Chechnya strongman condemns murder of teacher in France

October 18, 2020 Article

Chechnya’s strongman regional leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who has used massive federal subsidies to rebuild the province and squelched any resistance with his feared security forces, has condemned the killing of a teacher in France.

An 18-year-old from Chechnya claimed responsibility for the attack in a Paris suburb before being shot by the police.

Mr Kadyrov condemned the crime also warned against insulting the feelings of Muslims.

The teacher was apparently targeted for discussing caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed with students.

“We condemn this act of terror and offer our condolences to the relatives of the man who was killed,” Mr Kadyrov said on his blog.

“While speaking out categorically against any manifestation of terrorism, I also urge not to provoke believers, not to offend their religious feelings.”

He went on to criticise French society for what he described as manifestations of “provocative” disrespect for Islamic values.

“When France has a proper state institution of inter-ethnic and inter-faith relations, then the country will have a healthy society.”

Mr Kadyrov noted that the Chechen suspect only visited the region once when he was two years old.

Read more: Suspect in French beheading horror was Chechen teenager

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Categories: Chechen, Chechnya, Killing in France, News, Prophet Muhammad, Ramzan Kadyrov

Demonstrations across France to pay tribute to murdered teacher

October 18, 2020 Article

Demonstrations have been called around France in support of freedom of speech and to pay tribute to a history teacher who was beheaded near Paris after discussing caricatures of Islam’s Prophet Mohammed with his class.

Samuel Paty was decapitated on Friday by an 18-year-old Moscow-born Chechen refugee, who was then shot dead by police.

Political leaders, associations and unions will rally on Sunday afternoon in Paris and other major cities including Lyon, Toulouse, Strasbourg, Nantes, Marseille, Lille and Bordeaux.

The gatherings come as French authorities said they have detained a 10th person following the horrific attack in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, north-west of Paris.

French anti-terrorism prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard said an investigation for murder with a suspected terrorist motive has been opened.

At least four of those detained are family members of the attacker, who had been granted a 10-year residency in France as a refugee in March, was armed with a knife and an airsoft gun, which fires plastic pellets.

His half-sister joined the Islamic State group in Syria in 2014, Mr Ricard said. He did not give her name, and it is not clear where she is now.

The prosecutor said a text claiming responsibility and a photograph of the victim were found on the suspect’s phone.

He also confirmed that a Twitter account under the name Abdoulakh A belonged to the suspect. It posted a photo of the decapitated head minutes after the attack along with the message “I have executed one of the dogs from hell who dared to put Muhammad down”.

The attack has provoked global condemnation.

US President Donald Trump referred to the killing on Saturday night during a political rally in Janesville, Wisconsin.

“On behalf of the United States, I’d like to extend my really sincere condolences to a friend of mine, President (Emmanuel) Macron of France, where they just yesterday had a vicious, vicious Islamic terrorist attack – beheading an innocent teacher near Paris,” he said. “France is having a hard time and Macron’s a great guy.”

Read more: Suspect in French beheading horror was Chechen teenager

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Categories: Charlie Hebdo, France, Islam's Prophet Muhammad, Moscow born Chechen, murdered teacher, News, Samuel Paty

Suspect in French beheading horror was Chechen teenager

October 17, 2020 Article

A suspect shot dead by police after the beheading of a history teacher near Paris was an 18-year-old Chechen, French police said.

Authorities investigating the horrific killing of the man in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine have also arrested nine suspects, including the grandparents, parents and 17-year-old brother of the suspected attacker.

The teacher had discussed caricatures of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad with his class, authorities said.

Chechnya is a predominantly Muslim Russian republic in the North Caucasus. Two wars in the 1990s triggered a wave of emigration, with many Chechens heading for western Europe.

France has seen occasional violence involving its Chechen community in recent months, believed to be linked to local criminal activity and score-settling.

A police official said the suspect in Friday’s attack north of the capital was shot dead about 600 yards from where the teacher was killed.

He was armed with a knife and an airsoft gun – which fires plastic pellets – and police opened fire after he failed to respond to orders to put down his weapons, and acted in a threatening manner.

French president Emmanuel Macron arrived quickly at the school on Friday night to denounce what he called an “Islamist terrorist attack”. He urged the nation to stand united against extremism.

Mr Macron said: “One of our compatriots was murdered today because he taught … the freedom of expression, the freedom to believe or not believe.”

The French anti-terrorism prosecutor opened an investigation for murder with a suspected terrorist motive.

It is the second time in three weeks that terror has struck France linked to caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.

Last month, a young man from Pakistan was arrested after stabbing two people with a meat cleaver outside the former offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.

The weekly was the target of a deadly newsroom attack in 2015, and it republished caricatures of the prophet this month to underscore the right to freedom of information as a trial opened linked to that attack.

Friday’s terror attack came as Mr Macron’s government works on a bill to address Islamic radicals, who authorities claim are creating a parallel society outside the values of the French Republic.

France has the largest Muslim population in Western Europe with up to 5 million members, and Islam is the country’s second-most popular religion.

The teacher had received threats after opening a discussion “for a debate” about the caricatures about 10 days ago, a police official told The Associated Press.

The parent of a student had filed a complaint against the teacher, another police official said.

Read more: French leader decries Islamist terror attack against teacher

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Categories: Chechen, Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, Emmanuel Macron, Islamist terrorist attack, News

French leader decries Islamist terror attack against teacher

October 16, 2020 Article

French President Emmanuel Macron has denounced what he called an “Islamist terrorist attack” against a history teacher decapitated in a Paris suburb.

The teacher had discussed caricatures of Islam’s Prophet Mohammed with his class, authorities said. The suspected attacker was shot by police after Friday’s beheading.

The French anti-terrorism prosecutor opened an investigation concerning murder with a suspected terrorist motive, the prosecutor’s office said.

President Macron visited the school where the teacher worked in the town of Conflans-Saint-Honorine and met with staff after the killing.

An Associated Press reporter saw three ambulances arrive at the scene, and heavily armed police surrounding the area and police vans lining leafy nearby streets.

“One of our compatriots was murdered today because he taught… the freedom of expression, the freedom to believe or not believe,” President Macron said.

He said the attack should not divide France because that is what the extremists want.

“We must stand all together as citizens,” he said.

The gruesome killing of the teacher occurred in the town of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine while the suspect was killed by police in adjoining Eragny.

A police official said the suspect, armed with a knife and an airsoft gun — which fires plastic pellets — was shot dead about 600 metres from where the male teacher was killed after he failed to respond to orders to put down his arms, and acted in a threatening manner.

The teacher had received threats after opening a discussion “for a debate” about the caricatures about 10 days ago, the police official told The Associated Press.

The parent of a student had filed a complaint against the teacher, another police official said, adding that the suspected killer did not have a child at the school. The suspect’s identity was not made public.

The suspect’s identity was not made public. French media reported that the suspect was an 18-year-old Chechen, born in Moscow. That information could not be immediately confirmed.

The two officials could not be named because they were not authorised to discuss ongoing investigations.

“We didn’t see this coming,” Conflans resident Remi Tell said on CNews TV station. He described the town as peaceful.

It was the second terrorism-related incident since the opening of an ongoing trial on the newsroom massacre in January 2015 at the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo after the publication of caricatures of the prophet of Islam.

As the trial opened, the paper republished caricatures of the prophet to underscore the right of freedom of expression. Exactly three weeks ago, a young man from Pakistan was arrested after stabbing, outside the newspaper’s former offices, two people who suffered non life-threatening injuries. The 18-year-old told police he was upset about the publication of the caricatures.

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Categories: Charlie Hebdo, Conflans-Saint-Honorine, France, Islam's Prophet Muhammad, Macron, News

Pope Francis apologises for having to be socially distant from flock

October 15, 2020 Article

Pope Francis apologised to the faithful for not being able to greet them and shake their hands as Italy posted a record spike in coronavirus infections that is threatening to once again spiral out of control.

Instead of wading into the crowd to embrace the sick and kiss babies during his weekly general audience on Wednesday, Francis walked in through a back door directly onto the stage to begin his catechism lesson.

At 83 and with part of a lung removed when he was in his 20s due to illness, the pope would be at high-risk for Covid-19 complications.

And yet he has been reluctant to wear a face mask and appeared without one again on Wednesday, even though many of his entourage and all of the Swiss Guards were using them.

He told the crowd on Wednesday: “I would like to come down as usual and get close to you to greet you, but with new prescriptions, we would better keep our distances.”

Francis often seems out of breath and speaks in a whisper because of his lung condition, suggesting that wearing a mask might be particularly uncomfortable for him.

This week, four Swiss Guards tested positive for Covid-19 and were in isolation.

All told there have been 19 cases in the Vatican, and the tiny city state amended its mask mandate last week to conform to that of Italy to require them indoors and out.

Italy is seeing a sharp resurgence in Covid-19 cases, with the Lazio region around the Vatican among the worst-hit in this new wave of the pandemic, with more people in the hospital than any other region.

On Wednesday, the country as a whole recorded its single biggest single-day jump in infections since the start of the outbreak, adding another 7,332 cases.

Public health officials are warning that hospitals are starting to fill up and Italy’s contact-tracing system is starting to crumble under the weight of the new infections.

“No health system is able to do contact tracing for more than a few thousand infections,” said virologist Andrea Crisanti, who as a regional adviser was credited with helping to keep Veneto’s infections down during the peak of Italy’s outbreak with aggressive testing and tracing.

Speaking to RAI TG24 on Wednesday, Dr Crisanti said the spike threatened to create a “vicious circle” of too many infections to trace, allowing the virus to spread uncontrolled.

He suggested that a Christmastime lockdown would help stop the chain of transmission and give enough breathing room to “reset” the contact tracing system.

Read more: Terrorists look for different targets as Coronavirus cuts crowds, says MI5 chief

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Categories: Coronavirus, Faithful, infections, Italy, News, Pope Francis

Terrorists look for different targets as coronavirus cuts crowds, new MI5 boss warns

October 14, 2020 Article

Terrorists are hunting for fresh targets because there are fewer crowds amid the coronavirus pandemic, the new boss of MI5 has warned.

Director general Ken McCallum said the security service has been “rapidly adapting” how it works to keep the country safe during the outbreak as well as helping research efforts in combatting the virus and trying to protect work on the vaccine from potential interference.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday for the first time since taking on the top role in April, he said: “I stepped into this role at the height of the Covid lockdown, and for MI5 just like everyone else, 2020 has been dominated by the pandemic.

“We’ve sought where we can to help on Covid itself – advising on the safe construction of Nightingale hospitals; repurposing research originally done on toxic chemicals to help understand how Covid in droplets might disperse in certain environments; offering our skills in data analytics and modelling; simply allowing medically-qualified MI5 officers to step away from their duties here and directly support our NHS.

“And, crucially, on the vaccine, we’ve been working to protect the integrity of UK research.

“Our larger task has been rapidly adapting how we perform our core role of keeping the UK safe.

“The big shifts in everyone’s lives – reduced travel, more online, and the rest – mean shifts in how our adversaries are operating.

“Fewer crowds mean terrorists look at different targets; online living means more opportunities for cyber hackers; and so on.

“Equally, 2020 has demanded shifts in how MI5 itself has to operate; you wouldn’t expect me to get into detail, but common sense will tell you that covert surveillance is not straightforward on near-empty streets.”

Mr McCallum, who is in his forties, became the youngest ever director general when he took over from Sir Andrew Parker, who retired after leading the organisation since 2013.

The maths degree graduate, who grew up in Glasgow, has been the deputy director general since April 2017 and has 25 years of experience at MI5 including work on Northern Ireland-related terrorism, Islamist extremism and cyber security.

His career has seen him take charge of the service’s response to the attempted assassination of former spy Sergei Skripal in the Salisbury nerve agent attack as well as leading the response to the 2017 terror attacks and taking charge of counter terrorism investigations and risk management surrounding the 2012 London Olympics.

Read more: Osama Bin Laden’s London Spokesperson Cannot Simply Walk into the U.K.

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Categories: COVID, Ken McCallum, MI5, News, Sergei Skripal, Surveillance, Terrorists

European Parliament member in Greek court for criminal trial

October 12, 2020 Article

A member of the European Parliament has appeared in court in Greece after being convicted of being a leading member of a criminal organisation along with members of the far-right Golden Dawn party.

Ioannis Lagos, who faces up to 15 years in prison, travelled from Brussels to Athens to attend the sentencing hearings. He made a formal request for the three judges trying the case to be replaced.

Lagos told the court: “I believe that there is a prevailing bias against the defendants and that the judges involved in the case came under direct and indirect pressure from the political establishment.”

Lagos and 17 other former Greek parliament members from Golden Dawn were convicted last week of leading a criminal organisation, or simple membership, and face sentences of between five and 15 years in prison.

Dozens of other Golden Dawn members and associates were also convicted of numerous offences, from murder and violent assaults against immigrants to perjury.

Presiding judge Maria Lepenioti said mitigating circumstances would be granted to four former MPs and 10 other convicted members on grounds of age, expressions of remorse, and lack of prior convictions. Leniency was not recognised for Lagos or six other former parliament members considered to be leaders of the organisation.

Golden Dawn was founded as a Neo-Nazi group in the 1980s but saw a surge in popularity during the recent financial crisis, gaining parliamentary representation between 2012 and 2019.

The five-year trial was launched following the 2013 murder of rap singer and left-wing activist Pavlos Fyssas, who was stabbed to death by a Golden Dawn supporter.

Hundreds of protesters, many from left-wing groups and labour unions, gathered outside the court and chanted “smash the fascists in every neighbourhood”.

Police banned a rally planned by supporters of Golden Dawn. Sentences are expected to be announced later on Monday unless the judges are replaced.

Read more: Manchester bomb plotter held in jail within extremism separation unit

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Categories: European Parliament Member, far right extremism, Golden Dawn, Greece, Ioannis Lagos, News

Osama Bin Laden’s Spokesman, Adel Abdel Bary, Cannot Just Walk Into the U.K.

October 12, 2020 Article

The Times is reporting that Bin Laden’s former spokesperson, Adel Abdel Bary, is about to be released from the United States, after serving 21 years in jail after being convicted for his part in the terror attacks on US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. 224 people were killed in these attacks and over 5,000 people were injured in the 1998 bombings that shook East Africa and spiralled it into becoming a theatre of operations for Islamist terrorists in the region.

Bary’s son, Abdel-Majed Abdel, was recently arrested in Spain after travelling to Syria to fight for the so-called Islamic State, and posing with the severed head of a soldier in the Assad regime. Abdel was detained with two other men in Almeria and Spanish police subsequently tweeted out that he was “one of Europe’s most wanted Daesh foreign terrorist fighters”.

Bary’s imminent release and return means that he cannot be placed under Terrorist Prevention and Investigation Measures (TPIMs) and he is being released on compassionate grounds, given that he is 60 years of age, suffers from asthma and is overweight.

Bary sought and was granted asylum in 1990 after he claimed that he was tortured by the Mubarak regime at the time. Faith Matters has long stated that the root of the Islamist extremist problem that has blighted our nation came about because there was little understanding of Islamist extremist activists, groups and networks in the late 1980’s and 1990’s. This meant that many Islamist extremist leaders who were being persecuted by regimes such as those of Mubarak and Gaddafi, entered into the U.K. They entered like wolves into a sheep pen, further poisoning the minds of many young men and turning them against their own country.

Such individuals have fanned the flames of extremism in our country and internationally and whilst Bary has served his sentence in the US, we must ensure that his activities are monitored once he enters the U.K.

However, public patience with individuals convicted of terrorist related offences is running out and many will be asking why we cannot push the US to ensure that he serves out his full sentence. Sadly, the reality is that such an argument will go nowhere as US law authorities have deemed him eligible for release.

It therefore falls upon the Home Secretary to demonstrate the measures that the Home Office will put in place for Bary and future releases like his. Whilst he may have served out the majority of his 25 year sentence, there is no way that this former spokesperson for the one time most wanted terrorist in the world, can lead a life without observation from our security services. It is people like Bary who created the monster of Islamist extremism. That stain remains with them forever, even when they look like a grandad with little desire to harm anyone.

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Categories: Adel Abdel Bary, bombings, Islamist terrorism, Kenya and Tanzania bombings, News, Osama Bin Laden's Spokesman, terrorism, United States

Manchester bomb-plotter held in jail with extremism separation unit

October 9, 2020 Article

Manchester Arena bomb-plotter Hashem Abedi is being held at County Durham’s maximum-security Frankland Prison, a court has heard.

The prison is one of three with separation centres, dubbed “jails within jails”, which were first announced in 2017 to tackle extremism behind bars.

Abedi, 23, was found guilty by a jury in March of 22 counts of murder, attempted murder and plotting to cause an explosion likely to endanger life.

His older brother, Salman Abedi, who was 22, detonated the suicide bomb in the foyer of Manchester Arena at 10.31pm on May 22 2017, as thousands of men, women and children left a concert by pop star Ariana Grande.

Abedi was handed a record-length sentence in August for his role in the attack, which killed 22 people and injured hundreds of others.

He could die behind bars after being handed 24 life sentences with a minimum term of 55 years before he can be considered for parole.

It emerged during a hearing at the Old Bailey on Thursday he is being held at Frankland Prison, which has housed other notorious inmates, including Fusilier Lee Rigby’s terrorist killer Michael Adebolajo, Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe, and Charles Bronson.

The trial judge, Mr Justice Jeremy Baker, confirmed that Abedi will be subject to a 30-year notification order if he is ever freed, following a prosecution oversight during the original sentencing hearing.

The judge said the prison authorities at HMP Frankland had offered Abedi the chance to provide a response ahead of the hearing.

“Mr Abedi made it clear that he didn’t wish to do so and confirmed that he didn’t request to be present at this hearing,” he added.

It is not known whether Abedi is being held in the jail’s separation centre – the only one currently in use in England and Wales, although Full Sutton and Woodhill also have them available.

Inmates can be moved to the specialist units if they are linked to terror plotting or considered to pose a risk to national security.

The Abedi brothers, from Fallowfield in south Manchester, spent months ordering, stockpiling and transporting the deadly materials for the terror attack, using multiple mobile phones, addresses and runaround vehicles to make their bomb.

They joined their parents in Libya the month before the blast, but Salman returned to the UK on May 18.

He bought the final components needed for the bomb, rented a flat in the city centre in which to build it, and carried out reconnaissance on the arena before finally executing the plot – the final moments of which were caught on CCTV.

The 22 people who were killed were: off-duty police officer Elaine McIver, 43; Saffie Roussos, eight; Sorrell Leczkowski, 14; Eilidh MacLeod, 14; Nell Jones, 14; Olivia Campbell-Hardy, 15; Megan Hurley, 15; Georgina Callander, 18; Chloe Rutherford, 17; Liam Curry, 19; Courtney Boyle, 19; Philip Tron, 32; John Atkinson, 28; Martyn Hett, 29; Kelly Brewster, 32; Angelika Klis, 39; Marcin Klis, 42; Michelle Kiss, 45; Alison Howe, 44; Lisa Lees, 43; Wendy Fawell, 50; and Jane Tweddle, 51.

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Categories: Frankland prison, Hashem Abedi, Libyan, Manchester Arena, Manchester bomb-plotter, News, Salman Abedi

Life sentences for prisoners who tried to murder guard in terror attack

October 8, 2020 Article

Two serving prisoners have been handed life sentences for trying to murder a prison officer in an Islamist terrorist attack behind bars.

Brusthom Ziamani, 25, is five years into a 19-year sentence for a 2014 terror plot to behead a soldier inspired by the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby.

He and fellow Muslim convert Baz Hockton, 26, who was radicalised in jail, attacked prison officer Neil Trundle at maximum security HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire on January 9.

The victim was left covered in blood after he was stabbed and hit by the pair armed with makeshift bladed weapons and wearing fake suicide belts as they shouted: “Allahu Akbar.”

Nurse Jayle Cowles and prison officer Georgina Ibbotson were also hurt as they tried to intervene.

Ziamani admitted assaulting the two women and he and Hockton were both handed life sentences on Thursday after they were found guilty of attempted murder by an Old Bailey jury.

The terror attack is believed to be the first of its kind inside a UK jail, although a homemade IRA bomb was exploded inside Crumlin Road Prison in Belfast in 1991.

Mrs Justice May said Ziamani must serve a minimum 21 years, while Hockton will serve at least 23 years before he is eligible for parole.

She said: “It is quite plain to me that the defendants must have been planning this terrorist operation for some time, preparing fake suicide belts and multiple weapons for the purpose.

“It is no accident the January 9 attack came just weeks after the London Bridge attack in November 2019, when Usman Khan, himself recently a prisoner at HMP Whitemoor, attacked members of the public shouting, ‘Allahu Akbar’, wearing a fake suicide belt, causing him to be shot at the scene.

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Categories: Attack on prison warden, Baz Hockton, Brusthom Ziamani, HMP Whitemoor, Lee Rigby, Life Sentence, News, Preparing fake suicide belts, Usman Khan