology, Order of Nine Angles

At least 11 killed as ‘so-called Islamic State’ gunmen launch attack in Iraq

October 27, 2021 Article

Gunmen from the so-called Islamic State extremist group attacked a village northeast of Baghdad, killing at least 11 civilians and wounding six others, Iraqi security officials said.

The officials said the attack occurred in the predominantly Shiite village of al-Rashad northeast of Baqouba in Diyala province.

The circumstances of the attack were not immediately clear, but two officials said Islamic State group militants had kidnapped two villagers earlier and then raided the village when their demands for ransom were not met.

Machine guns were used in the attack, they added, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

They said all the dead and wounded were civilians.

Attacks targeting civilians have become rare in Iraq since the Islamic State group was largely defeated in the country in 2017, although it remains active through sleeper cells in many areas.

Militants from the Sunni Muslim extremist group still conduct operations, often targeting security forces, power stations and other infrastructure.

A roadside bomb attack targeted a Baghdad suburb in July, killing at least 30 people and wounding dozens of others at a crowded market.

In January, twin suicide bombings ripped through a busy market in the Iraqi capital, killing at least 32 people and wounding dozens.

Iraqi officials blamed IS for those attacks.

Read more: Islamic State attacks Iraqi police near Najaf, kills seven

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Categories: Al-Rashad, gunmen, Iraq, Islamic State, News, Shia, Suicide Bombings, Sunni Muslim

Social media giants under pressure over Satanist linked to Wembley murders

October 20, 2021 Article

A Satanist whose work is believed to have influenced double killer Danyal Hussein has been removed from Facebook and Instagram following an investigation by the PA news agency.

Hussein, 19, stabbed sisters Bibaa Henry, 46, and Nicole Smallman, 27, to death in a Wembley park after making a blood pact with a demon.

Since his Old Bailey trial, it has emerged that he was an active member of online forum Becoming A Living God, set up by black magician E A Koetting.

Parts of Hussein’s pledge to “sacrifice” women for power and wealth appeared to have come from the US author’s work.

Yet Koetting continued to promote his books to more than 200,000 followers on Facebook and YouTube.

Following PA’s investigation with the Centre for Analysis of the Radical Right (C4ARR), Facebook said it had removed Koetting’s page and Instagram account for violating its dangerous individuals and organisations policies.

On Wednesday, YouTube issued a statement to say it was “reviewing” the content.

The company stated: “Hate has no place on YouTube, and we are deeply saddened by this terrible incident.

“We have strict policies to ensure that our platform is not used to incite violence and we are in the process of carefully reviewing the content against these stringent rules.”

Professor Matthew Feldman, director of C4ARR, said some of Koetting’s work could amount to incitement to murder.

He said: “This is the best example I have come across of someone saying this is what you must do to become strong, powerful, rich.

“He has 87,000 YouTube subscribers and 128,000 on Facebook.”

“If 0.1% of people take that seriously, as Danyal Hussein clearly did, and think this is what I have to do to become famous, that’s 200 potential murderers.”

In his blood pact to King Lucifuge Rofocale, Hussein had pledged to “sacrifice” six women every six months to win a lottery jackpot.

Professor Feldman said Koetting had written about blood sacrifices to become rich, attractive and powerful – and even named the same demon, Lucifuge Rofocale.

His texts have also highlighted motiveless killing and making a blood pact.

Professor Feldman went on: “Koetting’s written works include texts that openly discuss and encourage murder.

“One book, Works Of Darkness, describes how to murder another person with a knife in a ritual sacrifice.

“Another book, Apex Of Eternity, advises people to study the terrorist handbook, provides practical guidance on how to kill another person.”

It quotes child murderer Ian Brady saying: “Always remember the first rule of murder: never kill a person that you have a reason to kill.”

One passage says: “What we’re looking for is the knowledge and skill needed to kill with any weapon, with no weapon and from a distance (as with explosives or traps).”

Professor Feldman said: “The text, in particular paragraphs and taken as a whole, can act as an incitement to murder.”

Apex Of Eternity was written for a Nazi Satanist organisation called Tempel ov Blood (sic), which has been cited as a major influence in seven recent UK terrorism prosecutions, six of which involved teenagers.

Tempel ov Blood is said to be the US branch of the UK-based Nazi Satanist group Order of Nine Angles (O9A).

In an apparent reference to Tempel ov Blood, Koetting wrote in one of his books that he joined “an American cell of the notorious British Order of Nine Angles”.

In a YouTube video, which has been viewed more than 17,000 times, Koetting discusses human sacrifice.

He says: “When you destroy the victim there is a release, a massive explosion of power and energy.

“If you can harness that and push it towards a goal, it’s powerful beyond most other forms of magic. It’s the blackest magic without a doubt.”

Later, he adds a caveat that he does not advocate harming anyone “to cover myself legally”.

Koetting follows a malignant form of Satanism called the Left-Hand Path, which grew out of the non-violent Right-Hand Path, which generally promotes white magic like ouija boards.

This summer also saw another double murder in Russia allegedly linked to a Satanist sect.

Professor Feldman suggested more could be done to support moderators of online content, and social media firms should “deep dive” into the background of figures like Koetting when they reach 10,000 followers.

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Categories: Biba Henry, E A Koetting, Magician, News, Nicole Smallman, Satanist

Patel: MPs will not be ‘cowed’ by terror-linked killing of Sir David Amess

October 16, 2021 Article

The Home Secretary has said politicians will not be “cowed” following the fatal stabbing of MP Sir David Amess, which police believe may be linked to Islamist extremism.

Priti Patel visited the scene at Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea on Saturday morning alongside Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle to pay their respects to Sir David, less than 24 hours after he was killed at a constituency surgery.

Ms Patel said security measures were being put in place to protect MPs but vowed they will carry on serving the country unimpeded in the face of the attack, which the Metropolitan Police have declared was a terrorist incident.

Speaking at Southend Police Station, the Home Secretary said: “We will carry on, we live in an open society, a democracy. We cannot be cowed by any individual or any motivation… to stop us from functioning, to serve our elected democracy.”

Asked whether there could be a balance between the safety of MPs and the democratic process, she said: “It can be balanced, it can absolutely be balanced.”

Ms Patel said Sir David was “was killed doing a job that he loves, serving his own constituents as an elected democratic member and, of course, acts of this… are absolutely wrong, and we cannot let that get in the way of our functioning democracy.”

“So that is why there are measures under way right now – I convened meetings yesterday, I’ve been with the Speaker of the House, and with the police and our security services to make sure that all measures are being put in place for the security of MPs so that they can carry on with their duties as elected democratic members,” she added.

Sir David, 69, who had been an MP since 1983, was fatally injured while meeting constituents.

A 25-year-old man arrested at the scene on suspicion of murder is in custody at an Essex police station.

Official sources told the PA news agency the man is believed to be a British national with Somali heritage.

As part of the investigation, officers are also carrying out searches at two addresses in the London area, the Met said.

Scotland Yard said the country’s most senior counter-terror officer, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Dean Haydon, has formally declared the incident as terrorism and said early investigations have revealed “a potential motivation linked to Islamist extremism”.

Politicians put on a united front at the church on Saturday morning, with Mr Johnson and Sir Keir individually laying flowers outside the building.

But MPs have raised concerns over their safety at constituency surgeries following the attack, sparking a debate over whether they should continue in person.

Veteran Labour MP Harriet Harman said she will be writing to the Prime Minister asking him to back a Speaker’s Conference to review the safety of parliamentarians.

Tory MP Tobias Ellwood, who was hailed as a hero for his attempts to save the life of Pc Keith Palmer during the Westminster terror attack in 2017, said face-to-face meetings with MPs should be paused until a security review has been completed.

Investigators believe Sir David’s killer acted alone and are not seeking anyone else in connection with his death.

According to reports, the knifeman was waiting among a group of people to see Sir David at the church and launched the attack shortly after the MP arrived.

Local councillor John Lamb told the PA news agency he dashed to the church when he heard Sir David had been “stabbed multiple times”.

He said: “David was there holding his surgery at that Methodist church and this person had gone there to join the surgery and when he got the chance and he went in to be seen by David, then he drew a knife and stabbed him.”

By the time Mr Lamb arrived, police cordons were up and he could not get into the church.

He said: “We knew it must be very serious because the paramedics had been working on Sir David for over two-and-a-half hours and they hadn’t got him on the way to hospital. We knew it had to be extremely serious and that the worst scenario could occur – we were hoping it wouldn’t but it did. That was when we heard that he had died.”

The Conservative councillor said a worker from Sir David’s office who was in the surgery during the attack was “not in touch at the moment because it’s so distressing, she’s getting counselling at the moment”.

Mr Lamb previously told the Daily Mail that Sir David was with two female members of staff – one from his constituency office and one from his parliamentary office – when a man “literally got a knife out and just began stabbing him”.

Chief Constable of Essex Police Ben-Julian Harrington said Southend West MP Sir David was “simply dispensing his duties when his life was horrifically cut short”.

Tory veteran Sir David, who was described by Mr Johnson as “one of the kindest, nicest, most gentle people in politics” was married with five children.

The attack came five-and-a-half years after Labour MP Jo Cox was killed by a far-right extremist in her Batley and Spen constituency in West Yorkshire.

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Categories: David Amess, Home Secretary, killing, News, Priti Patel, Terror-linked