Contributor’s Links post for January 9th, 2019

Daily Links Post graphic

Each day at just after midnight Eastern, a post like this one is created for contributors and readers of this site to upload news links and video links on the issues that concern this site. Most notably, Islam and its effects on Classical Civilization, and various forms of leftism from Soviet era communism, to postmodernism and all the flavours of galloping statism and totalitarianism such as Nazism and Fascism which are increasingly snuffing out the classical liberalism which created our near, miraculous civilization the West has been building since the time of Socrates.

This document was written around the time this site was created, for those who wish to understand what this site is about. And while our understanding of the world and events has grown since then, the basic ideas remain sound and true to the purpose.

So please post all links, thoughts and ideas that you feel will benefit the readers of this site to the comments under this post each day. And thank you all for your contributions.

This is the new Samizdat. We muse use it while we can.

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

77 Replies to “Contributor’s Links post for January 9th, 2019”

  1. Turkish court hands jail term to DW reporter Pelin Ünker (DW, Jan 9, 2019)
    https://www.dw.com/en/turkish-court-hands-jail-term-to-dw-reporter-pelin-%C3%BCnker/a-47003273

    “A court has sentenced reporter Pelin Ünker to more than a year in jail over her “Paradise Papers” reports for a Turkish newspaper. Ünker reported an alleged link between a former premier and an offshore account.

    A court in Istanbul on Tuesday sentenced journalist Pelin Ünker to 13 months and 15 days in prison, along with an additional fine.

    The sentence, along with a fine of 8,600 Turkish lira (€1,370, $1,570) was imposed for “insulting and slandering a public official.”

    Ünker’s report appeared in Turkey’s secular, left-leaning Cumhuriyet newspaper, for which she no longer works. The allegations were linked to the “Panama Papers” series of revelations about offshore entities used by politicians, celebrities and companies.

    Former Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and his two sons sued Ünker in November 2017 over a report about his sons’ alleged ties to five offshore companies in Malta.

    Already expected

    Ünker was not immediately jailed, and is still able to appeal. The journalist told DW that she would do so, but that she still expected a prison sentence.

    “We had expected this sort of judgment,” said Ünker. “It was already expected on the last day of the trial that there would be a sentence. Indeed, there was always the feeling that a defense was pointless. The judgment was predictable. Here, journalism itself was punished.”…”

  2. Saudi woman ‘given refugee status’ (BBC, Jan 9, 2019)
    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-46806485

    “A Saudi woman who fled her family and refused to leave a Bangkok hotel has been given refugee status by UN, the Australian government says.

    Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, 18, refused to board a flight from Bangkok to Kuwait on Monday and barricaded herself into her airport hotel room.

    She said she feared her family would kill her for renouncing Islam.

    The UN’s refugee agency has referred her case to Australia for possible resettlement.

    In a brief statement, Australia’s Department of Home Affairs said it would “consider this referral in the usual way”.

    “The government will be making no further comment on this matter,” it said.

    Ms Mohammed al-Qunun’s father and brother have arrived in Thailand but she is refusing to see them.

    Renunciation of Islam, known as apostasy, is punishable by death in Saudi Arabia.

    Thai immigration officials had initially said she should return to Kuwait.”

    • Saudi embassy official wishes asylum seeker’s phone was taken

      Saudi embassy charge d’affaires Abdulilah al-Shouaibi remarks at a meeting that Thai authorities should have confiscated Saudi asylum-seeker Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun’s “cell phone instead of her passport”, after she galvanised a global campaign with her social media savvy.

      The UN has said an 18-year-old Saudi woman who fled her family is a legitimate refugee and has asked Australia to resettle her, Canberra said, as the Twitter-led campaign to grant her asylum edged towards resolution.

    • CBC -UN grants Saudi teen refugee status

      …not a single word about apostasy and Islam

      • Mona el Tahawy :

        Controversy heats up over Pro-Israeli ad in Times Square – New York Post

        A camerawoman stands between a provocative “Pro-Israeli” ad and Egyptian-American activist Mona Eltahawy who defaces it in the name of protesting racism.

  3. Austria: Woman stabbed to death in front of her children because she was not wearing a burka – Islam fanatic “was a ticking time bomb”.+++
    “I’ve always said this man is a ticking time bomb. He was totally confused, he constantly talked something about Islam, wanted to convert all ‘unbelievers'”, the shocked neighbour told the newspaper “Krone” after the terrible blood crime near Amstetten on Tuesday. Senol D. (37 y/o ) is said to have stabbed his wife Aurelia Sch., who had converted to Islam, before the eyes of their children (one, three, nine and 19 years old).The man of Turkish origin is said to have grabbed a kitchen knife early Tuesday afternoon and stabbed his wife. The eldest son dialed the emergency number – but the doctors lost the fight for the woman’s life in the hospital, while the Cobra Special Police Unit stormed the apartment where the alleged perpetrator had barricaded himself.At present, there can only be speculation about the motive: “The interrogations are continuing, the children are being looked after by a psychological crisis team,” says police spokesman Johann Baumschlager. The fact is, Senol D. didn’t like it when his wife suddenly left the house without a burqa, insiders say that he was always roaming around playgrounds, Christmas markets, neighbours, talking about Islam, unbelievers and “evil”. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution already had him in its sights … And the 37-year-old was also all too well known in the neighbourhood. Again and again he tried in a “very intrusive way” to convert people to Islam, as the neighbors describe it. Sometimes he rang the doorbell every day and sought the conversation. Some have already got “fear of him”, it continues. Complaints or reports – for instance to the police – had been made, it is further reported, but since the man never acted aggressively during his attempts at conversion, the authorities had so far been unable to deal with them.
    Read more:
    https://searchlight-germany.blogspot.com/2019/01/austria-woman-stabbed-to-death-in-front.html

  4. “President Trump Addresses the Nation”
    The White House – Published on January 8, 2019

  5. https://voiceofeurope.com/2019/01/sweden-invests-big-in-sentencing-people-who-criticise-migration-convictions-increase-tenfold/

    https://twitter.com/BalazsJarabik/status/1082549169095503872

    I believe it was the Netherlands where the woman with the baby carriage was arrested for wearing a yellow vest. Regardless of where this was, particularly, (hard to keep up, isn’t it?) how does the yellow vest differ from the JIHAB as a symbol of political protest? Why is the wearing of the JIHAB promoted and protected in countries like Sweden and Dystopia even though it is a physical symbol of battering-ram-to-sovereign-state freedoms, while the yellow vest is condemned even though it stands for the protection of freedom? Never mind the nefarious commie barnacles to the original vest movement. This is a complete and utter inversion of right and wrong by Globalist kings to serfdom.

    This is writing on the wall. Voices such as VTB are inevitably being eyeballed by Dear Leader for extinction, who takes his cues from abroad (no, not Nancy Pelosi).

  6. Gilets Jaunes/Yellow Vests
    5 of January, Nantes.
    Police violence against handicapped yellow vest. From 0:03 (at 3 second) to 0:10

  7. Weert, the Netherlands: 7 terrorists arrested while training in a holiday home.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR737y7J9qc

    They had bomb vests and AKs, supplied by undercover police officers, the holiday home was rigged with cameras and microphones.
    One of the men yelled “I’ve dreamt of this all my life, Allahu Akhbar” as he tried on a vest. In dutch, use google translate:
    https://nos.nl/artikel/2266718-training-terreurverdachten-op-video-vastgelegd.html

    • They were discussing potential targets, either an open air festival or a nightclub. They wanted to attack at several places at once, Amsterdam was mentioned. It seems the gay community was considered.

      One suspect has been released awaiting trial.

  8. Suspected weapons supplier for 2015 Paris attack arrested in Belgium
    https://www.gulf-times.com/story/618685/Suspected-weapons-supplier-for-2015-Paris-attack-a

    Belgian authorities have arrested a man suspected of involvement in supplying weapons for the November 2015 terrorist attacks on Paris, the Belga news agency reported Wednesday.

    The attacks on November 13, 2015 by members of the Islamic State militant organization killed 130 people at the Bataclan theatre, cafe and bar terraces in the east of the French capital, and in the city’s Stade de France stadium.

    The suspect, identified as Mohamed E, was arrested and charged in late December on suspicion of playing a role in the delivery of Kalashnikov assault rifles, Belga wrote.

    The arrest was first reported in various Belgian media and was confirmed to Belga by the federal prosecution agency.

    According to initial findings, Mohamed E was in contact with Mohamed Bakkali, another Paris suspect who is believed to have rented safe houses and apartments under a false identity for those involved in the Paris plot and later attacks in Brussels, Belga wrote.

    Bakkali was arrested in Belgium and later extradited to France.

    Meanwhile, Belgian media reported Wednesday that a former fighter for the Islamic State had stolen a hard drive containing autopsy reports on the victims of the March 22, 2016 terrorist attacks in Brussels.

    The crown prosecution confirmed in a statement that a hard disc containing a full computer backup had been stolen from the on-site medical examiners’ office on Friday, alongside other items.

    A suspect has been arrested but is denying all involvement, the prosecution added, noting that it was premature to say that specific documents had been targeted.

  9. Belgian judge orders repatriation of 6 children of Islamic State militants
    https://www.gulf-times.com/story/617552/Belgian-judge-orders-repatriation-of-6-children-of-Islamic-State-militants

    A Belgian judge has ordered the government to repatriate six children of Islamic State (IS) militants and their mothers who have been detained in a camp in Kurdish-controlled Syria, the national news agency Belga said on Wednesday.
    Tatiana Wielandt, 26, and Bouchra Abouallal, 25, both Belgian citizens, and their children have been held in the Al-Hol camp in since the defeat of IS in nearly all territory it once held in Syria and Iraq.
    Belga quoted the court ruling as ordering the Brussels government to take all necessary and possible measures to ensure the six children and their mothers can return to Belgium.
    It must do so within 40 days after being notified of the decision or pay a daily penalty of 5,000 euros for each child, up to a maximum 1 million euros, newspaper De Tijd said. The Belgian government can appeal the ruling.
    No comment was available from the court on Wednesday due to a public holiday. A lawyer for the two women was not immediately available for comment.
    A spokesman for the foreign ministry said it would “analyses the situation together” with the justice and interior ministries.
    Hundreds of European citizens, many of them babies, are being kept by US-backed Kurdish militias in three camps since IS was ousted last year from almost all the large swathes of territory it seized in 2014-15, according to Kurdish sources.
    European nations have been reluctant to take them back, regarding children of jihadists both as victims and threats – difficult to reintegrate into schools and homes.
    European diplomats say they cannot act in a region where Kurdish control is not internationally recognized. Moreover, there is little popular sympathy for militants’ families after a spate of deadly IS attacks across western Europe.
    The Kurd say it is not their job to prosecute or hold them indefinitely, leaving the women and children in legal limbo.
    However, mounting concern over the apparent abandonment of hundreds of children with a claim to EU citizenship – most of them under six – is pushing governments to quietly explore how to tackle the complexities of bringing them back.

  10. Security Op in Saudi Arabia’s Al-Qatif Results in 6 Killed, 1 Arrested – Reports (sputniknews, Jan 9, 2019)
    https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201901091071332168-saudi-arabia-security-operation-al-qatif/

    “Security forces attempted to facilitate the suspects’ surrender but were forced to open fire after they refused to stand down, Al-Arabiya English reported.

    Six people were killed and one was detained as a result of a security operation conducted in Saudi Arabia’s eastern Al-Qatif province on Monday, according to the reports.

    Al-Arabiya cited its sources as saying the suspects were not in a declared wanted criminals list, though they were involved in cases that affected the Kingdom’s security.

    Saudi Arabia’s State Security Presidency is yet to comment on the incident.”

  11. Poland And Italy Agree to Boost EU’s External Border (sputniknews, Jan 9, 2019)
    https://sputniknews.com/europe/201901091071330115-poland-italy-eu-boost-external-border/

    “The announcement came after bilateral talks between Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini and Polish Minister of Interior and Administration Joachim Brudzinski, which took place during Salvini’s visit to Poland.

    Polish Minister of Interior and Administration Joachim Brudzinski announced that Warsaw and Rome have agreed on strengthening the European Union’s external border.

    Brudzinski highlighted that it is more “effective” to help “those who affected by war conflicts…on the spot”.

    ?In another tweet, Brudzinski noted that “cooperation between the countries of origin and transit of migrants should be enhanced”.

    Salvini echoed this in a statement that both sides wish to work on changing Europe.

    “Poland and Italy will be part of the new spring of Europe, the renaissance of European values,” Salvini said during a press conference with Poland’s Interior Minister Joachim Brudzinski.

    “The Europe that will come to form in June (after May’s European Parliament elections) will lead us all than the one that exists today and is run by bureaucrats,” he added.

    The Brudzinski-Salvini meeting is the first of two planned. The second one is to take place between Italy’s Deputy PM and Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party, according to the New York Times.”

  12. Italian Police Arrest 8 Men for Migrant Smuggling Operation – Investigators (sputniknews, Jan 9, 2019)
    https://sputniknews.com/europe/201901091071330819-italy-migrant-smuggling/

    “According to the arrest warrant issued by Italian police, the men posed a “real and concrete threat to national security” as they had the infrastructure and network to provide numerous illegal migrants with a secret, safe and fast passage to Europe via the Mediterranean Sea.

    Italian police detained eight men on Wednesday responsible for smuggling people on a speedboat from Tunisia to Sicily, with investigators warning that some of the smuggled passengers could be terrorists. The detained men include two Italians, and most of the others are of Tunisian nationality.

    According to the arrest warrant, the men posed a “real and concrete threat to national security” as they were capable of smuggling a large number of migrants into Europe.
    Police are now searching for a man from Tunisia in charge of the illegal smuggling operation; he was also spreading Daesh* propaganda via Facebook and is wanted for fuelling terrorism.

    Interior Minister Matteo Salvini praised the operation on Twitter, urging people smugglers and terrorists to “stay home”…”

  13. London bloodbath: 14-year-old boy dead after stabbing in Waltham Forest (express, jan 9, 2019)
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1069150/london-news-waltham-forest-stabbing-bickley-road-london-knife-crime

    “A TEENAGE boy has died after being stabbed in Waltham Forest – the second serious knife attack in the north east London borough in just 48 hours.

    Police and paramedics rushed to Bickley Road at 6.30pm after receiving reports of a car accident, but after arriving at the scene it emergency services quickly realised they were dealing with a stabbing. Medics did what they could to help the 14-year-old victim, but despite their best efforts, he was pronounced dead shortly after 7pm. Police have cordoned off the scene as detectives from the Homicide and Major Crime squad investigate…”

  14. Mother-of-nine, 53, and her 21-year-old nephew ‘were blasted to death by revolver-wielding assassin who had sneaked into family home’ (dailymail, Jan 9, 2019)
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6569601/Mother-nine-53-nephew-21-blasted-death-revolver-wielding-assassin.html

    “An assassin sneaked through the unlocked door of a family home before shooting a 21-year-old student in the back of the head and also killing his aunt, an innocent mother-of-nine, when she came to investigate.

    Obina Ezeoke, 26, allegedly crept into the flat in East Finchley, north London and shot the aunt and nephew as part of a ‘vendetta of violence’ – even though neither were his intended targets.

    Student Bervil Kalikaka-Ekofo was shot in the back of his head before his aunt Annie Besala Ekofo, 53, was shot in the chest when she came out of her bedroom dressed only in her underwear, jurors heard.

    Four other people were also in the house at the time of the killings but were unharmed.

    Prosecutor Mark Heywood, QC, told the Old Bailey: ‘The defendant went there quite deliberately, with a gun and of course sufficient ammunition to use it, to attack and kill one of the young men of the family.

    ‘That was part of what you will hear was a vendetta of violence or tit-for-tat violence.

    ‘The killer’s hate was such that he did not falter when confronted by a second person and he simply took her life as well. Both lives taken were wholly innocent.’…”

  15. Malta allows 49 migrants stranded off coast since December to disembark (telegraph, Jan 9, 2019)
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/01/09/malta-allows-49-migrants-stranded-coast-since-december-disembark/

    “Malta has reached a deal with other EU member states to allow 49 migrants aboard two rescue ships off the coast of the island nation to disembark, Joseph Muscat, the prime minister, said Wednesday.

    “An ad hoc agreement has been reached,” Mr Muscat told journalists, adding that it also included a decision on the fate of 249 rescued migrants already in Malta.

    The 49 migrants, including a baby and several children, were rescued while attempting the dangerous Mediterranean crossing from North Africa to Europe.

    Muscat said that of the total of 298 migrants, 176 would be sent to Germany, France, Portugal, Ireland, Romania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Italy.

    Another 78 will be allowed to stay in Malta, and 44 Bangladeshi migrants will be sent back to their country.

    The migrants have been stranded off the coast of Malta on the Sea-Watch and another boat since late last year, with no country allowing them to dock, suffering sea sickness and dehydration, with some briefly refusing food…”

    • Migrants celebrate aboard the Sea Watch

      Migrants stranded at sea for weeks aboard the rescue ship Sea Watch are celebrating as they head to Malta after the island nation reached a deal with other EU member states, ending a standoff that rights groups branded “shameful”.

  16. Convicted Terrorist Arrested Over Theft of Brussels Bombing Data (breitbart, Jan 9, 2019)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/01/09/convicted-terrorist-arrested-theft-brussels-bombing-data/

    “Belgian authorities said Wednesday that they have arrested a man who served jail time on terrorism charges over the theft of a computer hard drive containing autopsy reports about the victims of the suicide bombings in Brussels in 2016.

    Brussels prosecutor’s office spokesman Denis Goeman said the man, identified only by the initials I. K. and born in 1991, is suspected of stealing the hard drive and other items from a forensic doctor’s office at the city’s main justice offices last week.

    Belgian media, quoting unnamed justice sources, said the suspect is Illiass Khayari and that he was sentenced to five years in prison on terror charges in 2016 but only served about half his term. He claimed to have beheaded a man in Syria, where he said he was a foreign fighter, but he was not prosecuted over that…”

  17. Swedish Police Recover Hundreds of Explosives During Grenade ‘Amnesty’ – But No Grenades (breitbart, Jan 9, 2019)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/01/09/swedish-police-find-explosives-no-grenades-during-amnesty/

    “Swedish police say they have recovered explosives after being called out to 280 addresses of people taking advantage of the county’s “hand grenade amnesty” – but have not recovered any actual grenades.

    Police said that since the beginning of the hand grenade amnesty in October, they have managed to investigate locations across in Skåne, Blekinge, Kronoberg and Kalmar, SVT reports.

    Bengt Schuster, regional munitions director of the police, explained that police had received more calls than they initially expected but found nothing highly out of the norm.

    “On many old forest and agricultural properties, it has been dynamite that was once used to remove stones and stumps,” he said.

    “The only thing we have not found so far is probably hand grenades,” Schuster added.

    The grenade problem in Sweden has been one of the worst in Europe with well over 100 attacks and other related incidents occurring in the country over the last eight years, and gang crime expert Gunnar Appelgren commenting, “It is extreme in a country that is not in war.”…”

  18. Salvini’s Tough Border Policy Stops 1,500 Illegal Migrants on Eastern Border (breitbart, Jan 9, 2019)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/01/09/salvini-tough-borders-policy-captures-1500-migrants-eastern-border/

    “Italian authorities have managed to detain around 1,500 illegal migrants at the eastern border following the tougher border controls enacted by populist Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini last year.

    Salvini, who acts as Minister of the Interior, set up the tougher controls along the eastern border near the city of Trieste last year with support from the governor of Friuli,

    Massimiliano Fedriga. Police managed to catch 1,494 illegal immigrants trying to cross into Italy via the old Balkan route, Il Giornale reports.

    A total of 3,975 patrols were able to check 17,604 vehicles and identify 55,276 people, with 300 of the identified illegal migrants being sent directly back across the border to Slovenia.

    Of the total migrants detained at the border, 95 were arrested on various charges, including 29 who were arrested and charged with aiding people-smuggling efforts. The number of illegals stopped at the border in 2018 is triple the number for the previous year and the number of arrested traffickers doubled overall.

    The number of migrants is said to have increased since last May, with most migrants originating from Pakistan and Afghanistan. Several other nationalities were also present, however, including Syrians, Iraqis, Turks, and Bangladeshis.

    The figures mark the latest success for Salvini, who made it a campaign promise to greatly reduce the number of illegal crossings into Italy. Reports revealed that following his policy to turn away migrant transport NGO vessels the number of illegal migrants entering the country was reduced by up to 80 percent by July of last year.

    Another report released over the weekend showed that the number of drownings in the Mediterranean Sea had also dropped, despite alarms from migrant transport NGOs that drownings would increase under the new policy. Figures from the UNHCR showed there to have been 2,269 migrants deaths at sea in 2018, down from 3,139 the previous year.”

  19. Kurds capture 8 jihadis including US teenager (abcnews, jan 9, 2019)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/kurds-capture-jihadis-including-us-teenager-60259120

    “A Syrian Kurdish militia says its fighters have captured eight foreign fighters with the Islamic State group in eastern Syria, including an American teenager.

    The force known as the People’s Protection Units, or YPG, says the militants were captured in a special operation in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour, where IS extremists are still holding on to pockets of territory.

    Among the eight are an American, a German, a Russian, a national from the Ukraine as well as Tajik and Uzbek nationals.

    In a statement, the YPG identified the 16-year-old American teenager as Soulay Noah Su. No other details were immediately provided.

    On Sunday, the Kurdish group announced the capture of five fighters, including two U.S. citizens, one of whom has been identified as a former school teacher from Houston.”

  20. Kurdish party: 162 inmates on hunger strike in Turkey (abcnews, Jan 9, 2019)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/kurdish-party-162-inmates-hunger-strike-turkey-60257860

    “Scores of prisoners across Turkey have joined a hunger strike in a show of solidarity with an imprisoned opposition legislator who has been refusing food since November, a pro-Kurdish party legislator said Wednesday.

    Meral Danis Bestas, a legislator from the People’s Democratic Party, or HDP, said her imprisoned colleague, Leyla Guven, has reached “a critical stage” in her hunger strike. She has petitioned the Turkish parliament’s human rights investigatory committee to intervene.

    Guven launched the hunger strike to press authorities to allow family members and lawyers to visit jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, whom she says is unlawfully being kept in isolation in a prison on an island off Istanbul.

    Bestas said 162 other prisoners in 36 prisons across Turkey — 27 of them women — have jointed the hunger strike.

    Hunger strikers in Turkey traditionally refuse food but take vitamins and sugared water.

    Guven, 55, has been in prison since Jan. 31, 2018 on charges including allegedly provoking hatred with statements opposing a Turkish military operation that drove out Syrian Kurdish militia from a northern Syrian enclave. One of 10 HDP legislators currently in jail, she faces up to 31 years in prison on terror-related charges if convicted.

    Ocalan, the leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, is serving a life prison term on Imrali island since 1999. His group is considered a terror organization by Turkey and its western allies.

    Hundreds of Kurdish inmates ended a similar hunger strike in 2012, heeding a call by Ocalan.”

  21. 47 Kazakhs evacuated from Syria: President Nazarbayev (aa, jan 9, 2019)
    https://www.aa.com.tr/en/world/47-kazakhs-evacuated-from-syria-president-nazarbayev/1360297

    “Kazakhstan’s president said 47 citizens of his country evacuated from Syria, according to the Kazakh presidency on Wednesday.

    In a statement, Nursultan Nazarbayev said the evacuation of the citizens, including 30 children, took place on Sunday “as a result of the humanitarian operation carried out by Kazakhstan’s law-enforcement agencies and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs”.

    The people were tricked and taken to war-torn Syria and were held hostage by terrorists, he said, adding that the state gave all kind of support to the women and children upon their arrival.

    Nazarbayev said, “These innocent people who were in a difficult situation are very happy to be rescued. They will go through an adaptation process and receive the necessary health benefits”

    “We will continue the work on returning children who are held hostage against their will in the military zone,” he added.

    According to Kazakhstan’s security services, hundreds of Kazakhs crossed into Syria to join Daesh since the vicious civil war broke out in 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on protesters with unexpected ferocity.

    Since then, hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have been killed and millions more displaced by the conflict.”

  22. Iran says sees Taliban role in future Afghan gov’t (aa, jan 9, 2019)
    https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/iran-says-sees-taliban-role-in-future-afghan-govt/1360309

    “In an unprecedented development, Iran on Wednesday said it sees a “limited” role for the Taliban in any future government in war-torn Afghanistan.

    “I think it would be impossible to have a future Afghanistan without any role for the Taliban. But we also believe that the Taliban do not have — should not have — a dominant role in Afghanistan.

    “Of course at the end of the day that is the decision that the Afghans need to make,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif told Nidhi Razdan of the Indian broadcaster NDTV in an exclusive interview.

    Zarif is currently on an official visit in New Delhi at a time when Iran is facing severe sanctions by the United States and its allies since November 2018.

    For the first time, Iran formally hosted a Taliban delegation on December 30, 2018, in Tehran…”

  23. ERC – EUROPEAN RESEARCH COUNCIL

    The Muslim Holy Book In European Cultural History

    In order to discover how deeply imbedded the Muslim holy book is in the intellectual thinking of Medieval and Early Modern Christians, European Jews, freethinkers, atheists and European Muslims, the ‘European Qur’an’ (EuQu) will look at the role of the holy book in interactions with Islam, in debates between Christians of different beliefs and in critiques of Christianity during Enlightenment.

    With the support of an ERC synergy grant, an international team of researchers will study how the Qur’an has been interpreted, adapted and used in Christian Europe from the Middle Ages through to early modern history in order to understand how the holy book has influenced both culture and religion in Europe.

    The six-year project will produce interdisciplinary research through scientific meetings across Europe, a GIS-database of Qur’an manuscripts, translations and other works in which the Qur’an is discussed, and through PhD theses and monographs. It will bring the fruits of this research to non-academic audiences through a creative multimedia exhibition on the place of the holy book in European cultural heritage.

    http://www.publicnow.com/view/DC17F3A2D15935855F7A8D11DFD85CBBFC482441?2018-10-18-16:00:10+01:00-xxx5439

    ======================================================
    La investigadora Mercedes García-Arenal (ILC) coordinará un proyecto financiado con 10 millones de euros de fondos europeos dedicado a estudiar el papel del Corán en la cultura religiosa e intelectual europea

    El Consejo Europeo de Investigación (European Research Council, ERC) ha otorgado una de sus prestigiosas Synergy Grants a un equipo internacional coordinado por Mercedes García-Arenal, profesora de investigación del Instituto de Lenguas y Culturas del Mediterráneo y Oriente Próximo (ILC-CCHS, CSIC); junto a ella, los investigadores John Tolan (Universidad de Nantes, Francia), Roberto Tottoli (Universidad de Nápoles, Italia) y Jan Loop (Universidad de Kent, Reino Unido).

    El proyecto, cuya propuesta se denomina “El Corán europeo” (The European Qur’an, EuQu), busca analizar el rol que tuvo el Corán en la Europa moderna y medieval, en los debates entre cristianos de diversas creencias y doctrinas o en las críticas al cristianismo durante la Ilustración, entre otros ámbitos de investigación.

    Según palabras de la investigadora, a fin de comprender la influencia del libro sagrado de los musulmanes en el ámbito de la religión y la cultura en Europa, quieren “estudiar el papel y los diferentes usos para los que se recurre al Corán traducido, editado, impreso y circulado en Europa desde la Edad media hasta la Ilustración. Por ejemplo, no solo como medio de polémica contra los musulmanes, sino también para la búsqueda de un monoteísmo más depurado, para los argumentos en contra de la Trinidad que usan los protestantes frente al catolicismo, para la búsqueda de relatos bíblicos en posibles fuentes árabes que sean contemporáneas a textos apócrifos bíblicos, etc.”

    El equipo de investigación se plantea hasta qué punto está incorporado el Corán en el pensamiento de los cristianos –medievales y modernos–, los judíos, los librepensadores, los ateos, o incluso los musulmanes europeos.

    Mercedes García-Arenal señala que este proyecto ha llamado la atención a los evaluadores de la Comisión Europea, por tratarse de un tema sobre el Islam y Europa, “algo de lo que se habla con mucha carga ideológica y poco conocimiento. Nosotros no exploraremos tanto el Islam sino para qué y cómo utilizan el Corán los europeos de diversas épocas y lugares cuando lo leen.”

    Un dura evaluación

    La exhaustiva presentación de la propuesta, que abarca una programación de publicaciones, incluidas numerosas tesis y monografías, así como de actividades científicas y de divulgación, convenció a los evaluadores hasta el punto de obtener la máxima financiación posible entre 295 propuestas de investigación, de las cuales solo el 9% han sido financiadas. Este es el único proyecto ‘ERC Synergy Grant’ de humanidades en España.

    La investigadora celebra con gran ilusión la concesión de este proyecto, que comenzará con mucho trabajo avanzado, dado que para la presentación y defensa de la propuesta han tenido que organizar gran parte de la estrategia y metodología a seguir. “Los informes han sido maravillosos, tengo una ilusión enorme por este proyecto. Muchísimas ganas, estoy contentísima de los informes que hemos recibido, nueve informes de evaluadores anónimos. Que resultan utilísimos”.

    Formación internacional e interdisciplinar

    El proyecto liderado por Mercedes García-Arenal no solo es internacional sino también interdisciplinar: “Aunque la filología tiene un gran plan, es más bien un proyecto de historia cultural, religiosa e intelectual”. Se involucrarán en el proyecto numerosos investigadores; además de García-Arenal, en el equipo español, de parte del Instituto de Lenguas y Culturas del Mediterráneo y Oriente Próximo del CSIC formarán parte los investigadores Fernando Rodríguez Mediano, Katarzyna Starczewska, así como Teresa Madrid Álvarez-Piñer, técnico de apoyo, y Laura Rodríguez del Pozo, gestora del proyecto. Además, desde España participa el grupo Islamolatina de la Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona y en la Universidad de Amsterdam Gerard Wiegers. Se contratarán investigadores pre y post doctorales, que serán seleccionados por los cuatro socios principales, y que trabajarán en rotación por los diferentes países participantes. “Queremos que se formen en distintas disciplinas y en diversas tradiciones académicas”, señala García-Arenal.

    John Tolan es un historiador medievalista. Jan Loop es un historiador de historia intelectual y del orientalismo europeo. Roberto Tottoli es un islamicista y un filólogo árabe. Y yo soy una historiadora cultural de relaciones con las minorías de historia religiosa, señala Mercedes García-Arenal.

    Ser mujer y mayor

    Un 15% de los beneficiarios de los fondos Synergy son mujeres y participan en 13 de los 27 proyectos (48%). Al respecto, Mercedes García-Arenal, indica que a su edad “ser mujer cuenta menos. Ya he llegado a un nivel profesional en el que los colegas no me miran distinto. De alguna manera con mi edad se pierden cosas de la condición femenina. Y eso, que puede ser una desventaja como tantas de la edad, implica al mismo tiempo una gran libertad. Estas convocatorias de financiación exigen una experiencia extraordinaria en liderazgo de equipos, en dirección de tesis doctorales y en publicaciones. Y esto lleva muchos años”.

    “Siempre he sido a una persona con mucha energía, esa es mi mayor baza”, afirma la investigadora, que termina estos meses otro proyecto europeo, CORPI (que analiza cuestiones del cambio religioso y, específicamente, sobre las consecuencias intelectuales que las conversiones forzosas provocaron en la península ibérica) y cuya finalización encadenará con el inicio de este nuevo proyecto previsto para abril de 2019.

    Acciones previstas

    ‘EuQu’ recibirá una financiación de 9.842.534€ durante un periodo de seis años que tendrá como resultado el desarrollo de una base de datos geolocalizada sobre manuscritos, traducciones y otros documentos relacionados con la investigación, congresos y seminarios internacionales, así como la publicación de tesis doctorales, monografías y artículos científicos. El proyecto ofrecerá además los frutos de su investigación a audiencias no académicas con actividades como una exposición sobre el papel del Corán en el patrimonio cultural europeo que se celebrará en la Biblioteca Nacional en Madrid, en la British Library en Londres y en el Institut du Pluralisme Religieux et de l’Athéisme de Nantes y en otras ciudades europeas, además de generar materiales educativos para secundaria.

    http://cchs.csic.es/es/article/investigadora-mercedes-garcia-arenal-ilc-coordinara-proyecto-financiado-10-millones-euros

    ===================================================
    Un proyecto europeo coordinado por Mercedes García-Arenal analizará el papel del Corán en Europa

    El Consejo Europeo de Investigación (European Research Council, ERC) ha otorgado una de sus prestigiosas Synergy Grants a un equipo internacional coordinado por Mercedes García-Arenal, profesora de investigación del Instituto de Lenguas y Culturas del Mediterráneo y Oriente Próximo (ILC-CCHS, CSIC); junto a ella, los investigadores John Tolan (Universidad de Nantes, Francia), Roberto Tottoli (Universidad de Nápoles, Italia) y Jan Loop (Universidad de Kent, Reino Unido).

    El proyecto, cuya propuesta se denomina “El Corán europeo” (The European Qur’an, EuQu), busca analizar el rol que tuvo el Corán en la Europa moderna y medieval, en los debates entre cristianos de diversas creencias y doctrinas o en las críticas al cristianismo durante la Ilustración, entre otros ámbitos de investigación.

  24. Iran to Review Security Cooperation With EU Following New Sanctions – Reports (sputniknews, Jan 9, 2019)
    https://sputniknews.com/world/201901091071338820-iran-security-cooperation-europe-sanctions/

    “The Iranian government is willing to review intelligence and security cooperation with European countries in light of the European Union adding two Iranian individuals and one entity to its terrorist list and freezing their assets as a result, IRNA reported on Wednesday, citing an unnamed diplomatic official.

    “Due to European states’ support for the distinguished terrorist groups and continuing to provide the terrorist elements with shelter, the Islamic Republic of Iran is busy evaluating and reconsidering its intelligence, security and disciplinary cooperation with European countries,” the official told the Islamic Republic News Agency, adding that decisions on the issue, “covering important domains,” would be soon made.

    The official recalled that following the EU move, six European ambassadors and charge d’affaires had come to the Iranian Foreign Ministry “trying to justify the EU’s stances,” but faced a “harsh reaction” from the Iranians. The meeting ended in just 10 minutes.

    Earlier in the day, the Council of the European Union added two Iranian individuals and one entity to the EU terrorist list and sanctioned them as a “response to recent foiled attacks on the European soil.” It also renewed sanctions against those already on the list, which now includes 15 Iranian individuals and 21 groups and entities.

    Reacting to the move, the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s spokesman, Bahram Qassemi, stated that Tehran would take countermeasures to respond to the sanctions.

    The day before, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif slammed European states for “harbouring terrorists,” including the Iranian opposition group Mujaheedin-e Khalq, upon learning about the planned sanctions.

    The EU states initially agreed to consider introducing new restrictions against Iran in November after the Danish Security and Intelligence Service accused the Iranian intelligence of plotting an assassination of an Iranian separatist group member in Denmark. Tehran has refuted all allegations.”

  25. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe: Arrest video of jailed mother in Iran (bbc, video, jan 9, 2019)
    https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-46814547/nazanin-zaghari-ratcliffe-arrest-video-of-jailed-mother-in-iran

    “Video appearing to show the arrest of jailed mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been shown in a documentary on Iranian TV.

    The British-Iranian mother has spent more than 1,000 days in an Iranian prison after being convicted of spying. She denies all the charges against her.

    Last week, her husband revealed she was planning a hunger strike because she is being denied medical treatment.”

  26. Nigeria: More than 30,000 people flee Baga violence (thedefensepost, Jan 9, 2019)
    https://thedefensepost.com/2019/01/09/nigeria-30000-people-flee-boko-haram-violence-baga-maiduguri/

    “Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes in northeast Nigeria after an increase in violence in the Boko Haram conflict, the United Nations said on Wednesday, January 9.

    “More than 30,000 internally displaced people have arrived in Maiduguri, mainly from Baga, in recent weeks,” said the U.N.’s humanitarian coordinator in Nigeria, Edward Kallon.

    Baga, on the shores of Lake Chad, has been repeatedly hit in the nine-year conflict, which has killed more than 27,000, left 1.8 million people homeless and triggered a humanitarian crisis…”

  27. Pakistan TV dramas told to drop intimate moments, infidelity and mother-in-law vendettas (telegraph, Jan 9, 2019)
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/01/09/pakistan-tv-dramas-told-drop-intimate-moments-infidelity-mother/

    “Pakistan’s television channels are scandalising viewers with “intimate moments between couples” and “bed scenes” the country’s media watchdog has said as it ordered a clean up of the airwaves.

    Dramas are glamourising infidelity, inappropriate dressing and drinking “in utter disregard to Pakistani culture and values” broadcasters have been warned.

    The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) told channels to refrain from airing content that does not depict a “picture of true Pakistani society”.

    Broadcasters’ “rampant trend of airing quite bold themes” had triggered a flood of public complaints the regulator said.

    It also criticised soap operas’ fixation with storylines involving women and their mother-in-laws, saying men, and children were being ignored.

    The warning came as the government has been accused of a wider crackdown on media freedom and also of pandering to religious conservatives.

    Pakistani dramas and soap operas, many of which seek to challenge conservative taboos, are immensely popular according to ratings. Indian and dubbed Turkish dramas are also popular.

    Plotlines have involved social issues including domestic violence, child abuse, misogyny and women.

    But Pemra said such dramas depict a “hackneyed image of women and have confined themselves to feminist issues only, therefore, ignoring children, teenagers and men”.

    It went on: “All TV channels are therefore required to stop airing such content in dramas and produce content in consonance with the socio-cultural norms as per aspirations of Pakistani society.”

    It was unclear how much notice television channels would take of the edict. Analysts said it remained to be seen how serious the government was about the issue and Pemra was often seen as toothless.

    Sherry Rehman, a leading senator, said: “So basically Pemra only wants cartoon shows for content? What are “sensitive” themes? Women/people talking about their rights to life, education, careers, property?”

    Meanwhile on Wednesday Pakistan’s chief justice upheld an earlier ruling that the supreme court would not allow Indian content on Pakistani channels because it “damages our culture”.

    In October, the court said it would block Indian content on television after a petition from local producers.

    The nuclear-armed rivals have repeatedly banned each others television and films in tit-for-tat exchanges.”

  28. Bosnian Serbs celebrate ‘national holiday’ angering Muslims

    Bosnian Serbs begin celebrations of the “national holiday” of their entity, Republika Srpska, defying a 2016 legal ban and angering Bosnian Muslims who view it as a provocation.

    Muslims in Bosnia oppose the event as it marks the creation of a “Serb republic” in Bosnia on January 9, 1992, three months ahead of an ethnic war that claimed 100,000 lives and displaced more than two million people.

  29. MEMRI TV – London Lecture by Saudi Cleric Muhammad Al-Malki: Polygamy Is the Remedy for AIDS

    During a class he taught at the Brixton Mosque in London, Saudi cleric Sheikh Muhammad Al-Malki said that many women, who thought they were being brave and powerful by preventing their husbands from marrying another Muslim woman, have contracted AIDS as a result of illicit relations by their husbands.

    He stated that the remedy for AIDS is polygamy.

    Sheikh Al-Malki said that a woman cannot have more than one husband because she is “the container where the seed of the plant of the man is going to be stored.”

    A woman is like a farm, which cannot be used by many different farmers, he added, while the man is like a farmer, who can work on more than one farm.

    The video of the class, which was titled “One Date Can Be Eaten by Two,” was uploaded to Brixton Mosque’s YouTube channel on November 26, 2013. Sheikh Al-Malki is a member of the Jeddah Dawah Center in Saudi Arabia.

  30. Saudi Arabia has always claimed vast oil reserves. An audit just proved it’s right (CNN, Jan 9, 2019)
    https://edition.cnn.com/2019/01/09/business/saudi-arabia-oil-gas-reserves/index.html

    “Saudi Arabia has opened up its vast energy reserves to independent auditors for the first time, a move that could help it revive plans to sell shares in state oil giant Aramco.

    The government of Saudi Arabia said in a statement Wednesday that US energy consultancy DeGolyer & MacNaughton had concluded that its oil reserves total 268.5 billion barrels.

    The estimate is slightly higher than the 266.3 billion barrel figure previously published by the Saudi government.

    Allowing an independent company to assess its reserves represents a major shift for Saudi Arabia, which has for decades closely guarded data about its oil and gas industry.

    Yet the country is now embarking on reforms in an attempt to diversify its economy away from oil. It had hoped to launch an initial public offering for state-owned oil company Aramco in 2018, but plans for the listing stalled.

    A lack of transparency over the size of the country’s energy reserves had caused skepticism about the potential sale and the value of Aramco.

    Now the kingdom is planning to bring back the IPO in 2021, Reuters reported, citing Saudi energy minister Khalid Al Falih…”

  31. MEMRI TV – U.S. Political Activist Linda Sarsour: The Prophet Muhammad Was a Human Rights Activist

    On December 2, 2018, American political activist Linda Sarsour spoke at the 2018 Salam Annual Banquet, which was held at the Salam Community Center in Sacramento, CA.

    She criticized President Trump for moving the American embassy to Jerusalem, saying: “I declare to all of you here today in Sacramento that Jerusalem is and always will be the capital of Palestine.”

    She said that the Trump administration is fascist and encouraged Muslims to become involved in politics even if their mosques usually avoid politics, because simply being Muslim is a political act.

    She said that the Prophet Muhammad was a human rights activist, and that there is no need for workers’ rights movements, environmental justice movements, Black Lives Matter movements, anti-racism, or feminism because Islam has taught these values long before they were hashtags or movements.

    She added: “I don’t need people in the West, people in Europe, or people in the United States… to teach me what feminism is.” The video of Sarsour’s speech was uploaded to the Salam Center’s YouTube channel on December 13, 2018.

  32. euronews -How can Europe tackle fake news in the digital age?

    Euronews spoke to Chris Marsden, the co-author of a study into how we can monitor efforts by social networks such as Facebook and Youtube to regulate disinformation on their own platforms

  33. Convicted terrorist charged over Belgium attacks data theft

    BRUSSELS — Belgian authorities said Wednesday that they have arrested a man who served jail time on terrorism charges over the theft of a computer hard drive containing autopsy reports about the victims of the suicide bombings in Brussels in 2016.

    Brussels prosecutor’s office spokesman Denis Goeman said the man, identified only by the initials I. K. and born in 1991, is suspected of stealing the hard drive and other items from a forensic doctor’s office at the city’s main justice offices last week.

    Belgian media, quoting unnamed justice sources, said the suspect is Illiass Khayari and that he was sentenced to five years in prison on terror charges in 2016 but only served about half his term. He claimed to have beheaded a man in Syria, where he said he was a foreign fighter, but he was not prosecuted over that.

    Goeman said the hard drive was a backup of an office computer so it contained several files relating to different cases. He said there was no label on the drive that might have identified it as containing material related to the March 22, 2016 attacks on the Brussels metro and airport that killed 32 people. No files or evidence was lost and no cases have been compromised by the Jan. 3 theft.

    “It is therefore premature to say that this is a theft concerning precise documents, on the contrary,” Goeman said. The suspect has denied the charges.

    Belgian media reported that the suspect was picked up when authorities traced a mobile phone that he had allegedly stolen. Prosecutors would not confirm this and only identified the hard drive and a voice recorder as one of several items stolen.

    The prosecutor’s office said it had tried to notify families of the 32 victims about the theft before it was reported in the media.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/returned-jihadi-suspected-of-stealing-brussels-attack-data/2019/01/09/2b892de4-13fe-11e9-ab79-30cd4f7926f2_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.09e310fa283a

    ===============================================
    Belgium: Jihadist is said to have stolen hard disk with autopsies from assault victims

    Brussels (AFP) In Brussels, a convicted jihadist is suspected of having stolen a hard drive with autopsy reports from attack victims from a courthouse.

    Last Thursday, “various objects, including a hard drive” were stolen from the office of a forensic doctor, said the prosecutor’s office Brussels on Wednesday. A man is suspected, of which only the initials EKI were specified.

    He was born in 1991 and has already been sentenced to five years probation “in a matter relating to terrorism”.

    http://www.tellerreport.com/news/–belgium–jihadist-is-said-to-have-stolen-hard-disk-with-autopsies-from-assault-victims-.r1S0IoXf4.html

    ——————————————————————————
    Belgique : Un djihadiste vole les rapports d’autopsie des victimes de l’attentat du 22 mars au parquet de Bruxelles

    http://www.fdesouche.com/1138307-vol-des-rapports-dautopsie-des-victimes-du-22-mars-le-suspect-est-un-ancien-combattant-de-syrie

  34. British ‘yellow vest’ leader wanted to ‘ban Islam from the west’

    James Goddard said that he didn’t think that the religion was “compatible with the west”

    James Goddard, one of the most prominent ‘yellow vest’ protesters who have been intimidating MPs and journalists outside the Houses of Parliament, previously said that he wanted to “ban Islam from the west”.

    The Guardian uncovered a video uploaded in September 2018 in which Mr Goddard debates with the imam of a mosque in north London, Jaffer Ladak, about Islam.

    Mr Goddard said that mosques in the UK, which number around 2,000, “shouldn’t be there” and he would support “getting rid of them”.

    When challenged about how Muslims could be forced to leave the UK and the mosques removed, Mr Goddard said: “I wouldn’t blow them up. If I ever got into power I’d give you all £5,000 to £10,000 and ask you to leave. I don’t believe that Islam should be in the west, no. This is a Christian country.”

    Mr Goddard also called Islam “a threat to every man, woman and child in this country”.

    “I just don’t think that Islam is compatible with the west. I just don’t think that people who believe in child marriage and terrorism should be in the United Kingdom, or Europe for that matter. That book poses a threat, and as long as that book exists there will never be peace in the west.”

    Another video on YouTube shows Mr Goddard addressing a rally in central London during the summer of 2018 in support of the far-right activist ‘Tommy Robinson’ (aka Stephen Yaxley-Lennon).

    “The establishment in there [Parliament] are absolutely terrified of what we have,” Mr Goddard says.

    “Why do they tell us we can be angry about Grenfell but not about Manchester, not about London Bridge, not about Westminster Bridge? Because it doesn’t fit their narrative! The elite that run this country, especially those satanic paedophiles in there, are going to bring us to our knees. Are we going to let that happen? We need you on our side to bring these people down!”

    On Tuesday, Facebook and PayPal shutdown Mr Goddard’s accounts on their sites, however it appeared on Wednesday that he was now attempting to raise funds through the website Donorbox.

    https://www.thenational.ae/world/europe/british-yellow-vest-leader-wanted-to-ban-islam-from-the-west-1.811411
    ===================================================
    JAMES GODDARD INTERVIEW WITH THE PRESS 07/01/2019

    • RED CAP BOY DRAGGED TO THE POLICE VAN JAMES GODDARD PUSHED ON THE FLOOR BY POLICE

      DATE 07/01/2019 POLICE USE HEAVY HANDED BEHAVIOR REMONARS LIE AND AND POLICE TAKE ACTION AGAINST LEAVERS DOUBLE STANDARDS

    • the guardian – Pro-Brexit activist said all Muslims should be removed from UK

      Video found of James Goddard, part of group who barracked Anna Soubry, arguing Islam should be banned from west

      The most prominent of the protesters who have harassed MPs and journalists outside the Houses of Parliament in recent weeks argued last year that all Muslims should be removed from the UK, saying he wanted to “ban Islam from the west”, it has emerged.

      In another indication of the far-right views held by several of the self-styled yellow vest activists stationed outside parliament, ostensibly to call for Brexit, a video exists of James Goddard arguing that Islam should be removed from the UK.

      Goddard, who has regularly filmed himself and other activists harassing and abusing people including the Conservative MP Anna Soubry, has built up his profile by live-streaming confrontations to Facebook and seeking donations to finance his actions.

      However, following calls from the Speaker, John Bercow, as well as from more than 100 MPs for a stronger response from the police after a group including Goddard barracked Soubry as she walked to parliament, his Facebook and Paypal pages were removed.

      Goddard’s page on the mass-funding website Patreon, on which he styled himself a “political activist” and sought donations, has also been suspended.

      The video, uploaded in September, shows Goddard engaged in a long debate about Islam with Jaffer Ladak, the imam of a mosque in Stanmore, north London.

      During the conversation, Goddard said that the estimated 2,000 mosques around the UK “shouldn’t be there” and he would “get rid of them”.

      Asked what this meant in practice, Goddard said: “I wouldn’t blow them up. If I ever got into power I’d give you all £5,000 to £10,000 and ask you to leave. I don’t believe that Islam should be in the west, no. This is a Christian country.”

      If Muslims refused to leave voluntarily, “then we’d have to think of a legal way that we could do it”, he said.

      Goddard said he wanted to “ban Islam from the west”, calling the faith “a threat to every man, woman and child in this country”. He added: “I just don’t think that Islam is compatible with the west. I just don’t think that people who believe in child marriage and terrorism should be in the United Kingdom, or Europe for that matter. That book poses a threat, and as long as that book exists there will never be peace in the west.”

      Goddard has previously posted anti-Islam statements on Gab, a social media site popular with the far right, and has supported Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, the founder of the English Defence League street movement.

      Other yellow vest activists outside the Houses of Parliament, who model their tactics on the French gilets jaunes movement, have said they do not share such views, and insist Goddard is not a leader of the group.

      However, the group Hope Not Hate has said that the emergence of the movement raises fears that amid the Brexit process, “the threat from the far right is growing and the risk of disorder and violence is on the rise”.

      In recent weeks, members of the group outside parliament have also blocked Westminster Bridge, shouted sometimes sexist and racist abuse at TV crews, stormed into the offices of a radio station and the Labour party, and held small demonstrations in a number of cities.

      https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jan/09/top-pro-brexit-yellow-vest-activist-said-all-muslims-should-be-removed-from-uk
      =====================================================
      SKY NEWS -James Goddard: Who is the far-right protester that harangued MP Anna Soubry?

      James Goddard recently told an Asian police officer outside Westminster: “You ain’t even f****** British.”

      James Goddard is a far-right activist and serial protester. Monday is not the first time he has harangued MP Anna Soubry.

      He was outside parliament shouting at people for much of November and December and previously told Ms Soubry she was “on the side of Adolf Hitler”.

      He films himself doing it – and he must have hours of footage on his phone of himself angrily asking questions and hurling abuse.

      I first met him in September last year where he was part of a Democratic Football Lads Alliance march protesting against the rape of women in Sunderland.

      The people I spoke to that day were disparaging of Muslims – and speeches were full of anti-Muslim rhetoric.

      In my interview with him, Goddard berated the mainstream media for not reporting on terrorist attacks in the UK and elsewhere.

      Although he didn’t specify any attacks that we hadn’t reported on, so I could only assume he was referring to the ones he’d heard about from the mainstream media.

      He also criticised me for not reporting on child sexual abuse in Rotherham and Telford – even though I’ve done many reports on both, and that day the protesters had posted my interview with a Telford abuse victim on their Facebook page.

      Goddard is a regular at Speakers’ Corner and was a vocal supporter of the “Free Tommy [Robinson]” campaign.

      In one speech, he asked: “Why do they tell us we can be angry about Grenfell but we can’t be angry about Manchester? …Because it doesn’t fit their narrative.”

      Whose narrative?

      Having been on the scene of both of those traumatic events, I find it hugely disrespectful and ignorant to play one off against the other.

      But it is textbook extremism to invent an ugly unspecified bogeyman who is suppressing the one side of “the truth”.

      Ironically, Islamic extremism does the same and the far-right and Islamic extremists seem to be pushing towards the same goal – cultural conflict.

      On one recent piece of footage outside Westminster, Goddard is seen screaming at an Asian police officer: “You want a war – I’ll give you a war. You are fair game.”

      When the officer says “I’m not deaf”, he retorts: “You ain’t even f****** British.”

      Goddard claimed on Twitter on Tuesday that he was “violently assaulted” by the police and that is what prompted his outburst.

      I haven’t seen him be violent towards anyone outside Westminster – but his language and physical invasion of personal space can be very intimidating – it’s like being pursued by a highly abusive chugger.

      He’s chased me through Westminster with his phone, most recently furious that I’d not used all six minutes of my interview with him in Sunderland – even though the whole report was only six minutes long.

      He was also angry that I portrayed the protest as violent – which of course would not have been possible if some of those on the march were not being violent and clashing with police – as our footage showed.

      But his regular group outside Westminster is small – about a dozen people – and we should be careful not to give them undue prominence just because they are loud.

      I wouldn’t even describe them as pro-Brexit campaigners as their message is undefined.

      https://news.sky.com/story/james-goddard-who-is-the-far-right-protester-that-harangued-mp-anna-soubry-11602380

    • Channel 4 – Parliament abuse amid Brexit chaos – explained

      The Metropolitan Police has said it will deal “robustly” with protesters who barrack MPs outside parliament.

      The police have been criticised for failing to protect MPs, such as Tory Remainer Anna Soubry, who was abused by hardline pro-Brexit demonstrators yesterday.
      The Commons Speaker John Bercow called for tougher action and said the hounding of MPs was “a type of fascism”.

  35. China Approves Policy to Make Islam ‘More Chinese,’ Invites Inspectors to Labor Camps (breitbart, Jan 9, 2019)
    https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2019/01/09/china-approves-policy-make-islam-more-chinese-invites-inspectors-labor-camps/

    “Beijing has approved a measure ordering Muslim communities within its borders to “uphold the sinicization of their religion” during the next five years, which refers to making Islam more Chinese by instilling Communist Party values, China’s state-run Global Times reported this week.
    Global Times revealed:

    China will soon release an outline on the sinicization of Islam, with Islamic communities urged to uphold the sinicization of their religion by improving their political stance and following the Party’s leadership. Representatives from local Islamic associations from eight provinces and regions, including Beijing, Shanghai, Hunan, Yunnan and Qinghai provinces, discussed a five-year (2018-22) outline on the sinicization of Islam at a seminar in Beijing on Saturday. They agreed that the outline is the basic policy for Islamic sinicization for the next five years, according to a statement published on the China Islamic Association’s website.

    Global Times noted that China approved a draft of the mandate in December 2017.

    Gao Zhanfu from the Beijing-based China Islamic Institute reportedly indicated that “the sinicization of Islam is not about changing the beliefs, habits, or ideology of Islam but to make them compatible with socialist society.”

    Global Times’ report came as China invited the international community to visit Xinjiang province, believed to house hundreds of re-education camps that the U.S. and United Nations say are used to subject the region’s predominantly Muslim Uighur (or Uyghur) population, as well as Kazakhs and Kyrgyz, to communist indoctrination, systemic torture, disappearances, executions, and arbitrary detentions, among other crimes.

    Arguing that the camps are vocational and educational centers aimed at combatting terrorism and religious extremism, China has repeatedly denied that Beijing is mistreating the detainees at the facilities, also known as mind transformation centers and concentration camps.

    On Monday, China’s Foreign Ministry extended its invitation to visit the centers to “any party who abides by China’s laws and regulations and does not interfere with its internal affairs,” Global Times noted in a separate article, echoing other news outlets.

    Shohrat Zakir, the chairman of the People’s Government of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, reportedly revealed on Monday that diplomats from 12 countries — including Russia, Indonesia, India, Kazakhstan, and Pakistan — have already visited the mind transformation centers, at the behest of China.

    “Xinjiang is an open area and we welcome all parties, including UN officials, to visit the region and respect Chinese laws,” Lu Kang, a spokesperson for the Ministry, told reporters.

    “A group of foreign media, including Reuters and TASS, visited the centers January 3-5,” Global Times noted.

    Muslim-majority Pakistan, one of China’s top allies, recently defended Beijing’s torture of Islam adherents.

    Citing sources and recent activity in the region, the Epoch Times reported last week that Chinese officials are “drastically” intensifying efforts to conceal evidence of hundreds of tortuous “re-education centers” for Muslims in Xinjiang in advance of potential inspections.

    Under Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping, persecution against Christians, Muslims, and other religious groups in China has escalated.

    In 2017, Xi stressed that “all religions must be ‘Chinese-oriented,’ as part of his effort to ‘Sinicize religion,’ or make it more Chinese, by instilling socialist core values,” Newsweek reported.

    Global Times acknowledged that Xi introduced the sinicization of Islam concept in 2015, adding that it has since “matured.””

  36. Pakistan airline suspends 16 pilots, 65 cabin crew over fake degrees (gulfnews, Jan 9, 2019)
    https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/pakistan/pakistan-airline-suspends-16-pilots-65-cabin-crew-over-fake-degrees-1.61334522

    “Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Wednesday was informed that the licences of 16 pilots and 65 cabin crew members had been suspended for holding fake academic degrees.

    The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) revealed this information to a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, in a suo Motu case pertaining to verification of degrees held by pilots and other staff members of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).

    Justice Nisar directed the authorities concerned to handle the matter with care and to avoid dismissals carried out in haste or under pressure. He emphasised that PIA should only take action after conducting thorough inquiries.

    The counsel for PIA apprised the bench that, except for six degrees, all others have been verified. The six degrees that have not been verified belong to those who have foreign degrees.

    Meanwhile, a dismissed pilot told the court that he was hired on an FSC degree, but his services have been terminated over an allegedly fake BSc degree.

    Justice Nisar maintained that if anyone has any issues then they should approach the relevant forum in appeal. He remarked, “The impression is that action is being taken in haste over the court order” adding that “we do not want to halt anyone’s source of income” but will not allow any one to continue his work with fake academic degrees. The court subsequently disposed of the matter.”

  37. Islamic Affairs Minister: Ruqyah Exorcism Cannot be Eliminated Easily (moroccoworldnews, jan 9, 2019)
    https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2019/01/262845/islamic-affairs-minister-ruqyah-exorcism/

    “The practice of ruqyah, which includes Islamic exorcism, is complex and widespread, and eliminating it without authorization or a thorough assessment by Muslim scholars would prove to be “very complicated,” said Morocco’s Islamic minister.

    In the wake of the raqi (exorcist) of Berkane’s case, Minister of Endowment and Islamic Affairs Ahmed Taoufiq said at the House of representatives on Tuesday that Morocco must distinguish between the practice of ruqyah as a whole and the swindlers who abuse it.

    Addressing the calls of citizens to banish the practice of ruqyah in Morocco, Taoufiq emphasized that “it is a phenomenon that was known to the ancient generations as a sunnah and only became known as ‘ruqyah sharia’ [Islamic law] in modern day.”

    Ruqyah, also known as “ruqyah sharia” is the act of reciting verses from the Qur’an or praying du’aa, a form of supplication, to exorcise demons from oneself or another person, to cure the “ayn” evil eye, or to counter magic. Rakis say the words over water, which the “patient” then drinks.

    The practice, once purely derived from the sunnah, the sayings and teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, has become almost synonymous with exploitation.

    Some raqis claim to provide psychological treatment or healing from diseases such as cancer.

    The case of the Berkane raqi which made headlines in Morocco last month has only blown the lid off of already existing ruqyah frauds.

    Taoufiq stressed that scholars alone can determine the legality of ruqyah, which bears spiritual weight, in the country by presenting their religious ruling, known as a “fatwa,” based on Islamic scriptures.

    In 2018, the Ministry of Justice detained 116 self-proclaimed imams who had committed multiple “offences.”

    The raqi of Berkane, a city in northeast Morocco, who also called himself an imam, had used ruqyah to sexually exploit his clients.

    Police arrested the raqi after a sexual video of him and a young woman went viral on social media. Police also found other videos, saved on his computer, of him engaging in sexual acts with female ruqyah clients, including married women.

    If convicted, the raqi will face up to 20 years in prison on charges of charlatanism, adultery, and blackmail.

    A Moroccan imam who has practiced ruqyah, Mohammed Saghiri, told Morocco World News that ruqyah should not be made a “profession.”

    “There are those who call themselves raqis and charge people with money, either asking for MAD 50 or MAD 100, as if they were doctors. Ruqyah is done either on oneself after [ablutions] or voluntarily for other people for the sake of God,” he said.”

    • The case of the Berkane raqi which made headlines in Morocco last month has only blown the lid off of already existing ruqyah frauds.

      Why are they getting so bent out of shape about “frauds”? Is this an issue of honor amongst thieves? How can it possibly be anything else? It’s sort of like that old 1960s bumper sticker:

      Don’t steal. The government hates competition.

      However, the unintentional irony of this Moroccan ruqyah case—obligatory sexual degradation of women and all—is how bulletproof such an obvious cottage industry seems to be even after showing up on radar at the Islamic Affairs ministry.

      I’m inclined to believe that this is actually a case of professional courtesy being show between incorrigible frauds. There’s no real competition going on and the only real difference between them is a matter of scale and opportunity.

      None of which matters in the least because it’s still turtles frauds all the way down.

  38. Supreme Court moved for imposing ‘Sharia law’ in the country (tribune, Jan 9, 2019)
    https://tribune.com.pk/story/1884760/1-supreme-court-moved-impose-sharia-law-country/

    “A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court for the imposition of Sharia law throughout the country. Prime Minister Imran Khan, President Arif Alvi, Council of Islamic ideology and several others were cited respondents in the petition, Express News reported.

    Several recommendations were made in the application including introduction of lunar calendar and punishment of eighty lashes for alcohol consumers among others.

    It was also suggested in the application that the Islamic punishments should be made a part of the Pakistan Penal Code.

    The petitioner requested the court in his application to direct all respondents to amend the Constitution in accordance with the Islamic laws.

    Last year, the top court had refused to entertain a similar petition filed by the Lal Masjid cleric calling for the imposition of Sharia Law in the country. Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar heard the appeal in his chamber.

    The Supreme Court Registrar Office had returned Maulana Abdul Aziz’s plea as non-maintainable in February 2016 while raising several objections.

    Through his petition, the cleric contended that the only solution to eliminate all ‘evils’ and challenges in the realms of national security, societal cohesion, national economy, war of terrorism and political instability is to enforce Sharia law.”

  39. the gatewy pundit – Americans Outraged After Sculpture Celebrating Saudi Arabia Emblazoned with Inscription of Shahada Erected on Ground Zero

    Americans were outraged after a nine-foot tall statue celebrating Saudi Arabia emblazoned with the Islamic creed, the Shahada, “There is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is the prophet,” was erected on Ground Zero last week.

    The shape of the sculpture is made to resemble a piece of candy and depicts Saudi Arabia’s green flag, the Islamic ‘sword’ and the Muslim conversion prayer.

    […]the installation will be displayed until February of 2019.

    more :

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/01/sculpture-celebrating-saudi-arabia-emblazoned-with-inscription-of-shahada-erected-on-ground-zero/

    https://twitter.com/LetsRoll404/status/1083151885106851841