Posts

Showing posts from October 4, 2020

Smarter investment can help prevent violent extremism. Here's how

Image
Extremist groups are using the pandemic to promote their agendas, just as more young people are becoming vulnerable to becoming radicalized. The amount of funding available to push back against violent extremism is shrinking. However, smarter use of available funds can help NGOs to do more with less. Here's how to achieve this. Around the world, existing and sometimes new violent extremist groups are using the COVID-19 pandemic to accelerate their rhetoric against governments, minorities and international organizations . At the same time, more individuals – especially young people – are becoming vulnerable to the appeal of violent extremism; in lockdown, spending even longer online, facing increasing economic uncertainty, and unable to participate in the educational, social and religious events that have traditionally helped insulate them. Yet just when more investment is required to push back against extremist agendas and bolster resilience, less is now available.

Algeria Arrests Imam in Tindouf for Suspected Ties with Sahel Terrorists

Image
Tindouf camps in Algeria Rabat  – Algerian police have arrested an imam in the  Tindouf camps  for his alleged ties with terrorist groups in the  Sahel . Quoting “credible sources,”  Rwanda News Agency  wrote on October 5 that the arrest followed a similar operation targeting two Tindouf residents for their ties with terrorist groups. The news was also reported by  Gabon Review . The two suspects, according to Rwanda News Agency, used to attend mosque sermons performed by the arrested imam and later joined Boko Haram in 2010. Read Also:   Polisario Smugglers Again Deprive Tindouf Sahrawis of Humanitarian Aid The RNA warned that the Tindouf camps in southwestern Algeria are “easy prey to the recruitment of leaders affiliated with various terrorist networks, which continue to cause trouble in the region.” In recent years, Morocco has been warning the world of threats in the Sahel and Polisario’s involvement in illegal activities in the region. Morocco also blames Algeria for lack of secu

Muslim World League chief denounces extremists in response to Macron’s ‘Islamist separatism’ speech

LONDON: Saeed bin Nasser Al-Ghamdi does not present himself as merely a preacher who advocates the Salafi-Jihadi movement Sururism, the intermediate link between the Muslim Brotherhood, Al-Qaeda and later, Daesh. Nor does he solely present himself as an extremist activist who incites hatred towards other religious and political schools of thought, such as liberalism, nationalism, leftism and Shiism — which he specifically attacks and loathes. Al-Ghamdi embodies all of those and more, and his outward hatred of the West, especially the US, is well known through his books, which advocate intolerance, rejection and violence against other ideologies. “He is being promoted by extremists abroad as a thinker and yet represents a model of contradiction and dual rhetoric which many extremists live through in the Gulf and the Arab World, spreading their hate poisons against democracy, modernity, and freedom,” Extremism expert Hani Nasira told Arab News. This is cle

Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict draws in fighters from Mideast

  BEIRUT: For the past two weeks, Raffi Ghazarian has been glued to the TV at home and at work watching news about the fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces. If it goes on, the 50-year-old Lebanese of Armenian descent says he's ready to leave everything and volunteer to defend his ancestral land. Some from Lebanon 's large ethnic Armenian population have already travelled to join the fight, according to members of the community, although they say the numbers are small. The new eruption of violence in the Caucasus region strikes close to home for Lebanon's Armenians. Red, blue and orange Armenian flags are flown on balconies, windows and roofs of buildings in Bourj Hammoud, Beirut's main Armenian district. Anti-Turkish graffiti in English and Armenian mark walls all over the streets. Fighting has raged since September 27 in the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh , leaving several hundred dead. The enclave lies within Azerbaijan b

UN and partners promote sport as a tool to prevent violent extremism

Sport is synonymous with values such as tolerance, respect and team work, and aligns with the UN’s founding goal of creating a better world for all, the head of the Organization’s Office of Counter-Terrorism , Vladimir Voronkov, told participants.  This explains why terrorist groups seek to hijack sporting events, with incidents such as the March 2009 attack against Sri Lanka’s cricket team, and the Boston Marathon bombing in the United States some four years later, serving as stark reminders.  A ‘critical shelter’ for youth    “In today’s particularly volatile world, sport is a critical shelter for young and vulnerable people.  Sport helps children and teenagers across the globe to build the psychological and emotional strength to be better, more tolerant and respectful citizens. Sport equips them with the right tools to resist terrorist propaganda," said Mr. Voronkov.    Lessons for life   Suad Galow from Somalia spoke of the lessons she learned

Violent memes and messages surging on far-left social media, a new report finds

  The report acknowledges that left-wing political actors, including those who embrace the antifa movement , have been responsible for far less violence than white supremacists and other right-wing ones — a finding consistent with the conclusions of law enforcement and other threat analysts. But the researchers found the growing use of memes a worrying sign and argue that the spread of dehumanizing rhetoric on the left could set the stage for more serious incidents by what the report called “network-enabled mobs.” It drew particular attention to the growing use of slogans — many of them profane — such as “ACAB” for “All Cops Are Bastards,” that have spread extensively in online conversations while also increasingly appearing in graffiti on government buildings and statues that have been toppled by protesters. Some memes that spread on social media depict police officers being shot or their vehicles burned. One post from a left-wing group cited by the report called fo

MI5 confronts terror threat from left-wing extremists

  MI5 officers will investigate for the first time left-wing anarchists who are feared to be planning terrorist attacks. The security service will make inquiries into “single-issue terrorism” a part of its new remit in charge of domestic terrorism Whitehall sources emphasised that the left-wing anarchist threat was a “tiny fraction” of cases compared with Islamist and far-right extremism . The number of cases is expected to be in single digits each year. Earlier this year MI5 took over the lead from police in combating domestic terrorism because of the increased threat posed by extremeright wing fanatics Source  https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/mi5-confronts-terror-threat-from-left-wing-extremists-pzwhl25xx

Fair trial concerns plague world’s largest death row in Pakistan

Image
  Mianwal Ranjha, Pakistan – When the judge read out a sentence of death, 17-year-old Muhammad Iqbal could scarcely believe it, and reached out for his brother. As guards converged upon him to escort him away from the courtroom and back to prison, the teenager was desperate to speak to his family. “The words ‘sentenced to death’, I didn’t know much at that time about appeals and everything else,” he recalls, sitting on a rope bed in the winter sunshine in his native Mandi Bahauddin, in central Pakistan. “I thought they were going to execute me [right then]. “My brother was in the courtroom at the time of the verdict, I called to him, to see him one last time and to say goodbye to him.” Iqbal, now 39, would spend 21 years on death row before a court ruled earlier this year that he had been sentenced incorrectly, commuting his sentence and releasing him on June 30. During his trial, where he was convicted for murder, he says he was largely unaware of how the legal proceed

Taliban cheer Trump tweet promising early troop withdrawal

  The Afghan Taliban on Thursday welcomed a tweet from US President Donald Trump in which he promised to have the last of their troops out of Afghanistan by Christmas, or at least by the end of the year. If that withdrawal happens, it would be months ahead of schedule and the tweet made no reference to a Taliban promise to fight terrorist groups  a previous pre-requisite for an American withdrawal. In a tweet that seemed to contradicted his national security advisor, Trump said we should have the small remaining number of our brave men and women serving in Afghanistan home by Christmas. On Wednesday, National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien, speaking of American forces in Afghanistan, told an audience in Las Vegas that "as of today, there are under 5,000 and that will go to 2,500 by early next year". Yet, when asked about his tweet, Trump told Fox Business Channel : "We are down to 4,000 troops in Afghanistan. I'll have them home by the end of the

Russia tries to sponsor Nagorno-Karabakh cease-fire talks

  Russia moved to stop the worst escalation of fighting in the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh in more than a quarter-century by offering to host cease-fire talks on Friday. Late Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a statement calling for a break in the fighting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani forces that have raged for nearly two weeks over the region. The Kremlin said Putin's initiative followed a series of calls with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.  The latest outburst of fighting between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces began September 27 and marked the biggest escalation of the decades-old conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.  The region lies in Azerbaijan but has been under control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since the end of a separatist war in 1994.  The Kremlin said Putin proposed calling a cease-fire to exchange prisoners and collect the bodies of dead soldie

Ex-Kyrgyz president Atambayev survives ‘assassination attempt’

Image
  The former president of Kyrgyzstan, Almazbek Atambayev, survived an assassination attempt in Bishkek when his car was shot at, Russia’s RIA news agency cited an aide as saying. Friday’s apparent assassination attempt against Atambayev, who was freed from prison amid unrest following a disputed October 4 parliamentary vote, marked a new escalation of violence in the Central Asian country. Hours earlier, President Sooronbay Jeenbekov, who is facing calls to step down, declared a state of emergency in the capital and ordered troops to quell unrest. Chaos has gripped the capital since the controversial parliamentary election held less than a week ago, with supporters of rival political groups taking to the streets. The results of that election have now been annulled. Atambayev was once close with his successor Jeenbekov, but the pair fell out shortly after the 61-year-old won the country’s last presidential election in 2017. Former President of Kyrgyzstan, Almazbek Atam

Microsoft finds dangerous ransomware: Know what it is, how is it dangerous?

  Microsoft has discovered sophisticated mobile Android ransomware with novel techniques and behaviour, evading many available protections and registering a low detection rate against security solutions. Called AndroidOS/MalLocker.B, the mobile ransomware is the latest variant of a ransomware family that's been in the wild for a while but has been evolving non-stop. "This ransomware family is known for being hosted on arbitrary websites and circulated on online forums using various social engineering lures, including masquerading as popular apps, cracked games, or video players," Dinesh Venkatesan from Microsoft Defender Research team said in a security blog post on Thursday. As with most Android ransomware, this new threat doesn't actually block access to files by encrypting them. Instead, it blocks access to devices by displaying a screen that appears over every other window, such that the user can't do anything else. "The said screen is th