LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS
BULLETIN
January 10/17
Compiled
& Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
The
Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletins17/english.january10.17.htm
News Bulletin
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Bible Quotations For Today
I am the
voice of one crying out in the wilderness, "Make straight the way of the
Lord"
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 01/19-28/:"This is the
testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem
to ask him, ‘Who are you?’He confessed
and did not deny it, but confessed, ‘I am not the Messiah.’And they asked him, ‘What then? Are you
Elijah?’ He said, ‘I am not.’ ‘Are you the prophet?’ He answered, ‘No.’Then they said to him, ‘Who are you? Let us have an
answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?’He
said, ‘I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, "Make straight
the way of the Lord" ’, as the prophet Isaiah said. Now they had been sent
from the Pharisees. They asked him, ‘Why then are you baptizing if you are
neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?’John
answered them, ‘I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not
know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his
sandal.’This took place in
I may be untrained in speech, but not in knowledge; certainly in every way and
in all things we have made this evident to you
Naharnet/January 09/17/Second Letter to the
Corinthians 11/01-06/:"I wish you would bear with me in a little
foolishness. Do bear with me! I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I promised
you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by its cunning, your thoughts
will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone
comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive
a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the
one you accepted, you submit to it readily enough. I think that I am not in the
least inferior to these super-apostles. I may be untrained in speech, but not
in knowledge; certainly in every way and in all things we have made this
evident to you."
Titles For Latest
LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on
January 09-10/17
The Lebanese justice system seems to be tailor made to persecute the
weak and fear the strong/Roger Bejjani/Face
Book/January 09/17
Did Iran’s arms to Hezbollah violate a UN embargo/Michelle
Nichols/Reuters/United Nations/Monday 09/January 2017
Message from Former Canadian MP, Bob Dechert/I have
withdrawn from the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario Candidate
selection process for the electoral district of Mississauga- Erin-Mills/
January 09/17
Former MP Bob Dechert Widespread 'abuse' of
nomination process in provincial Mississauga/Toronto Sun/January 09/17
A Hate to Kill and Die for/Raymond Ibrahim/January 09/17
Muslim Slaughters Christian for Selling Alcohol in Egypt/Raymond
Ibrahim/January 09/17
Is Iran following Russia’s lead in Syria/Al Monitor.Week
in Review/January 09/17
A Call on All Christians to Defend Their Birthplace and the Homeland of the
Jewish People/Petra Heldt/Gatestone Institute/January
09/17
When "Peace" Means Capitulation to Islam/Giulio
Meotti/Gatestone Institute/January 09/17
The Islamization of Britain in 2016/"The
realistic future for Britain is Islamic."/Soeren
Kern/Gatestone Institute/January 09/17
Backgrounder: Rafsanjani’s Record on Key Issues as a
Pillar of Iran’s Fundamentalist Regime/ NCRI/ January 09/17
Istanbul’s massacre, the lone wolf and the city’s walls/Fahad
Suleiman Shoqiran/Al Arabiya/January
09/17
The Arab world in 2017/Khaled Almaeena/Al Arabiya/January 09/17
The smell of gunpowder in al-Yasmeen neighborhood/Turki Aldakhil/Al Arabiya/January 09/17
Kafaala sponsorship system: Is it time to find
alternatives/Dr. Mohamed A. Ramady/Al Arabiya/January 09/17
Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News
published on January 09-10/17
The Lebanese justice system seems to be tailor made to persecute the
weak and fear the strong
Lebanon Pinning High Hopes on Aoun’s Visit to Saudi
Arabia
Did Iran’s arms to Hezbollah violate a UN embargo?
Lebanon’s Michel Aoun arrives in Saudi Arabia
Aoun Begins Riyadh Visit, Says Will Seek to End
'Ambiguities' in Lebanese-Saudi Ties
President Aoun maintains KSA visit to end
ambiguities, stresses need of cooperation to fight terrorism
Lebanese Cabinet Continues Discussions on Oil and Gas Decrees Wednesday
Report: Safety Precautions Upped in Dahiyeh amid
Terror Plot Report
Kataeb Slams Govt. over Electoral Law, 'Rushed'
Approval of Oil Decrees
Hasbani Says Decision to Visit Syria Up to Aoun but Govt. would Debate It
Hariri Hails Aoun's Saudi Visit as 'Important Step',
Says 'Keen on Dialogue Policy'
UK Hails Resumption of Cabinet Work, Urges 'Timely' Holding of Parliamentary
Polls
Nasrallah Mourns Former Iranian Leader Rafsanjani
Report: Lebanese Parliament Convenes in 'Extraordinary' Session over Electoral
Law
Education Minister announces school closings tomorrow in storm hit areas
Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For
Miscellaneous Reports And News published on January 09-10/17
Syrian rebels deny report of Wadi Barada ceasefire
Assad: I’m ready to negotiate ‘on everything’
Truck bomb kills 9 police in Egypt’s Sinai
US Navy destroyer fired warning shots at Iranian vessels
Iran to revoke citizenship of those holding dual nationalities
East Mosul recapture ‘few days away’
12 taken to court in Jordan over online abuse of Istanbul attack victims
Saudi mom faces charges of attempting to join ISIS
Kuwait re-routes 14 flights due to bad weather
Arab coalition intercepts two Houthi ballistic
missiles near Bab al-Mandab
IRAN: "Prisoners of Conscience at Risk of Dying …" – United Nations
Expert Warns
Iran: A Small Part of Hashemi Rafsanjani's
Criminal Record
German Politician Assassination Plot Highlights Necessity to End Relations With
Iran
U.N. Appeals for Funds for Palestinians Caught Up in Syria War
Palestinian Leader Writes to Trump Opposing Embassy Move
Links From Jihad Watch Site for on January 09-10/17
UK:
Migrant teen who raped five-year-old boy just months after arriving in the
country avoids jail
Turkish
marriage guide: Beating wives reminds them husband rules house, “which is like
medicine”
UK:
“Staunch Muslim” beat up, raped girlfriend, threatened to put video of rape
online if she left him
Sweden:
Muslim migrants beat journalist investigating rape epidemic
UK:
MI5 launches hunt for Syrian scientist posing as refugee plotting jihad
chemical attack on seaside town
UK:
Students in Islamic school can’t name the Prime Minister
Philadelphia:
Muslims tell Jews at interfaith gathering that “jihad doesn’t mean to go on a
battlefield and fight”
US
Navy ship fires warning shots at Iranian vessels near Strait of Hormuz
Hugh
Fitzgerald: Introducing François Fillon (Part I)
Obama
administration approves huge shipment of uranium to Iran
Robert
Spencer: Rafsanjani and Reform in Iran
Fake
“fake news”: Establishment media mounts dishonest attack on “Allahu akbar” church fire story
UK:
Schoolboy put into “deradicalization” program for
saying Muslim women should not be allowed to wear the niqab
Obama
planning to free at least 18 more Guantanamo jihadis
who have vowed to murder Americans
Robert
Spencer: What Does Theresa May Think Britain Will Be Like in Five Years?
Anni Cyrus’ Unknown: Lies About Hijab
101
Links From Christian Today
Site for on January 09-10/17
Pope
Condemns Jihadis Who 'Disseminate Death' In God's
Name
Imprisoned
And Beaten For Being A Christian: Life Under ISIS In Iraq
Pope
Invites Mothers To Breastfeed Their Babies In Sistine Chapel
Jerusalem
Attacker 'Was ISIS Supporter'
Queen
Recovers From Nasty Cold, Goes To Church For First Time This Year
Why
I Don't Care What Jesus Looked Like
Jill
Saward – A Saint For Our Times
Church
Must Have Central Role In PM's 'Shared Society', Say
Christian Leaders
Baptists
Treated 'Better Than Muslims' In Planning Row
Israel
Ambassador Apologises After Embassy Employee 'Take Down' Comment
Latest Lebanese Related News
published on January 09-10/17
The Lebanese justice system seems to be tailor made to persecute the weak and
fear the strong
Roger Bejjani/Face Book/January 09/17
The Lebanese justice system seems to be tailor made to persecute the weak and
fear the strong. At a time when 5 indicted suspects with the assassination of Rafic Hariri are protected by the leader of a terrorist
organization to whom National TV broadcast privilege was recently reinstated by
the new nauseous Minister of Information, a new Karim
Pakradouni, and at a time when Hezbollah has armed
legions crossing to Syria and from Syria, our coward prosecutors are
interrogating men who defended their remote border village against suicide
bombers. That is simply pure Kafka.
For the LF and the Kataeb, Hezbollah, its vassals and
weapons are not anymore their prime material for criticism. On the one hand the
LF have allied with one of those vassals and are seeking a meeting with the
head master of the terrorist organization while unleashing its rage exclusively
on the Kataeb; and on the other hand Sami Gemayel is trying to regain credibility for a dying Party a
bit too late by attacking the .....LF.
With Aoun totally subdued to Hezbollah's will, the LF
unconditional capitulation and the Kataeb strategic
thinking void, the sons and daughters of the Lebanese Front are officially
orphans.
Lebanon Pinning High Hopes on Aoun’s Visit to Saudi Arabia
Caroline Akoum/Asharq Al Awsat/January
09/17/In this photo released by Lebanon's official government photographer Dalati Nohra, Lebanese President
Michel Aoun, left, meets with Saudi Arabia's Prince Khaled al-Faisal, at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Nov. 21, 2016.
(AP)/
Did
Michelle Nichols/Reuters/United Nations/Monday 09/January 2017
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2017/01/09/did-irans-arms-to-hezbollah-violate-a-un-embargo/
The United Nations chief expressed concern to the Security Council that Iran
may have violated an arms embargo by supplying weapons and missiles to Lebanese
Shiite group Hezbollah, according to a confidential report, seen by Reuters on
Sunday. The second bi-annual report, due to be discussed by the 15-member
council on Jan. 18, also cites an accusation by France that an arms shipment
seized in the northern Indian Ocean in March was from Iran and likely bound for
Somalia or Yemen. Most U.N. sanctions were lifted a year ago under a deal
The report was submitted to the Security Council on Dec. 30 by U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon before he was succeeded
by Antonio Guterres on Jan. 1. It comes just weeks
before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who has threatened to either scrap
the nuclear agreement or seek a better deal, takes office.
"In a televised speech broadcast by Al Manar TV
on 24 June 2016, Hassan Nasrallah, the
Secretary-General of Hezbollah, stated that the budget of Hezbollah, its
salaries, expenses, weapons and missiles all came from the Islamic Republic of
Iran," Ban wrote in the report.
"I am very concerned by this statement, which suggests that transfers of
arms and related materiel from the Islamic Republic of Iran to Hezbollah may
have been undertaken contrary (to a Security Council resolution)," Ban
said. When asked by the United Nations to clarify the issue,
Lebanon’s Michel Aoun
arrives in Saudi Arabia
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Monday, 9 January
2017/Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun is set to arrive
in Saudi Arabia on Monday for a two-day official visit, his first tour outside
Lebanon and visit to the GCC since his election in October. A statement issued
by Aoun’s press office Monday said that his
Aoun Begins Riyadh Visit, Says Will Seek to End
'Ambiguities' in Lebanese-Saudi Ties
Naharnet/January 09/17/President Michel Aoun arrived Monday in Saudi Arabia on his first foreign
trip since taking office, starting an Arab tour that will also take him to
Qatar and Egypt. Riyadh Governor Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Abdul Aziz
welcome Aoun and the accompanying delegation at the
King Khalid International Airport, Lebanon's National News Agency said. Aoun had received an official invitation to visit the
kingdom from Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz. “The
Lebanese-Saudi ties were affected by the events that happened in the Arab
countries... and I'm here today to put an end to the ambiguities we witnessed,
carrying love and friendship to the Saudi people,” Aoun
said in an interview in
Turning to the issue of terrorism, Aoun said
all countries should “cooperate in fighting terrorism.”
“
Aoun will then head to
Information Minister Riachi has announced that
the issue of the suspended Saudi grant to the Lebanese army will be on Aoun's agenda during his visit to
President Aoun
maintains KSA visit to end ambiguities, stresses need of cooperation to fight
terrorism
Mon 09 Jan 2017/NNA - President Michel Aoun underlined
on Monday that his visit to Saudi Arabia aims to end ambiguities regarding the
Kingdom's ties with Lebanon, adding that he is carrying "friendship and
love" for the Saudi people.
"The Lebanese-Saudi relations have been affected by the events that took
place in the Arab countries; there have been some ambiguities. I am here today
to dissipate them, carrying with me love and friendship for the Saudi
people," Aoun told an interview on al-Ekhbariya Saudi TV. "We managed to preserve security
and stability within the Lebanese borders (...) we had an experience in the
1970's and we learnt--and would like everybody to learn--that internal wars
only end with political solutions. We have been through a similar experience
before reaching Taef Agreement and we hope that the
others would adopt the political solution," Aoun
said in response to a question. "The Lebanese parties have agreed on
building
Lebanese Cabinet Continues Discussions on Oil and Gas Decrees Wednesday
Associated Press/Naharnet/January 09/17/Prime
Minister Saad Hariri will chair a cabinet meeting on
Wednesday to continue discussions on the oil and gas excavation file, media
reports said Monday. On Sunday, copies of the cabinet agenda were distributed
to the ministers who will convene this time at the Grand Serial instead of at
the Presidential Palace. The first two meetings of the cabinet were held at
The Lebanese militant group Hizbullah has
issued numerous threats warning
Report: Safety Precautions Upped in Dahiyeh amid Terror Plot Report
Naharnet/January 09/17/In the last 48 hours, security
measures have been upped in several areas around the country, mainly in
Kataeb Slams Govt. over Electoral Law, 'Rushed' Approval of
Oil Decrees
Naharnet/January 09/17/The Kataeb
Party on Monday accused the government of failing to honor
its promise on devising a new electoral law, while slamming what it described
as a “rushed” approval of decrees related to offshore oil and gas exploration.
“The 1960 law remains a sword hanging over the heads of the people and
democracy and it represents a direct threat to correct representation,” the
party's political bureau said in a statement issued after its weekly meeting.
“It has become evident that the government has renounced its promise to devise
a new electoral law that ensures correct representation,” Kataeb
charged. Accordingly, the party called on parliament to “make use of the
extraordinary session to pass a modern electoral law and eliminate any excuse”
for a new extension of the legislature's term. Kataeb
also reminded of its proposed electoral law that is based on small electoral
districts, stressing that the elections must happen on time. “The government
had linked its existence, course and fate to two issues: the parliamentary
elections and the state budget, so it is strange that it has turned its back on
its raison d'être and is instead focusing on dealing with the oil fortune,
which is a reserve for
The key decrees pave the way for oil and gas extraction off
Hasbani Says Decision to Visit Syria Up to Aoun but Govt. would Debate It
Deputy PM and Health Minister Ghassan Hasbani noted Monday that it is up to President Michel Aoun to decide whether or not to visit Damascus, while
pointing out that the Cabinet would debate the thorny issue. “The appropriate
circumstances for such a visit would be discussed in Cabinet,” Hasbani said in an interview with BBC. The issue would also
depend on the Cabinet's readiness and political stability in any given country,
the deputy premier added. Asked about the Lebanese Forces' stance on such a
visit, Hasbani said: “The LF's
stance would then be announced in Cabinet, seeing as the party is represented
in the government with three ministers, and of course we will take the
circumstances into consideration.”Aoun arrived Monday
in
Hariri Hails Aoun's
Saudi Visit as 'Important Step', Says 'Keen on Dialogue Policy'
Naharnet/January 09/17/Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Monday lauded President Michel Aoun's visit to
UK Hails Resumption of Cabinet Work, Urges
'Timely' Holding of Parliamentary Polls
Naharnet/January 09/17/British Ambassador Hugo
Shorter hailed on Monday the resumption of the cabinet's work, as he stressed
that the UK looks forward to the timely holding of the parliamentary elections.
‘I welcomed the fact that cabinet has already started work, taking key economic
and other decisions last week. There is of course much still to do,” said
Shorter after meeting Prime Minister Saad Hariri at
the Grand Serail. ‘The UK looks forward to continuing
our work with PM Hariri and the Lebanese government to address the challenges
facing the country and make progress on vital security, economic and
development goals,” added the Ambassador. Referring to the upcoming
parliamentary polls scheduled in May, he said: “We also look forward to the
timely holding of parliamentary elections, under transparent, modernized
procedures strengthening Lebanon’s democracy.”“I had
a very good meeting with PM Hariri, in which we discussed the latest local and
regional developments. This was my first meeting with the Prime Minister since
he officially assumed office. I congratulated him on the swift formation of the
government, the ministerial statement and parliament’s vote of confidence. I
also relayed my government’s good wishes for the new year,” Shorter said. “The
Nasrallah Mourns Former Iranian Leader Rafsanjani
Naharnet/Associated Press/Agence
France Presse/January 09/19/Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah mourned
on Monday former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi
Rafsanjani, a “major supporter” of the resistance during difficult times.
“Yesterday (Sunday) we lost one of the great men in this nation. For us, as the
Islamic resistance in
Report: Lebanese Parliament Convenes in
'Extraordinary' Session over Electoral Law
Naharnet/January 09/17/Speaker Nabih
Berri plans to call the parliament to session before
the month's end, to put and approve a final draft for the upcoming
parliamentary elections, An Nahar daily reported
Monday. The step comes after President Michel Aoun
signed a decree on Saturday to open an extraordinary parliamentary session
aimed at pushing the rival political parties into agreeing on a new law before
May 2017-- the scheduled date for holding the polls. The parliamentary session
is to begin on January 9 and ends on March 20, according to Saturday's
statement issued by the President's media office.
Education Minister announces school
closings tomorrow in storm hit areas
Mon 09 Jan 2017/NNA - Minister of Education and Higher Learning, Marwan Hamade, announced on
Monday closing of schools tomorrow (Tuesday) in the regions located over 700 meters
above sea level, due to bad weather.
Latest LCCC Bulletin For
Miscellaneous Reports And News published on January 09-10/17
Syrian rebels deny report
of Wadi Barada ceasefire
Reuters Monday, 9 January 2017/A senior Syrian rebel official denied a report
on Friday that a ceasefire had been reached between rebels and government
forces in the Wadi Barada
area near Damascus, where bombardments have knocked out the capital's main
water source. The government and allied fighters from the Lebanese group Hezbollah
launched an attack two weeks ago to take back Wadi Barada where a spring provides supplies to four million
people in the capital. A military news outlet run by Hezbollah reported that a
ceasefire had been reached for "a number of hours" in the area. But Munir Sayal, head of the
political wing of the Ahrar al-Sham rebel group, told
Reuters the report was "a lie". He said that the government had on
Thursday rejected a ceasefire that would have allowed for repairs to the water
pumping station and for people to return to two nearby villages from which they
had been displaced. Rebels say the government bombed the water pumping station
at the start of the campaign. The United Nations has said it was put of action
by "deliberate targeting" but has declined to say which side was
responsible. The fighting in Wadi Barada
has overshadowed a ceasefire brokered by
Assad: I’m ready to negotiate ‘on
everything’
Al Arabiya/Monday, 9 January 2017/Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said his government is ready to negotiate
on "everything" in proposed peace talks in Kazakhstan but said it was
not yet clear who would represent the opposition and no date had been set.
Assad also said a ceasefire brokered by
Truck bomb kills 9 police in Egypt’s Sinai
AFP, Cairo Monday, 9 January 2017/A truck bomb attack on an Egyptian security
checkpoint in the Sinai Peninsula killed at least nine policemen on Monday,
officials and state media said. Police officials said a suicide bomber rammed a
truck packed with explosives into the checkpoint in the north Sinai city of
US Navy destroyer fired warning shots at
Iranian vessels
Reuters Monday, 9 January 2017/A US Navy destroyer fired three warning shots at
four Iranian fast-attack vessels after they closed in at a high rate of speed
near the Strait of Hormuz, two US defense officials
told Reuters on Monday. The incident, which occurred Sunday and was first
reported by Reuters, comes as US President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take
office on Jan. 20. In September, Trump vowed that any Iranian vessels that
harass the US Navy in the Gulf would be "shot out of the water." The
officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the USS Mahan
established radio communication with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
boats but they did not respond to requests to slow down and continued asking
the Mahan questions. The Navy destroyer fired warning flares and a US Navy
helicopter also dropped a smoke float before the warning shots were fired. The
Iranian vessels came within 900 yards (800 meters) of the Mahan, which was
escorting two other
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Monday, 9 January
2017/Iran will revoke the citizenship of any national who happens to be holding
another foreign citizenship, state-media reported. The announcement was made by
the Iranian judiciary and coincides with the controversy over Iranian officials
holding dual nationalities who are accused of espionage. The Speaker of the
Committee of National Security Affairs in the Iranian Parliament Hussain Naqvi Hussaini
was cited in Mizzan news agency saying: “According to
Iranian law, holding a dual citizenship is akin to a crime.”“Citizenship
would be withdrawn from Iranians holding dual nationalities’’, pointing out to
a blurring legal point in identifying the (
East Mosul recapture ‘few days away’
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Monday, 9 January
2017/Iraqi forces will recapture east Mosul from the ISIS group within “a few
days,” a senior officer said on Monday.
12 taken to court in Jordan over online
abuse of Istanbul attack victims
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Monday, 9 January
2017/Amman’s State Security Court (SSC) on Monday referred to Prosecutor
General 12 suspected of indulging in online abuse directed against Jordanian
victims and their families of Istanbul New Year’s shooting. According to a
report published in
Saudi mom faces charges of attempting to join ISIS
Staff writer, Al Arabiya.net Monday, 9 January 2017/A Saudi woman is standing
trial amid claims she paid a Syrian fixer 33,000 SAR ($8,000) to help her and
her children travel to the war torn country in 2015 and join ISIS. The
33-year-old divorcee sat next to her brother on the front bench facing the judge
at Monday’s preliminary hearing at the
Reuters,
Arab coalition intercepts two Houthi ballistic
missiles near Bab al-Mandab
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Sunday, 8 January
2017/Two ballistic missiles fired by Houthi militias
north of Bab al-Mandab were
intercepted by Arab coalition forces on Sunday. The operation comes as fierce
clashes continue on three fronts surrounding the strategic area of Bab al-Mandab as coalition air
strikes target Houthi camps and gatherings. Coalition
air forces have also struck five targets on Sunday in the capital Sanaa, focusing on areas where Houthi
militias have been gathering and recruiting. The military operations come as
news of tensions are flaring between
IRAN: "Prisoners of Conscience at
Risk of Dying …" – United Nations Expert Warns
NCRI/GENEVA ( 9 January 2017) – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran, Ms. Asma Jahangir, today raised alarm over the critical health
situation of several prisoners of conscience on prolonged hunger strike in the
country.
In recent weeks, at least eight prisoners of conscience have been on life
threatening hunger strike in
Another prisoner, Mr. Arash Sadeghi,
ended last week the hunger strike he had started on 24 October 2016, after his
wife -Ms. Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee- was released on bail.
“Both Mr. Sadeghi and Ms. Ebrahimi
Iraee are human rights defenders who have been
imprisoned for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression and
association,” the expert said
The Special Rapporteur noted that, despite his
critical health condition, Mr. Sadeghi is being
denied transfer to specialized medical facilities and is reportedly kept in his
cell.
“I call on the Iranian authorities to ensure that Mr. Arash
Sadeghi has access, as a matter of utmost priority,
to specialized health care in a hospital outside prison, in compliance with
international human rights standards and medical ethics in particular the
principles of informed consent,” she said.
“I am deeply concerned about the continuous detention of human rights
defenders in
The hunger strikers
The United Nations expert has received information about the critical
health situation currently faced by Ali Shariati, who
has been on hunger strike since 31 October 2016. Mr. Shariati
is serving a five-year prison sentence imposed on him for his peaceful
activism, including his participation in a non-violent protest to condemn acid
attacks against women in
The United Nations expert also drew attention to the situation of Hassan Rastegari Majd, who is reported
to be held in solitary confinement in retaliation for his prolonged hunger
strike.
Ms. Jahangir’s call has been endorsed by the Special Rapporteur
on the situation of human rights defenders, Mr. Michel Forst;
and the Chair-Rapporteur of the UN Working Group on
Arbitrary Detention, Mr. Roland Adjovi.
Monday, 09 January 2017 /NCRI - Rafsanjani at 82, died after a heart
attack, shortly after being transferred to a hospital.
Rafsanjani was one of the main pillars of the clerical regime in
Rafsanjani was in charge of the regime’s parliament at the time of
Khomeini. Rafsanjani's greatest crimes in this role
was participation in the massacre of thirty thousands of political prisoners in
1988, in which he together with Khamenei and Ahmad
Khomeini, conveyed Khomeini's decree to ‘ Death Committee’. Rafsanjani was a
strong supporter of ‘Lajevardi’ the criminal chief of
notorious Evin prison who was called ‘the butcher of Evin’ during 1980s, and in this regard always defended Lajevardi against continuous protests of Mr. Montazeri (Khomeini’s then- heir). In fact Rafsanjani
played a pivotal role in dismissal and house arrest of Montazeri
later on.
After Khomeini’s death, Rafsanjani had a leading role in the introduction
of Khamenei as Supreme Leader and hold the presidency
position for 8 years. But Rafsanjani and Khamenei's
unity did not last long and transformed to a never-ending conflict and power
struggle between the two. Rafsanjani, was a member of
leadership council since the beginning and took over the leadership of this
council after the death of Mullah Meshkini on 2007 to
lose it on 2011 in his power struggle with Khamenei.
Rafsanjani never abided the absolute rule of Khamenei
and in different occasions had stated that Khamenei
was not eligible and didn’t have the necessary qualifications to be the supreme
leader and this was the core issue in their animosity towards each other.
After the consequences of power struggle in 2009 which resulted to a
failed uprising, Khamenei and his band, directly and
indirectly categorized Rafsanjani as the ‘head of the sedition,’ and attacked
him.
During the so called presidential election on 2013, Khamenei,
managed to disqualify Rafsanjani through his stooge Guardian Council and
prevented his candidacy, but inevitably and in fear of another uprising
accepted the presidency of Hassan Rouhani, who was
regarded a disciple of Rafsanjani.
During recent years Rafsanjani was appeared again as the spiritual
godfather of Rouhani and the number two authority in
the regime, and was established in his role as the head of the expediency
Council.
Rafsanjani had a key role in all the assassinations abroad, before and
after Khomeini’s death and therefore was condemned by German courts for Mykonos
crime and was wanted by the international police and Argentina judiciary for
the Buenos Aires bombing which resulted to death of 86 people. With the death
of Rafsanjani, the regime’s moderation show came to an end and international
appeasers lost one of their most favorite
celebrities. Rafsanjani’s history on this issue goes
back to 1986 secret arm deals between US,
German Politician Assassination Plot
Highlights Necessity to End Relations With Iran
NCRI Statements/ Monday, 09 January 2017/The assassination plot targeting
German politician Reinhold Robbe and spying on a
business college in Paris and a professor of this facility, all by the
religious fascism ruling Iran, redouble the necessity to end relations with
this terrorist and fundamentalist regime, and to expel its agents from these
European countries. Inaction vis-à-vis a regime described by the Iranian people
as the “Godfather of Daesh (ISIS/ISIL)” has
encouraged it to escalate its espionage and efforts to execute terrorist
attacks. Events of the last few years show the mullahs regime has taken
advantage of economic and diplomatic relations, exchange students and even
refugee facilitation–especially in European countries–to pursue objectives in
terrorizing, spying and denying security for refugees, bypassing sanctions,
purchasing banned items and … The freedom of movement enjoyed by this regime’s
agents in Europe has evolved Iran into a serious threat for security in the
Green Continent.
In this regard a Pakistani agent of the Iranian regime was arrested in July
2016 on suspicion of espionage activities. This individual was also suspected
to have spied on a French-Israeli professor at a
According to German media, “based on the indictment bill, the federal
prosecutor believes the espionage effort aimed to gain information on possible
targets for attacks… the individuals charged of espionage had specifically
mapped commuting routes used by the Socialist Democrat politician, and obtained
intelligence about the German-Israeli Society building. This is analyzed as
clear reasoning for preparations of an attack.”
It is said another Iranian intelligence agent, born in
The Iranian regime and its agents are allowed to freely commute to this
continent while European intelligence/security agencies are fully informed of
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran/January 8, 2017
U.N. Appeals for Funds for Palestinians
Caught Up in Syria War
Naharnet/January 09/17/Agence France Presse/The U.N.'s agency for Palestinian refugees on Monday
appealed for emergency funds to provide aid to nearly half a million
Palestinians affected by the war in Syria. The United Nations Relief and Works
Agency, UNRWA, said almost all the estimated 450,000 Palestinian refugees still
inside
Palestinian Leader Writes to Trump
Opposing Embassy Move
Naharnet/January 09/17/Agence
The Palestinians regard Israeli-annexed east
Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis
& editorials from miscellaneous sources published on January 09-10/17
Message from Former Canadian MP, Bob Dechert/I have
withdrawn from the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario Candidate
selection process for the electoral district of Mississauga- Erin-Mills
January 09/17
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2017/01/09/message-from-former-canadian-mp-bob-decherti-have-withdrawn-from-the-progressive-conservative-party-of-ontario-candidate-selection-process-for-the-electoral-district-of-mississauga-erin-mills/
I regret to inform my friends and gracious supporters, that I have determined
to withdraw from the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario Candidate
selection process for the electoral district of Mississauga Erin-Mills, as I
have lost confidence in the integrity of the Party's nomination process.
As a former Member of Parliament and active member of the Party for more
than 40 years, I have become deeply concerned that the Party's recent
nomination process in Mississauga Erin-Mills and in multiple other electoral
districts, is failing to respect the requirements of the Party's Constitution
to ensure an open and fair nomination process.
I have come to this decision based upon my observation of wide spread
abuse of the process in Mississauga Erin-Mills by multiple persons and a
failure by the Party to enforce its own rules and respect the Party's
Constitution.
In particular, I would recommend that the Party immediately investigate
and audit, in an open and publicly transparent manner, all Party memberships
submitted by candidates (or others) to ensure that:
Each applicant did in fact pay their respective membership fees from
their own funds or by an immediate family member. In addition, the amount of
any cheque proffered to the Party with any bulk submission of membership forms
and the identity of the payer should be publicly disclosed in every case.
Each applicant is ordinarily resident at the residential address provided
and is able to produce the same documentary evidence of such residency as is
acceptable for voter registration pursuant to the Elections Act (
Each applicant using the paper/hard copy membership form application process, has personally signed such form by their own hand.
In addition, I would recommend that the Party immediately take
appropriate action to sanction any nomination candidate who, directly or
indirectly through a surrogate or otherwise, advocates that prospective members
should contemporaneously join other Ontario political parties (which negates
the individual's confirmation that they "support and will uphold the
objectives and principles of the Ontario PC Party") and vote in each
party's nomination process to ensure that the candidate for each party in any
electoral district is a member of the same special interest group.
At the next annual review of the Party's Constitution, I would recommend
that the Party's Constitution be amended to prohibit the use of cash to pay for
membership fees and accept only payment by personal cheque drawn upon the
applicant's own account or by credit card or debit card transactions verified
to a payment card issued by a Canadian financial institution to the specific
individual applicant. This suggested, verifiable membership payment requirement
has been adopted by other Canadian political parties, including the
Conservative Party of Canada.
I would also recommend that the Party's candidate selection process rules
be amended to require that a member must have been a member for one year prior
to the date of the nomination meeting in order to be eligible to vote at the
nomination meeting.
In my view, implementing these recommendations will reduce the
vulnerability of the Party's candidate selection process to abuse.
I encourage my supporters and all members and supporters of the Party, to
remain actively involved in the democratic process and to work hard to elect
Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario candidates to the Ontario Legislature
and help Hon. Patrick Brown, MPP form the next Government of Ontario.
I am grateful for your support.
Thank you,
Bob Dechert
Former MP Bob Dechert
Widespread 'abuse' of nomination process in provincial Mississauga
BY JOE WARMINGTON, TORONTO SUN/January 09/17
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2017/01/09/former-canadian-mp-bob-dechert-widespread-abuse-of-nomination-process-in-provincial-mississauga/
JANUARY 08, 2017
Ontario PC Leader Patrick Brown and former Mississauga MP Bob Dechert served together in former prime minister Stephen
Harper’s Conservative caucus for years.
It looked like Dechert might be reunited with his
former
He was a potential candidate in the 2018 provincial election until Saturday
when he dropped a political bomb, calling for an investigation into the party’s
nomination process and membership registration legitimacy.
“I have lost confidence in the integrity of the party’s nomination process,” Dechert informed the party. “I have determined to withdraw
from the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario candidate selection process”
set for Jan. 22.
Dechert was up against declared candidates Sheref Sabawy, Mohammad Latif, Nadeem Shaikh
and Jaspreet Bassi.
But Dechert says he’s dropping out to protest the
allowance of “out of riding candidates” who have “worked with the Liberals” as
well as signing up “instant members” who have no background with the party.
Brown, who is leading in opinion polls and has vowed to modernize his party,
has so far not commented on Dechert’s assertions.
Dechert said the party’s decision to overrule the
local riding committee’s recommendation to disqualify some candidates was the
final straw.
“As a former Member of Parliament and active member of the party for more than
40 years, I have become deeply concerned that the party’s recent nomination
process in Mississauga Erin-Mills and in multiple other electoral districts, is
failing to respect the requirements of the party’s constitution to ensure an
open and fair nomination process,” Dechert said in a
statement.
“I have come to this decision based upon my observation of widespread abuse of
the process in Mississauga Erin-Mills by multiple persons and a failure by the
party to enforce its own rules.”
Dechert said he “would recommend that the party
immediately investigate and audit, in an open and publicly transparent manner,
all party memberships submitted by candidates” meet certain standards.
He wants to ensure each applicant paid their respective membership fees from
their own funds and that every bulk payment be disclosed.
Dechert’s says he wants the party to look to see that
applicants are “ordinarily” residents at provided addresses and that they sign
their application forms.
Dechert also took aim at complaints of people joining
the party who have been affiliated with other parties.
He’s calling for PC party’s constitution to be “amended to prohibit the use of
cash to pay for membership fees and accept only payment by personal cheque
drawn upon the applicant’s own account or by credit card or debit card
transactions verified to a payment card issued by a Canadian financial
institution to the specific individual applicant.”
Concerns of Liberal Party trojan horse candidates
surfacing is behind his call for a requirement that “a member must be a member
for one year prior to the date of the nomination meeting in order to be eligible
to vote at the nomination meeting” to “reduce the vulnerability of the party’s
candidate selection process to abuse.”
Dechert added: “If the only qualification for the job
is how many bogus and fraudulent instant members one can round up and cram into
a room, then there is no need for any candidate approval process at all.”
Despite his strong stand, Dechert said: “I encourage
my supporters to remain actively involved in the democratic process and work
hard to elect Progressive Conservative candidates and help Hon. Patrick Brown,
form the next Government of
But it will have to be without his former parliament colleague.
http://www.torontosun.com/2017/01/08/widespread-abuse-of-nomination-process-in-provincial-mississauga-riding-former-mp
A Hate to Kill and Die for
Raymond Ibrahim/January 09/17
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2017/01/08/raymond-ibrahim-a-hate-to-kill-and-die-for/
Muslim attacks on Christian churches are on the rise all around the
world—including in
How much hate must a woman have to enter a church, smile in the faces of
Christians, pretend to be worshipping alongside them—here’s a similar example
from Turkey—and then knowingly leave a bomb precisely where it would kill
mostly women and children? How much hate must a man have for people who are
peacefully praying that, in order to kill as many of them, he is willing to
kill himself?
The answer is an unfathomable—and, to Western and Christian minds,
unbelievable—amount of hate. Yet the wonder isn’t that the church was bombed
but rather that many are surprised by it. After all, many Muslim scriptures, clerics,
mosques, schools, satellite stations and Internet sites—even the ministry of
education—openly incite hatred for
Worse, they teach that the most abominable crimes in God’s sight—“worse than
murder and bloodshed”—take place inside churches: there, Christians flaunt
their rejection of Islam’s core doctrine of tawhid
(“monotheism”) by ascribing partners to God (shirk) via their worship of the
Trinity. This is why some of Islam’s most revered ulema
(scholars) describe churches as “worse than bars and brothels” and “dens of
iniquity” which “breed corruption throughout the lands” (see Crucified Again,
pgs. 32-36).
Modern Egyptian clerics constantly echo these hateful slanders. In August 2009,
Al Azhar’s Dar al-Ifta
issued a fatwa likening the building of a church to “a nightclub, a gambling
casino, or building a barn for rearing pigs, cats or dogs.” In July 2012, Dr. Yassir al-Burhami, Egypt’s
leading Salafi, issued a fatwa forbidding Muslim taxi
and bus drivers from transporting Christian clergy to their churches, an act
“more forbidden than taking someone to a liquor bar.” When the Islamic State
launched a suicide attack on a packed church in
But it’s not just
Americans may remember that Muslims around the world also celebrated the terror
strikes of September 11. Then, the assumption was “we must’ve done something to
make Muslims hate us so much.” But if powerful America is capable of provoking
Muslims with its foreign policies, what did Egypt’s already downtrodden and
ostracized Christian minority do to make Muslims celebrate the news that a
church was bombed and Christians blown to pieces?
In other words, the hate is everywhere and on open display for those with eyes
and ears to see and hear with. It’s a regular feature of the West nowadays for
Muslims to go on church vandalizing sprees (here’s a video of one from
In
These latter—the professional jihadis and
“martyrs”—believe themselves to be the greatest allies of God. They cite the Islamic doctrine of al-wala’
wa’l-bara’ (“Loyalty an Enmity”), which is based on a
number of Koran verses. It teaches that the best way for a Muslim to
proclaim his loyalty to Islam (submission to Allah and adherence to Muhammad’s
teachings) is by showing and exercising hate for those who reject it.
The most supreme way of living this hate is by becoming a jihadi—killing
and being killed, as Koran 9:111 puts it: “Allah has bought from the believers
their lives and worldly goods, and in return has promised them Paradise: they
shall fight in the way of Allah and shall kill and be killed…. Rejoice then in
the bargain you have struck, for that is the supreme triumph.”
***
Whenever Muslims kill Christians for their faith, eulogies for the
latter—including for St. Peter’s 28 slain—often invoke the words of Christ:
“The time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a
service to God” (John 16:2). Not only is this verse prophetic; it’s key to
understanding why Christians are under attack throughout the Muslim world: Their
persecutors truly “think they are offering a service to God” by killing
Christians. And they believe this, not because they are “radical” or have
“perverted” the teachings of Islam, but because the impostor god of Islam tells
them so.
[1] The other day a Muslim man crept up behind a Christian store owner in
http://raymondibrahim.com/2017/01/04/muslim-slaughters-christian-selling-alcohol-egypt/
Muslim Slaughters Christian for Selling
Alcohol in
Raymond Ibrahim/2017/01/04
Coptic Solidarity
A Muslim man crept up behind a Christian man and slit his throat, killing him
in
Adel Suleiman, 48, the Muslim man who committed the murder, did so because his
Christian victim, 45-year-old Joseph Lam‘i, owned a
shop that sold alcohol, which the murderer deemed “contrary to the shar‘ia [Islamic law] and the
religion [Islam],” according to an Arabic language investigative report.
A surveillance video captures the moment of the attack (see below). The Coptic
shop owner can be seen sitting in a chair right outside his shop. Then a
bearded man appears casually walking along in the background. He stops behind
the seated Christian, pulls his head back, and very
forcefully and deliberately slits his throat. The Copt instinctively jumps up
and away from his assassin, though he quickly succumbed to his wounds by
bleeding to death.
According to a preliminary investigation by the national security department of
What is clear is that the assassin is a Salafi, one
of those Muslims who closely follow the lifestyle and teachings of Muslim
prophet Muhammad and his original companions. Both his appearance (the
traditional Salafi beard with clipped mustache) and his actions (“defending” Islam from the
“corrupting” influences of “infidels”) testify to this fact.
Is
Al Monitor.Week in Review/January 09/17
Hamidreza Azizi
writes this week that Moscow’s Syria strategy includes helping “Iran and Turkey
find common ground on the Syrian crisis and then [it can] concentrate its
efforts on further proceeding with a political solution together with Turkey.
As such, it could be argued that
Russian diplomatic blitz on
Azizi adds that because “the nature of their
[the Turkish-Iranian] relationship in
Given the urgency of the humanitarian crisis, the Dec. 20
Russia-Iran-Turkey statement (“Moscow Declaration”) on
While assistance to Syrians cannot come quickly enough, and the latest
cease-fire and political talks will face immense challenges, this column will
simply note that these recent developments provide the type of diplomatic and
humanitarian momentum that are essential to ending the war and achieving a
political settlement.
At the core of the latest diplomatic flurry is
Azizi adds, “
Finally, Aziz notes, “Although Iran still has concerns regarding
Metin Gurcan adds
that the Moscow Declaration “recognizes the territorial integrity of
In an exclusive interview with Massoud Hamed, Fawza al-Yusuf, a board
member of the Democratic Federal System for Rojava-Northern
Syria, said that the Syrian Democratic Forces, which are made up primarily of
YPG fighters, will continue to combat Turkish influence in northern
Gurcan explains that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s
priorities in
In contrast to
A Call on All Christians to Defend Their Birthplace and the Homeland of
the Jewish People
Petra Heldt/Gatestone Institute/January 09/17
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9742/christians-israel-defense
We need ensure that the Old City of Jerusalem, the heart of Judaism for
more than 3,000 years and the seat of Christianity for 2,000 years, will not be
allowed to be Islamic as part of what would soon be an Islamic country, and
very likely a terrorist one. In such a state, all polls show that the next vote
will be to install Hamas.
Based on the Hamas Charter that denies
What drives Western politicians to be servants aiding the destruction of
Judeo-Christian culture in the Middle East and
Christians will not be silent when all these places will be voted to go
to those who will destroy them -- as they destroyed Palmyra, Antioch, Nisibis, Niniveh, and in late
2014, Iraq's oldest Christian monastery, St. Elijah, leveled
by the Islamic State.
The streets of
Christians' collective consciousness must stop the planned peace
conference in
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) on 13 October 2016 gave preliminary approval to a resolution that
denies Jewish ties to its most holy religious sites: the
A similar event in October 2016 took a different direction. Visiting the
The
An aerial view of the
For 3000 years, Jewish history says that "
What drives Western politicians to be servants aiding the destruction of
Judeo-Christian culture in the Middle East and
Christians of this age are grateful to Israel for enabling the biblical
faith, more than ever, through numerous archaeological findings on the Temple
Mount, in the City of David, in Qumran, on Massada,
in Beersheva, in Bethlehem, in Tekoah,
in Ariel, at the Jordan river, in Jericho, in Capernaum, Megiddo, Nazareth, Tel
Dan, and a hundred other biblical places in the Land of Israel.
For this, Christians will not be silent when all these places will be
voted to go to those who will destroy them -- as they destroyed
The Judeo-Christian culture is based on history transmitted in Holy Writ.
That needs to be addressed in public, on social media, in print media, on
television and radio -- on all media. The streets of
**Rev. Dr. Petra Heldt is Director of the
Ecumenical Theological Research Fraternity,
© 2017 Gatestone Institute. All rights
reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the
Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced,
copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone
Institute.
When "Peace" Means
Capitulation to Islam
Giulio Meotti/Gatestone
Institute/January 09/17
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2017/01/09/giulio-meottigatestone-institute-when-peace-means-capitulation-to-islam/
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9726/peace-capitulation-islam
"We will win because Americans don't realize... we do not need to defeat
you militarily; we only need to fight long enough for you to defeat yourself by
quitting." — Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, one of the al-Qaeda planners of the
9/11 attacks.
"This Spanish retreat [in 2004] will be perceived as a huge political
triumph for Al Qaeda and like-minded Islamic radicals -- probably their most
important achievement since September 11, 2001." — James Phillips,
Heritage Foundation.
The next "peace conference" in Paris, on January 15, is where 70
nations will probably agree to another UN Security Council vote, to establish a
Palestinian State, presumably with the Old City of Jerusalem, the heart of the
Jewish people and sacred to the Christian people, as its capital. It is another
terrible sign of the West's soft capitulation to terror.
Like
What inspired al-Qaeda to attack the United States, according to one of the
terrorists, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM), who helped plan 9/11?
The American psychologist, James E. Mitchell, who crafted the interrogation
program that helped stop terrorist attacks and saved countless lives after
9/11, just published a book, Enhanced Interrogation.
In it, KSM is quoted as saying that al-Qaeda expected the
"We will win because Americans don't realize... we do not need to defeat
you militarily; we only need to fight long enough for you to defeat yourself by
quitting. ... Eventually,
That is exactly why Islamists are trying to hit the West's soft underbelly: the
office of the magazine, Charlie Hebdo, restaurants
and theaters in
Anyone who has listened to statements of Osama bin Laden and ISIS's Abu Bakr al Baghdadi knows
that they showed a deep understanding of
Compare what happened in two different countries after the 9/11 attacks.
November 2001: Within two months after the terror attacks in
March 2004: Within a month after the terror attacks in
"This Spanish retreat will be perceived as a huge political triumph for Al
Qaeda and like-minded Islamic radicals -- probably their most important
achievement since September 11, 2001."
In an interview with Time magazine a few months after
The Spanish result was understood in al-Qaeda circles as a monumental victory,
and prompted the Islamists' networks to invest in seeking to influence the
outcome of elections elsewhere in the West.
The public relations department of al-Qaeda and
After
In December 2016, a new Islamist terror attack may have ordained the future of
another European political leader: Angela Merkel. But beyond Merkel's electoral
chances, jihad had already destined the course of Europe's most important
nation when its Chancellor, after 12 people were
murdered at a Christmas market in
"Many Westerners have accepted the normality of the most sordid
attacks," said the Canadian philosopher, Mathieu Bock-Côté.
"We have internalized the presence in our lives of the Islamist violence.
We do not know what this war against radical Islam would mean."
The fate of another European country,
Beyond the electoral map, jihad is already changing the face of Europe's soft
underbelly in different ways: freedom of expression is retreating everywhere
from
The next "peace conference" in Paris, on January 15, is where 70
nations will probably agree to another UN Security Council vote to establish a
Palestinian State, presumably (according to UNSC Resolution 2334) with the Old
City of Jerusalem, the heart of the Jewish people and sacred to the Christian
people, as its capital. It is another terrible sign of the West's soft
capitulation to terror. It is also reminiscent of another "peace
conference," in 1938, when in
**Giulio Meotti, Cultural
Editor for Il Foglio, is an Italian journalist and
author.
© 2017 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The
articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of
Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced,
copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone
Institute.
The Islamization of
Soeren Kern/Gatestone
Institute/January 09/17
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9741/islamization-britain
Sharia courts administering Islamic justice in
Teaching children fundamental British values is an act of "cultural supremacism," according to the National Union of
Teachers, which wants to replace the concept with one that includes
"international rights."
More than 100,000 British Muslims sympathize with suicide bombers and people
who commit other terrorist acts, according to a 615-page survey. Only one in
three British Muslims (34%) would contact the police if they believed that
somebody close to them had become involved with radical Islam. In addition, 23%
of British Muslims said Islamic Sharia law should
replace British law in areas with large Muslim populations.
Belmarsh maximum-security prison in
Residents in
Voter fraud has been deliberately overlooked in Muslim communities
because of "political correctness," according to a government report.
Police in Telford — dubbed the child sex capital of
The Muslim population of
The growth of
Islam and Islam-related issues, omnipresent in Britain during 2016, can
be categorized into five broad themes: 1) Islamic extremism and the security
implications of British jihadists in Syria and Iraq; 2) the continuing spread
of Islamic Sharia law in Britain; 3) the sexual
exploitation of British children by Muslim gangs; 4) Muslim integration into
British society; and 5) the failures of British multiculturalism.
JANUARY 2016
January 3. A jihadist with a
January 4. British officials traveled to
January 4. The
January 5. Pastor James McConnell, a 78-year-old pastor from
January 6. A man and a woman were arrested on suspicion of terrorism
after attempting to board a UK-bound flight with fake Belgian passports. The
pair, understood to be brother and sister, were arrested at
January 6. A House of Commons briefing paper on polygamy revealed that
recent reforms to the social security system would allow migrants in polygamous
marriages to claim additional benefits payments. Although polygamy is illegal
in
January 6. The Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), which represents
examination boards in
January 8. A Muslim woman who claimed she was assaulted in downtown
January 8. Islamic extremists were allowed to tour British universities
unchallenged, even though universities and colleges are legally required to
prevent extremists radicalizing students on campus, according to the Daily
Mail.
January 9. The Criminal Cases Review Commission, an official government
body, was found to be helping asylum seekers overturn their convictions for
illegal entry to
January 15. London Police released video footage of a hijab-clad
woman who tried to stab a 15-year-old boy on a bus in Lambeth.
January 16. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond revealed that some 1,500
Britons tried to join the Islamic State since 2012. An estimated 800 people,
mostly jihadists and family members, successfully entered
January 18. Prime Minister David Cameron announced a plan to invest £20
million (€33 million; $28 million) in English classes for Muslim women to
reduce the risk of extremism. He said migrants to
January 19. Muhammad Shamsuddin, a 39-year-old
London-based Islamist, was featured in a new documentary called "The Jihadis Next Door." Shamsuddin,
a divorced father of five who lives on state handouts and claims he cannot work
because he has "chronic fatigue syndrome," was filmed preaching hate
against non-Muslims on British streets.
Muhammad Shamsuddin, a 39-year-old London-based
Islamist, was featured in a documentary called "The Jihadis
Next Door." Shamsuddin, a divorced father of
five who lives on state handouts and claims he cannot work because he has
"chronic fatigue syndrome," was filmed preaching hate against
non-Muslims on British streets. (Image source: Channel 4 video screenshot)
January 19. The government launched a new website, "Educate against
Hate," aimed at helping schools and parents to tackle the "spell of
twisted ideologies."
January 22. The Bishop of London, Richard Chartres, called on British
clergymen to grow beards to reach out to Muslims in their areas.
January 24. Behar Kasemi, a 42-year-old refugee
from Kosovo, was jailed for four weeks after he threatened to cut out his
wife's heart because she had become "too English." He told police:
"In my country it is for the women to obey their husbands and look after
the children."
January 25. One in five prisoners in
January 25. The Royal Air Force foiled a jihadist plot by two commercial
airline pilots to bomb four British cities. The pilots, who were leaving
January 29. A judge in
January 29. Ibrahim Anderson, 38, a convert to Islam, and Shah Jahan Khan, 63, were sentenced to a total of five years in
prison for promoting the Islamic State on
January 30. Three Somalis who gang-raped a 16-year-old girl after luring
her into a hotel bathroom in
FEBRUARY 2016
February 8. In a speech on prison reform, David Cameron said the
government is considering placing all convicted Islamist terrorist prisoners in
February 16. A man in
February 16. Shabir Ahmed, the 63-year-old
leader of a Rochdale child sex grooming gang, cited human rights laws as he
launched an appeal against deportation from
February 17. At least 21 illegal Islamic schools were placed under
investigation over fears of radicalization. Inspectors from Ofsted,
the school's regulator, found that the institutions were teaching
"hate-filled, misogynistic, homophobic and anti-Semitic material."
February 28. Sharia courts administering
Islamic justice in
February 29. Girls in
MARCH 2016
March 4. Ali Abdullahi, a 34-year-old migrant
from Somalia who sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl at a train station in
Torquay, told the Exeter Crown Court that the crime was a misunderstanding
caused by "cultural differences."
March 9.
March 9. An eight-year-old girl was taken into protective custody after a
man and a woman were arrested at
March 11. Staff at a nursery in
March 15. The Islamic Society at the London School of Economics held a
gala dinner where men and women were segregated by a seven-foot screen so that
attendees could not look at one another.
March 15. The Muslim Women's Council in Bradford announced plans to build
March 16. The High Court ruled that an 18-year-old girl who was born and
raised in
March 17. A family court in
March 20: A total of 3,955 people were referred to the Channel program,
the British government's de-radicalization scheme, in 2015, nearly triple the
figure (1,681) in 2014.
March 28. Teaching children fundamental British values is an act of
"cultural supremacism," according to the
National Union of Teachers (NUT), which wants to replace the concept with one
that includes "international rights."
March 31. The Islamic Tarbiyah Academy, a
private Muslim school in
APRIL 2016
April 1. The first gym in
April 3. About 1,000 Muslim prisoners are at risk of being radicalized in
British jails as part of "terrorist academies," according to Lord
Falconer, the shadow justice secretary.
April 4. Muslim extremists have turned part of the Gartree
prison into a "no-go zone," according to prison union leaders. They
believe an entire block of the facility is being run under Sharia
law.
April 13. A new study showed that a significant part of the British
Muslim community is becoming a separate "nation within a nation." The
615-page survey found that more than 100,000 British Muslims sympathize with
suicide bombers. Only one in three British Muslims (34%) would contact the
police if they believed that somebody close to them had become involved with
jihadists. In addition, 23% of British Muslims said Islamic Sharia
law should replace British law in areas with large Muslim populations.
April 18. Muslim preachers approved by the government are routinely
distributing extremist literature in British prisons leaving hundreds of
inmates at risk of radicalization, according to a leaked report.
April 22. Tarik Hassane
and Suhaib Majeed, a pair
of home-grown terrorists, were given life sentences for plotting to kill
soldiers, police officers and civilians in a series of Islamic-State-inspired
drive-by shootings. The judge said: "It is shocking, tragic and deplorable
that you, two young British men, educated through the
MAY 2016
May 1. Mubashir Jamil,
a 21-year-old man from Luton, was arrested on suspicion of attempting to travel
to
May 2. A senior British jihadi who boasted of
recruiting hundreds of Britons for the Islamic State was killed in a drone
strike in
May 4. The "Department of Theology" of the Blackburn Muslim
Association ruled that it is "not permissible" for a woman to travel
more than 48 miles — deemed to be the equivalent of three days walk — without
her husband or a close male relative. The group also ruled that men must grow
beards and women must cover their faces. The rulings were accompanied by the
catchphrase: "Allah knows best."
May 7. Labour Party politician Sadiq Khan was
sworn in as mayor of
"The previously unthinkable has become the present reality. A Muslim
man with way too many extremist links to be entirely coincidental is now the
Mayor of London. In a couple more decades
May 7. Mohammed Shaheen, a 43-year-old father
of seven, was sentenced to 16 years in prison for raping underage schoolgirls. Shaheen, an immigrant from
May 8.
May 8. Six Algerian terror suspects with links to al-Qaeda were allowed
to stay in
May 9. A Muslim man who was found guilty of threatening to behead a
candidate of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) had his sentence
overturned on appeal. Aftab Ahmed, 45, had been found
guilty of making threats to kill David Robinson-Young, but a Newcastle Crown
Court judge said he believed that Ahmed did not intend to act on his threat.
May 10. The Greater Manchester Police (GMP) apologized for a
counter-terrorism exercise in which a mock suicide bomber shouted "Allahu Akbar" ("Allah is the greatest").
Eight hundred volunteers took part in the drill to make it as realistic as
possible. A local Muslim leader, Syed Azhar Shah, said it was "shocking to portray Muslims
as terrorists" and accused the GMP of "institutional racism."
May 10. The trial began of three Muslims who plotted to behead British
citizens after being inspired by an Islamic State order "to kill civilians
everywhere in the West."
May 11. Prime Minister David Cameron apologized to Suliman
Gani, a Muslim extremist, for saying he is a
supporter of the Islamic State. Cameron said he was referring to reports that Gani supports "an" Islamic state rather than
"the" Islamic State. The Muslim Council of Britain called for an
"urgent review" of Islamophobia in the
Conservative party.
May 15. The BBC's religious output is too Christian, according to Aaqil Ahmed, the BBC's head of religion and ethics. He
argued that that Muslim, Hindu and Sikh faiths should get more airtime.
May 16. The government confirmed that Sharia-compliant
student loans will be offered for the first time in
May 17. One-third of Muslim adults in
May 17. Belmarsh, a maximum-security prison in
May 17. Brusthom Ziamani,
a 20-year-old Muslim convert who was arrested in
May 18. Ofsted, the government agency
responsible for regulating British schools, admitted that it failed properly to
inspect the Zakaria Muslim Girls' High School in
Batley because the inspector was "prohibited" from talking to pupils
or staff. The school is run by the Deobandis, a
conservative Muslim sect that is said to shun non-Muslims.
May 18. The Queen's Speech, setting out the government's program for the
next session of parliament, unveiled a controversial new counter-extremism bill
that included powers to gag individuals and ban organizations deemed as
extremist. The bill did not, however, include a definition of extremism.
Critics said the proposals risked creating "thought police."
May 18. Akmal Afzal,
a 23-year-old Briton of Pakistani descent who was arrested at the 2012 London
Olympics after giving police a false name, filed a lawsuit for discrimination.
He claims he was arrested because he was an "Asian man with a beard."
May 22. The government was accused of burying a report on prison
extremism. The report warned that staff have been
reluctant to tackle Islamist behavior for fear of
being labelled "racist."
May 23. El Shafee Elsheikh,
27, was identified as the fourth member of the Islamic State execution cell
responsible for beheading 27 hostages. The four guards, led by "Jihadi John," were nicknamed the "Beatles"
because of their English accents. Elsheikh, who was
granted asylum in
May 23. A British Muslim woman was jailed after she tried to take her
children to
May 23. A survey conducted by ComRes on behalf
of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community
May 24. A National Health Service (NHS) doctor left his wife and two
children in
May 25. Police in
May 26. Home Secretary Theresa May established an independent review into
the "misuse" of Sharia law in
May 27. A British citizen who plotted to carry out a suicide bomb attack
at
May 29. Music festivals, sports venues and nightclubs were placed on
"high alert" for potential jihadist attacks. Neil Basu
of the Metropolitan Police warned: "These people are perfectly happy to
target civilians with the maximum terror impact. Crowded places were always a
concern for us, but now they are right at the top of the agenda."
May 31. The trial began of Somalia-born Muhiddin
Mire, 30, who tried to decapitate a random stranger in the London Underground.
"This is for my Syrian brothers," he yelled. "I am going to
spill your blood." Police found images on Mire's cellphone
of Islamic State hostages having their throats cut.
JUNE 2016
June 2. Aaqil Ahmed, the head of religion and
ethics at the BBC, said Britons should admit the "uncomfortable"
truth that Islamic State is made up of Muslims and their doctrine is Islamic:
"I hear so many people say
June 2. A manual used by imams to teach prison inmates about Islam risks
"turning people into jihadis," Sheikh Musa Admani told the BBC. A section of the program on jihad said
that taking up arms to fight "evil" is "one of the noblest
acts."
June 27. An article in the Economist magazine argued that some forms of
female genital mutilation (FGM) should be allowed because "minor"
forms of the practice might prevent girls from more extreme harm.
June 27. Shakeel Begg
of the Lewisham Islamic Centre sued the BBC for libel over a broadcast which
implied that he was a member of a "rogue's gallery of extremists." A
lawyer for the BBC responded: "The basis for calling the claimant an
extremist is short and simple. He has preached jihad as the greatest of deeds
which in this context clearly means violence in the name of Islam."
JULY 2016
July 1. A Muslim taxi driver in
July 1. A judge in
July 2. Dahir Ibrahim, a 31-year-old Somali
migrant, was sentenced to ten years in prison for raping two women in
July 3. Azad Chaiwala, a Muslim entrepreneur in
July 4. A Muslim man was ordered to bring his nine-year-old daughter back
to
July 5. The Labour Party reinstated Naz Shah, a
Muslim MP from Bradford who was suspended over anti-Semitic Facebook
posts that called on Israelis be deported to the
July 6. Abdelhadi Ahmed, 39, appeared at
Chelmsford Magistrates' Court on charges of forcing his wife to wear a
headscarf outside her bedroom, banning her from speaking to other men and
beating her.
July 7. Sana Khan, 24, who plotted a jihadist attack on a shopping center
in
July 8. Mohammed Habibullah, a 69-year-old imam
who leads prayers at a mosque in
July 8. Sir Michael Wilshaw, the head of the
school inspection service Ofsted, warned that the
"Trojan Horse" campaign to impose radical Islamic ideas on
July 10. More than 1,500 children — including 257 under the age of 10 —
were referred to the Channel program, the government's deradicalization
scheme, during the first six months of 2015.
July 11. A
July 12. Residents in
July 12. Gavin Rae, 36, a former soldier with the British Army and a
convert to Islam, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for trying to buy weapons
for the Islamic State.
July 13. Ian Acheson, the head of a review into extremism in British
prisons, warned that there is a hardcore group of jihadi
prisoners whose "proselytizing behavior"
among the Muslim inmates in
July 18. Kelvin Mackenzie, a columnist for The Sun, wrote that Fatima Manji, a presenter for Channel 4 television, should not
have been allowed to anchor new reports on the jihadist attack in
July 18. The Independent Press Standards Organisation, the press
regulator, ruled that the Mail Online was wrong to use the words "Islamic honor killing" in a headline because it wrongly
suggested that the crime had been motivated by Islam.
July 20. Abdi Waise,
28, an illegal immigrant from
July 21. The government reported 5,700 new cases of female genital
mutilation in
July 23. The Home Office confirmed that 550,000 teachers, nurses, child
care providers and other public sector workers have been trained in the Prevent
strategy, a counter-terrorism training program, to help them spot and report
potential extremists in their workplaces.
July 25. Syrian refugees sent to the remote Scottish
July 26. The makers of Fireman Sam, an animated television series for
children, apologized after an episode which allegedly showed a character
stepping on a page of the Koran. Muslim viewers claimed the episode
"Troubled Waters" was Islamophobic because
it showed a bumbling character named Elvis failing to respect the Muslim holy
book.
July 26. The Home Office announced a £2.4 million ($3.2 million)
"Hate Crime Action Fund" to "provide security measures and
equipment for vulnerable places of worship that need increased
protection." The plan promises extra data collection and training to
identify "anti-Muslim, anti-Semitic, homophobic, racist and other bullying
in schools."
July 26. Two men of "Middle Eastern appearance" tried to abduct
a serviceman at knifepoint at RAF Marham in
July 28. The BBC reported that five books regarded as "extremist"
remained in jails in
July 29.
AUGUST 2016
August 1. Nearly 900 Syrians in
August 1. Male refugees settling in
August 3. Zakaria Bulhan,
a 19-year-old Norwegian man of Somali descent, stabbed to death an American
woman in
August 4. A public swimming pool in
August 5. Egyptian members of the Muslim Brotherhood may be allowed to
seek asylum in
August 5. Stephen Bennett, a 39-year-old father of seven from
August 9. Tanveer Ahmed, a 32-year-old taxi
driver from Bradford, was sentenced to 27 years in prison for the
"barbaric, premeditated" murder of a shopkeeper in
August 11. Kadiza Sultana, one of three British
schoolgirls who left their homes in east
August 11. Muslim women are the most economically disadvantaged group in
British society, according to a report by the House of Commons. The report also
found that jobless rates in the Muslim community run at more than double the
rate of the general population.
August 12. Voter fraud has been deliberately overlooked in Muslim
communities because of "political correctness," according to a
government report. The investigation began after a scandal in Tower Hamlets,
August 13. British schoolchildren should be required to make a regular
US-style pledge of allegiance to the British flag, according to Khalil Yousuf, a spokesman for
the Ahmadiyya Muslim community. He said: "Not
only should we raise the flag, but everybody in the Muslim community should
have to pledge loyalty to
August 14. London Police announced a £1.7 million "Online Hate Crime
Hub" to investigate offensive comments on Facebook
and Twitter. The so-called Twitter Squad, created by London Mayor Sadiq Khan, will identify online abuse and report it to the
appropriate police force. Civil liberties groups worry the new unit could stop
people expressing opinions for fear of arrest.
August 20. A British asylum judge revealed that only a tiny proportion —
between five and ten percent — of the people whose asylum applications are
denied are actually deported.
August 22. The Justice Ministry announced measures to combat Islamic
extremism in British prisons. The move came after an official inquiry concluded
that inmates acting as "self-styled emirs" were exerting a
"radicalizing influence" over fellow Muslims.
August 23. Scottish Police announced that the hijab
will become an optional part of its uniform. The move was aimed at encouraging
more Muslim women to join the force.
August 24. Michael Coe, a 35-year-old convert to Islam and a close
associate of Anjem Choudary,
was found guilty of assault and battery after knocking a 16-year-old boy
unconscious in
August 26. The BBC reported that the number of minors detained under the
Terrorism Act more than tripled over two years. Forty-six were detained in
2015, compared to 13 in 2013, with the youngest aged only 13. The threefold
rise is believed to be the result of police stopping unaccompanied minors on
outbound flights to
August 27. A close associate of Anjem Choudary ran a series of front companies that received more
than £1 million of taxpayers' money to run computer training courses in
libraries and job centers. That money was then transferred to key members of Choudary's banned Islamist group Al-Muhajiroun
(ALM). Even after the government learned about the
associate's links to Choudary, it continued to grant
him money for another four years.
August 27. Police in Telford — dubbed the child sex capital of
August 31. A YouGov poll found that a majority
of Britons favor a burka
ban: 57% support a ban; 25% are opposed. The only age group to oppose a ban was
18-24 year-olds; by contrast, the 65+ group supported a ban 78% to 12%.
August 31. National Churchwatch, a multi-faith
organization dedicated to reducing crime in places of worship, issued a
security warning for British churches after jihadists murdered a Catholic
priest in
SEPTEMBER 2016
September 2. An official list of the most popular baby names in
September 2.
September 4. Peter Sutcliffe, a serial killer known as the Yorkshire
Ripper, was "preparing to convert to Islam" in a bid to protect
himself as part of Muslim prison gang, according to media reports. Sutcliffe,
70, was moved from the Broadmoor psychiatric hospital
to Frankland prison after a tribunal found he no
longer required medical treatment. Sutcliffe, who was convicted in 1981 of
murdering 13 women and attempting to kill seven more, has faced daily death
threats since arriving at the prison. Muslim gang members offered to protect
him, but only if he converts to Islam.
September 6. Anjem Choudary,
49, one of the most notorious Islamists in
September 7. The government should impose financial restrictions on
Islamists in order to control how they spend their money, according to Tom
Keating, an expert in financial crime. The recommendation came after a judge
revealed that Anjem Choudary
had obtained £500,000 (€550,000; $610,000) in welfare benefits.
September 7. The BBC reported a sharp increase in the number of
unaccompanied minors seeking asylum in
September 8. Haroon Ali-Syed,
19, of Hounslow, West London, was arrested on suspicion of planning to carry
out a mass-casualty terror attack on key
September 9. Four members of an alleged Muslim terror gang appeared at
Westminster Magistrates Court on charges of intending to commit a terrorist act
in
September 9. David Thompson, the head of West Midlands Police, one of the
largest police forces in
September 11. A former counterterrorism sergeant accused
September 12. Ofcom, the media regulator, said
it would not investigate complaints over an episode of the children's program
Fireman Sam, which Muslims said showed one of Sam's mates trampling on a page
of the Koran. Ofcom, which received 170 complaints,
said it could not confirm the page was from the Islamic holy book.
September 14. A woman who teaches English to migrants with refugee status
said her students are not interested in learning the language or getting a job,
but rather in the benefits they can extract from British taxpayers.
September 15. The British Ambassador to
September 16.
September 16. The Guardian reported that young Muslims living in
September 17. Islamic State supporter Mohammed Syeedy,
21, was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Jalal
Uddin, a 71-year-old imam at the Jalalia
Jame mosque in
September 21. Alex Younger, the head of
September 28. Noor Walile,
a 38-year-old imam at Rugby Mosque, Warwickshire, was sentenced to six years in
prison for raping a boy in a toilet in between a lesson he was giving at the
mosque.
September 28. Home Office statistics released to the Daily Express under
Freedom of Information laws revealed that 12,000 migrants seeking asylum in the
September 28. A government report found that Muslims are the least likely
of all faith groups in
September 28. The Charity Commission, the independent regulator of
charities in
OCTOBER 2016
October 2. The Daily Mail reported that dozens of Islamic schools
continue to operate despite inspectors finding that pupils are unsafe, exposed
to extreme views or unaware of basic British values. The findings suggested
that a government crackdown on extremism in schools has been ineffective.
October 5. Manchester Crown Court sentenced Imran
Khan, 38, to life in prison for murdering his wife. He admitted to stabbing her
in the presence of their five children because it was "not halal" for her to be working with other men.
October 7. Police launched a hate crime probe after literature saying
those who insult Islam "must be killed" was allegedly handed out at a
mosque in Walthamstow,
October 8. A baggage handler at an unidentified British airport had an
October 11. The
October 13. A Muslim bus driver stopped his vehicle in the middle of a
busy road in
October 13. ITV aired a new documentary, "Exposure: Islam's
Non-Believers," which focused on the risks to Muslims who abandon their
religion. A former Muslim told the documentary makers: "I remember saying
to my mum, I don't believe in God any more. And her saying, 'you can't tell
anybody else because they'll kill you, we are obliged
to kill ex-Muslims.' And that it would put me at extreme risk if anybody else
was to find out, so that conversation ended there."
October 18. A gang of Iranian men in
October 18. Nearly two-thirds of "child refugees" who claimed
to be minors were found to be adults. Figures show that in the year to
September 2015, 65% of the child refugees who had their age disputed were found
to be over 18.
October 22. A 19-year-old "Asian" was arrested after police
found a bomb on a train in the London Underground. The Joint Terrorism Analysis
Centre raised the threat level for transport in
October 22. A foster mother who took in a "child refugee"
discovered that he was a 21-year-old jihadist. Rosie welcomed Jamal into her
family after social workers said he was a 12-year-old orphan who had fled
October 27. A man and woman, both aged 35, were arrested at
October 30. The Sunday Times reported that the Muslim Arbitration
Tribunal in
October 30. More than 25,000 signed a petition asking the government to
allow public calls to prayer at least three times a day in areas with a high
Muslim population. The petition stated:
"The adhan, or Islamic call to prayer, is
an integral part of the Muslim faith. The number of people practicing the
religion of Islam in the
October 31. A "child refugee" from
NOVEMBER 2016
November 1. Sharia law courts are operating
"everywhere in the country," according to Ahmad Al-Dubayan, chairman of UK Board of Sharia
Councils, a body set up to standardize the administration of Islamic law in the
UK. He said it was impossible to know how many Sharia
courts are operating in
November 4. Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the leader of the Roman Catholic
Church in
November 4. Nissar Hussain,
a convert to Christianity, was forced to flee his home in Manningham
after being subjected to harassment and violence by Muslims. "This extreme
persecution by certain people in the Muslim community because we are converts
has broken us as a family," he said. Hussain, a
50-year-old father of six, said that his family and he have endured a life of
harassment, intimidation and fear at the hands of Muslim hardliners since 2008,
when they appeared in a Channel 4 documentary about the mistreatment of Muslim
converts.
November 7. Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is failing to prosecute honor crimes for fear of causing "unrest" in
Asian communities, a Scotland Yard whistleblower alleged. He disclosed that
"apathy" by prosecutors led to the collapse of what could have been
the first conviction for forced marriage in
November 11. CPS failed to pursue a case involving an Asian woman whose
family forced her to have an abortion, for fear of being labelled racist. It
could have been the first conviction for sex-selective abortion, but CPS
dropped the case amid fears of "political correctness."
November 14. Sharia courts are ordering women
to stay with abusive husbands, a rape victim told the House of Commons. The
mother-of-two revealed that she had been beaten, robbed and raped by her
estranged husband despite British courts having banned him from approaching
her. But family pressure persuaded the British-Pakistani to try and obtain an
Islamic divorce in a Sharia court. Expecting to be
treated sympathetically, she was instead told to return to her violent husband.
November 16. Bedfordshire Police deleted Twitter posts about Islamophobia Awareness Month after users pointed out its
logo was similar to a hand gesture popular with
November 20. The National Health Service referred 420 patients and staff
to police in
November 24. The jihadists suspected of carrying out the terror attacks
in
November 26. More than half of asylum seekers surveyed about the quality
of taxpayer-funded housing they have been provided branded it as
"completely inadequate." Just 11% of people asked said the housing
was excellent, 8% described it as good, and 14% said it was adequate.
November 28. Tareena Shakil,
a woman from
DECEMBER 2016
December 5. A government-commissioned report recommended that migrants
should swear an oath of allegiance as soon as they arrive in the
December 10. An asylum seeker described as the "very model of a
modern al-Qaeda terrorist" was allowed to stay in
December 12. Six people were arrested in
December 13. The Black Health Initiative in Leeds warned that girls are
being taken to female genital mutilation (FGM) "parties" in cities
across
December 15. More than £600,000 (€700,000; $738,000) of taxpayers' money
is being spent every week so lawyers can give free legal advice to asylum
seekers. A total of 38,005 cases were approved for free legal advice over the
last financial year, often in cases where the applicant was fighting a decision
where their asylum claim had already been denied.
December 17. More than 1,000 Muslims took to the streets of
December 20. Heavily-armed police officers were deployed to Canterbury
Cathedral to guard the nativity scene against possible jihadist attacks.
December 21. Police in
December 23. Syed Hoque,
37, of
December 24. Munir Hassan Mohammed, 35, and Rowaida El-Hassan, 32, appeared at Westminster Magistrates'
Court on charges of making explosives. Mohammed, an Eritrean who is seeking
asylum in the
December 25. The main course for inmates at HMP Bristol prison for
Christmas dinner was halal chicken. Other prisons
across the country also served halal options for
Christmas. HMP Birmingham offered halal beef.
December 26. Sixty children are referred to the government's Prevent
counter-terrorism program each week. In 2015/16, there were around 7,500
referrals, a rate of 20 a day. Of those, 3,100 were aged under 18, and 61 were
under the age of ten.
*Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the
New York-based Gatestone Institute. He is also Senior
Fellow for European Politics at the Madrid-based Grupo
de Estudios Estratégicos /
Strategic Studies Group. Follow him on Facebook and
on Twitter.
© 2017 Gatestone Institute. All rights
reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the
Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced,
copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone
Institute.
Backgrounder: Rafsanjani’s
Record on Key Issues as a Pillar of Iran’s Fundamentalist Regime
NCRI/ January 09/17
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2017/01/09/ncri-backgrounder-rafsanjanis-record-on-key-issues-as-a-pillar-of-irans-fundamentalist-regime/
NCRI - Former Iranian President Ali-Akbar Hashemi
Rafsanjani, who died on January 8, 2017, aged 82, was one of the two pillars
and ‘key to the equilibrium’ of the Iranian regime.
Over the past 38 years, both under Khomeini and in later years, Rafsanjani
played a critical role in suppression at home and export of terrorism abroad as
well as in the quest to acquire nuclear weapons. Though portrayed by some
Western media outlets as a “pragmatist” or “moderate,” during his long career
he was associated with some of the regime’s most egregious actions, including
mass-casualty terror attacks and the assassinations of exiled dissidents.
Rafsanjani was a stalwart of the Iranian regime and is considered as one of its
founding fathers. He played an outsized political role in the life of the Islamic
republic, serving as President from 1989-1997 (after serving as Speaker of
Parliament and Deputy Commander of the Armed Forces), but also heading two of
the regime’s most important institutions – the Assembly of Experts, an
88-member body of top clerics which nominates the Supreme Leader; and the
Expediency Council, a body that advises the Supreme Leader.
“Rafsanjani, who had always been the regime’s number two, acted as its
balancing factor and played a decisive role in its preservation. Now, the regime
will lose its internal and external equilibrium,” opposition leader Maryam Rajavi said in a statement
that also referred to the “approaching overthrow” of the clerical regime.
Suppression at home
• Rafsanjani viciously called for the extermination of members of
“Referring to the grouplets’ operations, Hashemi Rafsanjani, Speaker of the Islamic Parliament and Tehran’s
acting Friday prayer leader, said in his sermon:
‘Divine law defines four sentences for them which must be carried out: 1 – kill
them, 2 – hang them, 3 – cut off their arms and legs, 4 – banish them…
‘Had we caught and executed 200 of them right after the Revolution, they would
not have multiplied so much. If we don’t deal decisively with [Mojahedin] armed grouplet and
agents of America and the Soviet Union today, in three years we will have to
execute thousands of them instead of one thousand now…”
• According to Khomeini’s former heir Hossein-Ali Montazeri, Khomeini sought counsel on his dangerous
decisions from these just two individuals: Rafsanjani and current Supreme
Leader Ali Khamenei. This included his decision to
issue a fatwa ordering the massacre of some 30,000 political prisoners at the
end of the Iran-Iraq war in the summer of 1988.
Terrorism abroad:
The assassination of Iranian dissidents abroad and the regime’s terror attacks
skyrocketed during Rafsanjani’s tenure as President
and as head of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), a body that
oversees and authorizes the regime’s terrorist operations. The mullahs’ terror
targets were not only Iranians.
• The Associated Press reported Rafsanjani’s remarks
on May 5, 1989 as carried by
• In 2006, Rafsanjani was implicated by Argentinian
investigators in one of the deadliest instances of Iranian terrorism abroad – a
1994 suicide truck bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in
The investigators accused
At
• The FBI established undeniable evidence that
Here are some of the most significant killings of prominent dissidents abroad
during Rafsanjani’s tenure:
• The assassination in 1992 of four Iranian Kurdish dissidents in a
• Kazem Rajavi of the
National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) –
• The NCRI representative in
• Zahra Rajabi, the NCRI’s
representative on refugee issues, shot dead with an NCRI colleague in an
Advancing the Iranian nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles program:
The Iranian clandestine nuclear weapons program had a jump start under
Rafsanjani and he was the one who really pushed this program forward as a
guarantor of the regime’s survival. He intensified cooperation with countries
like
In an interview published by the regime’s official state news agency IRNA on
October 27, 2015, Rafsanjani acknowledged that during his time as parliamentary
speaker and President, both he and Khamenei sought
ways to obtain a nuclear bomb.
“Our basic doctrine was always a peaceful nuclear application, but it never
left our mind that if one day we should be threatened and it was imperative, we
should be able to go down the other path,” Rafsanjani said.
Rafsanjani added he had travelled to
Istanbul’s massacre, the lone wolf and the city’s walls
Fahad Suleiman Shoqiran/Al Arabiya/January 09/17
The world was shocked by the terrorist attack at the
Reina night club in
The “terrorist’s psychology” may be one of the most complicated terror-related
subjects that’s been addressed for about two decades now. At the beginning - in
the late 1990’s - as violence expanded, psychoanalysis widely surfaced and came
into the picture. The lack of courage to criticize some religious speeches and
ideas allowed psychologists to dominate the scene. However, the psychological
aspect is important to deepen understanding and look into the terrorist’s
psychology and it does not mean finding a certain psychological disease. It’s
thus a means to understand and interpret and not to find exits or
justifications.
Perhaps, Jerrold M. Post’s book “Leaders and their followers in a dangerous
world” is one of the best in this field considering Post’s experience as an
“experienced witness” in the investigations which the American intelligence
held over the duration of 21 years. Post is the chief and founder of the CIA’s
Center for the Analysis of Personality and Political Behavior.
He carried out many thorough studies on the world leaders’ characters, desires
and mysteries in order to help the American president, secretaries of state and
defense and other top governmental officials during
summit meetings or during major negotiations. He taught them how to deal with
crises and presented studies about late Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, late
Cuban leader Fidel Castro, Korean leader Kim Jong-Un
and late al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. He was in charge of devising the
personal files of late Egyptian president Anwar al-Sadat and late Israeli Prime
Minister Menachem Begin and which then-American
President John Carter used during the
There is a wide spectrum of terrorist groups and organizations. Each one has a
psychology and motives and different decision-making structure. Indeed, one
must not speak about terrorism’s psychology in the singular form, but must
address the “psychologies” of terrorism
To him, terrorism is not a uniform phenomenon and it
does not have a unified definition. There is a wide spectrum of terrorist
groups and organizations. Each one has a psychology and motives and different
decision-making structure. Indeed, one must not speak about terrorism’s
psychology in the singular form, but must address the “psychologies” of
terrorism. Perhaps the best description is “terrorists’ minds” as it’s within a
spectrum of terrorist groups - the socialist revolutionary terrorism or the
separatist nationalist terrorism or the right-wing terrorism or religiously
extremist terrorism. Terrorists are pushed to commit violent acts as a result
of psychological powers. If we take into consideration the variety of causes
they commit to, we’d be surprised by the unity of their rhetoric which is more
like: “Us against them.”
Smart bombs and missiles
He then gives an example about one of the leaders he interviewed - Hassan Salameh, the leader of the terrorists who carried out the
bomb attacks in 1996 and which led to Shimon Peres losing his post as prime
minister and the election of Benjamin Netanyahu. 46 Israelis died in the explosions
and Salameh was sentenced to 64 consecutive life
sentences. Speaking about suicidal terrorism, Salameh
said: “Suicide bombings are the highest level of jihad and they shed light on
the depth of our faith. Suicide bombers are sacred fighters performing a
faithful act.” Another leader says: “Suicide bombings are what allow one to
gain the most respect and elevate bombers to the highest possible level of
martyrdom.”
It is said the man who carried out the Reina terrorist attack was disguised as
Santa Claus and the murderer of the Russian ambassador in
Perhaps he describes the psychology of the terrorist best when he affirms that
within the terrorist’s heart, there is a brutal psychological war where
violence is a means of communication. Smart bombs and missiles will not win
this war as the only way to respond to this psychological war is through a
psychological war!
The Lebanese girl has the right to get an answer that justifies why three of
her fellow citizens were killed in the recent
It was a catastrophic attack. A lone wolf targeted individualism while using
all formulas of modernity to attack modernity. He checked the bodies in
cold-blood to make sure they were dead. It’s such a reactive and vengeful spirit.
What happened in Turkey via the two operations from the murder of the
ambassador to the Reina night club attack mark a transformation in terrorist
acts, and its summary is “there is no safe place in this world” no matter how
many barracks and guards there are because modern terrorists creep like black
ants on silent rocks in dark nights.
**This article was first published in Asharq al-Awsat.
The Arab world in 2017
Khaled Almaeena/Al Arabiya/January 09/17
The year 2016 was a bloody year for the Arabs. Wars,
civil strife, economic downturn and a feeling of hopelessness cast long and
dark shadows over most part of the Arab world. The Arab Spring which later
turned out to lead to the autumn of the despots took the Arab ship into storms
that if not overcome will further lead us into disintegration and fracture us
beyond repair.
Years of neglect of societal development, dictatorship, military rule and
adventurism have all brought us to this hell-hole. Many Arab countries are
fighting for survival – not against foreign forces but against monsters created
by a lack of empathy and despots who suppress the aspirations of their own
people.
In occupied
However, will we Arabs wallow in self-pity and wring our hands or we will come
up with a blueprint to modify the situation and make 2017 a watershed in our
history?
The spirit of the new generation has always encountered violent opposition from
mediocre minds and those in power should engage these spirits. We have to focus
on this generation and give them the freedom to express
And what should that blueprint be?
First, sustainable economic growth that is only possible in the absence of
conflict. We need to create a vibrant society, a buoyant economy and a
progressive nation. There should be consensus and a look at the higher stakes.
The Arab League should be revived and be given the power to make a new mission
statement. And no time should be wasted on summits and conferences. The real
challenge is to frame the burning issues that confront us. It would be unrealistic
to think that this is an easy task. It is not.
However, Arab states must find commonality to flourish as a modern society.
Progress is impossible without change and Arab leaders should know that those
who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. They must appeal to all
stakeholders and to all segments of society, which should join together to
contribute to nation building and the establishment of international
understanding around a set of key issues that should
be the core of our survival.
We have millions of young people who are tired of being cast as “terrorists”
and “backward”. They need guidance and effort to unlock and unharness
their potential. They cannot do this with the prevailing mindset of arrogant
bureaucrats. What gives these people the right to control our lives? The great
spirit of the new generation has always encountered violent opposition from
mediocre minds and those in power should engage these spirits. We have to focus
on this generation and provide them with the freedom to express their opinions
and open avenues of self-help for them. Ignoring them will be at our peril. If
they are enticed by extremist groups, it will mean that 2017 will be no better
than the previous year.
We, therefore, need an educational climate, diverse views, acceptance and
tolerance in order to challenge the bigotry that now prevails in many Arab
societies. And we should never forget that the problem with ideologically
motivated warriors is that ideology can morph and mutate in directions
unacceptable to a modern, pragmatic state in which freedom of expression and
human rights for all prevail.
**This article was first published in the Saudi Gazette on January 08, 2016.
The smell of gunpowder in al-Yasmeen neighborhood
Turki Aldakhil/Al Arabiya/January 09/17
A group of suspects lived in al-Yasmeen
(Jasmine) neighborhood. They didn’t go to the mosque
to pray and concealed themselves from passersby and neighbors.
They drove a
History of terror
Kafaala sponsorship system: Is it time to find alternatives?
Dr. Mohamed A. Ramady/Al Arabiya/January
09/17
The substitution of Gulf nationals for expatriates through government’s
so-called localization programs may provide partial relief, but in the long
term the whole basis of localization as an employment generation tool has to be
reassessed and an alternative sponsorship system has to be found as actual
national employment in the Gulf private sector has been completely out of line
with government-planned projections.
The matter is serious if the process of integrating foreign labor
to local economic needs is mishandled. These might include reduced efficiency,
lower productivity, higher costs and economic slowdown should localization be
unwillingly enforced.
The model has to be more of a “partnership,” whereby both foreign labor and the Gulf community benefit in terms of
profitability, skill transfer, productivity and product innovation. This spirit
needs to be nourished, if a successful and willing handover of responsibilities
and technical skills to Gulf labor is to occur as
part of the localization process.
Several GCC countries have already started to change their local sponsorship or
“kafaala” system, whether it was internally or
externally driven. The first was concerning
Second, Bahrain has implemented a new labor law that
will nullify the sponsorship system as of April 2017 and replacing it with
government sponsorship, and enabling foreign workers free to move between jobs
at wages set by market demand and supply forces. Under the new
Security concern
The issue of security and who can enter and work in
the
Another option is to create “super” large private sector overseas workers’
recruitment companies but this could be open to abuse and black market visa
manipulation. At the same time, local companies can submit to a centralized
government labor database centre their specific
foreign labour requirements and these are matched even before the workers
arrive in the Gulf.
The difference from the current system is that foreign labor
can now be released if they underperform, or their company is going through a
downturn in business, or can leave to join other companies if they feel that
they can obtain better employment opportunities based on their skills and
productivity.
This will reduce pockets of unemployed expatriates in some ailing industries
and companies, while companies who are expanding and are denied worker visas
under current sponsorship regulations, will tap these “free” expatriate
workers. To achieve such an equilibrium in foreign labor demand and supply, there has to be close cooperation
and coordination between the government’s overall sponsorship mechanism and the
private sector.
Foreign workers in the Gulf bring both positive and negative economic and
social consequences. Expatriates contribute as both consumers and producers to
the local economy. While expatriate workers – especially those who are single –
have a high propensity to save, and thus to transfer funds outside in
remittances, the expatriate population as a whole spend a considerable amount
of money within the GCC. They are a major source of income to local-owned
establishments, such as travel, supermarkets and hotels.
A drastic reduction in expatriate numbers will cause dislocation to some local
businesses, unless increased national spending patterns provide compensation. A
study prepared by the GCC Secretariat in
Yet the 2017 Saudi budget announcement introduced monthly expatriate dependents
fees, with a potential consequence of fewer foreign dependents and even higher
expatriate remittance outflows, barring an introduction of expat income or
remittance withholding tax.
Minimum wage
For countries in the Gulf though, the issue of
introducing a minimum wage level is a quandary. Many local industries continue
to benefit from low expatriate wage levels, which are not attractive enough to
national labor. The issue of raising the local
minimum wage has been debated as a tool to attract more local labor entrants to jobs that were previously rejected by
nationals.
The 2017 Saudi budget has also introduced additional fees on local companies
who meet or even exceed their Saudization hiring
targets and these fees are budgeted to rise over the next four years. The aim
is simple: chose between nationals or expatriate workers, whereby local
companies would choose that labor that are deemed
more productive, or more compliant, and foreign workers might be hired, albeit
at fewer numbers and at a greater cost to local industries.
But real life is more complicated. For a start, if the minimum wage level is
raised for all companies, then their competitiveness with each other is not
affected by the same degree. A higher minimum wage can actually increase
employment in some circumstances, by attracting someone to take a job that was
previously “economically inactive” or not employed at all, as is the case for
many semi-skilled jobs in
Foreign workers were meant to fulfil their obligations, receive their payment
and return to their homeland. Because the Gulf countries are intensely
concerned to preserve their unique cultural identity, they have also stressed
the social aspects of the immigrants’ presence.
This relationship sometimes puts a strain on the expatriate work force. Most of
them are in a temporary situation. They feel like they are in a hotel; they can
never entertain the illusion of being at home. This feeling of isolation is
magnified by security threats faced by some Western communities, following
domestic bombings and acts of terrorism. National groups stick together, even
though, with some exceptions, they did not know each other before. Together
they are a collection of solitudes.
And what of the expatriates who return after a “stint” of duty in the Gulf –
ranging from the shortest possible contract of two years to several decades for
many workers? They often face problems when they return to reclaim their place
in the societies they left. They find that their friends and associates back
home don’t understand or appreciate the things they have experienced. For those
that do settle, their expanded experiences, the higher degree of responsibility
they had assumed and the new technologies they learned, make expatriate labor more valuable to the home country.
For others that do not settle, there are a host of problems. They are forced to
forget a whole area of their lives or to meet with other former expatriates,
like veterans of campaigns. Some cannot make the adjustments and return
overseas to become de facto career expatriates, moving from job to job around
the world like nomads, maintaining contact with friends they have made along
the way.