US AGAIN URGED TO DESIGNATE BOKO HARAM AS TERRORIST GROUP
Jihadist group tied to Al Qaeda has killed thousands in Nigeria
8/20/2013
Attorney sound bite: Benjamin Bull
WASHINGTON — Alliance Defending Freedom and Jubilee Campaign, together with several other concerned organizations, are again formally requesting that the U.S. State Department designate the Nigerian jihadist group Boko Haram as a “foreign terrorist organization.”
Boko Haram is responsible for killing an estimated 3,000 Nigerians and citizens of 15 other countries—primarily Christians—in the last four years and has acknowledged it has ties to al-Qaida and al-Shabab. A 2012 terrorism report posted on the State Department website ranks Boko Haram second only to the Taliban among the top 10 perpetrator groups with the most attacks worldwide.
“Those who continue to wantonly kill Christians solely because of their faith should not be tolerated when available steps can be taken to curb this kind of genocidal terror,” said Alliance Defending Freedom Chief Counsel Benjamin Bull. “Boko Haram is eminently qualified to be designated as a foreign terrorist organization. We encourage the State Department to make that designation sooner rather than later so that fewer people will lose their lives needlessly.”
Jubilee Campaign and Alliance Defending Freedom co-authored the formal report and petition submitted to Secretary of State John Kerry after a report and petition filed last year with his predecessor, Hillary Clinton, received no response. A shorter version of the new petition is available through Saturday on the White House website for any concerned citizen to sign.
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Clueless in DC!