WP 10 : Securitization and Religious Divides in Europe after 9/11

Articles

• Bombs accused ’told absurd lies’

  23 December 2008, by The Muslim Weekly
  A doctor accused of attempted car bombings in London and Glasgow has told «astonishing lies», jurors have heard. Bilal Abdulla, 29, claimed he did not know Kafeel Ahmed, 28, was planning a suicide attack when a Jeep was driven into a building at Glasgow Airport. Prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw QC told Woolwich Crown Court Mr Abdulla gave a «simply absurd» account of the June 2007 attack on the terminal building.

• Mumbai attacks: How young Britons are radicalised in Pakistan

  23 December 2008, by The Telegraph
  Reports that some of the terrorists who attacked Mumbai were British has focused attention on the UK Muslims who receive military training at extremist madrassas in Pakistan and Afghanistan. In this report, filed three years ago, Telegraph correspondents expose how young Britons travel to al-Qaeda camps to learn how to destroy the West: Deep inside an anonymous office building at the heart of the Pakistani Army’s sprawling Rawalpindi headquarters last week, a metal door swung open and two smartly dressed British officials stepped into a spartan, windowless room.

• Leader wanted over 2006 train bombings

  23 December 2008, by The Guardian
  Hafiz Muhammad Saeed is said to have been one of the founders of Lashkar-e-Taiba when it was formed in 1989. When the Guardian met him in Pakistan in 1998, it found a «short, round man in spectacles» delivering a sermon to his disciples in which he told them: «Terrorists are killers, they kidnap and murder the innocent, but a jihad is to help the poor, the weak and the starving and to establish the supremacy of Allah.» His stated opponents then were those he regarded as heretics - liberal Pakistanis and the Shia Muslim, Christian and Hindu minorities.

• British Muslims have become a mainstay of the global ’jihad’

  23 December 2008, by Independent
  
More than 4,000 British Muslims have passed through terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to security agencies, providing a fertile recruitment pool for the Islamist international jihad. Men from the UK’s Kashmiri community have joined groups such as Lashkar-e-Toiba, the prime suspects in the Mumbai attacks, which have been fighting against Indian forces in Kashmir. Others from a Pakistani background are in the ranks of the Taliban and other groups taking part in action against British and Nato forces in Afghanistan.

• German Police Arrest Two in Connection With Islamist Web Site

  22 December 2008, by Deutsche Welle
  German federal police arrested two men Tuesday, Nov. 25, for operating a radical Islamist website and they are likely to face charges of supporting terrorism, prosecutors said. The German-language website, GIMF, which stands for Global Islamic Media Front, contained videos from al-Qaeda, Mesopotamian al-Qaeda and the radical group Ansar al-Islam. It also contained two videos made in Germany demanding the withdrawal of German and Austrian troops from Afghanistan, the prosecutor-general’s office in Karlsruhe said.

• Terror threat in the Netherlands ’substantial’

  22 December 2008, by News Agencies
  According to Dutch government counter-terrorism chief Tjibbe Joustra, the threat of a terrorist attack in the Netherlands is higher than ever. At present, the threat level rests at its second highest level – «substantial.» Justra, however, said that he believes the level should be set to «substantial plus.» He dies not say what specific threats have lead to this occasion.

• TERROR INVESTIGATION: German Islamist Resurfaces by Video from Afghanistan

  22 December 2008, by Spiegel Online
  Eric Breininger has been one of Germany’s most-wanted men since he joined the Islamist Jihad Union terrorist organization. He’s now resurfaced in a video from Afghanistan. His message: He has no plans for an attack against Germany. German officials have been looking for the young man for months. It is a search that has spanned the globe, but which had largely been fruitless. Until Tuesday that is, when Eric Breininger, a young German man from the western state of Saarland, popped up in an Islamic Jihad Union (IJU) terror video claiming he is currently in Afghanistan.

• Europe: Islamic groups in Europe condemn Mumbai attacks

  22 December 2008, by News Agencies
  The Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE) condemned the «inexcusable and reprehensible» terror attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai. «The Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe reminds of the vital importance of exercising self-restraint, and respect for the principle of peaceful coexistence and harmony in community relations in the multi-ethnic Indian society,» said a statement released by the Organization.

• Police arrest two terrorism suspects

  22 December 2008, by News Agencies
  Milan police arrested two Moroccan-born men on charges of plotting attacks against Italian targets. These targets included a supermarket, police barracks, and Milan’s Piazza del Duomo. The two men were said to have no ties to international terrorist groups, but did admire the work of such groups as Al Qaeda.

• Muslims condemn Islamic group

  17 December 2008, by The Muslim Weekly
  Prominent Muslim organisations in Reading have condemned an Islamic group which has been set up in opposition to the Government’s Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE) initiative. Reading Borough Council and Thames Valley Police are implementing a Home Office initiative designed to tackle violent extremism by working with Muslim communities. The Evening Post reported on Friday that Reading PVE Crisis Group has been set up with the support of more than 1,000 Muslims who feel the Government initiative is unfairly targeting the Muslim community.

• Three terror suspects extradited

  17 December 2008, by The Muslim Weekly
  Three Tunisian men wanted in Italy for alleged terrorist offences have been extradited from Britain, police say. Habib Ignaoua, 47, Mohamed Khemiri, 54, and Ali Chehidi, 35, were arrested in 2007 on a European Arrest Warrant. Italian authorities accuse the trio of recruiting young men to join the jihad in Afghanistan and Iraq.

• Banned extremists will be named and shamed

  17 December 2008, by The Telegraph
  Extremists banned from entering the UK will be «named and shamed» under plans to be announced by the Government this week: In the last three years a total of 230 people have been barred from entering the country because of their extreme views but they are not currently named publicly. The bans on high profile figures, including radical Isalmist cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrkhan, only became known after the individuals themselves spoke out against the decisions.

• Muslim teen ’brainwashing’ by extremists targeted

  17 December 2008, by South Wales Echo
  Muslim teenagers in danger of being «brainwashed» by extremists preaching hatred of western society are being targeted by an anti-racism group. It is just one of the new initiatives from Race Equality First designed to promote tolerance across Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan. Director Mohammed Tufail said: «There are young people in the UK who are trying to brainwash other young people into hatred.»

• Islamic radicals make mockery of hate laws

  17 December 2008, by Evening Standard
  Just days after Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announced tough new measures to name and shame foreign-based extremists and prevent them coming from abroad to stir up hatred in the UK, firebrand preacher Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad cocked a snook at her new initiative, the Evening Standard can reveal. More than 200 Muslims at a packed public meeting in Tower Hamlets were told by organiser Anjem Choudary: «We have a special surprise, a special treat for you. Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad will be joining us on a live feed from Lebanon.»

• Analysis: Terror Threat Remains

  16 December 2008, by The Telegraph
  Despite the fact that Islamist extremists have only mounted one «successful» attack in Britain - the 7/7 bombings in which 56 people died - the threat of terrors attacks in the UK has not gone away: The official threat level is classed as being «Severe» - this is one down from the highest level, «Critical», which means an attack is imminent. Over the last few months, we in Britain have become a little obsessed with the economy, falling house prices and the credit crunch, but it should not be forgotten that a significant number of UK citizens have been planning to carry out attacks with the aim of causing mass casualties.

• Hundreds of Potential Terrorists Live in Germany, Official Says

  16 December 2008, by DW World
  There are roughly 700 people in Germany who the interior ministry believes may be involved in extremist Islam circles, the ministry’s deputy head said. Dozens of them are under intense surveillance.

• Germans deploy manga-style comics to sway Muslim youth in war of ideas

  16 December 2008, by World Tribune
  The German government has published a comic book designed to dissuade Muslims from turning to Islamist extremism although U.S. officials say the effectiveness of the effort is questionable. The comic was issued by the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia that seeks to educate young people about the differences between Islam and Islamic extremism and danger posed by Islamic terrorism.

• France’s Minister of the Interior Points to Worrisome Islamicist Propaganda on the Internet

  16 December 2008, by Le Figaro
  A study conducted by France’s Minister of the Interior, Michèle Alliot-Marie, and conducted by the National Institute of High Security (INHES, Institut national des hautes etudes de sécurité) reveals the extent of success of jihadist websites in the country.

• France Jails 4 Members of Jihad Network

  16 December 2008, by International Herald Tribune
  A French court has sentenced four men of North African origin to prison terms for taking part in recruiting Islamicists to join the war in Iraq. The men recruited members in the south of France, in the city of Montpellier. The men were sentenced to between two and four years in jail.

• Spain acquits 14 accused Islamists

  3 November 2008, by News Agencies
  The Spanish Supreme Court overturned convictions against 15 of the 20 men accused of forming an Islamist group plotting to blow up Madrid’s High Court. The ruling found «non-existent the crime of conspiracy to commit a deadly terrorist attack.» Convictions for five of the men were upheld. Thirty suspects were originally arrested four years ago, most of whom were from Algeria and Morocco.

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