Isis
- Thread starter Goober
- Start date
At 15, 'Lisa W.' joined Islamic State after converting to Islam; Now German teen wants to go home
THE WASHINGTON POST
First posted: Monday, July 24, 2017 01:01 PM EDT | Updated: Monday, July 24, 2017 01:11 PM EDT
When 15-year-old Lisa W. started to wear long-sleeved clothes early last year, it quickly struck her classmates and teachers in the sleepy eastern German town of Pulsnitz as odd. Her conversion to Islam was noticed almost immediately in a part of Germany where only 0.5 percent of the population is Muslim and where the backlash against Chancellor Angela Merkel's pro-refugee policy had been stronger than almost anywhere else in the country.
Lisa W.'s school soon reached out to her mother and stepfather about the subtle changes, German prosecutors said. But when the teenager told her parents one day last July that she would sleep at a friend's place over the weekend and be back Sunday afternoon, they later said, they did not suspect anything unusual.
By that time, the 15-year-old had decided to join the Islamic State, investigators believe. They said that after chatting online with members of the extremist group, she left her parental home and traveled to Islamic State territory, where she is believed to have remained for at least 12 months. The case prompted criticism of German authorities, with many questioning why the teen had not been stopped from traveling aboard despite having shown signs of possible radicalization.
More than a year later, Lisa W. has been arrested by Iraqi authorities, although the exact circumstances of the operation that led to her being taken into custody remain unclear. German officials have spoken to the teen, now 16, at an Iraqi military site where U.S. doctors are treating her for injuries, according to the German TV network ARD.
But Germany has not officially requested an extradition, indicating that she could face charges both in Iraq and in Germany. If sentenced in Iraq, Lisa W. could face the death penalty, although German intelligence officials are reportedly in talks with their Iraqi counterparts over her return to Europe.
Speaking to ARD, the 16-year old said that she hoped for a quick return to Germany and that she regretted her decision to join the Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL. "I want to go home to my family," she said.
As officials are deliberating how to transfer her back to Germany, prevention specialists and researchers wonder why she left Europe in the first place. Her case has renewed the spotlight on the Islamic State's continued ability to attract boys and girls across Europe to its cause, even as the overall number of adult recruits has dropped.
Underage terrorists have been a particular concern in Germany, where multiple plots by minors were foiled last year alone. In February 2016, a 15-year-old girl stabbed a police officer in an attack allegedly inspired by the Islamic State. Last July, a 17-year-old Afghan refugee attacked passengers on a train in Bavaria after pledging allegiance to the group. And in December, a 12-year-old boy with Iraqi parents was caught planning a nail-bomb attack targeting a German Christmas market.
"ISIL has turned terrorist recruitment and radicalization effectively into a mass product mostly on young adults aged between 17 and 23 for the simple reason that they are unlikely to be government spies," said Daniel Koehler, director of the German Institute on Radicalization and De-Radicalization Studies.
The Islamic State has frequently used videos, songs and even games to recruit younger Europeans online. Children, however, are particularly susceptible because they lack experience in separating fact from fiction and are often not targeted in counter-radicalization schemes set up by government agencies and nongovernmental organizations.
Because of its federal structure, which puts regional governments in charge of police and domestic security issues, Germany has been even slower than other European nations in formulating such schemes. In several German states, concerned teachers or family members would have been able to call an expert hotline associated with local authorities by last July. There was no such program in the state of Saxony, where Pulsnitz is located, however.
There, a counter-radicalization center was opened by authorities in March - four years after the Islamic State seized its de facto capital, the Syrian city of Raqqa, and long after Lisa W. and an estimated 900 other Germans had left their homes for the group's territory.
At 15, 'Lisa W.' joined Islamic State after converting to Islam; Now German teen
ISIS fighters executed | World | News | Toronto Sun
THE WASHINGTON POST
First posted: Monday, July 24, 2017 01:01 PM EDT | Updated: Monday, July 24, 2017 01:11 PM EDT
When 15-year-old Lisa W. started to wear long-sleeved clothes early last year, it quickly struck her classmates and teachers in the sleepy eastern German town of Pulsnitz as odd. Her conversion to Islam was noticed almost immediately in a part of Germany where only 0.5 percent of the population is Muslim and where the backlash against Chancellor Angela Merkel's pro-refugee policy had been stronger than almost anywhere else in the country.
Lisa W.'s school soon reached out to her mother and stepfather about the subtle changes, German prosecutors said. But when the teenager told her parents one day last July that she would sleep at a friend's place over the weekend and be back Sunday afternoon, they later said, they did not suspect anything unusual.
By that time, the 15-year-old had decided to join the Islamic State, investigators believe. They said that after chatting online with members of the extremist group, she left her parental home and traveled to Islamic State territory, where she is believed to have remained for at least 12 months. The case prompted criticism of German authorities, with many questioning why the teen had not been stopped from traveling aboard despite having shown signs of possible radicalization.
More than a year later, Lisa W. has been arrested by Iraqi authorities, although the exact circumstances of the operation that led to her being taken into custody remain unclear. German officials have spoken to the teen, now 16, at an Iraqi military site where U.S. doctors are treating her for injuries, according to the German TV network ARD.
But Germany has not officially requested an extradition, indicating that she could face charges both in Iraq and in Germany. If sentenced in Iraq, Lisa W. could face the death penalty, although German intelligence officials are reportedly in talks with their Iraqi counterparts over her return to Europe.
Speaking to ARD, the 16-year old said that she hoped for a quick return to Germany and that she regretted her decision to join the Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL. "I want to go home to my family," she said.
As officials are deliberating how to transfer her back to Germany, prevention specialists and researchers wonder why she left Europe in the first place. Her case has renewed the spotlight on the Islamic State's continued ability to attract boys and girls across Europe to its cause, even as the overall number of adult recruits has dropped.
Underage terrorists have been a particular concern in Germany, where multiple plots by minors were foiled last year alone. In February 2016, a 15-year-old girl stabbed a police officer in an attack allegedly inspired by the Islamic State. Last July, a 17-year-old Afghan refugee attacked passengers on a train in Bavaria after pledging allegiance to the group. And in December, a 12-year-old boy with Iraqi parents was caught planning a nail-bomb attack targeting a German Christmas market.
"ISIL has turned terrorist recruitment and radicalization effectively into a mass product mostly on young adults aged between 17 and 23 for the simple reason that they are unlikely to be government spies," said Daniel Koehler, director of the German Institute on Radicalization and De-Radicalization Studies.
The Islamic State has frequently used videos, songs and even games to recruit younger Europeans online. Children, however, are particularly susceptible because they lack experience in separating fact from fiction and are often not targeted in counter-radicalization schemes set up by government agencies and nongovernmental organizations.
Because of its federal structure, which puts regional governments in charge of police and domestic security issues, Germany has been even slower than other European nations in formulating such schemes. In several German states, concerned teachers or family members would have been able to call an expert hotline associated with local authorities by last July. There was no such program in the state of Saxony, where Pulsnitz is located, however.
There, a counter-radicalization center was opened by authorities in March - four years after the Islamic State seized its de facto capital, the Syrian city of Raqqa, and long after Lisa W. and an estimated 900 other Germans had left their homes for the group's territory.
At 15, 'Lisa W.' joined Islamic State after converting to Islam; Now German teen
ISIS fighters executed | World | News | Toronto Sun
German teen who joined ISIS faces execution
By Brad Hunter, Toronto Sun
First posted: Tuesday, August 08, 2017 03:30 PM EDT
For a German teen who joined ISIS things have gone from bad to wurst.
Linda Wenzel, 16, who fled her hometown of Dresden for the luxe life of an ISIS bride, faces a very real possibility she will be executed.
The terrified Teutonic teen and 20 other female members of the death cult’s ladies auxiliary were captured in Mosul, in late July.
“Make room, make room, she is a Christian, she can’t take it any more,” one soldier can be heard saying in an Iraqi amateur video, the Daily Mail reports.
“She is hurting, she is weak, she is a blonde, she is a German. Her name is Dania, no Linda. Allah, Allah. Make way guys, let her through.”
Currently caged in Baghdad, the ISIS-loving lolita is being questioned by U.S. and Iraqi intelligence over her terror ties.
Nicknamed the “Belle of Mosul”, Wenzel was lured into ISIS’s clutches when she fell in love online with a recruiter for the terror group. He convinced the girl to join him in Iraq.
She converted to Islam then stole her mom’s passport and money and jetted off to Turkey.
Wenzel was smuggled into Iraq and married her bombing beau, a Chechen later killed by allied fighters.
Iraqi secret service sources told the Daily Telegraph that Wenzel operated as a sniper for the terror group. In addition, she was part of ISIS’s religious Gestapo.
Germany is reportedly deciding how to proceed with the wayward teen. If she goes back, she’ll be tried for terrorism.
But if her homeland turns their back and is convicted of terrorism in Iraq, a firing squad and a quick trip to the undertakers is a real possibility.
Linda Wenzel (TWITTER)
German teen who joined ISIS faces execution | World | News | Toronto Sun
By Brad Hunter, Toronto Sun
First posted: Tuesday, August 08, 2017 03:30 PM EDT
For a German teen who joined ISIS things have gone from bad to wurst.
Linda Wenzel, 16, who fled her hometown of Dresden for the luxe life of an ISIS bride, faces a very real possibility she will be executed.
The terrified Teutonic teen and 20 other female members of the death cult’s ladies auxiliary were captured in Mosul, in late July.
“Make room, make room, she is a Christian, she can’t take it any more,” one soldier can be heard saying in an Iraqi amateur video, the Daily Mail reports.
“She is hurting, she is weak, she is a blonde, she is a German. Her name is Dania, no Linda. Allah, Allah. Make way guys, let her through.”
Currently caged in Baghdad, the ISIS-loving lolita is being questioned by U.S. and Iraqi intelligence over her terror ties.
Nicknamed the “Belle of Mosul”, Wenzel was lured into ISIS’s clutches when she fell in love online with a recruiter for the terror group. He convinced the girl to join him in Iraq.
She converted to Islam then stole her mom’s passport and money and jetted off to Turkey.
Wenzel was smuggled into Iraq and married her bombing beau, a Chechen later killed by allied fighters.
Iraqi secret service sources told the Daily Telegraph that Wenzel operated as a sniper for the terror group. In addition, she was part of ISIS’s religious Gestapo.
Germany is reportedly deciding how to proceed with the wayward teen. If she goes back, she’ll be tried for terrorism.
But if her homeland turns their back and is convicted of terrorism in Iraq, a firing squad and a quick trip to the undertakers is a real possibility.
Linda Wenzel (TWITTER)
German teen who joined ISIS faces execution | World | News | Toronto Sun
ISIS mother-daughter hit team in court
By Brad Hunter, Toronto Sun
First posted: Friday, August 11, 2017 03:20 PM EDT | Updated: Friday, August 11, 2017 03:48 PM EDT
A mother-daughter ISIS hit team accused of plotting to slaughter innocents on the steps of the British parliament will go on trial Nov. 27.
Counter-terrorism officials say Mina Dich, 43, and her daughter Rizlaine Boular, 21, schemed “to murder a person or persons unknown.”
A third woman, Khawla Barghouthi, 20, is charged along with the mother-daughter terror tag team engaging in the preparation of a terrorist act and one count of conspiracy to murder between Apr. 11 and 28.
The trio allegedly plotted mayhem – dubbed the English Tea Party – by communicating in code, using cakes and tea as a key phrase, the Telegraph reports.
Boular was shot and wounded by cops when the threesome were arrested during a series of raids on Apr. 27.
Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal is reporting that ISIS funnelled cash through eBay and PayPal to operatives inside the United States.
The Journal said that a U.S.-born mole for the death cult, named Mohamed Elshinawy, was arrested in Maryland last year when counter-terrorist agents discovered the plot.
Sources told the newspaper that the wannabe jihadi – who is in his 30s – had pledged allegiance to Islamic State.
Using eBay to appear to be selling printers, he instead received cash from overseas courtesy of PayPal for “operational purposes.”
The FBI affidavit alleges that Elshinawy was part of a global network stretching from Britain to Bangladesh who used similar schemes to fund ISIS operations.
Online giant eBay said in a statement that the company has “zero tolerance for criminal activity” and added that they worked with law enforcement to snare Elshinawy.
He received around $9,000 that he used for pay-as-you-go cell phones, a laptop and other electronics.
Ironically, he asked a judge to toss his case because his professions of loyalty to Islamic State were protected by the First Amendment.
He was laughed out of court.
bhunter@postmedia.com
ISIS mother-daughter hit team in court | World | News | Toronto Sun
By Brad Hunter, Toronto Sun
First posted: Friday, August 11, 2017 03:20 PM EDT | Updated: Friday, August 11, 2017 03:48 PM EDT
A mother-daughter ISIS hit team accused of plotting to slaughter innocents on the steps of the British parliament will go on trial Nov. 27.
Counter-terrorism officials say Mina Dich, 43, and her daughter Rizlaine Boular, 21, schemed “to murder a person or persons unknown.”
A third woman, Khawla Barghouthi, 20, is charged along with the mother-daughter terror tag team engaging in the preparation of a terrorist act and one count of conspiracy to murder between Apr. 11 and 28.
The trio allegedly plotted mayhem – dubbed the English Tea Party – by communicating in code, using cakes and tea as a key phrase, the Telegraph reports.
Boular was shot and wounded by cops when the threesome were arrested during a series of raids on Apr. 27.
Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal is reporting that ISIS funnelled cash through eBay and PayPal to operatives inside the United States.
The Journal said that a U.S.-born mole for the death cult, named Mohamed Elshinawy, was arrested in Maryland last year when counter-terrorist agents discovered the plot.
Sources told the newspaper that the wannabe jihadi – who is in his 30s – had pledged allegiance to Islamic State.
Using eBay to appear to be selling printers, he instead received cash from overseas courtesy of PayPal for “operational purposes.”
The FBI affidavit alleges that Elshinawy was part of a global network stretching from Britain to Bangladesh who used similar schemes to fund ISIS operations.
Online giant eBay said in a statement that the company has “zero tolerance for criminal activity” and added that they worked with law enforcement to snare Elshinawy.
He received around $9,000 that he used for pay-as-you-go cell phones, a laptop and other electronics.
Ironically, he asked a judge to toss his case because his professions of loyalty to Islamic State were protected by the First Amendment.
He was laughed out of court.
bhunter@postmedia.com
ISIS mother-daughter hit team in court | World | News | Toronto Sun
Remember the good old days when that combination brought up images of a (unfulfilled) sexual encounter. Perhaps if nipples were seen in public some of this weird shit would simply vanish.
Emotional mother-and-child reunion as young former captive arrives in Winnipeg
The Canadian Press with files from Winnipeg Sun
First posted: Thursday, August 17, 2017 01:58 PM EDT | Updated: Friday, August 18, 2017 05:33 AM EDT
A woman in Winnipeg tightly embraced her 12-year-old son for the first time in three years early Thursday morning when the child was reunited with his family after his liberation from Iraqi militants.
Cheers went up from a large crowd on hand when Emad Mishko Tamo arrived at James Armstrong Richardson International Airport, just weeks after he was freed from captivity.
He was separated from his mother after the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant displaced thousands of members of the Kurdish-minority Yazidis in 2014, but he was freed earlier this summer in the city of Mosul.
His mother has been living in Winnipeg as a refugee but it wasn’t until a relative recognized his photo on social media that she knew her son was still alive.
Emad was brought to Winnipeg through the efforts of the Yazidi Association of Manitoba.
Hadji Hesso, the association’s president, said Emad was accompanied by UNHCR representatives on his flight to Canada, and that they brought him to a private room at the airport to reconnect with his family prior to walking out to the waiting crowd in the arrivals area.
Hesso said Emad’s siblings, uncle, cousins and grandmother were also in the room.
“This is something that we’ve never seen before in our lifetimes,” said Hesso. who was present for the reunion. “Especially to bring the child to reunite with his mother this fast, in 32 days. It was just fantastic. We appreciate the community and the government and the people who have been involved from day one until the mission was accomplished. Canada has answered the bell.”
A refugee co-ordinator says the boy, who is still recovering from gunshot wounds, will be closely monitored by doctors while he settles into his new life in Winnipeg.
“Thank you Canada,” said Emad while surrounded by a throng of relatives and supporters at the airport.
Speaking through an interpreter, the boy said there are a thousand other children like him who are still being held captive and he wants to share his story so that they can be helped. Among those needing help are Emad’s brother and father, who were also separated from the family when they were captured by the Islamic State.
“Unfortunately we don’t have any information on them right now,” Hesso said.
The Yazidi Association of Manitoba, the Kurdish Initiative for Refugees and Winnipeg Friends of Israel went public with Emad’s story last month in an effort to get Canadian officials to act quickly to bring the boy to Canada.
Federal Immigration spokeswoman Lisa Filipps said at the time that the department was acting to expedite all Yazidi cases and that the government was working with partners in the region to identify vulnerable Yazidi women and children.
Emotional mother-and-child reunion as young former captive arrives in Winnipeg |
The Canadian Press with files from Winnipeg Sun
First posted: Thursday, August 17, 2017 01:58 PM EDT | Updated: Friday, August 18, 2017 05:33 AM EDT
A woman in Winnipeg tightly embraced her 12-year-old son for the first time in three years early Thursday morning when the child was reunited with his family after his liberation from Iraqi militants.
Cheers went up from a large crowd on hand when Emad Mishko Tamo arrived at James Armstrong Richardson International Airport, just weeks after he was freed from captivity.
He was separated from his mother after the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant displaced thousands of members of the Kurdish-minority Yazidis in 2014, but he was freed earlier this summer in the city of Mosul.
His mother has been living in Winnipeg as a refugee but it wasn’t until a relative recognized his photo on social media that she knew her son was still alive.
Emad was brought to Winnipeg through the efforts of the Yazidi Association of Manitoba.
Hadji Hesso, the association’s president, said Emad was accompanied by UNHCR representatives on his flight to Canada, and that they brought him to a private room at the airport to reconnect with his family prior to walking out to the waiting crowd in the arrivals area.
Hesso said Emad’s siblings, uncle, cousins and grandmother were also in the room.
“This is something that we’ve never seen before in our lifetimes,” said Hesso. who was present for the reunion. “Especially to bring the child to reunite with his mother this fast, in 32 days. It was just fantastic. We appreciate the community and the government and the people who have been involved from day one until the mission was accomplished. Canada has answered the bell.”
A refugee co-ordinator says the boy, who is still recovering from gunshot wounds, will be closely monitored by doctors while he settles into his new life in Winnipeg.
“Thank you Canada,” said Emad while surrounded by a throng of relatives and supporters at the airport.
Speaking through an interpreter, the boy said there are a thousand other children like him who are still being held captive and he wants to share his story so that they can be helped. Among those needing help are Emad’s brother and father, who were also separated from the family when they were captured by the Islamic State.
“Unfortunately we don’t have any information on them right now,” Hesso said.
The Yazidi Association of Manitoba, the Kurdish Initiative for Refugees and Winnipeg Friends of Israel went public with Emad’s story last month in an effort to get Canadian officials to act quickly to bring the boy to Canada.
Federal Immigration spokeswoman Lisa Filipps said at the time that the department was acting to expedite all Yazidi cases and that the government was working with partners in the region to identify vulnerable Yazidi women and children.
Emotional mother-and-child reunion as young former captive arrives in Winnipeg |
Lebanese-Australian brothers intended to blow up plane using Barbie doll bomb: Authorities
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First posted: Monday, August 21, 2017 09:23 AM EDT | Updated: Monday, August 21, 2017 09:43 AM EDT
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s interior minister said Monday that the country’s police intelligence played a major role in foiling a plot to bring down an Emirati passenger plane that was supposed to take off from Sydney bound for the United Arab Emirates’ capital, Abu Dhabi.
Nouhad Machnouk told reporters that four Lebanese-Australian brothers, including one who is in detention in Lebanon, had planned to blow up the plane with bombs hidden inside a large Barbie doll and a meat grinder. He said the bombs did not make it onto the plane because the handbag they were placed in was 7 kilograms (15.4 pounds) above the weight permitted by the airline.
Machnouk said the bombs were sent back to the would-be attacker’s home in Australia. He said the attacker tried to bring two explosives on the plane in case one of them did not work. The second would be detonated by one of the brothers who was supposed to be the suicide attacker. It was not immediately clear how authorities uncovered the plot.
Australian authorities said late last month that they thwarted a credible terrorist plot to down an airplane by smuggling a device onboard. They have provided few details, including the precise nature of the threat or any airlines involved.
The United Arab Emirates’ national airline said it is working with Australian police in the ongoing investigation. But Etihad Airways, the smallest of three long-haul Gulf carriers that fly to Australia, refused to confirm if it had been targeted.
Earlier this month, Australian police said two men were charged with terrorism offences in Australia in connection with an alleged plot to bring down the airplane. It was not immediately clear if they were two of the four brothers.
Four Lebanese-Australian men had been arrested by police, who also reportedly seized a meat grinder that investigators thought may be the basis of a bomb. One of the four was released later without charge.
Machnouk said two of the brothers, Khaled and Mahmoud Khayyat, are held in Australia, while another, Tarek, is a senior member of the Islamic State group based in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa. He added that the fourth brother, Amer, was supposed to be on board the plane, working to bring it down 20 minutes after takeoff, but was arrested in Lebanon after he arrived in mid-July from Australia.
“The operation was foiled because of the extra weight,” Machnouk said. “Intelligence branch followed on the case and found that Amer was involved in this act and it appears that he was supposed to carry it out.”
He said that since Tarek Khayyat moved to Raqqa and became in IS commander, Lebanese police intelligence started tracking his brothers. Machnouk said that Amer Khayyat travelled between Australia and Lebanon several times under pretexts such as coming to get engaged or get married.
Machnouk said that about 400 passengers were on the plane, including 120 Lebanese. He said the four brothers wanted to punish the UAE and Australia for being part of the U.S.-led coalition that is targeting the extremists.
“When four Lebanese brothers in Australia decide to blow up an Emirati jet this means that the whole world should work together to fight terrorism,” Machnouk said. “Coordination should be 24 hours a day between all security agencies to stop such attacks.”
www.youtube.com/watch?v=utdyvOoGnkk
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zm4SRhaeYoo
Lebanese-Australian brothers intended to blow up plane using Barbie doll bomb: A
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First posted: Monday, August 21, 2017 09:23 AM EDT | Updated: Monday, August 21, 2017 09:43 AM EDT
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s interior minister said Monday that the country’s police intelligence played a major role in foiling a plot to bring down an Emirati passenger plane that was supposed to take off from Sydney bound for the United Arab Emirates’ capital, Abu Dhabi.
Nouhad Machnouk told reporters that four Lebanese-Australian brothers, including one who is in detention in Lebanon, had planned to blow up the plane with bombs hidden inside a large Barbie doll and a meat grinder. He said the bombs did not make it onto the plane because the handbag they were placed in was 7 kilograms (15.4 pounds) above the weight permitted by the airline.
Machnouk said the bombs were sent back to the would-be attacker’s home in Australia. He said the attacker tried to bring two explosives on the plane in case one of them did not work. The second would be detonated by one of the brothers who was supposed to be the suicide attacker. It was not immediately clear how authorities uncovered the plot.
Australian authorities said late last month that they thwarted a credible terrorist plot to down an airplane by smuggling a device onboard. They have provided few details, including the precise nature of the threat or any airlines involved.
The United Arab Emirates’ national airline said it is working with Australian police in the ongoing investigation. But Etihad Airways, the smallest of three long-haul Gulf carriers that fly to Australia, refused to confirm if it had been targeted.
Earlier this month, Australian police said two men were charged with terrorism offences in Australia in connection with an alleged plot to bring down the airplane. It was not immediately clear if they were two of the four brothers.
Four Lebanese-Australian men had been arrested by police, who also reportedly seized a meat grinder that investigators thought may be the basis of a bomb. One of the four was released later without charge.
Machnouk said two of the brothers, Khaled and Mahmoud Khayyat, are held in Australia, while another, Tarek, is a senior member of the Islamic State group based in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa. He added that the fourth brother, Amer, was supposed to be on board the plane, working to bring it down 20 minutes after takeoff, but was arrested in Lebanon after he arrived in mid-July from Australia.
“The operation was foiled because of the extra weight,” Machnouk said. “Intelligence branch followed on the case and found that Amer was involved in this act and it appears that he was supposed to carry it out.”
He said that since Tarek Khayyat moved to Raqqa and became in IS commander, Lebanese police intelligence started tracking his brothers. Machnouk said that Amer Khayyat travelled between Australia and Lebanon several times under pretexts such as coming to get engaged or get married.
Machnouk said that about 400 passengers were on the plane, including 120 Lebanese. He said the four brothers wanted to punish the UAE and Australia for being part of the U.S.-led coalition that is targeting the extremists.
“When four Lebanese brothers in Australia decide to blow up an Emirati jet this means that the whole world should work together to fight terrorism,” Machnouk said. “Coordination should be 24 hours a day between all security agencies to stop such attacks.”
www.youtube.com/watch?v=utdyvOoGnkk
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zm4SRhaeYoo
Lebanese-Australian brothers intended to blow up plane using Barbie doll bomb: A
New ISIS video appears to show U.S.-born child soldier
Postmedia Network
First posted: Thursday, August 24, 2017 05:19 PM EDT | Updated: Thursday, August 24, 2017 05:25 PM EDT
A new video suggests ISIS has recruited a young American boy to its terror ranks.
The disturbing seven-minute propaganda video shows an English-speaking child who calls himself Yousef, who says he is 10 years old.
As if reading from a script, the child says that he moved to the ISIS-controlled area of Raqqa two months ago with his mother. There, he says, he and mother learned the "correct Islamic creed."
Yousef also mentions that his father is an American soldier "who fought the mujahedeen [holy warriors] in Iraq."
The current whereabouts of Yousef's parents are unclear and the boy switches between English and Arabic in the video.
A representative for the U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says they cannot confirm if Yousef is American but condemns the new video.
"Any child used in that capacity in an ISIS video, regardless of what is being done, is sick," said State department spokeswoman Heather Nauert to the L.A. Times.
The video ends with clips of Yousef carrying a semi-automatic weapon and a threat to U.S. President Donald Trump.
“This is my message to Trump, the puppet of the Jews," he says. "This battle is not going to end in Raqqa or Mosul. It’s going to end in your lands."
"We will have victory. So get ready for the fighting has just begun."
Alleged American-born Yousef speaks in a ISIS propaganda video. (Screengrab via Islamic State Group video)
Islamic State's latest video features what it says is a child of a U.S. soldier - LA Times
New ISIS video appears to show U.S.-born child soldier | World | News | Toronto
Postmedia Network
First posted: Thursday, August 24, 2017 05:19 PM EDT | Updated: Thursday, August 24, 2017 05:25 PM EDT
A new video suggests ISIS has recruited a young American boy to its terror ranks.
The disturbing seven-minute propaganda video shows an English-speaking child who calls himself Yousef, who says he is 10 years old.
As if reading from a script, the child says that he moved to the ISIS-controlled area of Raqqa two months ago with his mother. There, he says, he and mother learned the "correct Islamic creed."
Yousef also mentions that his father is an American soldier "who fought the mujahedeen [holy warriors] in Iraq."
The current whereabouts of Yousef's parents are unclear and the boy switches between English and Arabic in the video.
A representative for the U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says they cannot confirm if Yousef is American but condemns the new video.
"Any child used in that capacity in an ISIS video, regardless of what is being done, is sick," said State department spokeswoman Heather Nauert to the L.A. Times.
The video ends with clips of Yousef carrying a semi-automatic weapon and a threat to U.S. President Donald Trump.
“This is my message to Trump, the puppet of the Jews," he says. "This battle is not going to end in Raqqa or Mosul. It’s going to end in your lands."
"We will have victory. So get ready for the fighting has just begun."
Alleged American-born Yousef speaks in a ISIS propaganda video. (Screengrab via Islamic State Group video)
Islamic State's latest video features what it says is a child of a U.S. soldier - LA Times
New ISIS video appears to show U.S.-born child soldier | World | News | Toronto
Hell-bound ISIS sicko: ‘They were all virgins’
First posted: Monday, August 28, 2017 02:14 PM EDT
An ISIS killer doomed to die boasted he received virginal teens to rape as part of his salary.
The shocking claims were made at a death penalty tribunal in Iraq earlier this month and obtained by the Daily Telegraph.
“They were part of my salary, I received the women as a bonus,” twisted jihadi Mohammed Ahmed, 40, told the court.
As the caliphate crumbles, the city of Nineveh, has constructed courts to squeeze a semblance of justice out of Islamic State’s reign of terror.
Many of the captured fanatics are facing death sentences for their roles in the mass murder and torture of civilians.
Ahmed — who is accused of being a terrorist — painted a sickening portrait of kidnapping young girls then selling them into sex slavery.
For his proactive perversion, he testified he was given four young girls for himself.
“I kept the four girls in an abandoned house. Each night I would have sex with a different one,” Ahmed said.
“Sometimes they seemed scared, but they never said no. They were all virgins when I got them and more beautiful than you can imagine.”
But it wasn’t just sex — the Islamic State monster also gleefully described massacring a group of schoolboys.
“I shot them there in the school hall. I think I killed 10 or 12 of them, including some children,” he bragged.
Most of the victims were members of the Yazidi minority who were brutalized by the jihadists.
And when one jihadist was through with the girl, they’d be passed on to another fighter.
“I gave them to another fighter in return for $200 each,” Ahmed told the judge.
Hell-bound ISIS sicko:
First posted: Monday, August 28, 2017 02:14 PM EDT
An ISIS killer doomed to die boasted he received virginal teens to rape as part of his salary.
The shocking claims were made at a death penalty tribunal in Iraq earlier this month and obtained by the Daily Telegraph.
“They were part of my salary, I received the women as a bonus,” twisted jihadi Mohammed Ahmed, 40, told the court.
As the caliphate crumbles, the city of Nineveh, has constructed courts to squeeze a semblance of justice out of Islamic State’s reign of terror.
Many of the captured fanatics are facing death sentences for their roles in the mass murder and torture of civilians.
Ahmed — who is accused of being a terrorist — painted a sickening portrait of kidnapping young girls then selling them into sex slavery.
For his proactive perversion, he testified he was given four young girls for himself.
“I kept the four girls in an abandoned house. Each night I would have sex with a different one,” Ahmed said.
“Sometimes they seemed scared, but they never said no. They were all virgins when I got them and more beautiful than you can imagine.”
But it wasn’t just sex — the Islamic State monster also gleefully described massacring a group of schoolboys.
“I shot them there in the school hall. I think I killed 10 or 12 of them, including some children,” he bragged.
Most of the victims were members of the Yazidi minority who were brutalized by the jihadists.
And when one jihadist was through with the girl, they’d be passed on to another fighter.
“I gave them to another fighter in return for $200 each,” Ahmed told the judge.
Hell-bound ISIS sicko:
ISIS vows to behead ex-porn star Mia Khalifa
By Brad Hunter, Toronto Sun
First posted: Wednesday, August 30, 2017 03:54 PM EDT | Updated: Wednesday, August 30, 2017 04:20 PM EDT
Former porn queen Mia Khalifa has revealed she is on death cult ISIS’s lengthy hit list.
The 24-year-old sexxx siren - star of Mia Khalifa and Her Double DDs, Pounding Mia Khalifa and Body Made For Sex - among others spilled to a U.S. radio show.
The Lebanese-American temptress said jihadists even sent her a mock execution photo of her being beheaded.
“They sent a photoshopped picture of me being beheaded on social media,” she told the Sports Junkies, adding “(ISIS) threatened what would happen to me.”
Triggering the fanatics’ ire was a series of raunchy clips featuring Khalifa performing a buffet of sex acts while wearing a hijab.
And even though she was raised Christian, ISIS thugs accused her of betraying her Middle Eastern background.
One wrote: “Hozbollah (sic) will come for you.”
Khalifa - now a sports pundit - claims she is not letting the threats of a handful of puritanical putzes get to her.
“You can’t show weakness,” she said. “That’s exactly what they’re looking for.”
But she added: “I really try and just make it look like it rolls off, but I’ll admit, it gets to you after awhile.”
The former porn powerhouse now lives in Austin, Texas where she still works as a cam girl with millions of social media followers.
Meanwhile, French rapper Skan has dedicated a raunchy NSFW song to Khalifa, appropriately titled, Mia Khalifa.
One reviewer called it “particularly vulgar.”
Former porn queen Mia Khalifa has revealed she is on death cult ISIS’s lengthy hit list. (INSTAGRAM/PHOTO)
ISIS vows to behead ex-porn star Mia Khalifa | World | News | Toronto Sun
By Brad Hunter, Toronto Sun
First posted: Wednesday, August 30, 2017 03:54 PM EDT | Updated: Wednesday, August 30, 2017 04:20 PM EDT
Former porn queen Mia Khalifa has revealed she is on death cult ISIS’s lengthy hit list.
The 24-year-old sexxx siren - star of Mia Khalifa and Her Double DDs, Pounding Mia Khalifa and Body Made For Sex - among others spilled to a U.S. radio show.
The Lebanese-American temptress said jihadists even sent her a mock execution photo of her being beheaded.
“They sent a photoshopped picture of me being beheaded on social media,” she told the Sports Junkies, adding “(ISIS) threatened what would happen to me.”
Triggering the fanatics’ ire was a series of raunchy clips featuring Khalifa performing a buffet of sex acts while wearing a hijab.
And even though she was raised Christian, ISIS thugs accused her of betraying her Middle Eastern background.
One wrote: “Hozbollah (sic) will come for you.”
Khalifa - now a sports pundit - claims she is not letting the threats of a handful of puritanical putzes get to her.
“You can’t show weakness,” she said. “That’s exactly what they’re looking for.”
But she added: “I really try and just make it look like it rolls off, but I’ll admit, it gets to you after awhile.”
The former porn powerhouse now lives in Austin, Texas where she still works as a cam girl with millions of social media followers.
Meanwhile, French rapper Skan has dedicated a raunchy NSFW song to Khalifa, appropriately titled, Mia Khalifa.
One reviewer called it “particularly vulgar.”
Former porn queen Mia Khalifa has revealed she is on death cult ISIS’s lengthy hit list. (INSTAGRAM/PHOTO)
ISIS vows to behead ex-porn star Mia Khalifa | World | News | Toronto Sun
Buses carrying ISIS fighters stranded in Syrian desert, U.S. says
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First posted: Friday, September 01, 2017 05:08 PM EDT | Updated: Friday, September 01, 2017 05:15 PM EDT
WASHINGTON — The U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group says a 17-bus convoy of IS militants and their families is stranded in the Syrian desert.
The coalition issued a statement Friday saying it has sought an unspecified solution that would save the women and children in the convoy from further suffering.
It says the coalition has not attacked the convoy.
But it says it has struck IS fighters and vehicles, including a tank and other armed vehicles, that tried to help the convoy move to the Iraqi border.
The coalition says its officials have contacted Russian counterparts to deliver a message to Syria’s government, which had tried to facilitate the convoy’s movement earlier this week from western Syria to an area near the Iraqi border.
Buses carrying ISIS fighters stranded in Syrian desert, U.S. says | World | News
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First posted: Friday, September 01, 2017 05:08 PM EDT | Updated: Friday, September 01, 2017 05:15 PM EDT
WASHINGTON — The U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group says a 17-bus convoy of IS militants and their families is stranded in the Syrian desert.
The coalition issued a statement Friday saying it has sought an unspecified solution that would save the women and children in the convoy from further suffering.
It says the coalition has not attacked the convoy.
But it says it has struck IS fighters and vehicles, including a tank and other armed vehicles, that tried to help the convoy move to the Iraqi border.
The coalition says its officials have contacted Russian counterparts to deliver a message to Syria’s government, which had tried to facilitate the convoy’s movement earlier this week from western Syria to an area near the Iraqi border.
Buses carrying ISIS fighters stranded in Syrian desert, U.S. says | World | News
Student’s ‘hate crime’? Mocking ISIS
By Brad Hunter, Toronto Sun
First posted: Tuesday, September 05, 2017 02:43 PM EDT | Updated: Tuesday, September 05, 2017 03:17 PM EDT
Political correctness has reached its final frontier.
A British university student has complained that a fellow student’s mockery of Islamic State thugs has put “minority students at risk and in a state of panic.”
Whoa!
Now, law student Robbie Travers is being investigated by Edinburgh University following allegations that he had committed a “hate crime.”
Travers, 21, wrote a Facebook post celebrating after U.S. bombers obliterated an ISIS stronghold in Afghanistan.
Travers posted: “I’m glad we could bring these barbarians a step closer to collecting their 72 virgins.”
But student activist Esme Allman thinks mocking the dear death cult goes too far and is “blatant Islamophobia,” the Daily Mail reports. She added that Travers breached the student code of conduct.
Huh?
Travers wrote on Facebook Monday night: “Afraid I’ve been a little more quiet as I have been accused of Islamophobia because I mocked ISIS, and I’m being investigated on such a ground by my university.”
He added: “Mocking ISIS allegedly made Islamic and minority students feel ‘threatened’ and ‘unsafe,’ so goes the complainant’s ramblings. Have engaged legal advice to dismiss this nonsense. Wish me luck.”
As for Allman, she describes herself as a “feminist and womanist from inner-city London.”
Her manifesto reads: “I value inclusivity as well as building and preserving safe spaces for us. Creating a truly intersectional campaign is incredibly important to me and my first job will be to work alongside the other liberation groups to ensure (Edinburgh University’s student association) is fully representative of our views. Here at Edinburgh I want BME Students to engage in conversations about the issues that affect us.”
There is no criminal complaint.
Student
By Brad Hunter, Toronto Sun
First posted: Tuesday, September 05, 2017 02:43 PM EDT | Updated: Tuesday, September 05, 2017 03:17 PM EDT
Political correctness has reached its final frontier.
A British university student has complained that a fellow student’s mockery of Islamic State thugs has put “minority students at risk and in a state of panic.”
Whoa!
Now, law student Robbie Travers is being investigated by Edinburgh University following allegations that he had committed a “hate crime.”
Travers, 21, wrote a Facebook post celebrating after U.S. bombers obliterated an ISIS stronghold in Afghanistan.
Travers posted: “I’m glad we could bring these barbarians a step closer to collecting their 72 virgins.”
But student activist Esme Allman thinks mocking the dear death cult goes too far and is “blatant Islamophobia,” the Daily Mail reports. She added that Travers breached the student code of conduct.
Huh?
Travers wrote on Facebook Monday night: “Afraid I’ve been a little more quiet as I have been accused of Islamophobia because I mocked ISIS, and I’m being investigated on such a ground by my university.”
He added: “Mocking ISIS allegedly made Islamic and minority students feel ‘threatened’ and ‘unsafe,’ so goes the complainant’s ramblings. Have engaged legal advice to dismiss this nonsense. Wish me luck.”
As for Allman, she describes herself as a “feminist and womanist from inner-city London.”
Her manifesto reads: “I value inclusivity as well as building and preserving safe spaces for us. Creating a truly intersectional campaign is incredibly important to me and my first job will be to work alongside the other liberation groups to ensure (Edinburgh University’s student association) is fully representative of our views. Here at Edinburgh I want BME Students to engage in conversations about the issues that affect us.”
There is no criminal complaint.
Student
Spain and Morocco break up alleged active extremists’ cell
First posted: Wednesday, September 06, 2017 08:24 AM EDT | Updated: Wednesday, September 06, 2017 08:29 AM EDT
MADRID — Security forces in Spain and nearby Morocco have broken up an alleged Islamic State-linked extremist cell whose six members were actively training and planning to conduct violent attacks, authorities said Wednesday.
Five people were detained near the northern Moroccan city of Nador and one in the nearby Spanish enclave of Melilla, the Moroccan Interior Ministry said in a statement. The arrests came weeks after attacks by Spanish extremists with Moroccan links that killed 16 people around Barcelona.
Five of those detained on Wednesday are Moroccan and one is a Spaniard of Moroccan origin, Spain’s Interior Ministry said.
The alleged leader of the cell dismantled Wednesday was a 39-year-old living in Melilla who was arrested while visiting Morocco. He allegedly recruited youngsters at a reeducation centre where he worked and used Islamic State group propaganda to train them, the ministry said in a statement.
Investigations found that members of the cell planned terrorist operations in Morocco and Spain, holding secret overnight meetings and carrying out training for eventual attacks with knives, the Moroccan Interior Ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said the operation comes amid a growing terrorist threat in both countries, and as IS pushes to multiply operations outside Iraq and Syria.
There was no suggestion of a link with the Barcelona attackers.
Since mid-2015, Spain has arrested 199 people accused of links to extremism.
MADRID — Security forces in Spain and nearby Morocco have broken up an alleged Islamic State-linked extremist cell whose six members were actively training and planning to conduct violent attacks, authorities said Wednesday.
Five people were detained near the northern Moroccan city of Nador and one in the nearby Spanish enclave of Melilla, the Moroccan Interior Ministry said in a statement. The arrests came weeks after attacks by Spanish extremists with Moroccan links that killed 16 people around Barcelona.
Five of those detained on Wednesday are Moroccan and one is a Spaniard of Moroccan origin, Spain’s Interior Ministry said.
The alleged leader of the cell dismantled Wednesday was a 39-year-old living in Melilla who was arrested while visiting Morocco. He allegedly recruited youngsters at a reeducation centre where he worked and used Islamic State group propaganda to train them, the ministry said in a statement.
Investigations found that members of the cell planned terrorist operations in Morocco and Spain, holding secret overnight meetings and carrying out training for eventual attacks with knives, the Moroccan Interior Ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said the operation comes amid a growing terrorist threat in both countries, and as IS pushes to multiply operations outside Iraq and Syria.
There was no suggestion of a link with the Barcelona attackers.
Since mid-2015, Spain has arrested 199 people accused of links to extremism.
Spain and Morocco break up alleged active extremists
Explosive used by IS militants found in apartment near Paris
Philippe Sotto And Lori Hinnant, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First posted: Wednesday, September 06, 2017 11:08 AM EDT | Updated: Wednesday, September 06, 2017 09:35 PM EDT
PARIS — A peroxide-based explosive that has been employed by Islamic extremists was found Wednesday in an apartment outside Paris that authorities suspect might have been in use as a lab for possible attacks, two French officials said.
A police official told The Associated Press that some 100 grams of usable triacetone triperoxide, better known as TATP, were found in the Villejuif apartment where a police operation was carried out earlier in the day, leading to the detention of two suspects.
A judicial official confirmed that TATP, an explosive used by Islamic State group militants in the past, was found in the unit, but didn’t specify in what quantity.
The two officials with knowledge of the probe spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.
A tip from a repairman led police to the apartment on Wednesday morning, Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said in a statement. He was doing a job in the Villejuif building and informed authorities after noticing suspicious products in an apartment.
Police found substances that “may be used to make explosives” in the unit, Collomb said, praising the “civic reflex” of the worker.
The Paris prosecutor’s office said its counter-terrorism section has opened an investigation under potential charges of “criminal terrorist association” and “possession, transportation and production of explosive substances in relation with a terrorist action by an organized gang.”
A bomb-disposal operation was carried out in the apartment, three police officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.
Associated Press reporters in Villejuif saw forensic officers moving around in white uniforms and police vans blocking a large street in the city, which is located just 3 kilometres (less than two miles) south of Paris.
Explosive used by IS militants found in apartment near Paris | France | World |
First posted: Wednesday, September 06, 2017 08:24 AM EDT | Updated: Wednesday, September 06, 2017 08:29 AM EDT
MADRID — Security forces in Spain and nearby Morocco have broken up an alleged Islamic State-linked extremist cell whose six members were actively training and planning to conduct violent attacks, authorities said Wednesday.
Five people were detained near the northern Moroccan city of Nador and one in the nearby Spanish enclave of Melilla, the Moroccan Interior Ministry said in a statement. The arrests came weeks after attacks by Spanish extremists with Moroccan links that killed 16 people around Barcelona.
Five of those detained on Wednesday are Moroccan and one is a Spaniard of Moroccan origin, Spain’s Interior Ministry said.
The alleged leader of the cell dismantled Wednesday was a 39-year-old living in Melilla who was arrested while visiting Morocco. He allegedly recruited youngsters at a reeducation centre where he worked and used Islamic State group propaganda to train them, the ministry said in a statement.
Investigations found that members of the cell planned terrorist operations in Morocco and Spain, holding secret overnight meetings and carrying out training for eventual attacks with knives, the Moroccan Interior Ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said the operation comes amid a growing terrorist threat in both countries, and as IS pushes to multiply operations outside Iraq and Syria.
There was no suggestion of a link with the Barcelona attackers.
Since mid-2015, Spain has arrested 199 people accused of links to extremism.
MADRID — Security forces in Spain and nearby Morocco have broken up an alleged Islamic State-linked extremist cell whose six members were actively training and planning to conduct violent attacks, authorities said Wednesday.
Five people were detained near the northern Moroccan city of Nador and one in the nearby Spanish enclave of Melilla, the Moroccan Interior Ministry said in a statement. The arrests came weeks after attacks by Spanish extremists with Moroccan links that killed 16 people around Barcelona.
Five of those detained on Wednesday are Moroccan and one is a Spaniard of Moroccan origin, Spain’s Interior Ministry said.
The alleged leader of the cell dismantled Wednesday was a 39-year-old living in Melilla who was arrested while visiting Morocco. He allegedly recruited youngsters at a reeducation centre where he worked and used Islamic State group propaganda to train them, the ministry said in a statement.
Investigations found that members of the cell planned terrorist operations in Morocco and Spain, holding secret overnight meetings and carrying out training for eventual attacks with knives, the Moroccan Interior Ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said the operation comes amid a growing terrorist threat in both countries, and as IS pushes to multiply operations outside Iraq and Syria.
There was no suggestion of a link with the Barcelona attackers.
Since mid-2015, Spain has arrested 199 people accused of links to extremism.
Spain and Morocco break up alleged active extremists
Explosive used by IS militants found in apartment near Paris
Philippe Sotto And Lori Hinnant, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First posted: Wednesday, September 06, 2017 11:08 AM EDT | Updated: Wednesday, September 06, 2017 09:35 PM EDT
PARIS — A peroxide-based explosive that has been employed by Islamic extremists was found Wednesday in an apartment outside Paris that authorities suspect might have been in use as a lab for possible attacks, two French officials said.
A police official told The Associated Press that some 100 grams of usable triacetone triperoxide, better known as TATP, were found in the Villejuif apartment where a police operation was carried out earlier in the day, leading to the detention of two suspects.
A judicial official confirmed that TATP, an explosive used by Islamic State group militants in the past, was found in the unit, but didn’t specify in what quantity.
The two officials with knowledge of the probe spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.
A tip from a repairman led police to the apartment on Wednesday morning, Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said in a statement. He was doing a job in the Villejuif building and informed authorities after noticing suspicious products in an apartment.
Police found substances that “may be used to make explosives” in the unit, Collomb said, praising the “civic reflex” of the worker.
The Paris prosecutor’s office said its counter-terrorism section has opened an investigation under potential charges of “criminal terrorist association” and “possession, transportation and production of explosive substances in relation with a terrorist action by an organized gang.”
A bomb-disposal operation was carried out in the apartment, three police officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.
Associated Press reporters in Villejuif saw forensic officers moving around in white uniforms and police vans blocking a large street in the city, which is located just 3 kilometres (less than two miles) south of Paris.
Explosive used by IS militants found in apartment near Paris | France | World |
Prominent Calgary terrorist Farah Shirdon confirmed killed in Iraq
By Bryan Passifiume, Calgary Sun
First posted: Thursday, September 07, 2017 09:36 PM EDT | Updated: Friday, September 08, 2017 02:49 PM EDT
American defence officials have confirmed a Calgarian who took up arms with the Islamic State was killed over two years ago.
An official with the U.S. Central Command public affairs office confirmed to Postmedia that Farah Mohamed Shirdon — who in 2014 fled to Syria and in the process became a de facto spokesman of the notorious terror organization — was killed in July 2015 in Mosul, Iraq.
News of the 24-year-old's death confirms what many had suspected of the Calgarian's fate, who came to prominence three years ago when he burned his Canadian passport in an ISIS propaganda video, issuing threats of jihad against western nations.
"We are coming and will destroy you ... this is a message for Canada and for all America," said Shirdon in the 2014 video, who also went by the nom de guerre Abu Usamah as-Somali.
"I left comfort for one reason alone, for Allah."
Related links
Calgary terrorist Farah Shirdon on Interpol's wanted list
Farah Shirdon charged with ISIS terrorism offences in absentia
Calgary mom who lost son to jihadists raising money for program to undo brainwashing
In Aug. 2014, numerous reports surfaced of his apparent death while fighting in Syria — allegations he disproved a month later when he reappeared on social media claiming to be in the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa.
Earlier this year, the U.S. State Department added Shirdon to their list of "Specially Designated Global Terrorists," calling him a prominent fighter, recruiter and fundraiser as well as a significant national security threat.
The April 19 decision also added Canadian Tarek Sakr to the most-wanted list — believed to be part of a group of Quebecers who left for Syria between 2011 and 2012.
Shirdon found himself on Interpol's most-wanted terrorist list in 2015 for leaving Canada to join a terrorist group, as well as participating in and instructing others to join a terrorist group.
[VIDEO] Shirdon tells VICE News: ' I want martyrdom. I want jihad'
He was also charged-in-absentia by the RCMP in September of that year for participation in the activity of a terrorist group, as well as counselling others to carry out terrorist activity.
Born in Toronto before moving to Calgary with his family, Shirdon — whose uncle was once prime minister of Somalia — was a student at SAIT and worked at the Scotiabank Chinook movie theatre.
While he wasn't the first Calgarian to flee the country to join ISIS, he was one of the most prominent, said former U of C political scientist and homegrown extremism expert Dr. Michael Zekulin.
"He was a part of what we call the 'Calgary Cluster,'" he said.
"They were not the only cluster, but they the very first public one."
Shirdon, he said, was contemporaries with other Calgary extremists as Damian Claremont, Salman Ashrafi and brothers Collin and Gregory Gordon — all of whom died while fighting alongside ISIS.
"He will be very well known, obviously in the Calgary context — but he was actually the public face for ISIS for a very long time," he said.
"Canada-wide, and not just Calgary-wide, you cannot take past indicators as any prediction of what's going to unfold in the future with this.
"ISIS is on the ropes, sure, but the ideology and the ideas still exist."
Prominent Calgary terrorist Farah Shirdon confirmed killed in Iraq | Canada | Ne
By Bryan Passifiume, Calgary Sun
First posted: Thursday, September 07, 2017 09:36 PM EDT | Updated: Friday, September 08, 2017 02:49 PM EDT
American defence officials have confirmed a Calgarian who took up arms with the Islamic State was killed over two years ago.
An official with the U.S. Central Command public affairs office confirmed to Postmedia that Farah Mohamed Shirdon — who in 2014 fled to Syria and in the process became a de facto spokesman of the notorious terror organization — was killed in July 2015 in Mosul, Iraq.
News of the 24-year-old's death confirms what many had suspected of the Calgarian's fate, who came to prominence three years ago when he burned his Canadian passport in an ISIS propaganda video, issuing threats of jihad against western nations.
"We are coming and will destroy you ... this is a message for Canada and for all America," said Shirdon in the 2014 video, who also went by the nom de guerre Abu Usamah as-Somali.
"I left comfort for one reason alone, for Allah."
Related links
Calgary terrorist Farah Shirdon on Interpol's wanted list
Farah Shirdon charged with ISIS terrorism offences in absentia
Calgary mom who lost son to jihadists raising money for program to undo brainwashing
In Aug. 2014, numerous reports surfaced of his apparent death while fighting in Syria — allegations he disproved a month later when he reappeared on social media claiming to be in the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa.
Earlier this year, the U.S. State Department added Shirdon to their list of "Specially Designated Global Terrorists," calling him a prominent fighter, recruiter and fundraiser as well as a significant national security threat.
The April 19 decision also added Canadian Tarek Sakr to the most-wanted list — believed to be part of a group of Quebecers who left for Syria between 2011 and 2012.
Shirdon found himself on Interpol's most-wanted terrorist list in 2015 for leaving Canada to join a terrorist group, as well as participating in and instructing others to join a terrorist group.
[VIDEO] Shirdon tells VICE News: ' I want martyrdom. I want jihad'
He was also charged-in-absentia by the RCMP in September of that year for participation in the activity of a terrorist group, as well as counselling others to carry out terrorist activity.
Born in Toronto before moving to Calgary with his family, Shirdon — whose uncle was once prime minister of Somalia — was a student at SAIT and worked at the Scotiabank Chinook movie theatre.
While he wasn't the first Calgarian to flee the country to join ISIS, he was one of the most prominent, said former U of C political scientist and homegrown extremism expert Dr. Michael Zekulin.
"He was a part of what we call the 'Calgary Cluster,'" he said.
"They were not the only cluster, but they the very first public one."
Shirdon, he said, was contemporaries with other Calgary extremists as Damian Claremont, Salman Ashrafi and brothers Collin and Gregory Gordon — all of whom died while fighting alongside ISIS.
"He will be very well known, obviously in the Calgary context — but he was actually the public face for ISIS for a very long time," he said.
"Canada-wide, and not just Calgary-wide, you cannot take past indicators as any prediction of what's going to unfold in the future with this.
"ISIS is on the ropes, sure, but the ideology and the ideas still exist."
Prominent Calgary terrorist Farah Shirdon confirmed killed in Iraq | Canada | Ne
Would-be ISIS fighter caught threatening to bomb girlfriend's car
First posted: Tuesday, September 19, 2017 04:59 PM EDT | Updated: Tuesday, September 19, 2017 09:33 PM EDT
As a wannabe ISIS fighter, Ismael Habib had all the wrong moves.
The Montreal native was stuck in Canada while his wife, in Syria with their children, kept bugging him to get on a plane and join the fight.
The Mounties were aware of his efforts to join the terrorist organization. And when he tried to get a passport under his brother’s name, using his brother’s driver’s licence as identification, the federal passport office told him to get lost.
By late 2015, Habib, 29, had met a new woman from Gatineau, and moved to Gatineau to be with her. But that started going badly, too.
He wanted her to quit her job because it put her in contact with men, and to wear a veil. No way, she said.
So he sat around watching ISIS videos that showed prisoners being killed. He made her listen to them. And finally, when he got mad and told her he was going to blow up her car while she was in it, she went to the Gatineau police, who arrested Habib and found several pieces of fake ID and his ISIS videos.
On Tuesday, lawyers argued about whether Habib was just a small-time maker of threats, or a more sinister and frightening figure. He has been convicted of threatening the girlfriend (who cannot be named under a court order) and having the fake ID. He will be sentenced Friday.
“He’s not the worst of the worst. Far from it,” Habib’s lawyer, Jacques Belley, told the court on Tuesday. For threats on this level, he said, “we frequently see fines accompanied by probation.”
There was no act of violence, he said. No weapons, no explosives. “Did madame (the girlfriend) see any weapons in the home? No.”
And although Habib wanted the girlfriend to quit her job and start wearing a veil, he never actually forced her to do so, Belley said.
Instead, there was “only one threat” on one occasion.
But Crown prosecutor Marie-Josée Genest was looking for the maximum jail term of 18 months. She said his harassment of the girlfriend is coloured by the separate case in Montreal, the one that deals with his stalled efforts to go to Syria and fight for ISIS. (He has been convicted on terror-related charges in that case but has not yet been sentenced.)
While there is a line between the threatening and the efforts to join ISIS, “the line is thin,” said Genest.
In some cases, someone might dismiss a single remark about putting a bomb in a car, “but (the girlfriend) had reason to believe him,” she said. This was, after all, someone who claimed to have terrorist connections.
She said the young woman lived in a “climate of fear” for the three months they were together in late 2015 and early 2016.
Genest said that forcing the woman to listen to violent ISIS videos over and over, with their repeated real-life violence, was a serious form of harassment in itself.
“We must send a message, a strong message” that society won’t tolerate behaviour like Habib’s, she said.
Habib spoke briefly on Tuesday by video link from jail, to illustrate what he said were extenuating factors in his case.
He spoke of the “loving relationship” between him and his girlfriend (without mentioning his wife), and said he took good care of her.
There was no violence, he said, and when the police searched his possessions they found no explosives and no bomb-making equipment.
The bomb threat, like the rest of his terrorist career, was just empty talk.
The sentencing continues Friday.
tspears@postmedia.com
twitter.com/TomSpears1
Would-be ISIS fighter caught threatening to bomb girlfriend's car | Canada | New
First posted: Tuesday, September 19, 2017 04:59 PM EDT | Updated: Tuesday, September 19, 2017 09:33 PM EDT
As a wannabe ISIS fighter, Ismael Habib had all the wrong moves.
The Montreal native was stuck in Canada while his wife, in Syria with their children, kept bugging him to get on a plane and join the fight.
The Mounties were aware of his efforts to join the terrorist organization. And when he tried to get a passport under his brother’s name, using his brother’s driver’s licence as identification, the federal passport office told him to get lost.
By late 2015, Habib, 29, had met a new woman from Gatineau, and moved to Gatineau to be with her. But that started going badly, too.
He wanted her to quit her job because it put her in contact with men, and to wear a veil. No way, she said.
So he sat around watching ISIS videos that showed prisoners being killed. He made her listen to them. And finally, when he got mad and told her he was going to blow up her car while she was in it, she went to the Gatineau police, who arrested Habib and found several pieces of fake ID and his ISIS videos.
On Tuesday, lawyers argued about whether Habib was just a small-time maker of threats, or a more sinister and frightening figure. He has been convicted of threatening the girlfriend (who cannot be named under a court order) and having the fake ID. He will be sentenced Friday.
“He’s not the worst of the worst. Far from it,” Habib’s lawyer, Jacques Belley, told the court on Tuesday. For threats on this level, he said, “we frequently see fines accompanied by probation.”
There was no act of violence, he said. No weapons, no explosives. “Did madame (the girlfriend) see any weapons in the home? No.”
And although Habib wanted the girlfriend to quit her job and start wearing a veil, he never actually forced her to do so, Belley said.
Instead, there was “only one threat” on one occasion.
But Crown prosecutor Marie-Josée Genest was looking for the maximum jail term of 18 months. She said his harassment of the girlfriend is coloured by the separate case in Montreal, the one that deals with his stalled efforts to go to Syria and fight for ISIS. (He has been convicted on terror-related charges in that case but has not yet been sentenced.)
While there is a line between the threatening and the efforts to join ISIS, “the line is thin,” said Genest.
In some cases, someone might dismiss a single remark about putting a bomb in a car, “but (the girlfriend) had reason to believe him,” she said. This was, after all, someone who claimed to have terrorist connections.
She said the young woman lived in a “climate of fear” for the three months they were together in late 2015 and early 2016.
Genest said that forcing the woman to listen to violent ISIS videos over and over, with their repeated real-life violence, was a serious form of harassment in itself.
“We must send a message, a strong message” that society won’t tolerate behaviour like Habib’s, she said.
Habib spoke briefly on Tuesday by video link from jail, to illustrate what he said were extenuating factors in his case.
He spoke of the “loving relationship” between him and his girlfriend (without mentioning his wife), and said he took good care of her.
There was no violence, he said, and when the police searched his possessions they found no explosives and no bomb-making equipment.
The bomb threat, like the rest of his terrorist career, was just empty talk.
The sentencing continues Friday.
tspears@postmedia.com
twitter.com/TomSpears1
Would-be ISIS fighter caught threatening to bomb girlfriend's car | Canada | New
Sick Jihadis pump out 27,000 posts on social media - in just five months
By Brad Hunter, Toronto Sun
First posted: Wednesday, September 20, 2017 06:00 PM EDT
Tweeting terror thugs and their booster clubs are flooding social media with a staggering tidal wave of hate.
And Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and others appear to be sitting on their hands.
According to The UK Sun, citing figures from the Home Office, jihadis posted 27,000 items of extremist content - and that covers just the first five months of the year.
The tabloid said that ISIS alone posts on average 180 items of twisted content on a daily basis.
The offerings are a vile smorgasbord featuring radicalizing propaganda to how-tos on unleashing your very own terror attacks.
Now, British Prime Minister Theresa May is targeting tech chiefs to get their houses in order when it comes to terror.
The Sun said May - expected to speak in New York - will say: “As PM, I have visited too many hospitals and seen too many innocent people murdered in my country. And I say enough is enough.”
But the tech giants claim they have set up a global forum to tackle the problems. Thus far, they have not announced any initiatives to take decisive action.
Facebook, Microsoft, Google and Twitter planned to make an announcement on what they’re going to do about the problem.
A source told the newspaper: “These companies have some of the best brains in the world.
“They should really be focusing that on what matters, which is stopping the spread of terrorism and violence. We want them to break the echo chambers.”
Twitter has suspended almost one million accounts seen as promoting terrorism over the last two years but have slowed down their ejections.
Sick Jihadis pump out 27,000 posts on social media - in just five months | Home
By Brad Hunter, Toronto Sun
First posted: Wednesday, September 20, 2017 06:00 PM EDT
Tweeting terror thugs and their booster clubs are flooding social media with a staggering tidal wave of hate.
And Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and others appear to be sitting on their hands.
According to The UK Sun, citing figures from the Home Office, jihadis posted 27,000 items of extremist content - and that covers just the first five months of the year.
The tabloid said that ISIS alone posts on average 180 items of twisted content on a daily basis.
The offerings are a vile smorgasbord featuring radicalizing propaganda to how-tos on unleashing your very own terror attacks.
Now, British Prime Minister Theresa May is targeting tech chiefs to get their houses in order when it comes to terror.
The Sun said May - expected to speak in New York - will say: “As PM, I have visited too many hospitals and seen too many innocent people murdered in my country. And I say enough is enough.”
But the tech giants claim they have set up a global forum to tackle the problems. Thus far, they have not announced any initiatives to take decisive action.
Facebook, Microsoft, Google and Twitter planned to make an announcement on what they’re going to do about the problem.
A source told the newspaper: “These companies have some of the best brains in the world.
“They should really be focusing that on what matters, which is stopping the spread of terrorism and violence. We want them to break the echo chambers.”
Twitter has suspended almost one million accounts seen as promoting terrorism over the last two years but have slowed down their ejections.
Sick Jihadis pump out 27,000 posts on social media - in just five months | Home
ISIS’s bizarre challenge to Harry
By Brad Hunter, Toronto Sun
First posted: Monday, September 25, 2017 05:12 PM EDT | Updated: Monday, September 25, 2017 07:43 PM EDT
An ISIS headcase has challenged Prince Harry to a fight and is vowing to send him “to hellfire”.
According to the U.K. Sun, a death cult member — identified as a Singaporean — made the challenge in a bizarre 3 1/2-minute video.
The jihadi’s screed also includes a call to arms for aspiring ISIS fighters to join the fight in Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
Earlier, Prince Harry spoke of the horrific London Bridge attack on a trip to Singapore.
But the ISIS nutter — identified by his nom du guerre as Abu Uqayl — issued a deadly threat to the beloved ginger.
“To Harry, you come to Singapore and tell such stories to gain sympathy for the London terror attacks? Why don’t you come here and fight us if you’re man enough, so that we can send you and your Apaches [helicopters] to hellfire?”
Harry flew Apache attack helicopters during a tour of duty in Afghanistan.
Singaporean officials identified the bombastic bomber as Megat Shahdan bin Abdul Samad, 39, who went to the Middle East in 2014.
In a statement, Singaporean government officials said: “Our security agencies have been aware for some time now of the presence in Syria of a Singaporean, Megat Shahdan bin Abdul Samad, 39, and have been monitoring his activities.
“It is believed that the person in the video calling himself ‘Abu Uqayl’ is Shahdan.”
ISIS
By Brad Hunter, Toronto Sun
First posted: Monday, September 25, 2017 05:12 PM EDT | Updated: Monday, September 25, 2017 07:43 PM EDT
An ISIS headcase has challenged Prince Harry to a fight and is vowing to send him “to hellfire”.
According to the U.K. Sun, a death cult member — identified as a Singaporean — made the challenge in a bizarre 3 1/2-minute video.
The jihadi’s screed also includes a call to arms for aspiring ISIS fighters to join the fight in Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
Earlier, Prince Harry spoke of the horrific London Bridge attack on a trip to Singapore.
But the ISIS nutter — identified by his nom du guerre as Abu Uqayl — issued a deadly threat to the beloved ginger.
“To Harry, you come to Singapore and tell such stories to gain sympathy for the London terror attacks? Why don’t you come here and fight us if you’re man enough, so that we can send you and your Apaches [helicopters] to hellfire?”
Harry flew Apache attack helicopters during a tour of duty in Afghanistan.
Singaporean officials identified the bombastic bomber as Megat Shahdan bin Abdul Samad, 39, who went to the Middle East in 2014.
In a statement, Singaporean government officials said: “Our security agencies have been aware for some time now of the presence in Syria of a Singaporean, Megat Shahdan bin Abdul Samad, 39, and have been monitoring his activities.
“It is believed that the person in the video calling himself ‘Abu Uqayl’ is Shahdan.”
ISIS
ISIS reclusive leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi rallies followers in purported new audio
Hamza Hendawi, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First posted: Thursday, September 28, 2017 01:12 PM EDT | Updated: Thursday, September 28, 2017 03:13 PM EDT
CAIRO — The leader of the Islamic State group urged followers to burn their enemies everywhere and target “media centres of the infidels,” according to an audio recording released Thursday that the extremists said was by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
The reclusive leader of IS, who has only appeared in public once, also vowed to continue fighting and lavished praise on jihadis despite their loss of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul in July.
The recording was released by the IS-run al-Furqan outlet, which has in the past released messages from al-Baghdadi and other top figures of the extremist group. The voice in the over 46-minute-long audio sounded much like previous recordings of al-Baghdadi. His last previous purported message was released in November, also in an audio recording.
“You soldiers of the caliphate, heroes of Islam and carriers of banners: light a fire against your enemies,” said al-Baghdadi, a shadowy cleric who has been surrounded by controversy since the terror group emerged from al-Qaida in Iraq, its forerunner.
Russian officials said in June there was a “high probability” that al-Baghdadi had died in a Russian airstrike on the outskirts of the Syrian city of Raqqa, the group’s de facto capital. U.S. officials later said they believed he was still alive.
Al-Baghdadi’s whereabouts are unknown but he is believed to be in IS’ dwindling territory in eastern Syria. The IS-held cities of Raqqa and Deir el-Zour are under siege and likely too dangerous for him to hide in. Some IS leadership is believed to have gone to the nearby town of Mayadeen, and the group still holds a stretch of the Euphrates River from Deir el-Zour to the Iraqi border, as well as remote desert areas along the border.
“You soldiers of Islam, supporters of the caliphate everywhere, step up your attacks and include the media centres of the infidels and the headquarters of their ideological war among your targets,” he said in the recording.
“Don’t you dare allow the Crusaders and the apostates to enjoy a good and comfortable life at home while your brothers are enduring killings, shelling and destruction,” al-Baghdadi added.
He also lauded his fighters for what he called their valiant fight against U.S.-backed Iraqi forces that wrested control of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, from IS after nearly nine months of fighting.
In the recording, he also consoled IS fighters over the number of major military setbacks suffered in recent months in both Iraq and Syria.
At the peak of its power in 2014 — when the Iraqi army crumbled amid the militants’ blitz — IS controlled about a third of both Syria and Iraq but has steadily lost ground in the face of a U.S.-led coalition that has backed Iraqi forces as well as Kurdish-led Syrian fighters battling the extremists across the border in Syria.
Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces, backed by allies Russia and Iran, have also driven IS out of significant territory.
The top priority for Muslims, al-Baghdadi says in the recording, is to “satisfy” God.
“Victory against their enemies and the enemy of God comes next,” he said.
The loss of Mosul was a deep symbolic blow to IS — it was after the group overran the city in June 2014 that the militants declared a caliphate stretching from northern Syria deep into the north and west of Iraq. And it was from Mosul’s famed al-Nuri Mosque that al-Baghdadi made his only public appearance at a Friday sermon, declaring the caliphate and calling on Muslims the world over to follow him.
At the time, he vowed that IS would conquer “Rome,” and the entire world.
Mosul was also the bureaucratic and financial hub of IS. Raiding Mosul’s central bank, and taxing and extorting the city’s wealthy inhabitants, made IS the world’s richest terrorist organization. Mosul’s vast industrial zones were converted into factories for weapons and explosives.
ISIS reclusive leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi rallies followers in purported new au
Hamza Hendawi, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First posted: Thursday, September 28, 2017 01:12 PM EDT | Updated: Thursday, September 28, 2017 03:13 PM EDT
CAIRO — The leader of the Islamic State group urged followers to burn their enemies everywhere and target “media centres of the infidels,” according to an audio recording released Thursday that the extremists said was by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
The reclusive leader of IS, who has only appeared in public once, also vowed to continue fighting and lavished praise on jihadis despite their loss of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul in July.
The recording was released by the IS-run al-Furqan outlet, which has in the past released messages from al-Baghdadi and other top figures of the extremist group. The voice in the over 46-minute-long audio sounded much like previous recordings of al-Baghdadi. His last previous purported message was released in November, also in an audio recording.
“You soldiers of the caliphate, heroes of Islam and carriers of banners: light a fire against your enemies,” said al-Baghdadi, a shadowy cleric who has been surrounded by controversy since the terror group emerged from al-Qaida in Iraq, its forerunner.
Russian officials said in June there was a “high probability” that al-Baghdadi had died in a Russian airstrike on the outskirts of the Syrian city of Raqqa, the group’s de facto capital. U.S. officials later said they believed he was still alive.
Al-Baghdadi’s whereabouts are unknown but he is believed to be in IS’ dwindling territory in eastern Syria. The IS-held cities of Raqqa and Deir el-Zour are under siege and likely too dangerous for him to hide in. Some IS leadership is believed to have gone to the nearby town of Mayadeen, and the group still holds a stretch of the Euphrates River from Deir el-Zour to the Iraqi border, as well as remote desert areas along the border.
“You soldiers of Islam, supporters of the caliphate everywhere, step up your attacks and include the media centres of the infidels and the headquarters of their ideological war among your targets,” he said in the recording.
“Don’t you dare allow the Crusaders and the apostates to enjoy a good and comfortable life at home while your brothers are enduring killings, shelling and destruction,” al-Baghdadi added.
He also lauded his fighters for what he called their valiant fight against U.S.-backed Iraqi forces that wrested control of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, from IS after nearly nine months of fighting.
In the recording, he also consoled IS fighters over the number of major military setbacks suffered in recent months in both Iraq and Syria.
At the peak of its power in 2014 — when the Iraqi army crumbled amid the militants’ blitz — IS controlled about a third of both Syria and Iraq but has steadily lost ground in the face of a U.S.-led coalition that has backed Iraqi forces as well as Kurdish-led Syrian fighters battling the extremists across the border in Syria.
Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces, backed by allies Russia and Iran, have also driven IS out of significant territory.
The top priority for Muslims, al-Baghdadi says in the recording, is to “satisfy” God.
“Victory against their enemies and the enemy of God comes next,” he said.
The loss of Mosul was a deep symbolic blow to IS — it was after the group overran the city in June 2014 that the militants declared a caliphate stretching from northern Syria deep into the north and west of Iraq. And it was from Mosul’s famed al-Nuri Mosque that al-Baghdadi made his only public appearance at a Friday sermon, declaring the caliphate and calling on Muslims the world over to follow him.
At the time, he vowed that IS would conquer “Rome,” and the entire world.
Mosul was also the bureaucratic and financial hub of IS. Raiding Mosul’s central bank, and taxing and extorting the city’s wealthy inhabitants, made IS the world’s richest terrorist organization. Mosul’s vast industrial zones were converted into factories for weapons and explosives.
ISIS reclusive leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi rallies followers in purported new au
Man who attempted to leave Canada to join ISIS gets 9 years
THE CANADIAN PRESS
First posted: Friday, September 29, 2017 03:35 PM EDT | Updated: Friday, September 29, 2017 04:40 PM EDT
MONTREAL — Ismael Habib’s strong loyalty to the principles of the Islamic State as well as the lack of evidence supporting his prospect for rehabilitation justified a nine-year prison term, a Quebec court judge said Friday.
Judge Serge Delisle sentenced Habib to nine years in prison for attempting to leave Canada to join the Islamic State and for giving false information to obtain a passport.
He cited the 29-year-old Habib’s “total adherence” to the principals and goals of the Islamic State as a factor justifying a longer sentence.
“This was not the utopian and thoughtless project of a teenager who was manipulated or carried away by an impulse,” Delisle told the court.
“It was rather with perfect knowledge of the objectives of the Islamic State and the methods used by this entity that the offender multiplied the steps to return to Syria and join the Islamic State.”
Additionally, Delisle noted the court had not been presented with any evidence on Habib’s prospects for rehabilitation, which he cited as another reason for the nine-year term.
Habib was given eight years for the terrorism offence and one year for the passport violation.
The time Habib has already spend in custody was subtracted from the sentence, leaving him with just over six-and-a-half years left to serve.
Habib will be eligible for parole after completing half the sentence.
His attorney had suggested six-and-a-half years minus the nearly 27 months Habib has served in pre-trial custody.
The accused was ensnared by an RCMP-led sting operation, in which he admitted to an undercover agent posing as a crime boss that he wanted to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State.
He was found guilty in June, making him the first adult in Canada to be convicted after going to trial on the charge of attempting to leave Canada to join the Islamic State.
Man who attempted to leave Canada to join ISIS gets 9 years | Canada | News | To
THE CANADIAN PRESS
First posted: Friday, September 29, 2017 03:35 PM EDT | Updated: Friday, September 29, 2017 04:40 PM EDT
MONTREAL — Ismael Habib’s strong loyalty to the principles of the Islamic State as well as the lack of evidence supporting his prospect for rehabilitation justified a nine-year prison term, a Quebec court judge said Friday.
Judge Serge Delisle sentenced Habib to nine years in prison for attempting to leave Canada to join the Islamic State and for giving false information to obtain a passport.
He cited the 29-year-old Habib’s “total adherence” to the principals and goals of the Islamic State as a factor justifying a longer sentence.
“This was not the utopian and thoughtless project of a teenager who was manipulated or carried away by an impulse,” Delisle told the court.
“It was rather with perfect knowledge of the objectives of the Islamic State and the methods used by this entity that the offender multiplied the steps to return to Syria and join the Islamic State.”
Additionally, Delisle noted the court had not been presented with any evidence on Habib’s prospects for rehabilitation, which he cited as another reason for the nine-year term.
Habib was given eight years for the terrorism offence and one year for the passport violation.
The time Habib has already spend in custody was subtracted from the sentence, leaving him with just over six-and-a-half years left to serve.
Habib will be eligible for parole after completing half the sentence.
His attorney had suggested six-and-a-half years minus the nearly 27 months Habib has served in pre-trial custody.
The accused was ensnared by an RCMP-led sting operation, in which he admitted to an undercover agent posing as a crime boss that he wanted to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State.
He was found guilty in June, making him the first adult in Canada to be convicted after going to trial on the charge of attempting to leave Canada to join the Islamic State.
Man who attempted to leave Canada to join ISIS gets 9 years | Canada | News | To