Extremist jailed for making video inciting terror attack on Royal Festival Hall

November 21, 2020 Article

A former carpet fitter who made a video inciting a terror attack on London’s Royal Festival Hall and posted it to an extremist WhatsApp group has been jailed for eight-and-a-half years.

Shehroz Iqbal, 29, posted the mobile phone footage to a group of like-minded friends on March 11 this year with the words “Attack, attack”.

Iqbal, of Ilford, east London, had denied encouraging terrorism on WhatsApp and disseminating Islamic State propaganda on Facebook but was convicted after a trial at the Old Bailey.

The court heard the posts had been uncovered on his phone when Iqbal was pulled over later that month for possession of drugs.

During his trial at the Old Bailey, prosecutor Kate Wilkinson described Iqbal as an extremist who was “volatile and prone to act on his extremism”.

He spent an hour-and-a-half at the Hayward Gallery on the South Bank near the Royal Festival Hall and Waterloo Bridge making the clip.

In the footage played in court, Iqbal said: “This is my spot Akhi (brothers) Central London. Attack, attack.”

He then sent the video to a WhatsApp group of 22 associates called From Dark To Light.

While on bail for the drugs matters and the video, Iqbal posted a 2015 propaganda video depicting Islamic State fighters on social media.

The court heard that the video, which featured an image of a dead body, was viewed more than 200 times on the defendant’s Facebook page.

On his arrest in April, Iqbal claimed he had been high on drugs when he posted the Facebook video without looking at it.

He explained the video at the Hayward Gallery by saying he had gone for a ride that day and made the film to show off his bike.

He claimed that the reference to “attack attack” was him practising dog commands as he wanted a German Shepherd like a pet named Rocky he had when he lived in Pakistan.

He declined to give evidence at trial.

At his sentencing hearing on Friday, the court heard Iqbal had been subject to two suspended sentences at the time of the offences for harassing members of a synagogue in Gants Hill.

He had put up posters with the words “Jewish sc*m” and “stop the Gaza bombings”, and later sent the synagogue a threatening email when a picture of him was posted on its website.

Iqbal also had a string of previous convictions for shoplifting, threatening behaviour and driving offences, as well as possession of drugs matters stretching back to 2010.

Laurie-Anne Power, for Iqbal, said he had been “seeking the approval” of other people in the WhatsApp group by making and posting the video.

“He was someone who was given very little regard – often dismissed and often ignored,” she said.

“He’s exactly the type of person people with extremist mindsets pray upon,” she said, adding “he felt a sense of belonging to that group for perhaps the first time in his life”.

She said that prior to the offending, Iqbal had sought help from an anti-extremism programme, saying: “I am sitting online all day and watching this material, and it is consuming me.”

Ms Power said Iqbal had turned to drug dealing during the first coronavirus shutdown when he lost his job as a carpet fitter.

She told the court he was so inept he had kept voice memos of all of his conversations with his co-accused and the people he was supposed to be delivering the drugs to.

Jailing him for six years with a three-year extended licence period, Judge Philip Katz QC said: “You have a long history of unpleasant, anti-Semitic threats and harassment.”

Judge Katz said he did not believe Iqbal’s approach to an anti-radicalisation programme to be a “genuine change of attitude”.

“I infer to the criminal standard that when dealing with the authorities you will say whatever you think suits you best at the time,” he said.

He continued: “You blame your offending on everything from drugs to mental issues to your difficulties opening a bank account, and most ironically to you being the subject of racism.

“The irony being your own overt racism, some of it towards other Muslims.”

Judge Katz jailed him for a further 30 months for one count of conspiracy to supply class A drugs and two counts of possession, taking Iqbal’s total custodial sentence to eight-and-a-half years.

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Categories: Attack, Hayward Gallery, Islamic State, News, Royal Festival Hall, Shehroz Iqbal, WhatsApp

New Zealand police officer becomes first in force to wear hijab in uniform

November 19, 2020 Article

The New Zealand Police force has incorporated a hijab into its official uniform, with the first officer to wear it reporting that it “feels great”.

Constable Zeena Ali had the opportunity to trial several versions of the hijab before she began her police training, with the item now an official elective item of uniform.

The force worked alongside apparel design researchers Deb Cumming and Nina Weaver, from Massey University School of Design Wellington, to create the hijab, with Constable Ali taking part in the development process.

Constable Ali, who is originally from Fiji but has lived in New Zealand since she was a child, said: “Police and the Massey design team have been really easy to work with to make adjustments to the hijab.”

Initial work to develop a police uniform hijab started in 2018, with the hijab formally approved as an elective item of uniform on November 4 this year.

Constable Ali said: “It feels great to be able to go out and show the New Zealand Police uniform hijab because I was able to take part in the design process.

“Having a police-branded hijab means women who may not have previously considered policing can do so now. It’s great how the police incorporated my religion and culture.”

The force added that Sikh men have been able to wear a New Zealand Police turban since 2008.

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Categories: Hijab, Muslim woman, New Zealand police, News, Turban

Younger teenagers being drawn in by right-wing extremism

November 18, 2020 Article

Ten out of the 12 under-18s who were arrested for terrorism last year were linked to extreme right-wing beliefs, police figures show.

The proportion is high compared to data for all age groups, which shows that 20% of terrorism arrests in the year to June 30 2020 were linked to the ideology.

Head of UK counter-terrorism policing Neil Basu said that while Islamist terrorism remains the greatest threat and makes up 80% of his workload, right wing extremism is the fastest growing threat and has grown from 6% to 10% of his work in the past few years.

He told the PA news agency: “There has definitely been a growth in nationalistic material online, white supremacist literature, things that are extremely disturbing in the extreme right wing space.

“Many of which do hit criminal thresholds, some of which is designed to entice people into closed groups where criminality and Nazi ideology is being discussed. It does seem to be having an effect on younger and younger children.

“In our case work in the extreme right wing space the subjects of interest to us do appear to be younger.”

He added: “My warning has always been that the Islamist threat is still the greatest threat we face, but the one that’s growing fastest, from a relatively low base, is the right-wing terrorism threat.”

A new website – actearly.uk – is being launched to help concerned parents get advice on how to deal with teenagers who may be showing signs of radicalisation.

Terrorist groomers from both Islamist and extreme right wing ideologies deliberately target vulnerable people including children.

Mr Basu said: “We have seen young and vulnerable people both with complex psychological needs, but also just young and curious, being drawn through mainstream websites into encrypted chat rooms and closed groups.

“That’s when the really serious radicalisation and extreme ideologies start. It is entirely possible for those people to be groomed and radicalised in a very, very short period of time.”

Figures show that a total of 12 under-18s were arrested for terror offences in 2019, of whom 10 were linked to extreme right wing beliefs.

In the 18 months to June 30, 2020, a total of 17 under 18s were arrested on suspicion of terrorism, some as young as 14. Police said most will have been radicalised entirely online.

During that period police say 1,500 children under the age of 15 were helped by the Prevent programme, a government scheme to divert people away from terrorism.

Concerns have been raised that lockdown conditions have given extremists more opportunity to radicalise children.

Mr Basu said: “I’m worried that the radicalisation of some of the most vulnerable people in our society, namely our children, is happening by online groomers and terrorists both from the Islamist and extreme right wing ideologies.

“It’s that online radicalisation, the explosion of online and technological devices in people’s hands 24/7, on top of the pandemic, which has effectively led to a lot more time people are spending on those devices, locked in their rooms away from their protective influences, while they’ve been out of school or out of colleges.

“It’s all given more time for their radicalisation to take place. The people who are going to stop it are the people who love them the most, who are the friends and family that see that change in behaviour.”

He said that if people don’t want to speak to the police, the website has details of third parties including well known charities that have trained advisors who can help.

“It might be very difficult to understand what looks like normal teenage behaviour and what looks like the early signs of damage or grooming that is being done to your child online.

“I have some sympathy with parents who don’t understand or know how to monitor their child’s activity online and don’t know how to step in.

“The best technique has got to be ‘prevention is better than cure’. Let’s reach people before they get to the stage where they cross the Rubicon into terrorism.

“We want to stop people becoming criminalised, we want to stop them becoming terrorists. The way to do that is to act early.”

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Categories: Neil Basu, News, radicalisation, right-wing beliefs, terrorism, Young teenagers

Man denies sending tweet linking Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf to terrorism

November 17, 2020 Article

A man has told a court he did not send a tweet that suggested Scotland’s Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf sympathised with terrorists.

The tweet appeared on the feed of Mr Yousaf, who was then minister for external affairs, on November 14 2015, the day after the Paris terror attacks.

The message came from the Twitter account of a Stuart Ben Smith.

It stated: “Humza Yousaf, good Scots name. I am sure he is 90 per cent backing Muslim killers. Be having a whip round for terrorist families soon.”

It was a reply to a tweet from another person’s Twitter account.

Stuart Smith, 63, is accused of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner likely to cause a reasonable person to suffer fear or alarm by posting an abusive comment to Twitter that contained grossly offensive and derogatory remarks regarding a religion.

It is alleged the offence, in Glasgow and elsewhere, on November 14 2015 was aggravated by religious prejudice.

Smith, from Gretna, Dumfries and Galloway, who is on trial at Glasgow Sheriff Court, denies the charge.

Giving evidence on Tuesday, he was questioned about the tweet by his defence agent Ian McLelland who asked: “Did you write that?”

Smith replied: “No, I did not write that.”

He told the court he had previously had issues with things he had not posted ending up on his Twitter account, which has a gun as its profile picture.

Smith said he sometimes received emails telling him he may have been hacked.

Mr McLelland said: “We have seen about a post that seems to have been attributed to you and you must have seen it on your account now.”

He replied: “When I was shown it at the police station I went back into my computer but it was two years before that it happened and I could not see it on my computer and I could not find it personally on my feed.”

The trial before Sheriff Sean Murphy continues.

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Categories: Humza Yousaf, News, Scotland, Scottish Justice Minister, terrorism, tweet

Trump to order troop reductions in Afghanistan and Iraq

November 16, 2020 Article

The Trump administration is expected to cut the number of US troops in Afghanistan almost in half to 2,500 by January 15, an official has said.

The order would stop short of outgoing President Donald Trump’s goal to have all troops withdrawn by the end of the year, which had faced opposition from military and diplomatic advisers.

The Pentagon also expects to cut the number of troops in Iraq to 2,500, a reduction of more than 500. The decisions come as no surprise, following Mr Trump’s shake-up of the Pentagon leadership last week in which he installed loyalists who share his frustration with the continued troop presence in the war zones.

The cuts give Mr Trump an accomplishment in his final weeks in office even as he refuses to concede his election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

The official said military leaders were told over the weekend about the planned withdrawals and an executive order is in the works but has not yet been delivered to commanders.

There are between 4,500-5,000 troops in Afghanistan now, and more than 3,000 in Iraq.

Under the planned order, the troop cuts would be completed just five days before Mr Biden takes office, leaving him with a smaller military footprint in the two key war zones.

Mr Trump’s new Pentagon chief, Christopher Miller, hinted at the troop withdrawals over the weekend in a carefully worded message to the force that suggested compromise.

He said that “we remain committed to finishing the war that al Qaida brought to our shores in 2001″. And he warned that “we must avoid our past strategic error of failing to see the fight through to the finish”.

But he also made it clear that “all wars must end”.

“This fight has been long, our sacrifices have been enormous and many are weary of war – I’m one of them,” he said. “Ending wars requires compromise and partnership. We met the challenge; we gave it our all. Now, it’s time to come home.”

The accelerated withdrawal, however, goes against the long-standing advice from Mr Trump’s military leadership, including marine general Frank McKenzie, top US commander for the Middle East. But officials suggested this week that commanders will be able to live with the partial pull-out, which allows them to keep counter-terrorism troops in Afghanistan and gives more time to remove critical equipment.

Mr McKenzie and others have repeatedly argued that a hasty withdrawal could undercut negotiations to finalise ongoing peace negotiations between the Taliban and representatives of Afghan society, including the current Afghan government. And they also warn that US forces should remain in the country to keep militants from the so-called Islamic State in check.

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Categories: Afghanistan, Iraq, News, Troop reductions, Trump administration, US Troops

Rise in home working could lead to increase in prejudice, researchers warn

November 16, 2020 Article

Increased home working and fewer opportunities to socialise during the coronavirus pandemic is threatening to make society less tolerant of diversity, a report warns.

Reduced access to workplaces, leisure centres and other communal facilities is likely to make it much harder to form friendships that break down prejudices, the Woolf Institute said.

Without alternative opportunities for social mixing, its researchers believe this will lead directly to an increase in prejudice.

The research centre, based in Cambridge, is launching the results of a two-year study, which saw 11,701 adults surveyed about their attitudes towards diversity in England and Wales.

The report, How We Get Along, suggests that there is an emerging consensus that diversity is a positive thing, but that change has occurred too quickly.

More than half (53%) agree that ethnic diversity is good for society, 46% believe the same of migrants and 41% believe the same of religious diversity.

However, 60% of respondents said they feel the number of migrants in Britain has risen too quickly over the past decade, half believe ethnic diversity has increased too quickly and 43% believe the same of religious diversity.

The findings also suggests that negative beliefs about religions such as Islam continue to be widely held.

Religious prejudice, particularly towards Muslims, is the “final frontier” for diversity as people still appear willing to express negative attitudes.

The report authors are concerned that Covid-19 will make people become less tolerant, as it reduces their opportunities to make friends outside of their ethnic, religious or national groups.

Workplaces provide opportunities to create “shared goals, break down stereotypes and foster positive attitudes”, with the report finding that those without work are twice as likely to have no friends outside their own ethnicity, nationality and religion.

Dr Ed Kessler, founder director of the Woolf Institute, said: “As people are forced to work from home during Covid, there is a risk that they go back into isolated silos.

“Creating new opportunities for friendships should be a key ingredient of public policy.”

While overall trends are positive, attitudes towards religious diversity were markedly less so, suggesting religion is a “red line” for many people in England and Wales.

The polling found less than half (44%) of people would be comfortable with a close relative marrying a Muslim.

This compares to around seven in 10 respondents feeling comfortable with a loved one marrying an Asian or black person.

However, the data also suggest that a majority of Muslims had the same negative marriage attitudes towards Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish and Sikh people and those of no faith.

Dr Hargreaves said: “The good news is that there is a strong consensus in our findings that diversity is good for our country, whether we look at ethnicity, migration or religion. It is, however, also clear that, of these three forms of diversity, acceptance of religious diversity lags significantly behind.

“Being Muslim, in particular, appears to remain a “trigger” for prejudice, making religion a ‘final frontier’ for prejudice in England and Wales.”

Overall, women, younger people, Remain, Labour and Liberal Democrat voters appear to be more positive towards ethnic and religious diversity in Britain.

People living in more ethnically and religiously diverse communities were more likely to hold negative attitudes.

Remain, Labour and Liberal Democrat voters showed more positive attitudes towards migrants in Britain.

Attitudes towards migrants were more negative everywhere outside of London except for the south east, which the authors said may be a “regrettable bad news story from the provinces” for multicultural Londoners.

People in the North West were the least likely to have ethnically diverse friendships, and were 54% more likely than Londoners to only have friends from the same ethnic background.

Those in the North East were the least likely to have any non-British friends, and were two-and-a-half times as likely as Londoners to only be friends with British people.

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Categories: Corona Virus, Diversity, Faiths, Home Working, marriage, Muslim, News, prejudice

US and Israel worked to track and kill al Qaida’s second in command

November 15, 2020 Article

A senior al Qaida operative was killed in Iran earlier this year by Israeli agents supported by US intelligence.

Abu Mohammed al-Masri was killed by assassins in Tehran during a period in which the Trump administration was ramping up pressure on Iran.

He was killed on August 7, the anniversary of the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Al-Masri was widely believed to have participated in the planning of those attacks and was wanted on terrorism charges by the FBI.

The US provided intelligence to the Israelis on where they could find al-Masri and the alias he was using at the time, while Israeli agents carried out the killing, according to two officials.

Another two other officials confirmed al-Masri’s killing but could not provide specific details.

His death is a blow to al Qaida, the terror network that orchestrated the September 11 attacks in the US and comes amid rumours in the Middle East about the fate of the group’s leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

The officials could not confirm those reports but said the US intelligence community was trying to determine their credibility.

Two of the officials – one within the intelligence community and with direct knowledge of the operation and another former CIA officer briefed on the matter – said al-Masri was killed by Kidon, a unit within the secretive Israeli spy organization Mossad allegedly responsible for the assassination of high-value targets.

The official in the intelligence community said al-Masri’s daughter, Maryam, was also a target of the operation.

The US believed she was being groomed for a leadership role in al Qaida and intelligence suggested she was involved in operational planning, according to the official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence.

Al-Masri’s daughter was the widow of Hamza bin Laden, the son of al Qaida mastermind Osama bin Laden.

Both the CIA and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, which oversees the Mossad intelligence agency, declined to comment.

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Categories: Al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, East Africa bombings, Iran, Israel, Nairobi bombings, News, US

Significant Changes to the Afghanistan Locally Employed Staff Ex-Gratia Scheme or ‘Afghan Interpreters Scheme’

November 13, 2020 Article

We have long campaigned on the case of Mohammed Nabi Wardak, an Afghan military translator who saw action in Helmand with British forces when our troops were in-country and in the midst of controlling the violence and terrorism associated with the Taliban.

Our work rallied the Sun newspaper, as well as others, in highlighting the case of ‘Nabi’ and those Afghan interpreters who risked their lives to ensure the safety and security of residents in Helmand, which during 2009-2011, saw some of the worst attacks against civilians and British forces in the region.

After 3 years of work on highlighting Nabi’s case and advocating for changes to this Scheme, the Government has listened and made some significant changes which means that more former Afghan translators meet the criteria for possible resettlement into the United Kingdom.

The crux of the changes are these:

– In 2018, the Defence Secretary announced that the criteria for the Afghan Locally Employed Ex-Gratia Scheme was expanded to include all Afghan interpreters who served for a year or more on the frontline in Helmand from May 2006. They were eligible for relocation to the United Kingdom if they met these basic criteria and these guidelines were a further enhancement on the initial parameters of the scheme which stipulated that only those Afghan personnel serving on the 19^th of December 2012, and who were made redundant, were eligible for relocation. It was a significant expansion of the scheme, though there was one caveat. That caveat was that any personnel who were dismissed or resigned would not be eligible and the scheme therefore only included those made redundant.

– Lobbying by many agencies, including Faith Matters, has led to a further change to the Ex-Gratia Scheme (EGS) and we are grateful to the Government’s change in position and for the willingness to understand that the lives of wider numbers of former Afghan personnel are at stake, particularly with the Taliban vying for governmental positions in a peace agreement in Afghanistan.

– Last month, a further change to the EGS was made. The Defence Secretary and the Home Secretary extended the Scheme again. In a letter to Faith Matters, the text highlighted that Locally Employed Afghan Civilians who also resigned from service would be included for resettlement. The relevant text is outlined below:

“As such, the criteria now require either that the applicant was made redundant on or after 01 May 2006 with 12 months or more service outside the wire on the frontline in Helmand, or that the applicant resigned on or after 01 May 2006 with 18 months or more service outside the wire on the frontline in Helmand. If a former LEC meets these new criteria, they will be eligible for relocation.”

These changes mean that Mohammed Nabi Wardak’s case meets these criteria and he could, (after 4 years of having left Afghanistan), finally be able to enter the United Kingdom with his family.

Nabi has not seen his family since he fled Afghanistan and he resigned because of multiple Taliban threats to his life for supporting and assisting the British army in Afghanistan. These threats were played out with an attempted kidnap attempt against him in broad daylight. If the perpetrators had managed to kidnap him, Nabi’s fate would certainly have been an execution by the Taliban for helping British forces.

We remember asking Nabi why he joined as a military interpreter and his answer was simple; he said “I thought that the British could make a better Afghanistan, where girls could go to school and we could not live in fear”.

Nabi fled Afghanistan after multiple threats to his life in-country. He travelled to Turkey and his labour was brutally exploited since he had no means of support. He then followed the route that Syrian refugees were taking to get into Europe to seek asylum, which he did, only to be arrested and thrown into jail. He was eventually released and left destitute on the streets of Athens where he slept on park benches and ate and drunk what members of the public could give him. The excruciating heat of Athens in summer and a lack of public drinking water sources also nearly cost him his life as he was destitute on the streets.

It should never really have reached this point and our country should have opened its doors many years go to people like Nabi who risked their lives for our soldiers. We are now at the final stages for entry of this man and his family into this country. Let us hope that Nabi and his family are with us before Christmas. There is light at the end of this tunnel and about time too.

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Categories: Afghan Translators, Afghanistan, Ex-Gratia Scheme, Helmand, Ministry of Defence, Mohammed Nabi Wardak, Opinions

Iran continues to stockpile and enrich uranium, says UN

November 12, 2020 Article

Iran has continued to increase its stockpile of low-enriched uranium and enrich it to a greater purity, far beyond the limits set in a landmark nuclear deal, the UN’s atomic watchdog agency has said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported in a confidential document distributed to member countries and seen by The Associated Press, that as of November 2 Iran had a stockpile of 2,442.9kg of low-enriched uranium, up from 2,105.4kg reported on August 25.

The nuclear deal signed in 2015 with the the UK, the United States, Germany, France, China and Russia, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) allows Iran only to keep a stockpile of 202.8kg.

The IAEA reported that Iran has also been continuing to enrich uranium to a purity of up to 4.5%, higher than the 3.67% allowed under the deal.

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Categories: IAEA, Iran, low-enriched uranium, News, Stockpile, Uranium, US Iran deal

Five dead after boat carrying migrants to Europe falls apart

November 12, 2020 Article

Five people died after a Europe-bound rubber boat carrying 116 migrants and asylum-seekers fell apart in the central Mediterranean Sea, a Spanish humanitarian group said.

The Open Arms rescue ship had been searching for the boat in distress for hours before finally locating it on Wednesday morning in international waters north of Libya.

The NGO had just finished distributing life vests and masks to the passengers to begin transferring them to safety when the flimsy boat split in two, throwing them into cold waters.

Rescuers pulled out 111 people, including two infants, alive and recovered five bodies.

Open Arms spokesperson Laura Lanuza said the NGO has asked Italian and Maltese maritime authorities for the immediate evacuation of six people in serious condition, including two babies and their mothers and a pregnant woman.

Ms Lanuza said the NGO had already rescued 88 migrants the night before and was headed to a third distress call.

Wednesday’s shipwreck was the second recorded this week in waters north of Libya, a key transit point for migrants from Africa and the Middle East.

On Tuesday another 13 migrants died, including a child, the UN said.

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Categories: Europe, Libya, Mediterranean Sea, News