I can see why 'they' would want to say it was a bogus passport, I can also see why she would qualify if it was a real one.
Religion of Peace in action
- Thread starter Walter
- Start date
New Year's Eve stabbing of three treated as terrorism, U.K. cops say
Associated Press
Published:
January 1, 2019
Updated:
January 1, 2019 1:31 PM EST
Police restrain a man after he stabbed three people at Victoria Station in Manchester, England, late Monday Dec. 31, 2018. (Sam Clack/PA via AP)
LONDON — Police in the English city of Manchester are quizzing a suspect and searching a house for clues about the “terror-related” stabbings of three people at a train station on New Year’s Eve.
The attack Monday night by a knife-wielding man yelling Islamic slogans brought terrorism back to Manchester after a 19-month hiatus. It took place at a key transport hub right next to the Manchester Arena, where 22 people were killed in an attack on an Ariana Grande concert in May 2017.
Monday’s stabbing attack left a man and a woman hospitalized with “very serious” but not life-threatening injuries and a man in custody, police said. Both the victims have abdominal injuries and the woman also has injuries to her face.
A British Transport Police sergeant who was also stabbed in the shoulder was released after an overnight hospital stay.
Police say they are treating the attack as a terrorist incident, and the investigation is being headed by counterterrorism police with help from the security services. Tightlipped U.K. authorities have not commented on a possible motive for the attack, and the suspect in his mid-20s has not been charged or identified.
Assistant Chief Constable Russ Jackson said police believe they have identified the suspect and were searching his home in the Cheetham Hill neighbourhood of Manchester. He described the attack as frenzied and random.
“We know the attacker arrived at the location and soon after he attacked two people, a man and a woman, who have suffered very serious injuries,” he said.
The attack happened at Manchester’s Victoria Station shortly before 9 p.m. on New Year’s Eve.
BBC producer Sam Clack, who was on the train platform, said he heard a “blood-curdling scream” when the attack started and saw a man dressed in black having what looked like a fight with two victims. Clack said he heard the man with the weapon shout Islamic extremist slogans during the assault and then the attacker was chased by police.
“He came towards me. I looked down and saw he had a kitchen knife with a black handle with a good, 12-inch blade,” Clack said, adding that his reaction “was just fear, pure fear.”
Clack said police used pepper spray and a stun gun to bring the man down.
Police say there’s no indication that any others were involved in planning or helping the attack.
The incident is “not ongoing” and there is “currently no intelligence to suggest that there is any wider threat,” Assistant Chief Constable Rob Potts said.
The train station reopened Tuesday and extra police officers were on the city’s streets as a precaution.
Prime Minister Theresa May expressed concern for the victims and thanked emergency workers for their “courageous response.”
Britain’s official threat level has long been set at “severe,” indicating that intelligence analysts believe an attack is highly likely.
http://torontosun.com/news/crime/new-years-eve-stabbing-of-three-treated-as-terrorism-u-k-cops-say
Associated Press
Published:
January 1, 2019
Updated:
January 1, 2019 1:31 PM EST
Police restrain a man after he stabbed three people at Victoria Station in Manchester, England, late Monday Dec. 31, 2018. (Sam Clack/PA via AP)
LONDON — Police in the English city of Manchester are quizzing a suspect and searching a house for clues about the “terror-related” stabbings of three people at a train station on New Year’s Eve.
The attack Monday night by a knife-wielding man yelling Islamic slogans brought terrorism back to Manchester after a 19-month hiatus. It took place at a key transport hub right next to the Manchester Arena, where 22 people were killed in an attack on an Ariana Grande concert in May 2017.
Monday’s stabbing attack left a man and a woman hospitalized with “very serious” but not life-threatening injuries and a man in custody, police said. Both the victims have abdominal injuries and the woman also has injuries to her face.
A British Transport Police sergeant who was also stabbed in the shoulder was released after an overnight hospital stay.
Police say they are treating the attack as a terrorist incident, and the investigation is being headed by counterterrorism police with help from the security services. Tightlipped U.K. authorities have not commented on a possible motive for the attack, and the suspect in his mid-20s has not been charged or identified.
Assistant Chief Constable Russ Jackson said police believe they have identified the suspect and were searching his home in the Cheetham Hill neighbourhood of Manchester. He described the attack as frenzied and random.
“We know the attacker arrived at the location and soon after he attacked two people, a man and a woman, who have suffered very serious injuries,” he said.
The attack happened at Manchester’s Victoria Station shortly before 9 p.m. on New Year’s Eve.
BBC producer Sam Clack, who was on the train platform, said he heard a “blood-curdling scream” when the attack started and saw a man dressed in black having what looked like a fight with two victims. Clack said he heard the man with the weapon shout Islamic extremist slogans during the assault and then the attacker was chased by police.
“He came towards me. I looked down and saw he had a kitchen knife with a black handle with a good, 12-inch blade,” Clack said, adding that his reaction “was just fear, pure fear.”
Clack said police used pepper spray and a stun gun to bring the man down.
Police say there’s no indication that any others were involved in planning or helping the attack.
The incident is “not ongoing” and there is “currently no intelligence to suggest that there is any wider threat,” Assistant Chief Constable Rob Potts said.
The train station reopened Tuesday and extra police officers were on the city’s streets as a precaution.
Prime Minister Theresa May expressed concern for the victims and thanked emergency workers for their “courageous response.”
Britain’s official threat level has long been set at “severe,” indicating that intelligence analysts believe an attack is highly likely.
http://torontosun.com/news/crime/new-years-eve-stabbing-of-three-treated-as-terrorism-u-k-cops-say
https://www.blacklistednews.com/art...onducting-torture-and-killings-with-near.html
CIA-managed forces in Afghanistan are reportedly conducting 'torture and killings with near impunity'
Afghan strike forces overseen by the CIA are operating with little care for preventing civilian casualties, a lengthy New York Times report details Monday, and their brutality has fostered local populations' sympathy for the Taliban.
The CIA-managed teams work "unconstrained by battlefield rules designed to protect civilians, conducting night raids, torture and killings with near impunity," the Times reports, citing Afghan and American officials. "Those abuses are actively pushing people toward the Taliban, the officials say," and as the U.S. military footprint in the country has declined from its 2011 peak of about 100,000, these "strike forces are increasingly the way that a large number of rural Afghans experience the American presence." Unconfirmed reports suggest some raids may even include American operatives.
Though the strike forces are considered more effective than their counterparts without CIA sponsorship, their successes against militants are mixed with ruthless but inaccurate targeting of innocent people. In one case, "two brothers were killed as they watered their fields before dawn after receiving permission from the local security outpost."
In another, a night raid on a family home ended with three adults summarily executed and the home in flames. A 3-year-old girl, Marina, was found burned to death in a bedroom. Local investigators concluded the victims were innocent and the raid was an "atrocity."
In these and other cases the Times investigated, victims "were at a loss for where to seek justice, or an explanation of why they had been raided" or subjected to torture.
The CIA declined to comment to The New York Times. Read the full report here.
CIA-managed forces in Afghanistan are reportedly conducting 'torture and killings with near impunity'
Afghan strike forces overseen by the CIA are operating with little care for preventing civilian casualties, a lengthy New York Times report details Monday, and their brutality has fostered local populations' sympathy for the Taliban.
The CIA-managed teams work "unconstrained by battlefield rules designed to protect civilians, conducting night raids, torture and killings with near impunity," the Times reports, citing Afghan and American officials. "Those abuses are actively pushing people toward the Taliban, the officials say," and as the U.S. military footprint in the country has declined from its 2011 peak of about 100,000, these "strike forces are increasingly the way that a large number of rural Afghans experience the American presence." Unconfirmed reports suggest some raids may even include American operatives.
Though the strike forces are considered more effective than their counterparts without CIA sponsorship, their successes against militants are mixed with ruthless but inaccurate targeting of innocent people. In one case, "two brothers were killed as they watered their fields before dawn after receiving permission from the local security outpost."
In another, a night raid on a family home ended with three adults summarily executed and the home in flames. A 3-year-old girl, Marina, was found burned to death in a bedroom. Local investigators concluded the victims were innocent and the raid was an "atrocity."
In these and other cases the Times investigated, victims "were at a loss for where to seek justice, or an explanation of why they had been raided" or subjected to torture.
The CIA declined to comment to The New York Times. Read the full report here.
Peace bond hearing withdrawn for B.C. couple cleared in legislature terror plot
Canadian Press
Published:
January 2, 2019
Updated:
January 2, 2019 8:42 PM EST
John Nuttall, left, and Amanda Korody leave jail after being re-arrested and placed under a peace bond and released again, after a judge ruled the couple were entrapped by the RCMP in a police-manufactured crime, in Vancouver on Friday, July 29, 2016.DARRYL DYCK / THE CANADIAN PRESS
VANCOUVER — A British Columbia man and woman who were cleared of terror charges due to RCMP entrapment are allowed to live freely for the first time in years after prosecutors dropped a bid to restrict their movements, their lawyer says.
The federal Crown withdrew a peace bond application for John Nuttall and Amanda Korody last month, after the B.C. Court of Appeal panel unanimously upheld a trial judge’s ruling that the RCMP manipulated them into planting what they thought were explosives at the legislature.
The decision to drop the application means the couple no longer has to obey conditions such as having to stay away from the legislature, the Canadian Forces Base in Esquimalt and any synagogue or Jewish school, said their lawyer Scott Wright.
“As of right now, they’re not on any conditions,” he said. “There were 2 1/2 years that they were on conditions with no problem. They complied with them and did everything that was asked of them.”
Wright said prosecutors launched the peace bond application shortly after B.C. Supreme Court Justice Catherine Bruce tossed out the guilty verdicts due to police entrapment in 2016.
The peace bond proceedings had been adjourned pending the B.C. Court of Appeal ruling, and the Crown dropped its application the same day the court released its decision, Wright said.
A peace bond hearing scheduled for Monday has been cancelled.
The Public Prosecution Service of Canada said in a statement that it still has 60 days from the Appeal Court ruling on Dec. 19 to decide whether to seek leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.
It added that it withdrew the peace bond application on behalf of the Mounties.
The RCMP said it decided to withdraw the application following its continued review of the case after the Appeal Court decision.
Nuttall and Korody were arrested on Canada Day 2013 after planting what they thought were pressure-cooker bombs on the grounds of the legislature.
In June 2015, a jury found Nuttall and Korody guilty of conspiring to commit murder, possessing an explosive substance and placing an explosive in a public place on behalf of a terrorist group.
The convictions were put on hold until 2016 when Bruce ruled the naive and marginalized former heroin addicts had been entrapped by police, who she said used trickery, deceit and veiled threats to engineer the bomb plot.
In its appeal, the Crown argued that Nuttall and Korody were responsible for crafting and carrying out the plan and that an undercover RCMP operation did not qualify as either manipulative or an abuse of process.
Lawyers for Nuttall and Korody argued that the couple feared they would be killed by a shadowy terrorist group if they didn’t follow through with the bomb plot.
The defence also argued police provided Nuttall with improper spiritual advice that deflected his qualms about whether terrorism was compatible with his new faith after the couple converted to Islam.
The B.C. Court of Appeal ruling in December found that while the trial judge made some errors, she did not err in finding that Mounties manipulated Nuttall and Korody.
“I therefore agree with the trial judge that the overall conduct of this investigation was a travesty of justice,” Justice Elizabeth Bennett wrote on behalf of a three-judge panel.
The appeal court ordered a stay of proceedings.
http://torontosun.com/news/national...b-c-couple-cleared-in-legislature-terror-plot
wonder if they will get 10.5 million?
Canadian Press
Published:
January 2, 2019
Updated:
January 2, 2019 8:42 PM EST
John Nuttall, left, and Amanda Korody leave jail after being re-arrested and placed under a peace bond and released again, after a judge ruled the couple were entrapped by the RCMP in a police-manufactured crime, in Vancouver on Friday, July 29, 2016.DARRYL DYCK / THE CANADIAN PRESS
VANCOUVER — A British Columbia man and woman who were cleared of terror charges due to RCMP entrapment are allowed to live freely for the first time in years after prosecutors dropped a bid to restrict their movements, their lawyer says.
The federal Crown withdrew a peace bond application for John Nuttall and Amanda Korody last month, after the B.C. Court of Appeal panel unanimously upheld a trial judge’s ruling that the RCMP manipulated them into planting what they thought were explosives at the legislature.
The decision to drop the application means the couple no longer has to obey conditions such as having to stay away from the legislature, the Canadian Forces Base in Esquimalt and any synagogue or Jewish school, said their lawyer Scott Wright.
“As of right now, they’re not on any conditions,” he said. “There were 2 1/2 years that they were on conditions with no problem. They complied with them and did everything that was asked of them.”
Wright said prosecutors launched the peace bond application shortly after B.C. Supreme Court Justice Catherine Bruce tossed out the guilty verdicts due to police entrapment in 2016.
The peace bond proceedings had been adjourned pending the B.C. Court of Appeal ruling, and the Crown dropped its application the same day the court released its decision, Wright said.
A peace bond hearing scheduled for Monday has been cancelled.
The Public Prosecution Service of Canada said in a statement that it still has 60 days from the Appeal Court ruling on Dec. 19 to decide whether to seek leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.
It added that it withdrew the peace bond application on behalf of the Mounties.
The RCMP said it decided to withdraw the application following its continued review of the case after the Appeal Court decision.
Nuttall and Korody were arrested on Canada Day 2013 after planting what they thought were pressure-cooker bombs on the grounds of the legislature.
In June 2015, a jury found Nuttall and Korody guilty of conspiring to commit murder, possessing an explosive substance and placing an explosive in a public place on behalf of a terrorist group.
The convictions were put on hold until 2016 when Bruce ruled the naive and marginalized former heroin addicts had been entrapped by police, who she said used trickery, deceit and veiled threats to engineer the bomb plot.
In its appeal, the Crown argued that Nuttall and Korody were responsible for crafting and carrying out the plan and that an undercover RCMP operation did not qualify as either manipulative or an abuse of process.
Lawyers for Nuttall and Korody argued that the couple feared they would be killed by a shadowy terrorist group if they didn’t follow through with the bomb plot.
The defence also argued police provided Nuttall with improper spiritual advice that deflected his qualms about whether terrorism was compatible with his new faith after the couple converted to Islam.
The B.C. Court of Appeal ruling in December found that while the trial judge made some errors, she did not err in finding that Mounties manipulated Nuttall and Korody.
“I therefore agree with the trial judge that the overall conduct of this investigation was a travesty of justice,” Justice Elizabeth Bennett wrote on behalf of a three-judge panel.
The appeal court ordered a stay of proceedings.
http://torontosun.com/news/national...b-c-couple-cleared-in-legislature-terror-plot
wonder if they will get 10.5 million?
Would it bother you of they did? Didn't the Holocaust set the rule that you pay when you take away a person's right to be free?? Do you understand what the term 'not guilty' means or should the 'entrapment' be ignored as they probably would have become a real terrorist anyway?
Indian teen girl beheaded, mutilated in suspected honour killing
Brad Hunter
Published:
January 10, 2019
Updated:
January 10, 2019 1:18 PM EST
This 16-year-old girl named Anjana was reportedly beheaded and her face burned with acid in what cops are calling an honour killing. NDTV
India is reeling after a teenage girl was discovered beheaded, her face doused in acid and her breasts mutilated.
While the girl’s family claims she was the victim of a horrendous gang rape, detectives believe she was the victim of an honour killing.
Protests have erupted around the country demanding justice for the 16-year-old, who has been identified only as “Anjana” on social media.
Her body was discovered on Sunday, several hundred feet from her family home in the holy city of Gaya, Bindar.
Protesters take to the streets to demand action in the grisly murder. NDTV
Since the grim discovery, hundreds of protesters have taken to the streets.
According to NDTV, Anjana vanished on Dec. 28, a missing persons report filed to the police by her father on Jan. 6 claims.
But the doomed teenager’s mother and sisters told a different tale.
Senior officer Rajiv Mishra said the women revealed that Anjana did, in fact, return home on Dec. 28 but was sent away by her father with a man who is known to the family.
Cops say they have detained Anjana’s mother, father and another relative.
NDTV is reporting that the man has denied killing the girl but cops say his call records indicate he was in touch with several local criminals. The autopsy report is awaited to determine if the girl was raped or tortured before she was murdered.
The girl is just the latest victim of sexual violence in India. According to the Daily Mail, more than 100 rapes are reported each day, using the most recent figures.
Rituparna Chatterjee, the leader of India’s #MeToo movement, has demanded action from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and local politicians.
“Just had a phone conversation with one of the protesters and organizers of the candle march. The family is allegedly in police custody and the police are trying to give this an honour killing angle,” she said.
http://dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6576931/Girl-16-beheaded-head-doused-acid-raped-India.html
http://torontosun.com/news/world/indian-teen-girl-beheaded-mutilated-in-suspected-honour-killing
Brad Hunter
Published:
January 10, 2019
Updated:
January 10, 2019 1:18 PM EST
This 16-year-old girl named Anjana was reportedly beheaded and her face burned with acid in what cops are calling an honour killing. NDTV
India is reeling after a teenage girl was discovered beheaded, her face doused in acid and her breasts mutilated.
While the girl’s family claims she was the victim of a horrendous gang rape, detectives believe she was the victim of an honour killing.
Protests have erupted around the country demanding justice for the 16-year-old, who has been identified only as “Anjana” on social media.
Her body was discovered on Sunday, several hundred feet from her family home in the holy city of Gaya, Bindar.
Protesters take to the streets to demand action in the grisly murder. NDTV
Since the grim discovery, hundreds of protesters have taken to the streets.
According to NDTV, Anjana vanished on Dec. 28, a missing persons report filed to the police by her father on Jan. 6 claims.
But the doomed teenager’s mother and sisters told a different tale.
Senior officer Rajiv Mishra said the women revealed that Anjana did, in fact, return home on Dec. 28 but was sent away by her father with a man who is known to the family.
Cops say they have detained Anjana’s mother, father and another relative.
NDTV is reporting that the man has denied killing the girl but cops say his call records indicate he was in touch with several local criminals. The autopsy report is awaited to determine if the girl was raped or tortured before she was murdered.
The girl is just the latest victim of sexual violence in India. According to the Daily Mail, more than 100 rapes are reported each day, using the most recent figures.
Rituparna Chatterjee, the leader of India’s #MeToo movement, has demanded action from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and local politicians.
“Just had a phone conversation with one of the protesters and organizers of the candle march. The family is allegedly in police custody and the police are trying to give this an honour killing angle,” she said.
http://dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6576931/Girl-16-beheaded-head-doused-acid-raped-India.html
http://torontosun.com/news/world/indian-teen-girl-beheaded-mutilated-in-suspected-honour-killing
Woman, two sons die in Nepal town in suspected menstrual exile
Associated Press
Published:
January 10, 2019
Updated:
January 10, 2019 10:40 AM EST
In this file photo taken on November 23, 2011 a Nepali teenage girl sits inside a "chhaupadi house" in Achham village. (PRAKASH MATHEMA/AFP/Getty Images)
KATHMANDU, Nepal — A woman and her two sons have died in a remote town in Nepal because of a tradition in which women are exiled from their homes and forced to live in huts during menstruation, a government administrator said Thursday.
The 35-year-old woman and her sons were found dead by family and villagers in a small hut next to their family home on Wednesday morning, said Bajura District chief administrator Chetraj Baral.
He suspected they died of smoke inhalation because it is cold in the mountains and they kept a small fire to keep warm.
The hut had space that was barely enough for three people. Baral said parts of the clothes they were wearing were also burnt.
An investigating team has reached Budhinanda, about 400 kilometres (250 miiles) northwest of the capital, Kathmandu.
Baral said he is consulting with government lawyers on whether to press charges against the family. The bodies were sent to a nearby town hospital for an autopsy.
Following the incident, the government is planning to send officials to the area again to educate residents about the practice, he said.
The practice was banned by the Supreme Court in 2005 and a new law criminalized it last year, with violators who force women into exile during menstruation facing up to three months in prison or a fine of 3,000 Nepalese rupees ($29).
Many menstruating women are still forced to leave their homes and take shelter in unhygienic or insecure huts or cow sheds until their cycle ends. The custom — called “Chhaupadi” — continues in many parts of the majority Hindu Himalayan country, especially in the western hills.
While exiled in isolation, some women face bitter cold or attacks by wild animals. Unclean conditions can also cause infections. They also face possibility of sexual assaults.
http://torontosun.com/news/world/woman-two-sons-die-in-nepal-town-in-suspected-menstrual-exile
Associated Press
Published:
January 10, 2019
Updated:
January 10, 2019 10:40 AM EST
In this file photo taken on November 23, 2011 a Nepali teenage girl sits inside a "chhaupadi house" in Achham village. (PRAKASH MATHEMA/AFP/Getty Images)
KATHMANDU, Nepal — A woman and her two sons have died in a remote town in Nepal because of a tradition in which women are exiled from their homes and forced to live in huts during menstruation, a government administrator said Thursday.
The 35-year-old woman and her sons were found dead by family and villagers in a small hut next to their family home on Wednesday morning, said Bajura District chief administrator Chetraj Baral.
He suspected they died of smoke inhalation because it is cold in the mountains and they kept a small fire to keep warm.
The hut had space that was barely enough for three people. Baral said parts of the clothes they were wearing were also burnt.
An investigating team has reached Budhinanda, about 400 kilometres (250 miiles) northwest of the capital, Kathmandu.
Baral said he is consulting with government lawyers on whether to press charges against the family. The bodies were sent to a nearby town hospital for an autopsy.
Following the incident, the government is planning to send officials to the area again to educate residents about the practice, he said.
The practice was banned by the Supreme Court in 2005 and a new law criminalized it last year, with violators who force women into exile during menstruation facing up to three months in prison or a fine of 3,000 Nepalese rupees ($29).
Many menstruating women are still forced to leave their homes and take shelter in unhygienic or insecure huts or cow sheds until their cycle ends. The custom — called “Chhaupadi” — continues in many parts of the majority Hindu Himalayan country, especially in the western hills.
While exiled in isolation, some women face bitter cold or attacks by wild animals. Unclean conditions can also cause infections. They also face possibility of sexual assaults.
http://torontosun.com/news/world/woman-two-sons-die-in-nepal-town-in-suspected-menstrual-exile
People of Nepal are not Muslims.
The majority of the people of Nepal follow Hinduism, and the rest are the Buddhists.
Last edited:
Flamboyant Indian guru convicted of murder while serving prison sentence for rape
Associated Press
Published:
January 11, 2019
Updated:
January 11, 2019 2:24 PM EST
In this May 17, 2017, file photo, Indian spiritual leader turned actor who calls himself Dr. Saint Gurmeet Singh Ram Rahim Insan gestures as he holds up a glass of milk at a "Cow Milk Party" during the premiere of the movie "Jattu Engineer" in New Delhi, India.Tsering Topgyal / AP Photo / Files
NEW DELHI — A popular and flamboyant spiritual guru in India, who is serving 20 years in prison for raping two female followers, was convicted Friday of murdering a journalist 16 years ago in another case.
Judge Jagdeep Singh convicted the guru, who calls himself Dr. Saint Gurmeet Singh Ram Rahim Insan, and three other people and will sentence them on Jan. 17.
All four could face death sentences in the killing of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati after he published a letter in his newspaper alleging sexual exploitation of women by the guru.
The guru was named as the main conspirator in the killing case.
He is currently being held in a prison in the northern India town of Rohtak after he was sentenced in August in the rape case. He was also fined 3 million rupees ($47,000).
His conviction last year sparked violent protests by his followers that left at least 38 people dead and hundreds injured in the northern town of Panchkula.
He played himself in hagiographic biopics and courted India’s powerful politicians. He lived with tens of thousands of his followers on a sprawling 400-hectare (1,000-acre) ashram in Haryana state until he was sentenced last year.
http://torontosun.com/news/world/fl...murder-while-serving-prison-sentence-for-rape
Associated Press
Published:
January 11, 2019
Updated:
January 11, 2019 2:24 PM EST
In this May 17, 2017, file photo, Indian spiritual leader turned actor who calls himself Dr. Saint Gurmeet Singh Ram Rahim Insan gestures as he holds up a glass of milk at a "Cow Milk Party" during the premiere of the movie "Jattu Engineer" in New Delhi, India.Tsering Topgyal / AP Photo / Files
NEW DELHI — A popular and flamboyant spiritual guru in India, who is serving 20 years in prison for raping two female followers, was convicted Friday of murdering a journalist 16 years ago in another case.
Judge Jagdeep Singh convicted the guru, who calls himself Dr. Saint Gurmeet Singh Ram Rahim Insan, and three other people and will sentence them on Jan. 17.
All four could face death sentences in the killing of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati after he published a letter in his newspaper alleging sexual exploitation of women by the guru.
The guru was named as the main conspirator in the killing case.
He is currently being held in a prison in the northern India town of Rohtak after he was sentenced in August in the rape case. He was also fined 3 million rupees ($47,000).
His conviction last year sparked violent protests by his followers that left at least 38 people dead and hundreds injured in the northern town of Panchkula.
He played himself in hagiographic biopics and courted India’s powerful politicians. He lived with tens of thousands of his followers on a sprawling 400-hectare (1,000-acre) ashram in Haryana state until he was sentenced last year.
http://torontosun.com/news/world/fl...murder-while-serving-prison-sentence-for-rape
Why have those places not been bombed and invaded and bombed again to save them, . . . . from themselves??? The inhumanity of it all.
BRAUN: Even kidnappers use social media
Liz Braun
Published:
January 14, 2019
Updated:
January 14, 2019 10:15 PM EST
An image of Ali Omar Ader is projected on a screen at RCMP headquarters during a press conference in Ottawa about his arrest for the kidnapping of Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout, on June 12, 2015.
You know how it is with Facebook — here’s someone’s kid graduating kindergarten, here’s a destination wedding photo, here’s a quick hello from your kidnapper.
Yes — as if you needed more reasons to hate Facebook — journalist Amanda Lindhout actually got a message from one of the men responsible for her kidnap and torture in Somalia.
Amanda Lindhout poses near her home in Canmore, Alta., in a June 14, 2015 file photo. (Aryn Toombs/Calgary Herald)
The Canadian writer was held hostage for 15 months in that country after she and photographer Nigel Brennan were abducted off a road in Mogadishu in 2008.
After 460 days of physical and psychological abuse, the two were freed, thanks to relatives conducting complicated negotiations and paying out a hefty ransom. Lindhout was safely back home in Canada when she was horrified one day to find a message on Facebook from Ali Omar Ader, her main kidnapper.
Amanda Lindhout testifies about her 460 days of hell
Captive Amanda Lindhout begged mother to pay ransom after severe beating
Ali Omar Ader guilty in Amanda Lindhout kidnapping case
Oh, hi! He was just saying hello.
“It was so scary that he could find me, even though I was safe and across the world and was at home,” Lindhout said earlier this week on NBC’s Dateline special, The Trap.
As it happens, the Facebook message was key to Ali Omar Ader’s eventual arrest, trial and conviction.
Lindhout told the RCMP that one of her captors had made contact; it was the start of a five-year undercover operation (known as Project Slype) to bring Ader to justice.
The RCMP agent engaged Ader in conversation over many months, eventually discovering that Ader wanted to write a book about Somalia and move his family to Canada. Using a fake book deal as a lure, the agent got Ader to meet him in Mauritius in 2013 to talk about publishing.
By 2015 Ader was travelling to Canada, where he met the RCMP agent in Ottawa and spoke about his involvement with Lindhout’s kidnapping.
Ader was arrested June 11, 2015, and last summer was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Since regaining her freedom, Lindhout has devoted her time to humanitarian work and philanthropy; she is much in demand as a public speaker.
She wrote a memoir in 2013 about her experience in Somalia, detailing the 15 months in captivity and the rape and torture to which she was subjected; she still copes with severe anxiety and PTSD and has spoken about her struggle with suicidal feelings.
Lindhout’s memoir, A House In The Sky, became an international bestseller.
A film version of the book is in production and with star Rooney Mara as Lindhout and Garth Davis directing.
No doubt the movie trailer will show up one of these days … on Facebook.
http://torontosun.com/news/local-news/braun-even-kidnappers-use-social-media
Liz Braun
Published:
January 14, 2019
Updated:
January 14, 2019 10:15 PM EST
An image of Ali Omar Ader is projected on a screen at RCMP headquarters during a press conference in Ottawa about his arrest for the kidnapping of Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout, on June 12, 2015.
You know how it is with Facebook — here’s someone’s kid graduating kindergarten, here’s a destination wedding photo, here’s a quick hello from your kidnapper.
Yes — as if you needed more reasons to hate Facebook — journalist Amanda Lindhout actually got a message from one of the men responsible for her kidnap and torture in Somalia.
Amanda Lindhout poses near her home in Canmore, Alta., in a June 14, 2015 file photo. (Aryn Toombs/Calgary Herald)
The Canadian writer was held hostage for 15 months in that country after she and photographer Nigel Brennan were abducted off a road in Mogadishu in 2008.
After 460 days of physical and psychological abuse, the two were freed, thanks to relatives conducting complicated negotiations and paying out a hefty ransom. Lindhout was safely back home in Canada when she was horrified one day to find a message on Facebook from Ali Omar Ader, her main kidnapper.
Amanda Lindhout testifies about her 460 days of hell
Captive Amanda Lindhout begged mother to pay ransom after severe beating
Ali Omar Ader guilty in Amanda Lindhout kidnapping case
Oh, hi! He was just saying hello.
“It was so scary that he could find me, even though I was safe and across the world and was at home,” Lindhout said earlier this week on NBC’s Dateline special, The Trap.
As it happens, the Facebook message was key to Ali Omar Ader’s eventual arrest, trial and conviction.
Lindhout told the RCMP that one of her captors had made contact; it was the start of a five-year undercover operation (known as Project Slype) to bring Ader to justice.
The RCMP agent engaged Ader in conversation over many months, eventually discovering that Ader wanted to write a book about Somalia and move his family to Canada. Using a fake book deal as a lure, the agent got Ader to meet him in Mauritius in 2013 to talk about publishing.
By 2015 Ader was travelling to Canada, where he met the RCMP agent in Ottawa and spoke about his involvement with Lindhout’s kidnapping.
Ader was arrested June 11, 2015, and last summer was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Since regaining her freedom, Lindhout has devoted her time to humanitarian work and philanthropy; she is much in demand as a public speaker.
She wrote a memoir in 2013 about her experience in Somalia, detailing the 15 months in captivity and the rape and torture to which she was subjected; she still copes with severe anxiety and PTSD and has spoken about her struggle with suicidal feelings.
Lindhout’s memoir, A House In The Sky, became an international bestseller.
A film version of the book is in production and with star Rooney Mara as Lindhout and Garth Davis directing.
No doubt the movie trailer will show up one of these days … on Facebook.
http://torontosun.com/news/local-news/braun-even-kidnappers-use-social-media
Bullet-riddled body of Canadian reportedly found in Burkina Faso
Associated Press
Published:
January 17, 2019
Updated:
January 17, 2019 3:40 PM EST
Kirk Woodman is pictured in a LinkedIn photo. (LinkedIn)
HALIFAX — Canadian officials are condemning the killers of a Halifax mining executive praised as a much-loved family man and highly talented geologist with a knack for spotting producing mines.
Kirk Woodman, who worked for Vancouver-based Progress Minerals Inc., was found dead Wednesday in Burkina Faso’s Oudalan province.
He had been shot multiple times, Jean Paul Badoum, an official with the west African country’s Ministry of Security, said from the capital Ouagadougou.
The geologist had been kidnapped a day earlier by gunmen as he worked on a gold mining project, but officials have not yet identified the kidnappers, Badoum said.
Woodman was vice-president of exploration for Progress Minerals, according to his LinkedIn page.
“Kirk was a loving and hardworking husband, father, son and brother,” Woodman’s family said in a statement.
“Not a day will go by that he won’t be missed. Our family would like to thank everyone for the love and support we’ve received, but we ask for privacy while we grieve during this difficult time.”
David Duncan, a veteran exploration geologist and friend of Woodman, said he had the ability to tell whether a good prospect could become a producing mine, and was part of a wider community of Nova Scotia-trained geologists who helped find mines around the globe.
Although based in Halifax, he had worked in Africa for decades.
“He was very passionate about the work that he was doing there,” Acadia University professor Sandra Barr said in an email late Wednesday.
Speaking at a cabinet meeting in Sherbrooke, Que., Thursday, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland called Woodman’s killing a “terrible crime.”
“Canada is absolutely committed to working with the authorities in Burkina Faso to bring those responsible to justice. And I think our first thought today is with his family, with his friends who have received some really dreadful news.”
Badoum said no group had taken responsibility for the kidnapping.
The security ministry said Woodman’s body was found alone 100 kilometres from the site where he worked for Progress Minerals.
Woodman was kidnapped Tuesday night during a raid on a mining site in Tiabongou, about 20 kilometres from Mansila in Yagha province.
The prefect of the rural commune of Sebba in that province, Felix Ouedraogo, said the body of a white man riddled with bullets was transferred to a hospital in Dori by defence and security services.
Burkina Faso’s minister of foreign affairs, Alpha Barry, said the government “condemns with the utmost energy this cowardly assassination” and will do what it can to find and punish the killers.
In a statement, Progress Minerals said it was “heartbroken” by the loss.
“Kirk was an incredibly accomplished and highly respected geologist with a career spanning over 30 years, with 20 years spent in West Africa. More importantly, Kirk was a kind person, a dedicated father and husband and considered a friend by all who knew him,” said CEO Adam Spencer.
Werner Claessens, a geologist who worked with Woodman in Burkina Faso, said his friend had a deep concern for the people who lived in poor communities near where the mines operated.
He said in the days before the kidnapping Woodman had participated in exploratory drilling for rock samples, including an additional well that was used to create a water well for a small community.
“It was a gift for the village. These communities often don’t have access to water,” Claessens said.
“You have on the one hand these criminal acts, and on the other this social initiative. Life can be hard,” he said.
Duncan said he worked with Woodman on projects in Nova Scotia and overseas for more than four decades.
The pair worked for Etruscan Resources of Halifax on some of the first gold mines in Niger and then Burkina Faso — as part of a close-knit group of Canadian geologists who were pioneering the development of mines in western Africa.
After Duncan left in 2005, Woodman stayed on at Etruscan and firms that purchased its properties as their original discoveries were developed into operating gold properties.
“We were the up front guys, the go-in-first guys to see if there was anything there worthwhile,” said Duncan, recalling how they worked together on the Youga gold mine in Burkina Faso in the early 2000s.
He said working as an exploration geologist in western Africa always had its dangers, ranging from the risk of traffic accidents to contracting diseases such as malaria, but Duncan said in recent years the risk increased with the rise of Islamic militancy.
Canadian mining employee kidnapped in Burkina Faso: Local officials
Quebec woman and Italian boyfriend missing in Burkina Faso
“It’s a terrible thing, a terrible thing. We understood since the Canadian diplomat Robert Fowler was kidnapped in Niger that part of the world had changed … with the introduction of Islamic fundamentalists into that part of the world,” he said.
“It’s gotten to be a much harder place… We were never worried about being kidnapped. Today, it’s a different world.”
Halifax Mayor Mike Savage said many Haligonians knew and admired Woodman.
“The criminal death of Kirk Woodman in Burkina Faso is a tragedy beyond words,” he said in a tweet.
The news comes soon after a 34-year-old Quebec tourist and her travelling companion were reported missing in the west African nation.
Sherbrooke native Edith Blais and her Italian friend Luca Tacchetto were travelling by car in southwestern Burkina Faso when all communication with their families abruptly ended Dec. 15.
A statement by Security Minister Clement Sawadogo referred to the disappearance of Blais and Tacchetto as a kidnapping.
West Africa’s Sahel region has seen a number of abductions of foreigners in recent years by extremists linked to al-Qaida or the Islamic State organization.
Burkina Faso recently declared a state of emergency in the region as attacks by Islamic extremists increased, especially along the border with Niger and Mali.
Sawadogo said foreigners should use extreme caution when travelling in dangerous areas of the country.
— With files from Keith Doucette, Aly Thomson and The Associated Press
http://torontosun.com/news/national/body-of-canadian-national-reportedly-found-in-burkina-faso
Associated Press
Published:
January 17, 2019
Updated:
January 17, 2019 3:40 PM EST
Kirk Woodman is pictured in a LinkedIn photo. (LinkedIn)
HALIFAX — Canadian officials are condemning the killers of a Halifax mining executive praised as a much-loved family man and highly talented geologist with a knack for spotting producing mines.
Kirk Woodman, who worked for Vancouver-based Progress Minerals Inc., was found dead Wednesday in Burkina Faso’s Oudalan province.
He had been shot multiple times, Jean Paul Badoum, an official with the west African country’s Ministry of Security, said from the capital Ouagadougou.
The geologist had been kidnapped a day earlier by gunmen as he worked on a gold mining project, but officials have not yet identified the kidnappers, Badoum said.
Woodman was vice-president of exploration for Progress Minerals, according to his LinkedIn page.
“Kirk was a loving and hardworking husband, father, son and brother,” Woodman’s family said in a statement.
“Not a day will go by that he won’t be missed. Our family would like to thank everyone for the love and support we’ve received, but we ask for privacy while we grieve during this difficult time.”
David Duncan, a veteran exploration geologist and friend of Woodman, said he had the ability to tell whether a good prospect could become a producing mine, and was part of a wider community of Nova Scotia-trained geologists who helped find mines around the globe.
Although based in Halifax, he had worked in Africa for decades.
“He was very passionate about the work that he was doing there,” Acadia University professor Sandra Barr said in an email late Wednesday.
Speaking at a cabinet meeting in Sherbrooke, Que., Thursday, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland called Woodman’s killing a “terrible crime.”
“Canada is absolutely committed to working with the authorities in Burkina Faso to bring those responsible to justice. And I think our first thought today is with his family, with his friends who have received some really dreadful news.”
Badoum said no group had taken responsibility for the kidnapping.
The security ministry said Woodman’s body was found alone 100 kilometres from the site where he worked for Progress Minerals.
Woodman was kidnapped Tuesday night during a raid on a mining site in Tiabongou, about 20 kilometres from Mansila in Yagha province.
The prefect of the rural commune of Sebba in that province, Felix Ouedraogo, said the body of a white man riddled with bullets was transferred to a hospital in Dori by defence and security services.
Burkina Faso’s minister of foreign affairs, Alpha Barry, said the government “condemns with the utmost energy this cowardly assassination” and will do what it can to find and punish the killers.
In a statement, Progress Minerals said it was “heartbroken” by the loss.
“Kirk was an incredibly accomplished and highly respected geologist with a career spanning over 30 years, with 20 years spent in West Africa. More importantly, Kirk was a kind person, a dedicated father and husband and considered a friend by all who knew him,” said CEO Adam Spencer.
Werner Claessens, a geologist who worked with Woodman in Burkina Faso, said his friend had a deep concern for the people who lived in poor communities near where the mines operated.
He said in the days before the kidnapping Woodman had participated in exploratory drilling for rock samples, including an additional well that was used to create a water well for a small community.
“It was a gift for the village. These communities often don’t have access to water,” Claessens said.
“You have on the one hand these criminal acts, and on the other this social initiative. Life can be hard,” he said.
Duncan said he worked with Woodman on projects in Nova Scotia and overseas for more than four decades.
The pair worked for Etruscan Resources of Halifax on some of the first gold mines in Niger and then Burkina Faso — as part of a close-knit group of Canadian geologists who were pioneering the development of mines in western Africa.
After Duncan left in 2005, Woodman stayed on at Etruscan and firms that purchased its properties as their original discoveries were developed into operating gold properties.
“We were the up front guys, the go-in-first guys to see if there was anything there worthwhile,” said Duncan, recalling how they worked together on the Youga gold mine in Burkina Faso in the early 2000s.
He said working as an exploration geologist in western Africa always had its dangers, ranging from the risk of traffic accidents to contracting diseases such as malaria, but Duncan said in recent years the risk increased with the rise of Islamic militancy.
Canadian mining employee kidnapped in Burkina Faso: Local officials
Quebec woman and Italian boyfriend missing in Burkina Faso
“It’s a terrible thing, a terrible thing. We understood since the Canadian diplomat Robert Fowler was kidnapped in Niger that part of the world had changed … with the introduction of Islamic fundamentalists into that part of the world,” he said.
“It’s gotten to be a much harder place… We were never worried about being kidnapped. Today, it’s a different world.”
Halifax Mayor Mike Savage said many Haligonians knew and admired Woodman.
“The criminal death of Kirk Woodman in Burkina Faso is a tragedy beyond words,” he said in a tweet.
The news comes soon after a 34-year-old Quebec tourist and her travelling companion were reported missing in the west African nation.
Sherbrooke native Edith Blais and her Italian friend Luca Tacchetto were travelling by car in southwestern Burkina Faso when all communication with their families abruptly ended Dec. 15.
A statement by Security Minister Clement Sawadogo referred to the disappearance of Blais and Tacchetto as a kidnapping.
West Africa’s Sahel region has seen a number of abductions of foreigners in recent years by extremists linked to al-Qaida or the Islamic State organization.
Burkina Faso recently declared a state of emergency in the region as attacks by Islamic extremists increased, especially along the border with Niger and Mali.
Sawadogo said foreigners should use extreme caution when travelling in dangerous areas of the country.
— With files from Keith Doucette, Aly Thomson and The Associated Press
http://torontosun.com/news/national/body-of-canadian-national-reportedly-found-in-burkina-faso
Canadian Islam convert strangled in honour killing: Cops
Brad Hunter
Published:
January 18, 2019
Updated:
January 18, 2019 12:45 PM EST
The funeral of Canadian convert Safia Nasir who was reportedly killed in an honour killing. DURIYA TV
A Canadian woman who converted to Islam was murdered in an honour killing investigators say was made to look like a suicide.
According to Pakistan’s Express News, Safia Nasir, 40, was killed sometime over the past week.
So far, it isn’t known what her pre-conversion name was or where she was from in Canada. She reportedly married a man from Pakistan and lived with him in the Samnabad area.
What is known is that she converted a number of years ago and had a nine-month-old child.
Cops were called and told that Nasir had committed suicide by hanging.
Indian teen girl beheaded, mutilated in suspected honour killing
FATAH: Rahaf case exposes some inconvenient truths about Islamic world
By the time police arrived, Nasir was already dead. Detectives quickly ascertained that her death was not a suicide as they had been told.
Instead, it’s believed she was strangled with a noose and then strung up to make her death appear to be a suicide.
Honour killings are an issue that Pakistan has struggled with.
Last May, cops determined that Pakistani-Italian Sana Cheema, 26, did not die a natural death.
Italian-Pakistani woman Sana Cheema was murdered in an honour killing last May. Her father, upper right, a brother and an uncle are charged with her murder.
Instead, an autopsy revealed that she had been strangled to death — even though her family claimed Cheema had died of natural causes.
Her own parents reportedly submitted forged documents to the Italian embassy coupled with bogus medical records detailing a chronic illness.
Police arrested her brother, father and an uncle.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/1890041/1-canadian-citizen-reportedly-killed-honour
http://torontosun.com/news/world/canadian-islam-convert-strangled-in-honour-killing-cops
Brad Hunter
Published:
January 18, 2019
Updated:
January 18, 2019 12:45 PM EST
The funeral of Canadian convert Safia Nasir who was reportedly killed in an honour killing. DURIYA TV
A Canadian woman who converted to Islam was murdered in an honour killing investigators say was made to look like a suicide.
According to Pakistan’s Express News, Safia Nasir, 40, was killed sometime over the past week.
So far, it isn’t known what her pre-conversion name was or where she was from in Canada. She reportedly married a man from Pakistan and lived with him in the Samnabad area.
What is known is that she converted a number of years ago and had a nine-month-old child.
Cops were called and told that Nasir had committed suicide by hanging.
Indian teen girl beheaded, mutilated in suspected honour killing
FATAH: Rahaf case exposes some inconvenient truths about Islamic world
By the time police arrived, Nasir was already dead. Detectives quickly ascertained that her death was not a suicide as they had been told.
Instead, it’s believed she was strangled with a noose and then strung up to make her death appear to be a suicide.
Honour killings are an issue that Pakistan has struggled with.
Last May, cops determined that Pakistani-Italian Sana Cheema, 26, did not die a natural death.
Italian-Pakistani woman Sana Cheema was murdered in an honour killing last May. Her father, upper right, a brother and an uncle are charged with her murder.
Instead, an autopsy revealed that she had been strangled to death — even though her family claimed Cheema had died of natural causes.
Her own parents reportedly submitted forged documents to the Italian embassy coupled with bogus medical records detailing a chronic illness.
Police arrested her brother, father and an uncle.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/1890041/1-canadian-citizen-reportedly-killed-honour
http://torontosun.com/news/world/canadian-islam-convert-strangled-in-honour-killing-cops
Slain B.C. woman's mom, uncle extradited to India for allegedly hiring hit men to kill her in 2000
Canadian Press
Published:
January 24, 2019
Updated:
January 24, 2019 5:00 PM EST
Undated photo of Jaswinder Kaur "Jassi" Sidhu, the 25-year-old Maple Ridge, B.C., woman who defied her family to marry the man she loved and was murdered in India on June 8, 2000. justiceforjassi.com / Supplied
VANCOUVER — The federal government says two British Columbia residents have been extradited to India to face conspiracy charges after they allegedly hired men to kill a young woman and her new husband in that country nearly 20 years ago.
The Justice Department says Malkit Kaur Sidhu and her brother Surjit Singh Badesha were escorted to India by the RCMP and arrived there early Thursday morning.
Surjit Singh Badesha. Nick Procaylo / Postmedia
It says the pair met with Canadian consular officials in Delhi before being turned over to police in Punjab.
B.C. pair accused of ‘honour’ slaying in India to be extradited
Sidhu and Badesha are accused of conspiracy in the murder of Sidhu’s daughter Jassi Sidhu in June 2000 after she went to India to marry a man they disapproved of.
Sidhu’s husband was severely beaten but survived the attempt on his life.
Jaswinder Kaur “Jassi” Sidhu and her husband Mithu Singh Sidhu. justiceforjassi.com / Supplied
In a unanimous decision in 2017, the Supreme Court of Canada set aside a B.C. Court of Appeal ruling that stopped extradition proceedings over concerns the mother and uncle would be poorly treated or even tortured in India.
The B.C. Appeal Court halted the extradition last year when the pair’s lawyers filed a last-minute court application, bringing them back to B.C. from Toronto before they were to be escorted to India.
http://torontosun.com/news/crime/sl...-allegedly-hiring-hit-men-to-kill-her-in-2000
Canadian Press
Published:
January 24, 2019
Updated:
January 24, 2019 5:00 PM EST
Undated photo of Jaswinder Kaur "Jassi" Sidhu, the 25-year-old Maple Ridge, B.C., woman who defied her family to marry the man she loved and was murdered in India on June 8, 2000. justiceforjassi.com / Supplied
VANCOUVER — The federal government says two British Columbia residents have been extradited to India to face conspiracy charges after they allegedly hired men to kill a young woman and her new husband in that country nearly 20 years ago.
The Justice Department says Malkit Kaur Sidhu and her brother Surjit Singh Badesha were escorted to India by the RCMP and arrived there early Thursday morning.
Surjit Singh Badesha. Nick Procaylo / Postmedia
It says the pair met with Canadian consular officials in Delhi before being turned over to police in Punjab.
B.C. pair accused of ‘honour’ slaying in India to be extradited
Sidhu and Badesha are accused of conspiracy in the murder of Sidhu’s daughter Jassi Sidhu in June 2000 after she went to India to marry a man they disapproved of.
Sidhu’s husband was severely beaten but survived the attempt on his life.
Jaswinder Kaur “Jassi” Sidhu and her husband Mithu Singh Sidhu. justiceforjassi.com / Supplied
In a unanimous decision in 2017, the Supreme Court of Canada set aside a B.C. Court of Appeal ruling that stopped extradition proceedings over concerns the mother and uncle would be poorly treated or even tortured in India.
The B.C. Appeal Court halted the extradition last year when the pair’s lawyers filed a last-minute court application, bringing them back to B.C. from Toronto before they were to be escorted to India.
http://torontosun.com/news/crime/sl...-allegedly-hiring-hit-men-to-kill-her-in-2000
Muslim inmate facing execution says state violating his religious rights
Associated Press
More from Associated Press
Published:
January 29, 2019
Updated:
January 29, 2019 9:29 PM EST
Domineque Ray. (Alabama Department of Corrections)
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A Muslim inmate scheduled to be executed next week in Alabama said the state is violating his rights by requiring a Christian prison chaplain to stand near him as he is put to death, according to a lawsuit filed this week.
Dominique Ray is scheduled to be executed Feb. 7 for the fatal stabbing of 15-year-old Tiffany Harville in 1995. Attorneys for the 42-year-old inmate have asked a federal judge in the suit filed Monday to stay his execution while the court considers his claim.
Attorneys for Ray said the prison warden refused Ray’s request to have a Muslim imam stand in the execution chamber instead of the prison chaplain during the planned lethal injection. They said the warden also refused his request to not have the chaplain present during his execution.
While condemned Alabama inmates can visit with their own spiritual adviser before an execution — and have that person witness the execution from an adjoining room– only a correctional officer and the prison chaplain have been in the death chamber with the inmate during recent executions in Alabama.
Ray’s attorneys said the chaplain’s “mandatory presence in the execution chamber can serve only one interest — an unconstitutional one — safeguarding the soul or spiritual health of the condemned inmate in the Christian belief system.”
Department of Corrections spokesman Bob Horton wrote in an email that the department has rules about who is allowed in the death chamber.
“The Alabama Department of Corrections follows a protocol that only allows approved correctional officials, that includes the prison’s chaplain, to be inside the chamber where executions are lawfully carried out,” Horton wrote.
Horton said “the presence of the prison’s chaplain in the chamber follows department protocol regardless of the chaplain’s spiritual belief or that of the inmate.”
The inmate’s spiritual adviser can witness the execution through the glass window of an adjoining room, Horton said.
Ray’s lawyers had unsuccessfully sought a new trial, saying prosecutors did not disclose records that showed a key witness was suffering from symptoms of schizophrenia before he testified against Ray.
Harville disappeared from her Selma home in July of 1995. Her decomposing body was found a month later in a field a month.
Ray was convicted in 1999 after co-defendant Marcus Owden told police that they had picked the girl up for a night out on the town and then raped her. Owden said Ray cut the girl’s throat and they also took the girl’s purse, which had $6 or $7 in it.
Owden pleaded guilty to murder, testified against Ray and is serving a life sentence without parole.
——
This story has been corrected to show the lawsuit was filed Monday.
http://torontosun.com/news/world/mu...ion-says-state-violating-his-religious-rights
Associated Press
More from Associated Press
Published:
January 29, 2019
Updated:
January 29, 2019 9:29 PM EST
Domineque Ray. (Alabama Department of Corrections)
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A Muslim inmate scheduled to be executed next week in Alabama said the state is violating his rights by requiring a Christian prison chaplain to stand near him as he is put to death, according to a lawsuit filed this week.
Dominique Ray is scheduled to be executed Feb. 7 for the fatal stabbing of 15-year-old Tiffany Harville in 1995. Attorneys for the 42-year-old inmate have asked a federal judge in the suit filed Monday to stay his execution while the court considers his claim.
Attorneys for Ray said the prison warden refused Ray’s request to have a Muslim imam stand in the execution chamber instead of the prison chaplain during the planned lethal injection. They said the warden also refused his request to not have the chaplain present during his execution.
While condemned Alabama inmates can visit with their own spiritual adviser before an execution — and have that person witness the execution from an adjoining room– only a correctional officer and the prison chaplain have been in the death chamber with the inmate during recent executions in Alabama.
Ray’s attorneys said the chaplain’s “mandatory presence in the execution chamber can serve only one interest — an unconstitutional one — safeguarding the soul or spiritual health of the condemned inmate in the Christian belief system.”
Department of Corrections spokesman Bob Horton wrote in an email that the department has rules about who is allowed in the death chamber.
“The Alabama Department of Corrections follows a protocol that only allows approved correctional officials, that includes the prison’s chaplain, to be inside the chamber where executions are lawfully carried out,” Horton wrote.
Horton said “the presence of the prison’s chaplain in the chamber follows department protocol regardless of the chaplain’s spiritual belief or that of the inmate.”
The inmate’s spiritual adviser can witness the execution through the glass window of an adjoining room, Horton said.
Ray’s lawyers had unsuccessfully sought a new trial, saying prosecutors did not disclose records that showed a key witness was suffering from symptoms of schizophrenia before he testified against Ray.
Harville disappeared from her Selma home in July of 1995. Her decomposing body was found a month later in a field a month.
Ray was convicted in 1999 after co-defendant Marcus Owden told police that they had picked the girl up for a night out on the town and then raped her. Owden said Ray cut the girl’s throat and they also took the girl’s purse, which had $6 or $7 in it.
Owden pleaded guilty to murder, testified against Ray and is serving a life sentence without parole.
——
This story has been corrected to show the lawsuit was filed Monday.
http://torontosun.com/news/world/mu...ion-says-state-violating-his-religious-rights
MANDEL: Crown opposes bid to let mentally-ill stabber attend college
Michele Mandel
Published:
February 7, 2019
Updated:
February 7, 2019 8:35 PM EST
Ayanle Hassan Ali.
The Crown is going to Ontario’s highest court to try to block a mentally-ill man who stabbed three soldiers at a Canadian Forces recruiting centre from attending Hamilton’s Mohawk College without supervision.
The Ontario Review Board made an “unreasonable” decision that failed to consider public safety when it gave Ayanle Hassan Ali the prospect of unaccompanied passes to attend college classes, the Crown argued in a factum filed with the Ontario Court of Appeal.
Ali still has “significant potential for carrying out an attack on military personnel or nearby military offices. The board did not address that risk or give it any substantive consideration,” prosecutors said in their written submission.
Ayanle Hassan Ali arrives in a police car at a Toronto courthouse on March 15, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
In its alarming July decision, the ORB gave Ali privileges to leave the secure forensic unit at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton to attend Mohawk College across the street. He would be escorted initially, but the plan is that within the year, he’d be allowed to sign himself out and go unaccompanied to class.
Yet, it was only in May that Ali, who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, was found not criminally responsible (NCR) for the attempted murder of the soldiers in the March 2016 attack. He was acquitted on terrorism charges after the judge found no evidence he was acting on behalf of any group.
The federal Crown has appealed that acquittal, arguing that a “lone wolf” acting on his own — even one who was rightfully found NCR — is still subject to Canada’s anti-terror legislation.
In the terrifying incident, Ali, 30, burst into the North York recruiting centre wielding a large kitchen knife and muttering a prayer as he lunged at uniformed personnel, slashing the arm of one soldier and narrowly missing the neck of another. “The attack was motivated by his radical religious and ideological beliefs, in large part precipitated by mental disorder, which led him to believe that killing Canadian military personnel was justified because of Canadian military actions overseas and that he would obtain martyrdom in doing so,” the Crown wrote in its appeal factum.
In its own reasons, the ORB admitted Ali “still poses a significant threat to the safety of the public” and “holds some of the same delusions, that he experienced at the time of the (attack).”
His psychiatrist described Ali as a “kind, careful, considerate, soft spoken person” but conceded his “risk includes his potential to act out on political or radical ideas and that there is no treatment for that.”
So naturally, they thought it was a good idea to allow him to be college bound on his own?
Mohawk College wouldn’t say whether Ali has registered there.
“We won’t comment on any student’s applicant status as all students have a right to privacy,” said spokesman Sean Coffey. But he added that any application would be evaluated “under a lens of safety” and “safety is paramount.”
Ali had never even expressed an interest in attending school, the Crown argued, and the plan to accelerate him from lockdown with zero privileges to walking around campus alone within the year was beyond ambitious, let alone unsafe.
The Crown called it “particularly alarming,” considering Ali’s “ongoing delusions and fixation (with Canadian forces and his belief that attacking them is justified), particularly in the context of the aggressive and difficult to subdue nature of the attack/index offences (with many trained military personnel having great difficulty in disarming and subduing him), his prior interest in achieving martyrdom and the board’s own recognition of a need for secure detention to address the significant threat and level of risk posed by the Respondent.”
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Prosecutors are also asking the appeal court to add a condition that Ali not have any contact with uniformed military members — the people “most at risk” if he’s in the community; yet, a request the ORB had refused to impose.
Ali’s lawyers, Nader Hasan and Maureen Addie, insist the disposition should stand as is and the appeal court shouldn’t “second guess” the ORB.
“The conditions do not give unrestrained liberty to Mr. Ali. To the contrary, they envision an incremental process,” they argue in their factum.
“The Crown incorrectly states that Mr. Ali believes that it is OK to attack Canadian soldiers or military installations. He does not.”
The appeal is scheduled to be heard Feb. 15.
mmandel@postmedia.com
http://torontosun.com/news/local-ne...tally-ill-stabber-attend-college-unsupervised
Michele Mandel
Published:
February 7, 2019
Updated:
February 7, 2019 8:35 PM EST
Ayanle Hassan Ali.
The Crown is going to Ontario’s highest court to try to block a mentally-ill man who stabbed three soldiers at a Canadian Forces recruiting centre from attending Hamilton’s Mohawk College without supervision.
The Ontario Review Board made an “unreasonable” decision that failed to consider public safety when it gave Ayanle Hassan Ali the prospect of unaccompanied passes to attend college classes, the Crown argued in a factum filed with the Ontario Court of Appeal.
Ali still has “significant potential for carrying out an attack on military personnel or nearby military offices. The board did not address that risk or give it any substantive consideration,” prosecutors said in their written submission.
Ayanle Hassan Ali arrives in a police car at a Toronto courthouse on March 15, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
In its alarming July decision, the ORB gave Ali privileges to leave the secure forensic unit at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton to attend Mohawk College across the street. He would be escorted initially, but the plan is that within the year, he’d be allowed to sign himself out and go unaccompanied to class.
Yet, it was only in May that Ali, who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, was found not criminally responsible (NCR) for the attempted murder of the soldiers in the March 2016 attack. He was acquitted on terrorism charges after the judge found no evidence he was acting on behalf of any group.
The federal Crown has appealed that acquittal, arguing that a “lone wolf” acting on his own — even one who was rightfully found NCR — is still subject to Canada’s anti-terror legislation.
In the terrifying incident, Ali, 30, burst into the North York recruiting centre wielding a large kitchen knife and muttering a prayer as he lunged at uniformed personnel, slashing the arm of one soldier and narrowly missing the neck of another. “The attack was motivated by his radical religious and ideological beliefs, in large part precipitated by mental disorder, which led him to believe that killing Canadian military personnel was justified because of Canadian military actions overseas and that he would obtain martyrdom in doing so,” the Crown wrote in its appeal factum.
In its own reasons, the ORB admitted Ali “still poses a significant threat to the safety of the public” and “holds some of the same delusions, that he experienced at the time of the (attack).”
His psychiatrist described Ali as a “kind, careful, considerate, soft spoken person” but conceded his “risk includes his potential to act out on political or radical ideas and that there is no treatment for that.”
So naturally, they thought it was a good idea to allow him to be college bound on his own?
Mohawk College wouldn’t say whether Ali has registered there.
“We won’t comment on any student’s applicant status as all students have a right to privacy,” said spokesman Sean Coffey. But he added that any application would be evaluated “under a lens of safety” and “safety is paramount.”
Ali had never even expressed an interest in attending school, the Crown argued, and the plan to accelerate him from lockdown with zero privileges to walking around campus alone within the year was beyond ambitious, let alone unsafe.
The Crown called it “particularly alarming,” considering Ali’s “ongoing delusions and fixation (with Canadian forces and his belief that attacking them is justified), particularly in the context of the aggressive and difficult to subdue nature of the attack/index offences (with many trained military personnel having great difficulty in disarming and subduing him), his prior interest in achieving martyrdom and the board’s own recognition of a need for secure detention to address the significant threat and level of risk posed by the Respondent.”
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Prosecutors are also asking the appeal court to add a condition that Ali not have any contact with uniformed military members — the people “most at risk” if he’s in the community; yet, a request the ORB had refused to impose.
Ali’s lawyers, Nader Hasan and Maureen Addie, insist the disposition should stand as is and the appeal court shouldn’t “second guess” the ORB.
“The conditions do not give unrestrained liberty to Mr. Ali. To the contrary, they envision an incremental process,” they argue in their factum.
“The Crown incorrectly states that Mr. Ali believes that it is OK to attack Canadian soldiers or military installations. He does not.”
The appeal is scheduled to be heard Feb. 15.
mmandel@postmedia.com
http://torontosun.com/news/local-ne...tally-ill-stabber-attend-college-unsupervised
Alabama executes Muslim inmate who wanted imam present
Associated Press
Published:
February 7, 2019
Updated:
February 7, 2019 11:45 PM EST
This undated file photo from the Alabama Department of Corrections shows inmate Dominique Ray.Alabama Department of Corrections via AP / File
ATMORE, Ala. — A Muslim inmate who complained in a legal challenge that Alabama wouldn’t let his Islamic spiritual adviser be present in the execution chamber was put to death Thursday after the nation’s highest court cleared the way.
Dominique Ray, 42, was pronounced dead at 10:12 p.m. of a lethal injection at the state prison in Atmore.
Ray had argued Alabama’s execution procedure favours Christian inmates because a Christian chaplain employed by the prison typically remains in the execution chamber during a lethal injection, but the state would not let his imam be present.
Attorneys for the state said only prison employees are allowed in the chamber for security reasons.
Prison system spokesman Bob Horton said Ray was visited by his imam both Wednesday and Thursday. Ray’s imam, Yusef Maisonet, watched the execution from an adjoining witness room. There was no Christian chaplain in the chamber.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday had stayed the execution over the religious arguments, but the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for it to proceed in a 5-4 decision Thursday evening.
Justice Elena Kagan wrote in a dissent that the dissenting justices considered the decision to let the execution go forward “profoundly wrong.”
Other states generally allow spiritual advisers to accompany condemned inmates up to the execution chamber but not into it, said Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, which studies capital punishment in the United States.
Durham said did not know of any other state where the execution protocol calls for a Christian chaplain to be present in the execution chamber.
Ray was sentenced to death for the 1995 rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl. Tiffany Harville disappeared from her Selma home on July 15, 1995, and her decomposing body was found one month later in a cotton field.
It was Alabama’s first execution of the year.
Ray was convicted in 1999 after another man, Marcus Owden, confessed to his role in the crime and implicated Ray. Owden told police that they had picked the girl up for a night out on the town and then raped her. Owden said that Ray cut the girl’s throat. Owden pleaded guilty to murder, testified against Ray and is serving a life sentence without parole.
A jury recommended the death penalty for Ray by an 11-1 vote.
Ray’s attorneys had also asked in legal filings to stay the execution on other grounds. Lawyers say it was not disclosed to the defence team that records from a state psychiatric facility suggested Owden suffered from schizophrenia and delusions.
The Supreme Court also rejected that claim Thursday.
http://torontosun.com/news/crime/alabama-executes-muslim-inmate-who-wanted-imam-present
Associated Press
Published:
February 7, 2019
Updated:
February 7, 2019 11:45 PM EST
This undated file photo from the Alabama Department of Corrections shows inmate Dominique Ray.Alabama Department of Corrections via AP / File
ATMORE, Ala. — A Muslim inmate who complained in a legal challenge that Alabama wouldn’t let his Islamic spiritual adviser be present in the execution chamber was put to death Thursday after the nation’s highest court cleared the way.
Dominique Ray, 42, was pronounced dead at 10:12 p.m. of a lethal injection at the state prison in Atmore.
Ray had argued Alabama’s execution procedure favours Christian inmates because a Christian chaplain employed by the prison typically remains in the execution chamber during a lethal injection, but the state would not let his imam be present.
Attorneys for the state said only prison employees are allowed in the chamber for security reasons.
Prison system spokesman Bob Horton said Ray was visited by his imam both Wednesday and Thursday. Ray’s imam, Yusef Maisonet, watched the execution from an adjoining witness room. There was no Christian chaplain in the chamber.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday had stayed the execution over the religious arguments, but the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for it to proceed in a 5-4 decision Thursday evening.
Justice Elena Kagan wrote in a dissent that the dissenting justices considered the decision to let the execution go forward “profoundly wrong.”
Other states generally allow spiritual advisers to accompany condemned inmates up to the execution chamber but not into it, said Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, which studies capital punishment in the United States.
Durham said did not know of any other state where the execution protocol calls for a Christian chaplain to be present in the execution chamber.
Ray was sentenced to death for the 1995 rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl. Tiffany Harville disappeared from her Selma home on July 15, 1995, and her decomposing body was found one month later in a cotton field.
It was Alabama’s first execution of the year.
Ray was convicted in 1999 after another man, Marcus Owden, confessed to his role in the crime and implicated Ray. Owden told police that they had picked the girl up for a night out on the town and then raped her. Owden said that Ray cut the girl’s throat. Owden pleaded guilty to murder, testified against Ray and is serving a life sentence without parole.
A jury recommended the death penalty for Ray by an 11-1 vote.
Ray’s attorneys had also asked in legal filings to stay the execution on other grounds. Lawyers say it was not disclosed to the defence team that records from a state psychiatric facility suggested Owden suffered from schizophrenia and delusions.
The Supreme Court also rejected that claim Thursday.
http://torontosun.com/news/crime/alabama-executes-muslim-inmate-who-wanted-imam-present