Terrorism Watch

Source:  http://in.reuters.com/article/myanmar-rohingya-idINKCN12L23I

October 22, 2016 Press Release In a bid to stern the growing spate of the religious extremism being propagated by the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, IMN, a group of Nigerians in the United States have launched a movement under the aegis of More Voices Against Terrorism (MVAT). The movement which was inaugurated by the convener, Cosmas Collins, said the activities of the IMN has given Nigeria and Nigerians living abroad a negative image, saying there was urgent need to draw the attention of the international community to their heinous crimes against the Nigerian state. In an electronic statement, the Convener of the MVAT, Cosmas Collins, said the non-prosecution of the leader of the IMN, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky remains a major flaw for the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari which is respected globally in its war against terrorism. According to him, the campaign against Mr. El- Zakzaky and his Iranian counterparts is a patriotic advocacy to defend the sovereignt

Prosecutors from France, Belgium, Spain and Morocco called Friday for the ability to unlock phones and computers and to gain access to encrypted communications to aid in the fight against terrorism. Following a two-day meeting in Paris, prosecutors in charge of counterterrorism investigations in the four countries issued a joint statement Friday to "alert" national and international authorities, internet providers, software makers and telecommunication operators about the obstacles posed by data encryption and the locking systems of smartphones and computers. They say that while the protection of personal data is a basic right, the threat of violent attacks "justifies" giving "specialized justice authorities" access to the data of people suspected of terror activity. The issue needs a global response since the concerned companies are often not based in the country where an investigation is taking place, French prosecutor Francois Molins said. M

Fri Oct 21, 2016 | 2:17 PM EDT By  Zoe Tabary LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Sport is a universal language that can help prevent extremism and racism among young people, London-born Pakistani footballer Kashif Siddiqi said on Friday, urging governments to do more to bring together players from different religions. Siddiqi, co-founder of Football for Peace, a charity that puts on matches between communities of different ethnic or cultural backgrounds, said being born to a Ugandan mother and an Indian father had taught him a lot about cultural diversity. "The communities we bring together play in one team, so they have to talk to each other – just like in football you can't win if you don't pass the ball to teammates," said Siddiqi, who has played for Pakistan at international level. Young people have been among the thousands of Muslims, including more than 800 Britons, who have left Europe for Iraq and Syria, many to join Islamic State (IS),

AN ISLAMIC group has criticised the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) claiming the organisation does not tackle honour killings in the UK and should not be consulted on counter-terrorism. Ismal Lea South, co-founder of The Salam Project which organises urban Islamic events and initiatives, claimed the group fails to address crucial issues in British communities and could not be trusted to deal with radicalism. The MCB has directly challenged the Government’s Prevent scheme by announcing a blue print for an alternative counter-terror initiative. Beginning on a grass-roots level, the project is set to start next year. Speaking to  TalkRadio , Mr Lea South, said he respected the Council but felt he could not take them seriously on the issue. He said: "This makes a great change from the Muslim Council in Britain moaning about the events over the past six years, so I'm very grateful. "We've been dealing with issues around honour killings, forced marriages an

By  Juliana Rose Pignataro @julie_pignataro   On  10/17/16 AT 10:18 AM Sweden has decided that displaying the black flag associated with the Islamic State group is legal, the  Local Sweden  reported Sunday. The flag technically doesn’t constitute hate speech, said prosecutor Gisela Sjovall, because ISIS isn’t targeting a specific group. Instead, it is against everyone who doesn’t share the views of ISIS. “Put simply, one can say that he is expressing contempt for “all others” and not a specific ethnic group,” said Sjovall. Police originally launched a hate speech investigation into a 23-year-old man who posted the flag on Facebook in June. The black  flag  contains white writing in Arabic and is often referred to as the Black Banner. Sjovall said that because the post included only the flag and no other words or images targeting a specific group, she would not prosecute him. An Islamic State flag flies over the custom office of Syria's Jarablus border gate as it

A 19-year-old man has been arrested after a suspicious device was blown up in a controlled explosion at a London Tube station. Officers discharged Tasers during the arrest on Holloway Road, north London, but no firearms were discharged. The suspect was taken to a London police station, where he is in custody. Police have said they are stepping up patrols across London's transport network following Thursday's discovery of the item at North Greenwich station. The Met Police said the device was due to be forensically examined. The arrested man was white, bearded and wearing a hoodie, a witness said. Ali, aged 30, who did not give his full name, said the man had been walking along the street "normally" when police descended. "The armed police, I think five of them, ran behind him and put him on the floor," he said. "They were shouting 'armed police, don't struggle'. Everything happened so quick." The suspicious objec

ISTANBUL Published Turkish people indicated that terrorism is the number one challenge facing their country while corruption was top on the agenda for many including Egypt, India and Indonesia, and the economy was the top response from U.K. participants, followed, according to the U.S.-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) research. The research was made using 8,000 participants in eight countries including Turkey to investigate global perceptions of violent extremism. According CSIS's overall findings, the regional instability throughout the Middle East peaked with the U.S. invasion of Iraq, which was subsequently followed by a series of events including the Arab Spring, a coup d'état in Egypt as well as the ongoing Syria crisis, eventually then leading to further radicalism and rise of various terror groups like Daesh and al-Nusra. As a result of flawed policies in the region, then came the rise of radicalism that led to g

JAMMU: In a massive crackdown on terrorism in the valley, two  Jaish-e-Mohammad militants  have been arrested in Kanispora area of Baramulla district in Jammu and Kashmir. The militants were nabbed in a joint search operation launched last night by the 52 Rashtriya Rifles and Special Operation Group (SOG) Baramulla. Ammunition besides an AK 47, a pistol and grenades were recovered from them, including Jaish and  Hizbul Mujahideen  stamps. Meanwhile, in a major breakthrough regarding national security, a Pakistani spy was arrested in Samba sector of Jammu and Kashmir as he was making attempts to escape. The spy named Bodh Raj was held along with two Pakistani SIM cards and a map showing deployment of forces was also seized from him. The Samba District Police said that based on the information received from  Military Intelligence  with regard to the involvement of Bodh Raj for his espionage activities and passing on vital information regarding deployment and movement of securi

A programme to rehabilitate former  Isis  fighters and other extremists with housing, employment, education and financial support is being trialled in  Sweden . Local authorities in the city of Lund say the controversial measures aim to reintegrate returned jihadis into society and prevent them reverting to their former networks. Anna Sjöstrand, the municipal coordinator against violent extremism, acknowledged the proposals were controversial but argued that the same approach should be taken to Isis defectors as to those leaving organised crime and neo-Nazi groups. “When this subject came up we thought: ‘Oh god, how should we handle this’,” she told national broadcaster  Sveriges Radio . Germany and UK jail jihadist fighters returning from Syria “Pretty quickly we realized that we should deal with this in the same way. READ MORE Sweden declares flying the Isis flag is legal EU could face Isis influx as militants flee Mosul offensive How Isis is turning young crimina

Gavin Mortimer In the apartment block next to mine in Paris there are two Muslim families. One I see often: the dad dresses in jeans and a t-shirt, and when the weather is good he’s in the park playing with his kids. So, too, the mum: a stylish woman who matches her headscarves to whatever else she wears with the effortless chic of a Parisian. I see less of the other family: the husband dresses in the white robes of a Salafist and never goes to the park with his child. I’ve seen his wife only once. The two families are emblematic of the fight France faces to defeat Islamic extremism. It will be a long fight. In a report in its weekend magazine earlier this month,  Le Figaro  said: ‘Perhaps, in fifty years, the secularisation of Islam will have occurred, but it will be necessary to go through ten years of high tension’. Francois Hollande alluded to this tension in  comments publicised last week  from a book by two journalists from  Le Monde: ‘It’s true there is a problem

Under the strategy, mosques will be the key point of contact but people would also be referred directly to the new counter-radicalisation scheme. By:  PTI  | London | Published on:October 20, 2016 7:06 pm Senior Muslim leaders in Britain have decided to take the issue of countering Islamist extremism into their own hands, it emerged on Thursday. Under plans being drafted by the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), representing around 500 charities, schools and mosques across the UK, a new counter-radicalisation scheme is expected to be launched by next year. Watch What Else is Making News Setup Timeout Error: Setup took longer than 30 seconds to complete. “In reflecting the wishes of a cross-section of British Muslim society, our affiliates have directed the MCB to explore a grassroots-led response to the challenge of terrorism. Real challenges exist, as we see with Muslim families broken up as a number of children, mothers and fathers leave to travel to Syria,”

Saikrupa Chandramouli Dado Ruvic/Reuters The flag used by Isis features a banner reading: 'There is no God but Allah, Mohammad is the messenger of Allah' A prosecutor in Sweden has ruled that to fly the Islamic State's black flag does not constitute a hate crime. According to  The Local , a Swedish news publication, prosecutor Gisela Sjövall revealed that she would not be prosecuting a 23-year-old man who posted pictures of the IS flag on his Facebook page in June. The man, originally from Syria, was investigated by the Laholm police for spreading hate speech. During an interview with Swedish news agency  SVT , Sjövall argued that the man is not guilty of a hate crime because IS hates everyone and does not advocate hatred for any one particular group of people. "Put simply, one can say that he is expressing contempt for 'all others,' and not against a specific ethnic group," she stated. In an interview with the Hallandsposten newspaper, Sjövall reasoned th

The Centre’s cyber security arm has issued a fresh warning to all banks cautioning them that cyber criminals from Pakistan may target their information infrastructure, The Hindu has learnt. The alert issued on October 7, came from the Computer Emergency Response Team-India (CERT-In), the nodal agency under the Ministry of Electronics and IT. The cyber-security agency is working closely with the Reserve Bank of India to enhance financial sector security apparatus in the wake of the biggest security breach in Indian banking affecting over 32 lakh accounts, a senior government official said. E-mail alert The agency has also mailed various banks on Thursday, including State Bank of India, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank, asking them to report details of the debit cards breach, a senior official of the IT ministry said. The incident has so far not been reported by the banks to CERT-In, which is the national nodal agency for monitoring and responding to cyber security incidents. It co