Terrorism Watch

The logo of Hungary's main independent website Index, in Budapest, Hungary July 22, 2020. Working as a reporter and deputy editor for the Hungarian publication  Index  was a pinnacle in Szabolcs Panyi's career as a journalist. From 2013 to 2018, Panyi covered Hungarian politics, uncovered corruption scandals and won numerous awards for his work. People would recognize him on the streets or at protests, shaking his hand. He even saw a government official on TV reading a printout of one of his stories.    "That was the influence  Index  had," he told VOA. "Both personally and professionally, it was one of the best parts of my life." During his time at the news website, Panyi said he never received external pressure that influenced his reporting. But rumors lingered about a "set date" for when the publication would be bought out by a pro-government businessman. "We knew that it was just too popular and powerful to be simply shut down in a very ob

Burkina Faso’s first militant Islamist group, Ansaroul Islam, has faced setbacks, pointing to the weaknesses of violent extremist organizations lacking deep local support and facing sustained pressure. Ansaroul Islam militants in northern Burkina Faso, date unknown. (Image:  Screen capture  from video obtained by Héni Nsaibia from source in Mali) After years of avoiding militant Islamist violence, Burkina Faso has experienced a  rapid growth in attacks  since 2016. In 2018, there were 137 such violent events involving 149 fatalities. By mid-2019, militant Islamist groups already had outpaced these numbers with 191 episodes of violence and 324 fatalities. Three groups have been primarily responsible—the  Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) , the  Macina Liberation Front (FLM ) faction of the Jama’at Nusrat al Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM) coalition, and Ansaroul Islam. Ansaroul Islam has played an outsized role in the destabilization of northern Burkina Faso. From 2016 to 2018, just

London, Aug 01:  The UK government on Friday won permission to appeal against a court ruling allowing London-born ISIS bride Shamima Begum to return to Britain to challenge stripping of her British citizenship. Bangladeshi-origin Begum, now 20, was one of three schoolgirls who fled London to join ISIS in Syria in 2015. The UK Court of Appeal ruled that the case must go ahead to the Supreme Court before she is allowed back into the country because the case raised a point of law of public importance that only the highest court can resolve. On ISIS recruits in South India, UN forgets to make a very honourable mention of Tamil Nadu Sir James Eadie, representing the Home Office, told the court there was a "big issue at stake" in the case, to decide what should happen when someone cannot have a fair appeal over being stripped of their citizenship as a "result of going abroad and aligning with terrorist groups". He said it was "an issue of real pressing public importa

Ahead of the Roma Holocaust Memorial Day, on 2 August, Ursula  von der Leyen , President of the European Commission, Věra  Jourová , Vice-President for Values and Transparency, and Helena  Dalli , Commissioner for Equality, said: “Today, we pay tribute to the hundreds of thousands of Roma victims of the Holocaust. We consider it a moral duty to acknowledge and remember all those who suffered under the Nazi regime: among those people were the Roma. Remembering their persecution reminds us of the need to tackle the challenges they still face today and which are too often overlooked.  As the number of survivors and witnesses of these atrocities is dwindling, it is our duty, now more than ever, to continue their work of memory and to pass on their testimonies. For this reason, we pay our respects today to the memory of Raymond Gurême, a historical figure of the French Gypsy community, who survived the Holocaust and passed away this year, on 24 May, aged 94. He will be remembered for fighti

Nothing the BBC publishes can ever silence the voices that are demanding the UK to have a long overdue reckoning with its brutal history, writes Mhaki [Carl Court/Getty Images] In July 2018, Nigerian journalist and writer Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani wrote an honest, captivating and illuminating  article  about how her late great-grandfather's life as a 19th-century slave trader shaped her life.   In the expansive essay published by the New Yorker, Nwaubani told intriguing tales about family, Igbo traditions, slavery and colonialism.  She explained  how her great-grandfather, Nwaubani Ogogo Oriaku, gained wealth and influence during the transatlantic slave trade era by selling other Africans and helping missionaries establish Christianity in Nigeria.   She also provided an honest and nuanced account of the conflicting feelings many of her relatives have about her great-grandfather's legacy.   She told us how her father once declared he could never be ashamed of the infamous slave tra

The Council of Europe’s 47-member anti-racism commission,   ECRI ,   warned  against racial profiling , as well as   systemic racism and inequalities , all of which are to be found in Europe. ECRI has called upon European governments to   send strong messages and take determined action , even if these instances may only be isolated events, and reiterated that trust in the police by everyone in the society enhances safety for all. “Racial profiling constitutes a specific form of racial discrimination and must be expressly prohibited by law,” ECRI reminds. “It generates a feeling of humiliation and injustice among those groups that are subjected to it, results in their stigmatisation, negative stereotyping and alienation, and hinders good community relations.” According to the European Court of Human Rights, racial profiling can result in “institutionalised racism”. ECRI urges Council of Europe member states to take action in this area, from developing recruitment procedures which ensure

Italian forces used chemical weapons and committed war crimes in Africa—but the country’s sordid history is not taught in schools and is rarely discussed by politicians or intellectuals. Hundreds of demonstrators march to support the Black Lives Matter movement during a protest against police brutality and racial inequality in the United States and other parts of the world in Turin, Italy, on June 27.   Mauro Ujetto/NurPhoto via Getty Images When people get loud, Italians say it’s an “ ambaradan .” The word, which can be translated as “messy situation,” comes from Amba Aradam,  a mountain  in Ethiopia, where Italian troops  crushed  the local resistance in 1936 using mustard gas, in violation of the  Geneva Protocol . Most Italians ignore the fact that the word’s etymology stems from a colonial war crime. In fact, Italy’s colonial past is largely absent from public debate in the country. Trending Articles Top News from Foreign Policy Even in the past few months, while other European na