Radical UK Islamist preacher Choudary jailed for life for terrorism offenses

Radical UK Islamist preacher Choudary jailed for life for terrorism offenses
A UK judge on Jul. 30, 2024, jailed Anjem Choudary, one of Britain’s most recognized radical Islamist preachers, for life after a jury found him guilty of directing and encouraging support for a banned “terrorist organization.” (AFP)
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Updated 30 July 2024
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Radical UK Islamist preacher Choudary jailed for life for terrorism offenses

Radical UK Islamist preacher Choudary jailed for life for terrorism offenses
  • “Organizations such as yours normalize violence in support of an ideological cause,” Judge Mark Wall told Choudary at London’s Woolwich Crown Court
  • “Their existence gives individuals who are members of them the courage to commit acts which otherwise they might not do”

LONDON: British radical Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary, whose followers have been linked to numerous plots around the world, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Tuesday for directing a terrorist organization.
Choudary, 57, was convicted last week of directing Al-MuHajjiroun, which was banned as a terrorist organization more than a decade ago, and encouraging others to support the proscribed group.
“Organizations such as yours normalize violence in support of an ideological cause,” Judge Mark Wall told Choudary at London’s Woolwich Crown Court.
“Their existence gives individuals who are members of them the courage to commit acts which otherwise they might not do. They drive wedges between people who otherwise could and would live together in peaceful coexistence.”
Wall imposed a life sentence on Choudary with a minimum term of 28 years before he can be eligible for parole, less just over the year that he has spent in custody since his arrest.
Once Britain’s most high-profile Islamist preacher, Choudary drew attention for praising the men responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States and saying he wanted to convert Buckingham Palace into a mosque.
He was previously imprisoned in Britain in 2016 for encouraging support for Daesh, before being released in 2018 after serving half of his five-and-a-half-year sentence.
Prosecutor Tom Little said on Tuesday that Choudary became “the caretaker emir” of Al-MuHajjiroun after fellow preacher Omar Bakri Mohammed was jailed in Lebanon in 2014.
Choudary’s lawyer Paul Hynes argued that Al-MuHajjiroun was “little more than a husk of an organization” and that almost all terrorist acts linked to the group had already taken place.
But Wall said Al-MuHajjiroun was “a radical organization intent on spreading sharia law to as much of the world as possible, using violent means where necessary.”
Choudary stood trial alongside Canadian citizen Khaled Hussein, 29, who was arrested on the same day as Choudary in 2023 when he arrived on a flight at Heathrow Airport.
Hussein was found guilty of membership of a proscribed organization and sentenced to five years in prison.


Scholz says ‘integrated’ Syrian refugees ‘welcome’ to stay in Germany

Scholz says ‘integrated’ Syrian refugees ‘welcome’ to stay in Germany
Updated 11 sec ago
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Scholz says ‘integrated’ Syrian refugees ‘welcome’ to stay in Germany

Scholz says ‘integrated’ Syrian refugees ‘welcome’ to stay in Germany

BERLIN: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday said that well-integrated Syrian refugees are welcome to stay, as far-right and conservative politicians called for them to return to their home country after the overthrow of Bashar Assad.
“Those who work here, who are well integrated, remain welcome in Germany. That’s obvious,” the social-democrat leader said in a post on X, noting that “some declarations these past days have deeply destabilized our fellow citizens of Syrian origin.”
Around one million Syrians live in Germany, most of whom arrived in the country during the 2015 migration crisis sparked by the civil war that broke out in Syria in 2011.
Some have since obtained German nationality but the majority have not, making them more vulnerable to expulsion.
Germany, like other European countries including Austria and Sweden, on Monday announced they were suspending new asylum applications by Syrians — just a day after Assad’s government fell.
Later that day, Alice Weidel, the co-leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, said Germany’s borders “are closed, we will not accept any more.”
AfD gained a huge popularity boost over the fears created by the sudden influx of migrants.
The party is tipped to finish second in February’s elections, in which Weidel is aiming to claim the chancellorship.
The center-right opposition CDU party — currently tipped to top the polls — has also called for Syrian refugees to return home.
CDU MP Jens Spahn suggested that Berlin charter flights to Syria and offer 1,000 euros ($1,057) to “anyone who wants to return.”
A German study on Friday said that the country could face labor shortages if the Syrians returned home, particularly in the health care industry where, according to news magazine Der Spiegel, there are 5,758 Syrian doctors working in Germany.


Nancy Pelosi hospitalized after she ‘sustained an injury’ from fall on official trip to Luxembourg

Nancy Pelosi hospitalized after she ‘sustained an injury’ from fall on official trip to Luxembourg
Updated 31 min 14 sec ago
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Nancy Pelosi hospitalized after she ‘sustained an injury’ from fall on official trip to Luxembourg

Nancy Pelosi hospitalized after she ‘sustained an injury’ from fall on official trip to Luxembourg
  • The former leader’s fall comes two years after her husband Paul was attacked by a man with a hammer at their San Francisco home

WASHINGTON: Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been hospitalized after she “sustained an injury” during an official engagement in Luxembourg, according to a spokesman.
Pelosi, 84, was in Europe with a bipartisan congressional delegation to mark the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. Her spokesman, Ian Krager, said in a statement that she is “currently receiving excellent treatment from doctors and medical professionals” and is unable to attend the remainder of events on her trip.
He did not describe the nature of her injury or give any additional details, but a person familiar with the incident said that Pelosi tripped and fell while at an event with the other members of Congress. The person requested anonymity to discuss the fall because they were not authorized to speak about it publicly.
Krager said that Pelosi “looks forward to returning home to the US soon.”
Among the members on the trip was Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, who posted on social media that he was “praying for a speedy recovery,” for Pelosi. The two lawmakers were captured holding hands in a group photo Friday at the US Embassy in Luxembourg.
“I’m disappointed Speaker Emerita Pelosi won’t be able to join the rest of our delegation’s events this weekend as I know how much she looked forward to honoring our veterans,” McCaul wrote on X. “But she is strong, and I am confident she will be back on her feet in no time.”
The former leader’s fall comes two years after her husband Paul was attacked by a man with a hammer at their San Francisco home. The man, who was sentenced in October to 30 years in federal prison, broke into their home looking for Pelosi.
Pelosi, who was first elected in 1987 and served as speaker twice, stepped down from her leadership post two years ago but remained in Congress and was re-elected to represent her San Francisco district in November.
She has remained active in the two years since she left the top job, working with Democrats in private and in public and attending official events. Last summer, she was instrumental in her party’s behind the scenes push to urge President Joe Biden to leave the presidential ticket.
She attended the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington last weekend and was on the Senate floor Monday to attend the swearing in of her former Democratic House colleagues, Adam Schiff of California and Andy Kim of New Jersey.
Earlier this week, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, 82, tripped and fell in the Senate, spraining his wrist and cutting his face. McConnell, who is stepping down from his leadership post at the end of the year, missed Senate votes on Thursday after experiencing some stiffness in his leg from the fall, his office said.

 


UK minister defends 2013 vote against Syria military action

UK minister defends 2013 vote against Syria military action
Updated 13 December 2024
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UK minister defends 2013 vote against Syria military action

UK minister defends 2013 vote against Syria military action
  • Downfall of Bashar Assad reawakens debate over Western inaction
  • Britain’s decision not to intervene derailed Obama’s chemical weapons ‘red line’ response

LONDON: The former leader of the UK’s Labour Party has defended his 2013 decision not to support the government in taking military action against Bashar Assad in Syria.

The British Parliament voted against attacking Syrian government targets after it used chemical weapons against a rebel-held Damascus suburb.

Labour were in opposition at the time and its MPs were directed by Ed Miliband not to support Prime Minister David Cameron’s motion in favor of striking Assad.

The UK vote derailed the US military’s response to the use of chemical weapons in Syria — something President Barack Obama had declared a “red line.”

Without the support of its main Western ally, Washington held back. Many observers believe the decision emboldened Assad and opened the way for Russia to enter the conflict in support of his government.

The downfall of Assad last weekend has reawakened the debate over whether the UK should have taken action, with Labour cabinet ministers openly disagreeing over the course taken more than 10 years ago.

On Thursday, Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who was not an MP at the time, told a BBC politics TV show that “if the West had acted faster, Assad would have been gone.”

He added: “The hesitation of this country and the US created a vacuum that Russia moved into and kept Assad in power for much longer.”

Miliband, who is now energy secretary, said on Friday that his cabinet colleague was wrong.

Miliband said the decision not to support military strikes against Assad was grounded in the lessons learned from the 2003 Iraq invasion.

“The decision I was confronted with in 2013 was whether we did a bombing of President Assad without any clear plan for British military engagement, where it would lead and what it would mean,” Miliband told Times Radio.

“And I believe then, and I do now, that one of the most important lessons of the Iraq War is we shouldn’t go into military intervention without a clear plan, including an exit strategy.”

Miliband said that when President Donald Trump ordered bombing raids on Syria in 2017 in response to another chemical weapons attack, it did not lead to the downfall of Assad.

“So when people say that somehow if we bombed President Assad in 2013 he would have toppled over, frankly, it’s just wrong,” he said.

The fall of the Assad government after a lightning offensive by opposition militants has further revealed the extent of the suffering in Syria under his rule, leading to soul-searching in capitals around the world.

The Syrian War, which started in 2011 as anti-government protests, killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced more than 13 million.


Somalia, Ethiopia urged to swiftly implement agreement

Somalia, Ethiopia urged to swiftly implement agreement
Updated 13 December 2024
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Somalia, Ethiopia urged to swiftly implement agreement

Somalia, Ethiopia urged to swiftly implement agreement
  • Mogadishu and Addis Ababa have been at loggerheads over Somaliland region

ADDIS ABABA: The African Union has urged Ethiopia and Somalia to implement “without delay” an agreement aimed at ending tensions between the neighbors over Ethiopia’s access to the sea, calling the deal an “important act.”

The two countries have been at loggerheads since landlocked Ethiopia struck a deal in January with Somalia’s breakaway region Somaliland to lease a stretch of coastline for a port and military base.

In return, Somaliland — which declared independence from Somalia in 1991 in a move not recognized by Mogadishu — said Ethiopia would give it formal recognition, although this was never confirmed by Addis Ababa.

Somalia branded the deal a violation of its sovereignty, setting international alarm bells ringing over the risk of renewed conflict in the volatile region.

Following hours of Turkish-brokered talks, Ankara announced late Wednesday that an “historic” agreement had been reached between Somalia and Ethiopia.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he believed the agreement would help Ethiopia gain its long-desired access to the sea. Technical talks are set for next year.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud had flown into Ankara for the talks following two previous rounds that made little progress.

Speaking in the Turkish capital after the agreement, Mohamud said the neighbors had “mutual interests in cooperating together.”

“We belong to a region where peace and stability is first priority for our people’s lives,” he said.

African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat stressed the “important act” taken by the leaders to find a deal but emphasized the urgency to “implement, without delay, the relevant measures adopted.”

He did not give any indication in the statement, posted on social media platform X, of what measures had been agreed.

East Africa’s regional bloc IGAD (the Intergovernmental Authority on Development) also welcomed the agreement as an “important step.”

It “demonstrates a commitment to resolving bilateral
issues amicably,” IGAD Executive Secretary Workneh Gebeyehu said.

According to the text of the accord published by Turkiye, the parties agreed “to put aside differences of opinion and contentious issues, and to move resolutely forward in cooperation toward common prosperity.”

They agreed to work closely together on commercial arrangements and bilateral agreements that would ensure Ethiopia’s “reliable, safe and sustainable access” to the sea “under the sovereign authority of the Federal Republic of Somalia.”

To that end, it said they would start technical talks no later than the end of February which would be completed “within four months,” with any differences to be dealt with “through dialogue, where necessary with Turkiye’s support.”

Both top US diplomat Antony Blinken and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in separate statements, looked ahead to negotiations to finalize the accord.

Blinken said the agreement reaffirms “each country’s sovereignty, unity, independence, and territorial integrity.”

Guterres thanked Erdogan for his role and looked forward to “a positive outcome to the process,” his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

There was no detail in the text published by Turkiye on how the agreement might impact the controversial memorandum of understanding between Somaliland and Ethiopia, which has never been made public.

Ethiopian authorities did not immediately respond to AFP’s requests for comment about the future of the agreement with Somaliland.

A source close to the Somaliland government said nothing had changed regarding the agreement with Ethiopia, noting: “Agreeing to work together to resolve their dispute is not the same as walking away from the MOU.”

While Abiy has repeatedly insisted that his country must have coastal access, he told parliament earlier this year that Ethiopia had “no interest in getting involved in a war” over access to the sea.

In response, Mogadishu has strengthened its ties with Egypt, Ethiopia’s longtime rival.

Somalia expelled Ethiopia’s ambassador in April and said Ethiopian troops would be excluded from a new African Union peacekeeping force against Islamist Al-Shabab insurgents that is due to be deployed on January 1.


Unidentified drones spotted over German military, industrial sites

Unidentified drones spotted over German military, industrial sites
Updated 13 December 2024
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Unidentified drones spotted over German military, industrial sites

Unidentified drones spotted over German military, industrial sites
  • Police did not say who they thought had launched the unmanned aerial vehicles.
  • “In recent days, several drone flights have been detected over critical infrastructure in Rhineland-Palatinate state,” a regional police spokesman said

BERLIN: German authorities said Friday that unidentified drones had been spotted flying over sensitive military and industrial sites including the US Ramstein air base.
The reports come after German officials have repeatedly voiced alarm about the threat of Russian spying as the Ukraine war heightens tensions between Moscow and NATO.
However, police did not say who they thought had launched the unmanned aerial vehicles.
“In recent days, several drone flights have been detected over critical infrastructure in Rhineland-Palatinate state,” a regional police spokesman told AFP.
The UAVs were first sighted at German company BASF’s plant in Ludwigshafen, known as the world’s biggest chemicals complex, the spokesman said.
“This was followed in the course of this week by drone overflights over the US air base in Ramstein,” he added.
The drones were detected at dusk and were “larger than the usual commercial hobby drones,” the spokesman said.
Police in Rhineland-Palatinate have set up a special investigative unit to look into the incidents.
There is “no concrete danger to the facilities concerned,” the spokesman said.
The sightings in Ramstein were on December 3 and 4, according to Der Spiegel magazine.
Unidentified drones have also been sighted over facilities belonging to German arms maker Rheinmetall, Der Spiegel reported, citing security services.
A source with knowledge of the matter confirmed to AFP that suspicious drones had been spotted near Rheinmetall’s largest ammunition production site at Unterluess, Lower Saxony.
Unidentified drones were also reported in August over the Bruensbuettel industrial area in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein.
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock at the time said the devices were surely “not there to observe the beautiful local landscape, but because there is a chemical park there and a... storage facility for nuclear waste nearby.”
Media reports said officials believed those drones were Russian reconnaissance devices.
However, investigations into the Bruensbuettel sightings have so far shown no indications of espionage, according to a report from the ARD broadcaster on Friday.
German officials have repeatedly raised the alarm in recent months about Russian spying and “hybrid warfare,” including acts of sabotage and disinformation in the campaign toward February general elections.