Egypt sentences 43, including Americans, in NGO case
Friends of Egyptian suspects react as they listen to the judge's verdict at a court room during a case against foreign non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Cairo June 4, 2013.
By Shaimaa Fayed and Maggie Fick
CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian court gave jail terms to 43 Americans, Europeans, Egyptians and other Arabs on Tuesday in a case against democracy promotion groups that plunged U.S.-Egyptian ties into their worst crisis in decades.
Judge Makram Awad gave five-year sentences in absentia to at least 15 U.S. citizens who left Egypt last year. He sentenced an American who stayed behind to two years in prison and gave the same sentence to a German woman.
Egyptian court ruling on legislature adds new twist to nation’s long list of problems
(Amr Nabil, File/ Associated Press ) - FILE - In this file photo taken on Tuesday, April 23, 2013, Egyptian Shura Council members meet to discuss the government’s 2013-2014 budget at the Shura Council, Parliament’s upper house. When voters went to the polls more than a year ago to vote for Egypt’s upper house of parliament, most presumed the legislature would be the powerless talk shop that it had been for 30 years. Few candidates were known outside their families, parties or neighborhoods. Only seven percent of the electorate bothered to cast a ballot. Thanks to the twists and turns of the rocky transition that followed Egypt’s 2011 uprising, the Shura Council finds itself the sole law-making body in the land. This accidental legislature is now back in the spotlight ahead of an expected court ruling on its disputed legal status _ a move that could see it dissolved.AP
CAIRO — Egypt’s highest court ruled on Sunday that the nation’s interim parliament was illegally elected, though it stopped short of dissolving the chamber immediately, in a decision likely to fuel the tensions between the ruling Islamists and the judiciary.
The Supreme Constitutional Court also ruled that a 100-member panel that drafted the new constitution was illegally elected.
Some of the fourteen Egyptian activists who were accused of working for unlicensed non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and receiving illegal foreign funds, stands in a cage during the opening of their trial in Cairo on February 26, 2012.
This draft law dashes all hopes that independent groups could operate freely and independently after the revolution. Egypt’s proposed NGO law would allow the government free rein to cut off funding and halt activities of groups that it finds inconvenient. It is hostile to the very notion of independent civil society.
Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director
(New York) – The draft Associations Law that Egypt’s president put before the country’s legislature on May 29, 2013, would allow the government and its security agencies to arbitrarily restrict the funding and operation of independent groups if it is adopted in its present form.
Muslim Persecution Against Christians Is 'Spreading, Intensifying,' ' Says Egyptian Copt
Coptic Orthodox Christians chant anti-Morsi and anti-government slogans as they attend the funeral of men who died during clashes between Muslims and Christians in Khusus, El-Kalubia governorate, in Cairo, April 7. (Reuters/Mohamed Abd El Ghany)
Jihadist persecution of Christians around the world is one of the biggest under-reported stories in media circles, says a Christian activist and expert on the issue.
Raymond Ibrahim, a Copt from Egypt—now living in the U.S.—says that Western weakness in confronting radical Islam has left the jihadists feeling emboldened. In his new book, Crucified Again, Ibrahim presents firsthand knowledge and investigation of widespread persecution.
“Although Muslim persecution of Christians is one of the most dramatic stories of our times, it is also one of the least known in the West,” he writes.
Woolwich attack: Islamists' campaign to recruit street gangs
Supporters of Omar Bakri Mohammed, the exiled Islamist cleric who claimed to have converted Woolwich murder suspect Michael Adebolajo, sought to recruit members of violent street gangs and encourage them to ‘die for Islam’.
Omar Bakri Mohammed claimes to have converted Woolwich murder suspect Michael Adebolajo Photo: Ruth Sherlock for the Telegraph
Convert2Islam, a radical group run by Abu Rumaysah, a follower of Bakri and a spokesman for an offshoot of Al-Muhajiroun, ran a series of ‘roadshows’ in the poorest areas of south and east London in order to recruit teenagers from broken homes involved in gun and knife crime
It is claimed Anjem Choudary, who led Al Muhajiroun after Bakri was barred from Britain by the Home Office, also attended the recruitment drives.
Rumaysah today told the Daily Telegraph he knew Adebolajo, whom he called ‘Mujahid’, well but could ‘not remember’ if he attended the events. He added: “I’m not going to publicly say he was a bad man or an evil man.”
The horrific killing in Woolwich, where a man believed to be a soldier based at the nearby Woolwich barracks was beheaded by two machete-wielding assailants, has all the hallmarks of an al-Qaeda attack.
At the time of writing we are still awaiting confirmation from security officials about the precise nature of the incident. But having just watched some ITV footage, which shows a man with bloodied hands who is carrying a machete saying directly into the camera "We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you", it seems pretty clear to me what has happened.
Egypt’s 2011 jailbreaks still a mystery, carry potential embarrassment for Islamist leader
CAIRO — It was one of the most perplexing events of Egypt’s revolution: orchestrated attacks on prisons around the country that broke out more than 20,000 inmates while police were tied down with the massive popular protests that swept autocrat Hosni Mubarak from power.
The prison breaks added to the chaos during the 18-day uprising in 2011, and the flood of criminals onto the streets fueled a crime wave that continues to this day. Also among those who escaped were around 40 members of the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, as well as more than 30 leaders of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood — including the man who is now president, Mohammed Morsi.
There has never been a definitive accounting of who was behind the prison attacks.
The circumstances are unclear but friends and neighbors have identified the dead man as Ibragim Todashev, 26. Authorities keyed on Todashev because he was in contact with one of the Boston bombers prior to last month's marathon attack, law enforcement sources said.
Todashev was from Chechnya and apparently told federal authorities that he had met Tamerlan Tsarnaev in Boston, but that he knew nothing about the planned attack.
Woolwich attack: meat cleaver, knife and jihadist claims filmed on mobile
A man suspected of staging a terrorist attack that left a British soldier dead near a military barracks in London, was caught on camera clutching a meat cleaver and knife in hands apparently covered in the blood of his victim, as he justified the violence as part of a jihadist-inspired fight against the west.
The incident happened in broad daylight, 400 metres from the perimeter of the Royal Artillery barracks, in Woolwich, south-east London, sparking a terrorist alert that saw the government crisis committee Cobra convene in emergency session. Hours later, David Cameron described what had occurred as "an absolutely sickening attack".
WASHINGTON — The United States expressed concern Monday at the repression of civil rights in Egypt, particularly the free speech rights of political activists and journalists.
"We are deeply concerned by the growing trend of efforts to punish and deter political expression in Egypt," said Patrick Ventrell, a State Department spokesman, just ahead of the first anniversary of the election of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi.
"Numerous individuals, including journalists, bloggers and activists have been detained, and some are being charged and put on trial for allegedly defaming government figures," Ventrell said.
Activist youth leader detained by Egyptian authorities at airport upon arrival from US
CAIRO — Egypt’s prosecutor general on Friday ordered a prominent youth leader detained for four days pending an investigation into accusations he incited anti-government violence, a security official said, in the latest case of a pro-democracy activist being held over similar charges.
The detention sparked a wave of anger among activists and the April 6 youth movement, which was at the forefront of the country’s 2011 uprising, called for nationwide protests, including one in front of President Mohammed Morsi’s house.
Member of Scottish Parliament concerned over misuse of Pakistan blasphemy laws
GLASGOW, UK (Rebecca Gebauer) John Mason, a member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) expressed his concern over the Pakistan’s blasphemy laws during a meeting with delegates of Global Minorities Alliance at the Alliance’s office on Monday April, 29.
Sheraz Khan, Chief Executive of Global Minorities Alliance gave an in-depth briefing to Mr Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston on the widespread misuse of Pakistan’s disputed blasphemy laws. Mr Khan told the MSP that the laws were being widely misused in Pakistan to settle personal scores and vendettas.
He said the misuse of the blasphemy laws had dealt a massive blow to communal and interfaith relations in Pakistan. He requested Mr Mason to voice the Alliance’s concern over the misuse of Pakistan blasphemy laws in the Scottish Parliament. Mr Mason said that he would write to the Pakistan Consulate in the first instance. A members’ motion or question to a minster would be possible other options.
Mr Khan also drew the MSP’s attention towards infiltration of Islam in the text books of linguistics and social sciences. “A grade 2 book of Urdu language asks questions like: Who are we? and the answer given is : We are Muslims,” Mr Khan told the meeting.
Soldiers stand by tourists as they patrol near the Eiffel Tower in Paris
VILLEPINTE, France: In France, the path to Islamist militancy often begins with a minor offense that throws a young man into an overcrowded, violent jail and produces a hardened convert ready for jihad.
With the country on heightened security alert since January when French troops began fighting Al-Qaeda-linked Islamists in Mali, authorities are increasingly worried about homegrown militants emerging from France’s own jails.
Tanzanian police have arrested at least six suspects, including four Saudi Arabian nationals, in connection with a bomb attack on a church in the northern city of Arusha on Sunday in which two people were killed and dozens injured, police officials said Tuesday.
It is the first time foreigners have been arrested for suspected involvement in the hitherto local religious tensions that have been simmering for several months now between the country's Christians and Muslims.
Associated Press
Wounded churchgoers lie on the ground after a blast at the St. Joseph Mfanyakazi Roman Catholic Church in Arusha, Tanzania Sunday.
"Four Saudi Arabia nationals were arrested near the Namanga border post, on the Kenyan border. We suspect they were the brains behind the attack," a police official, who declined to be named, said by telephone from Arusha.
Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, third left, attends Friday prayers in Cairo, Egypt, April 26, 2013.
CAIRO — Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi increased the influence of his Muslim Brotherhood over government in a Cabinet reshuffle that replaced two ministers involved in crucial talks with the IMF over a $4.8 billion loan.
The changes fell well short of the opposition's demand for a complete overhaul of Prime Minister Hisham Kandil's administration and the installation of a neutral Cabinet to oversee parliamentary elections later this year.
This week, Egypt witnessed three events have not received the desired media attention,
First: several hundreds of Salafis demonstrated last Thursday evening in front of the headquarter of the National Security (the former name: State Security) to denounce what they called the return of prosecutions of persons belonging to religious stream, their pretext was that the National Security Agency Sent requests to attend some activists affiliated with the stream of political Islam in the previous period
But, Monitoring the events, clear that the main objective of these demonstrations and protests is to bring down the National Security Agency and weaken it as what happened to the Interior Ministry during the revolution of January 2011, especially those protests came after attacks on Copts by Salafist groups and throwing Molotov cocktails at the church in Wasta City (in Bani Swaif Province)
Egyptian activist to be tried for insulting president, remains in custody
By Associated Press,
May 02, 2013 05:41 PM EDT
TANTA, Egypt — Prominent Egyptian activist Ahmed Douma was arrested and immediately referred to trial for allegedly insulting the country’s president in a TV interview, a prosecutor said Thursday.
Douma is to stand trial on Sunday — less than a week after being arrested. He is the first prominent opposition activist to be tried on charges of insulting Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.
Anzal Hussain left, and Mohammed Hasseen, right ((AP Photo/ West Midalnds Police via PA))
April 30, 2013 (LONDON) -- Six men pleaded guilty in Britain on Tuesday to planning a terrorist attack on a demonstration by the far-right English Defense League which failed because the plotters arrived after the rally ended.
The men were arrested in July in central England after a search of an impounded vehicle found hidden guns, a nail bomb and other weapons, prompting police to trace and arrest the driver, the passenger and the other suspects.
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) told a conservative radio program this week that the Obama administration “bungled” the investigation of the Boston bombing due to internal guidance from the Muslim Brotherhood.
Appearing on World Net Daily’s radio show, Gohmert speculated that Attorney General Eric Holder read bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev his Miranda rights to “shut him up” and undermine the investigation into the brothers’ possible ties to radical Islam. “It’s very clear to everybody but this administration that radical Islam is at war against us,” he said, before noting that Obama has displayed a “real pattern” of “incompetence” in responding to the threat from extremists during his tenure. He then suggested that members of the Muslim Brotherhood have infiltrated the administration and are leading the president astray:
A shocking video has emerged that appears to show Egyptian police standing idly by as an anti-Christian mob launch a frenzied attack on a cathedral filled with mourners.
Two worshippers were left dead and 84 injured, including 11 police officers, as men shooting guns, wielding machetes and hurling stones laid siege to the walled Coptic cathedral compound in Cairo earlier this month.
Footage of the prolonged mass attack shows uniformed officers looking on and appearing to help one gunman take aim at people streaming out of a service held for five men killed in an earlier clash with Muslims.
