Jihadi Jack Ranted About Decapitating Friend Who Joined the British Army

May 23, 2019 Article

A Muslim convert dubbed Jihadi Jack ranted about decapitating an old school friend after finding out he was in the British Army, a court has heard.

Despite Jack Letts’ apparent online outburst about Linus Doubtfire, his supportive parents still tried to help him, the Old Bailey was told.

Organic farmer John Letts, 58, and his wife Sally Lane, 56, are on trial accused of sending or trying to send sums totalling GBP 1,723 to their son even though they had every reason to believe he had joined Islamic State in Syria.

Jack Letts had left the family home in Oxford in 2014 aged 18, the court heard.

His mother, a former fundraising and marketing officer, had bought him a flight to Jordan, despite a warning that he planned to go and fight in Syria, the court heard.

From there, he travelled to Kuwait and then on to Iraq and Syria, the jury was told.

On October 1 2014, Lane told one of her son’s friends he was “OK for now” but “in the worst place possible and doesn’t want to leave”.

The next day, Letts revealed to a friend that he was “over there” in an “Isis area” but not fighting.

He allegedly said: “It sounds like he’s having the adventure of a lifetime.”

By early 2015, the defendants knew their son had married in Iraq and had no intention of returning to Britain, jurors heard.

John Letts accused his son of lying about his plans to leave and said he was a “pawn… helping to spread hatred, pain, anger, suffering and violence”.

In March 2015, police visited the defendants and formally warned them they risked prosecution if they sent their son property or money, jurors were told.

When he found out about the raid, Jack Letts allegedly responded:

“Please convey to the British police that I’m not planning on coming back to their broken country.

“Convey to them from me ‘Die in your rage soon you’ll be the ones being raided!’”

In May, he posted a picture of himself standing on the Taqba Dam in Raqqa, the heartland of IS territory, jurors were told.

In July, Mr Doubtfire posted a picture on Facebook as he completed his Commando Artillery Course in the British Army.

Letts commented: “I would love to perform a martyrdom operation in this scene.”

Prosecutor Alison Morgan QC said the defendants appeared shocked by his Facebook post.

Lane allegedly urged him not to be “so stupid”, saying: “How did we bring you up to be so easily manipulated?”

He responded: “I admit it was wrong if I seemed like I was joking. I genuinely believe attacking the British Army is a very praiseworthy action when the intention is correct.

“I would happily kill each and every one of Linus Unit personally.

“This message for you, Mum and (younger brother) Tyler, I honestly want to cut Linus head off.

“I hope he finds himself lost in Beji or Fallujah one day and sees me whilst I’m armed and I put six bullets in his head.”

His mother replied: “I’m really hoping that your disgusting comments about cutting people’s heads off are not coming from you, i.e. someone else is using your account.”

Ms Morgan said the significance of the exchange was that the defendants were never sure they were communicating directly with their son, let alone that the transfers they went on to make would go to him or what the money would be used for.

On September 2 2015, Lane allegedly transferred money to an account in Lebanon after her son insisted it had “nothing to do with jihad”.

She allegedly told him: “I would go to prison for you if I thought it gave you a better chance of actually reaching your 25th birthday.”

In October, she told him: “Clearly I indulged you, I made you think you were the centre of the universe. I regret this bitterly.

“I was a terrible parent that gave you too much power as a child – I should have made you adapt to the world, instead of adapting myself to your world. I have done you no favours by doing this.”

She said he showed signs of “mental illness”, adding: “I have to bear some responsibility for that as your mother.”

In a police interview in November, Lane denied helping terrorists, saying she hoped the money she sent would pay for her son to get glasses.

John Letts and Lane, of Chilswell Road, Oxford, have denied three charges of funding terrorism.

The post Jihadi Jack Ranted About Decapitating Friend Who Joined the British Army appeared first on Faith Matters.

Categories: British Army, Jihadi Jack, John Letts, News, Trial of parents

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

May 20, 2019 Article

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The post Hanzalah Patel and Safwaan Mansur – Convicted of Preparing for Terrorist Acts appeared first on Faith Matters.

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

Pegida – A Snapshot into their Protectionist World of German Culture & Ardent Xenophobia

May 19, 2019 Article

In 2016, intelligence services estimated that there were just over 23,000 right-wing extremists in Germany. A myriad of groups networking covertly, utilizing social media to extreme effect, was sowing major social discord. Germany has in modern times been regarded by the rest as immune to the reach of the far-right, partly out of collective shame for Nazism. The country had seen where hate led and would not saunter down that path again.

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Pegida – The Rise of the Far Right in Germany

But today, the country exists as a hotbed of far-right extremism. The proliferation of populist, racist movements has caught many within its political class off guard. One such group is Pegida.

The movement caught on fire in late 2014 through to early 2015, whipping up mass anger around immigration. The organisation threatened Germany’s long held social cohesion, fracturing it in the backwaters of east Germany where anti-immigration attitudes had been rapidly bubbling for a while. Pegida’s aim was to force into the national conversation the concept of a national cultural identity being threatened by refugees and asylum seekers. It was dangerous, but for a while, it was effective. The group came to influence the political system, and particularly, the part Alternative for Germany (AfD). This report will look into their tumultuous history, their peak moments, setbacks, controversies and structural reasons for why they were as popular as they were.

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Categories: Germany, News, Pegida

Terror Accused Shared Virgins of Paradise Song, Court Told

May 14, 2019 Article

A Cardiff man has gone on trial accused of sharing a terrorist song entitled Virgins Of Paradise.

Zakaria Afey, 20, from St Mellons, allegedly disseminated the nasheed poem on January 12 2017.

He is also accused of having the terrorist manual How To Survive In The West on May 15 2017.

Opening his trial, prosecutor Michael Bisgrove said: “This is a case about dissemination and the possession of a terrorist manual.

“It is not bombs or bullets or knives, it’s electronic material, the kind that is used with frightening effect to indoctrinate and train predominantly young men who go on to commit acts that are becoming all too familiar.

“The defendant is charged with two offences, both relate to documents discovered when Mr Afey’s phone was seized and interrogated.

“The majority of the evidence comes directly from his phone handset.”

Mr Bisgrove told jurors the manual allegedly found on the defendant’s phone could be used to train would-be terrorists on “how to commit acts of terror and how to remain undetected while living in the West”.

The prosecutor went on to describe how the defendant’s Samsung Galaxy was seized after a search of his home in October 2017.

Afey confirmed it was his and handed over the password to the handset, asking if the search was related to terrorism, the Old Bailey heard.

He allegedly told officers he was “interested in my religion” and read a lot but did “not support terrorism in any way”.

He expressed concern they might find something but insisted he only wanted to understand all the aspects of his religion.

The defendant denies the charges against him and the trial continues

The post Terror Accused Shared Virgins of Paradise Song, Court Told appeared first on Faith Matters.

Categories: Cardiff, Nasheed, News, Religion, Zakaria Afey

Girlfriend of London Bridge Victim ‘Had Premonition of Terror Attack’

May 9, 2019 Article

The girlfriend of the first victim of the London Bridge attack has told his inquest she had a “premonition” they would be caught by terrorists.

Christine Delcros was walking on the bridge with father-of-two Xavier Thomas when they were mowed down by terrorists in a hired van on the evening of June 3 2017.

Ms Delcros was badly injured while Mr Thomas, 44, was catapulted over the balustrade and into the Thames. The Frenchman was found three days later and the cause of death was given as immersion.

Ms Delcros told the court she and her boyfriend had travelled by Eurostar for a weekend of sightseeing in London on June 3.

At 9.30pm they had decided to walk from their hotel, the Four Seasons in London Bridge, to have a cocktail in the Shard.

Mr Thomas had been tired but rejected the suggestion of going another night, she said. “I told him I did not know. I had so many premonitions about terror attacks from the day before and I could feel it.

“But I did not tell him, in fact, and to please me he started searching on his phone for another place but it is late now. He said, ‘that’s OK, it’s a magnificent view’, and he had planned everything properly accordingly and not to disappoint him I said OK.

“I just called my daughter and he has a younger son so he called his son and after that we went. After that I do not remember at the time of the van.”

Ms Delcros said she remembered being on the bridge and had the feeling that something was “not normal”.

“Suddenly I was under the impression there was a lot of light and a van that mounted the pavement in the exact fashion to make sure they were not going to miss us.

“I just heard myself say to myself, ‘that’s how one dies, that’s it’.”

Crying, she went on: “I thought that I had died, that the curtain had fallen. To me I was dead. I said to myself that’s how one dies and I have no recollection of the crash.

“It was only light when I woke up.”

Ms Delcros said a man came to help her and held her head as she regained consciousness.

She said: “Once I regained consciousness I asked, ‘where’s Xavier?’. He tried to look for him but he could not find him. I ordered him to look for him.”

The witness said she was in a lot of pain and felt like she was going into light.

“I could hear some voices, I was no longer there. I had my whole head with me but I was no longer using my body. I was going. I thought I would never get out of that light. I would stay there for ever.”

Asked by counsel for the coroner Jonathan Hough QC if she wanted to add to her evidence, she said: “I’m madly in love with Xavier.”

BBC journalist Holly Jones went to help Ms Delcros after jumping out of the path of the van and told police to check the water for her boyfriend.

Describing the moment a “demented” driver headed towards her, Ms Jones said: “Immediately I just froze. It was a feeling I described as like being punched into the chest. “There was a lady in front of me walking towards me. She had headphones on so she was not aware of any of this.

“I remember being stood frozen in fear. Something in the back of my mind told me to get out of the way. I jumped to the right towards the railings.

“At that point the van went past me. I could feel the wind of the van directly behind.”

Ms Jones said she remembered the French couple who looked “very happy together” on the bridge.

“I remember looking over and saw a female on the floor. My first thought was, ‘where’s the gentleman that was with her?’”

She scoured up and down the river but could not see where he was.

When she went to Ms Delcros, the French woman said, “where’s my boyfriend?”, and Ms Jones replied, “I don’t know”, the Old Bailey heard.

She added: “Those who did this try to separate us but they did the opposite. We are not victims of terror, we are survivors.”

Mark Roberts was among a group who had set up tripods to take photographs of Tower Bridge from London Bridge.

He saw a “commotion” with screams and shouts coming from the northern end of the bridge.

He told the court the van was going about 30mph or 40mph when it mounted the pavement and hit a group of people.

He said: “It looked to me it was deliberately steering and aiming at the people. That’s when I realised this is not an accident, this is a deliberate intent.

“At that point it started driving along the pavement towards me. There was one group of people, which included the previous witnesses, 20 yards away.

“I was thinking I should find some cover and I looked around and there was not really anywhere to go so I was frozen to the spot.”

Mr Roberts said he thought he was “next in line”, but suddenly the van steered away towards a large group of people running away.

He told the court one woman was thrown into the air “like a rag doll”.

On Wednesday, Gareth Patterson QC, representing some of the victims, said Mr Thomas and the second victim, Christine Archibald, would not have died if barriers had been put up after the Westminster Bridge attack two months before.

He has also questioned why more had not been done to stop Khuram Butt from hiring the van that hit them, despite being under investigation by MI5 and counter-terrorism police at the time.

After striking 10 pedestrians, including Mr Thomas and 30-year-old Ms Archibald, on the bridge, driver Youssef Zaghba crashed into railings.

Butt, 27, Rachid Redouane, 30, and Zaghba, 22, got out with 12in knives strapped to their hands with duct tape and wearing fake suicide belts.

They ran amok around Borough Market, killing six more people and injuring 48.

They were stopped by police marksmen who shot them dead less than 10 minutes after the rampage began.

The victims were Ms Archibald, 30, Mr Thomas, 45, Alexandre Pigeard, 26, Sara Zelenak, 21, Kirsty Boden, 28, Sebastien Belanger, 36, James McMullan, 32, and Ignacio Echeverria, 39.

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Categories: Christine Delcros, Khurram Butt, London Bridge Attack, News, Terror Attack, Xavier Thomas

The Democratic Football Lads Alliance, Offshoot Groups & Engagement with Anti-Muslim Prejudice

May 6, 2019 Article

We are proud to launch the following report, which highlights the trajectory of the Democratic Football Lads alliance, offshoot groups and the ongoing engagement with anti-Muslim and radical far right movements in the United Kingdom.

The report has been authored for Faith Matters by two leading lights in this area of work, Dr Matthew Feldman and Dr William Allchorn.

This report appears a decade after the emergence of the English Defence League (EDL), a street movement that has changed the face of radical right politics in Britain.

DOWNLOAD THE REPORT

DFLA Report: A Far Right Antechamber?

Key points from this report include:

* A number of key supporters of the D/FLA, such as ‘Tommy Robinson’, rose to national prominence through these new street movements, which include not only the ‘defence leagues’ but the ‘Infidels’, Pegida UK and now the D/FLA.

* The D/FLA is on the way to becoming a fully-fledged radical right movement through its overwhelming focus Islam and consistent engagement with anti-Muslim prejudice. Yet the other issues in which it is engaged (such as combating homelessness) have staved off the ‘Far Right’ label to date, but 2019 will be a pivotal year for the group.

* The immediate stimulus for the formation of the Football Lads Alliance clearly emerged in reaction to several UK-based ISIS-inspired terror attacks that occurred from March to June 2017.

* Organisationally separate from the established UK Radical Right, the D/FLA can be more fruitfully aligned with the nationalistic and anti-establishment concerns of working-class football casuals in the UK.

* Since the FLA-DFLA splinter in April 2018, however, the rhetoric and group of actors within this new protest movement have seen the group move onto anti-Islam and anti-Muslim issues more customarily associated with the UK Far Right.

* At the start of 2019, the direction of the DFLA looked unclear – it is however certain that the DFLA may yet prove to be another incubator group for the Far Right, like the defence leagues and other anti-Muslim groups before it.

The post The Democratic Football Lads Alliance, Offshoot Groups & Engagement with Anti-Muslim Prejudice appeared first on Faith Matters.

Categories: Democratic Football Lads Alliance, DFLA, Engagement with anti-Muslim, English Defence League, Far Right groups, FLA, Football Lads Alliance, News, Tommy Robinson

Pope on sensitive trip to Orthodox Bulgaria and North Macedonia

May 6, 2019 Article

Pope Francis starts a trip on Sunday to Bulgaria and North Macedonia where he will have to tread carefully because of sensitive relations with the dominant Eastern Orthodox Church in the two Balkan countries where Catholics are a tiny minority.

Bulgaria, a country of 7.1 million people, is home to just 58,000 Catholics, while North Macedonia, with a population of 2 million, has just 15,000 Catholics, less than some single neighbourhood parishes in Rome.

One purpose of the three-day trip is to improve relations with the Orthodox churches as part of the Vatican’s push for eventual unity between the Eastern and Western branches of Christianity that split in 1054.

But that task is delicate because Orthodox churches in both countries are caught up in their own internal conflicts, which have spilled over into official relations with Catholics.

Bulgarian Orthodox leaders have ordered clergy not to take part in prayers or services with the pope, saying its laws do not permit it. But the pope will meet Orthodox Patriarch Neophyte and visit an Orthodox cathedral in Sofia.

“Receiving the pope but not praying with him is a contradiction in terms,” said Tamara Grdzelidze, professor of Ecumenical Theology and visiting fellow at St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto. She suggested that the choice was due to internal disputes among Bulgarians.

A statement from the Bulgarian Orthodox Church last month explaining its position emphasised that the invitation for the pope’s visit was made by state authorities, suggesting it had been given only a secondary role in the planning.

DIFFICULT DIALOGUE

Bulgaria’s Orthodox community is one of the most hardline in relations with the Catholic Church.

It is the only Orthodox community that has boycotted the most recent meetings of the official Orthodox-Catholic dialogue and also boycotted the 2016 Pan-Orthodox Council, citing differences on preparatory texts.

The Orthodox world considers North Macedonia’s Church to be in a state of schism since it declared itself autocephalous, or independent, from the Serbian Orthodox Church.

Apparently in an effort not to upset other Orthodox Churches, the pope will not be meeting privately with North Macedonian Orthodox Primate Stephen.

It will be only the second visit by a pope to Bulgaria – Pope John Paul visited in 2002.

It is the first by a pope to North Macedonia and comes just three months after its name was changed from Macedonia, ending a decades-old dispute with Greece and opening the way for the ex-Yugoslav republic to join the European Union and NATO.

“It’s a big political gesture on the part of the pope towards countries that have struggled to open themselves up both religiously and politically after the fall of communism and the Socialist bloc,” Grdzelidze told Reuters.

“It could also be an encouragement for the local Catholic churches, despite their size, to be more active in contributing to public life and introducing Western values while not being in contrast to the Orthodox,” said Grdzelidze, a former Georgian ambassador to the Vatican.

Francis is most eagerly awaited in Rakovski, Bulgaria’s largest predominantly Roman Catholic town.

“It is a great joy, a great spiritual experience, a feast of faith for the whole community here in Rakovski as well as for the whole country,” said Sister Elka Staneva, a nun who has been preparing local children to receive their first communion from the pope.

He will spend Tuesday in the North Macedonian capital of Skopje, where the late Mother Teresa was born Anjeze Gonxhe Bojaxhiu to Albanian parents in 1910 when it was still part of the Ottoman Empire.

Known as the “saint of the gutters” for her work among the poor in India, she died in 1997 and was officially made a saint by Pope Francis in 2016. He is due to visit her memorial and meet poor people helped by the order of nuns founded by the Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

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Categories: Bulgaria, News, North Macedonia, Pope Francis

U.S: One Dead After Man Opens Fire on Worshippers in California Synagogue

April 27, 2019 Article

A woman has died and three other people are in hospital after a shooting at a synagogue outside San Diego, California.

County sheriff William Gore said a white man opened fire on worshippers at Chabad of Poway with an AR-type assault weapon.

San Diego Police chief David Nisleit said the 19-year-old suspect called police to report the shooting, and was subsequently arrested by a California Highway Patrol officer.

Mr Nisleit said the suspect got out of his car with his hands up and was taken into custody without incident.

Mr Gore confirmed a woman died from her injuries, while a girl and two men are in hospital in a stable condition.

He said an off-duty Border Patrol agent believed to be inside the synagogue at the time shot at the suspect as he fled. The sheriff said the agent did not hit him, but struck his car.

US president Donald Trump offered his “deepest sympathies to the families of those affected”.

At the White House, Mr Trump said that the shooting “looked like a hate crime” and called it “hard to believe”.

He spoke from the South Lawn before flying to a rally in Wisconsin.

Mr Gore said he had no details on motive.

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Categories: Chapad of Poway, hate crime, News, Synagogue Shooting, United States

William’s Emotional Speech to Christchurch Mosque Survivors In Full

April 26, 2019 Article

The Duke of Cambridge delivered an emotional speech during a visit to the Masjid Al Noor in Christchurch, where 42 people were killed last month in one of two attacks on mosques in the city.

Here is the text of William’s speech, after he greeted the guests in Maori and Arabic:

Good morning. Today we gather in a place of worship, faith, and friendship. We gather here in Al Noor mosque, a home for community and for family.

On the 15th of March, tragedy unfolded in this room.

A terrorist attempted to sow division and hatred in a place that stands for togetherness and selflessness. He thought he could redefine what this space was.

I am here to help you show the world that he failed.

Now, when I woke up in London on the morning of 15th of March, I could not believe the news.

An act of unspeakable hate had unfolded in New Zealand – a country of peace.

And it had unfolded in Christchurch – a city that has endured so much more than its fair share of hardship.

And when it was confirmed that 50 New Zealand Muslims had been killed – murdered while peacefully worshipping – again, I just could not believe the news.

I have been visiting New Zealand since before I could walk. I have stood alongside New Zealanders in moments of joy and celebration.

And I have stood alongside New Zealanders in this city in moments of real pain, after loved ones, homes, and livelihoods had been lost after the 2011 earthquake.

And what I have known of New Zealanders from the earliest moments of my life, is that you are a people who look out to the world with optimism.

You have a famous strength of character. You have a warm-hearted interest about cultures, religion, and people thousands of miles from your shores.

You acknowledge, debate, and grapple with your own cultural history in a way that has no real parallel in any other nation.

So again, I could not believe the news I was hearing on the 15th of March.

A country that seemed to be bucking global trends of division and anger, looked like maybe it too would fall victim to those intent on promoting fear and distrust. I have no doubt that this is what the terrorist had hoped for.

But New Zealanders had other plans. The people of Al Noor and Linwood mosques had other plans.

In a moment of acute pain, you stood up and you stood together. And in reaction to tragedy, you achieved something remarkable.

I have had reasons myself to reflect on grief and sudden pain and loss in my own life. And in my role, I have often seen up close the sorrow of others in moments of tragedy, as I have today.

What I have realised is that of course grief can change your outlook. You don’t ever forget the shock, the sadness, and the pain.

But I do not believe that grief changes who you are. Grief – if you let it – will reveal who you are. It can reveal depths that you did not know you had.

The startling weight of grief can burst any bubble of complacency in how you live your life, and help you to live up to the values you espouse.

This is exactly what happened here in Christchurch on the 15th of March.

An act of violence was designed to change New Zealand. But instead, the grief of a nation revealed just how deep your wells of empathy, compassion, warmth and love truly run.

You started showing what New Zealand really was almost immediately. On the road outside these walls people pulled their cars over and started caring for the victims even when they did not know if it was safe to do so. Your neighbours opened their doors to those who were fleeing the violence.

Your first responders apprehended the killer and immediately worked to save lives in the most challenging of circumstances.

In the days that followed, thousands of bouquets of flowers filled public spaces in this city, brightening the darkest of moments.

Your prime minister showed extraordinary leadership of compassion and resolve, providing an example to us all.

Imam Gamal Fouda – you displayed wisdom and grace that is almost unthinkable given what you witnessed with your own eyes. Your words in the days after the attack moved the world.

Your reminder that the victims needed to be remembered both as Muslims and as New Zealanders, showed that grief revealed you to be a man of great wisdom.

You could not have been more right when you declared that this country is unbreakable.

On the map New Zealand may look like an isolated land. But in the weeks that followed the 15th of March, the moral compass of the world was centred here in Christchurch.

You showed the way we must respond to hate – with love.

You showed that when a particular community is targeted with prejudice and violence, simple acts – like wearing a headscarf or broadcasting the call to prayer – can reassure those who have reason to be afraid.

You showed that an attack designed to divide a society against Muslims only brought us all closer to our Muslim friends.

The Muslim community showed the world the true face of Islam as a religion of peace and understanding.

I was very moved by the stories of the great distances that your friends and families travelled to support you in your time of need, even when your previous connections had not always been frequent. They travelled here to support you because you were family and that is what families do. They drop everything when it is needed.

People of all faiths and backgrounds can learn a great deal from how the Muslim families affected by the 15th of March attacks rallied around their loved ones.

The example provided by New Zealand will prove to be of enduring value to all nations. What happened here was fuelled by a warped ideology that knows no boundaries.

The world has rightly united to fight the extremism that has made sorrowful brethren out of cities like New York, Paris, London, and Manchester and that has taken so many lives in Sri Lanka in recent days.

And so too we must unite to fight the violent brand of extremism that has led to fatal shootings in a church in Charleston, South Carolina; and a synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; a van attack on the streets of Finsbury Park in London; the murder of an MP in West Yorkshire; and now so many deaths in two mosques here in Christchurch.

Extremism in all its forms must be defeated.

The message from Christchurch and the message from Al Noor and Linwood mosques could not be more clear – the global ideology of hate will fail to divide us.

And just as New Zealand has taken swift action to ban physical tools of violence, we must unite to reform the social technology that allowed hateful propaganda to inspire the murder of innocents.

To the people of New Zealand and the people of Christchurch – to our Muslim community and all those who have rallied to your side – I stand with you in gratitude for what you have taught the world these past weeks.

I stand with you in optimism about the future of this great city.

I stand with you in grief for those we have lost, and with support for those who survived.

And I stand with you in firm belief that the forces of love will always prevail over the forces of hate.

The post William’s Emotional Speech to Christchurch Mosque Survivors In Full appeared first on Faith Matters.

Categories: Masjid Al Noor, New Zealand Mosque Attack, News, Prince William

Jail for Somali Man Who Had Stash of IS Propaganda

April 18, 2019 Article

A Somali man has been jailed for having a stash of Islamic State propaganda.

Abdirahman Mohamed, of Shadwell Drive in Northolt, west London, had been found guilty after an Old Bailey trial of eight charges of possessing a document or record for terrorist purposes and cleared of one count of disseminating a terrorist publication.

Police seized two laptops, a mobile phone and a USB memory stick after searching his home in July 2017.

Officers had found electronic copies of the IS magazine as well as other documents including “safety and security guidelines for Lone Wolf Mujahideen”, the court heard.

The unemployed 42-year-old was sentenced at the Old Bailey to a total of two years and three months’ imprisonment.

He was also ordered to pay a £140 victim surcharge and all the items are to be destroyed.

Prosecutor Kelly Brocklehurst had said: “It is not the Crown’s case that the defendant personally engaged in, or was about to engage in, violence to kill or maim people in a political, ideological or religious cause.

“Rather the Crown say he knowingly possessed a number of documents that the Crown say are the kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.”

The post Jail for Somali Man Who Had Stash of IS Propaganda appeared first on Faith Matters.

Categories: Abdirahman Mohamed, IS Propaganda, Islamic State, jail, News, Somali Man