Free Republic

(ChinaAid Association —Nov. 18, 2020) During an interview with William McKenzie, Bush Institute Senior Editorial Advisor, Bob Fu, PhD, founder, and president of ChinaAid, shares how his current situation has affected him, his family, and his ongoing work for freedom through ChinaAid. As Dr. Fu recounts the "very real" issue of freedom from an undisclosed location, he confirms: "The Chinese Communist Party hates me and China Aid for our freedom work." Highlights from Dr. Fu's conversation with McKenzie include: McKenzie: Nonprofit organization China Aid supports rule of law, religious freedom, and human rights. Bob Fu, its founder, has in turn...

BOSTON (AP) - Prosecutors have asked a judge to halt citizenship proceedings for a businessman who headed an Islamic charity so the FBI can continue investigating whether he lied about his ties to organizations that include one linked to Osama bin Laden. U.S. Attorney Michael J. Sullivan asked to postpone Emadeddin Z. Muntasser's naturalization hearing scheduled for Thursday. The judge did not immediately rule on the request and gave Muntasser until Wednesday to respond. Muntasser, whose citizenship application has been in the pipeline more than two years, is "the subject of a pending federal criminal investigation regarding statements he made...

ABUJA, Nigeria (Morning Star News) – Suspected Fulani herdsmen killed four Christians in Plateau state on Saturday (Jan. 22), after 18 Christians were slain in another area of the state on Jan. 11, sources said. In the two attacks, eight other Christians were reported wounded, and in one village 24 homes were burned down. The armed assailants ambushed Christians in Dong village, on the outskirts of Jos in Jos North County, on Saturday (Jan. 22) at about 6 p.m., killing four and wounding two others, area resident Rejoice Johnson said. “Dong, our community, has constantly been attacked by armed Muslim...

JUST IN - Biden admin has waived US sanctions on Iran’s "civil nuclear program." https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1489721322330632196

President Biden on Sunday called for the release of American hostage Mark Frerichs ahead of the two-year anniversary of his abduction if the Taliban expects to be recognized as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. "Two years ago tomorrow, U.S. Navy veteran Mark Frerichs was taken hostage in Afghanistan. A civil engineer, he spent a decade helping the people of Afghanistan. He has done nothing wrong. And yet, for two years the Taliban has held him captive," Biden said in a statement.

Editor’s Note: Lawfare’s Board of Directors has published a post regarding this article and our editorial standards here. In the United States, the latest Iranian protests have sparked a kind of debate in which we argue fervently about whether the U.S. should tweet its support or just shut up. At the risk of making the Trump administration look moderate, I think we can choose between more than waving our hands and sitting on them. Remember, when the Iranian regime decided it didn’t like U.S. activities in Iraq, it found considerably more direct ways to express its disapproval. It just started...

The Czech Republic is expelling 18 employees of the Russian embassy in Prague, who were allegedly "identified as members of the Russian secret services", Foreign Minister Jan Hamacek said at news conference. According to local media reports, the move comes in response to evidence obtained by the country's security services which suggests Russia's involvement in two ammunition depot explosions in 2014 in the Czech Republic which killed two people. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Andrej Babis said in the same news conference that "there is well-grounded suspicion about the involvement of officers of the Russian intelligence service GRU, unit 29155, in the...

When Corey Johnson was 17, he murdered a 13-year-old boy, Jovanni Sierra Brand, and stabbed two other people because they “idolized celebrities and disrespected his Muslim faith.” Johnson is now 21. On Thursday, he got a life sentence for the murder, but no one seems to be pondering the larger implications of the case. The UK’s Daily Mail reported Thursday that “Palm Beach County Judge Cheryl Caracuzzo sentenced Johnson to life in prison and said on Thursday she did not believe rehabilitation was likely for Johnson after he remained emotionless during the heartfelt testimony of Jovanni’s mother.” When he...

In a bombshell report by POLITICO‘s Josh Meyer, the Obama administration is accused of protecting Hezbollah drug and human trafficking rings to help ensure a nuclear deal with Iran was achieved. POLITICO reports: Project Cassandra reached higher into the hierarchy of the conspiracy, Obama administration officials threw an increasingly insurmountable series of roadblocks in its way, according to interviews with dozens of participants who in many cases spoke for the first time about events shrouded in secrecy, and a review of government documents and court records. When Project Cassandra leaders sought approval for some significant investigations, prosecutions, arrests and financial...

Did the current administration “collude” with Russia? So far no evidence at all has emerged to support that hypothesis, but Politico’s Josh Meyer digs deep into another curious set of circumstances in the Obama White House and its own operations with a foreign power. Perhaps the media will start asking whether the previous administration colluded with Iran to let terrorists and drug dealers go free in order to score one of the worst deals ever in international relations. Before Barack Obama decided to pursue the nuclear deal with Iran, the DEA had a major operation called Project Cassandra. This operation...

Two US officials involved in negotiations over renewing the 2015 Irn nuclear deal have stepped back from the talks and a third has left the team altogether amid internal discord over how firm the White House should be with Tehran, according to a report. Richard Nephew, the State Department's deputy special envoy for Iran who pushed for a tougher approach, has not been part of the talks since early December, Wall Street Journal reported Monday. A State Department spokesman told Reuters late Monday that Nephew was no longer in the envoy role, though he was still at the department. Two...

A BRIT who spent two years in Guantanamo Bay as a terror suspect is cashing in with a computer game based on the US detention camp. Moazzam Begg, 41, will appear as himself in the Xbox 360 game, which could rake in £3million. Rendition: Guantanamo, due to go on sale in October, lets players control a detainee trying to shoot his way out. Begg, of Sparkhill, Birmingham, is shown in the game as head of an organisation helping the suspect to escape. Human rights activist Begg was thrown into the camp on Cuba in 2003 after the CIA held him...

A top House Republican revealed Sunday the investigation into the man who took four people hostage at a Texas synagogue on Saturday has gone international. What are the details? Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), the ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told CNN host Jake Tapper on "State of the Union" there is "something more" to the case than a lone actor. In fact, McCaul disclosed that the FBI's investigation now extends to London and Tel Aviv. "I know the FBI has now fanned their investigation out to London and Tel Aviv. So this has now turned into an...

Authorities on Sunday identified a 44-year-old British national as the man who took four people hostage at a Texas synagogue for 10 hours before an FBI SWAT team stormed the building, ending a tense standoff that President Joe Biden called “an act of terror." Malik Faisal Akram was shot and killed after the last of the hostages got out at around 9 p.m. Saturday at Congregation Beth Israel near Fort Worth. In a statement, the FBI said there was no indication that anyone else was involved, but it didn't provide a possible motive. Akram could be heard ranting on a...

A Texas SWAT team responded Saturday afternoon to a hostage situation at a synagogue near Dallas. The Colleyville Police Department said on Twitter that they are conducting SWAT operations "around the 6100 block of Pleasant Run Rd." All residents in the immediate area of the incident are being evacuated, according to the tweet.

Just last month, CAIR’s Dallas-Fort-Worth chapter held an event called "In Pursuit of Freedom" at the East Plano Islamic Center in Plano, Texas, calling for Siddiqui’s release, claiming she had been "kidnapped, ripped apart from her children, shot at, renditioned to the U.S., and is currently serving an 86-year prison sentence for a crime she did not commit." On Nov. 18, the CAIR chapter held an online fundraiser for Siddiqui’s defense team. Days earlier, multiple Muslim advocacy groups, including CAIR, American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), the Islamic Circle of North America Council for Social Justice (ICNA-CSJ), and the Muslim American...

The suspect in an apparent hostage situation at a Texas synagogue is identified as Muhammad Siddiqui by ABC News, which reports that he’s holding the rabbi of the congregation and three others hostage. Siddiqui claimed during the livestream to be the brother of Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani national who was convicted in 2010 by a New York City Federal Court of attempting to kill US military personnel. She is currently serving an 86-year sentence at Federal Medical Center, Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas. ABC, citing a source at the scene, says Siddiqui is demanding his sister’s release.

Hostage-taker at Texas synagogue calls for the release of Pakistani national from US prison, authorities say By Alaa Elassar and Michelle Watson, CNN Updated 8:40 PM EST, Sat January 15, 2022 article video (CNN)The FBI and Texas Department of Public Safety are assisting a hostage situation at a synagogue in Texas, where authorities say the suspect may be motivated by the desire to free a Pakistani scientist who was convicted of attempting to kill US officers in Afghanistan. A law enforcement official familiar with the investigation told CNN there were believed to be four hostages, including a rabbi, at Congregation...

Spanish intelligence wanted to destabilize Catalonia prior to independence referendum, says Jose Manuel Villarejo. The 2017 terror attacks in Spain were orchestrated by the National Intelligence Center (CNI), a former senior police officer said Thursday. The aim was to destabilize Catalonia before an independence referendum but the outcome that left 16 dead, was a miscalculation, said Jose Manuel Villarejo, according to the Catalanews agency. Quoting Villarejo’s testimony in court, the news outlet said the attacks, which included a truck plowing those pedestrians on Barcelona’s La Rambla, "were a serious mistake" on the part of former National Intelligence Center (CNI) Director...

* Killing reportedly took place in the country's gas-rich province Cabo Delgado * Suspected ISIS-linked extremists ordered the pastor's wife to deliver his head * Police said the widow arrived to the local police headquarters last Wednesday * Cabo Delgado province has been rocked by attacks by ISIS-linked militants since 2017, killing at least 3,340 people and displacing more than 800,000Suspected ISIS-linked extremists have decapitated a Christian pastor before handing his severed head to his wife to show authorities in Mozambique. The killing, reported by local news, took place in the country's gas-rich northern province of Cabo Delgado. Last Wednesday,...