Free Republic

Can Dündar, the former editor-in-chief of the anti-Islamist Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet, received a 27-year prison sentence Wednesday for allegedly aiding a terrorist group by publishing a news story. Dündar left Turkey in 2016, stepping down from the top post at Turkey’s oldest national newspaper, following a public assassination attempt on the steps of the courthouse. Cumhuriyet has endured police action and prosecutions at all levels — from editor-in-chief to cafeteria cook — for publishing stories unfavorable to Islamist President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Dündar and his Ankara bureau chief, Erdem Gül, initially faced legal action in 2016 after publishing a report...

At least 190 police officers were involved in an anti-terrorism raid targeting a 15-year-old Syrian migrant boy who had allegedly threatened to carry out a terror attack. The massive raid took place on Tuesday at 6 am in the Marzahn area of the German capital and saw the nearly 200 officers moving in on the third floor in an apartment building where the Syrian teen lived with his family. A spokesman for the Berlin prosecutor’s office said investigators had evidence of an impending attack, saying, according to Bild: “Based on a credible indication last night, it was suspected that the...

The strongman leader of the Russian republic of Chechnya says two brothers attacked police with knives and killed an officer before being shot dead Officer, 2 suspects die in attack on police in ChechnyaThe Associated PressMOSCOW MOSCOW (AP) — Two brothers attacked police with knives Monday in Chechnya, killing an officer and injuring another before being shot dead, the Russian republic’s leader said. Ramzan Kadyrov, the strongman head of Chechnya, said the men attacked road police in the center of the provincial capital, Grozny, in an attempt to seize their weapons. Kadyrov said the brothers came from the neighboring region...

Muslim groups were given two weeks to sign on to a “Republican values charter” by French President Macron after a series of terror attacks, but six weeks later the groups have yet to agree on and finalise a signed document. The charter called on Muslim groups to rejected political Islam and reject anti-Semitism, homophobia and other issues frequently observed among those who subscribe to ultra-conservative and radical ideologies of Islam. The charter refers to political Islam as “the political and/or ideological currents commonly referred to as Wahhabism; Salafism; the doctrine of the Muslim Brotherhood; and more generally any local movement,...

29.12.2020 Attacks by gunmen suspected to be from Nigeria's Boko Haram jihadist rebels have killed at least 10 people in Borno state in northern Nigeria, according to local residents. The attackers hit four villages, according to the Borno state government which confirmed the attacks but put the casualty figure at three dead. However, residents said at least 10 people were killed. The first attack was on the town of Azare, where insurgents hit government offices and burned down a police station. Heavy gunfire was heard as soldiers fought the attackers. A soldier, officer and a local self-defence fighter were killed...

Landmines planted by Boko Haram jihadists have killed 11 security personnel, including four soldiers in northeast Nigeria, security sources said Tuesday. Seven hunters recruited to help the military fight the Islamist insurgents were killed on Tuesday when their vehicle hit a landmine in the village of Kayamla, outside Borno State’s capital Maiduguri. “Seven hunters died in the explosion and nine others are badly injured,” Babakura Kolo, the head of a local anti-jihadist militia, told AFP. “Their vehicle hit a landmine as they were pursuing Boko Haram insurgents,” he added. ... Four Nigerian soldiers were killed on Monday when their vehicle...

The number of Pakistani girls being forced to convert to Islam has increased during the pandemic, human rights advocates say according to an Associated Press report. Nearly 1,000 girls from religious minorities in Pakistan are are forced to convert to Islam each year, but since underage girls have been out of school due to the pandemic, predators looking to kidnap and force them to convert to Islam have taken advantage of the circumstances, according to the AP. Usually, male acquaintances and relatives looking for brides kidnap the girls, who are often from impoverished Hindu families or are Christians. Sometimes the...

ISLAMABAD, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- Fourteen people including two security personnel were injured in a hand grenade attack at a security forces' vehicle in Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province on Tuesday, local media reported. The vehicle of paramilitary troops Frontier Corps was passing by a busy market area in Surab city when it was attacked, the reports said, adding that the injured also included passersby who were doing shopping in the market. The wounded were shifted to a nearby hospital, but their condition is not known. The area was cordoned off by police and security forces for investigations. No group or...

Police in North Macedonia said Monday that eight men have been arrested on suspicion of planning terrorist attacks in the country and officers have seized a large quantity of weapons. Police said the men were arrested late Sunday and are between 21- and 31-years-old. One of the suspects had a previous conviction of participation in the Islamic State group. The eight have been charged with creating a terrorist organization. If convicted of that charge, they face prison sentences of up to 10 years. The eight were arrested on suspicion of "creating a terrorist organization, based on the ideological matrix of...

Three French soldiers were killed in Mali on Monday after their armored vehicle struck an improvised explosive device (IED) during a counterterrorism operation in the West African country, the French government said. The soldiers were killed while conducting operations in central Mali as part of the French military’s Operation Barkhane campaign to combat Islamist militants throughout the African Sahel region, French government authorities said. The incident occurred near the small town of Hombori, located in the central Mali province of Mopti, according to the Wall Street Journal. France’s government identified the slain soldiers as Quentin Pauchet, Tanerii Mauri, and Dorian...

An array of Palestinian terror organizations launched rockets into the Mediterranean Sea off the Gaza Strip on Tuesday at the start of what they called their first-ever joint exercise, which Israeli media described as a show of force organized by Iran. ... Eight rockets streaked through a cloudless sky in Gaza towards the Mediterranean after Abu Hamza, spokesman for Islamic Jihad, delivered a speech launching the drill. It will include land and coastal exercises described by the groups as a test of their preparedness for any future confrontation with Israel. Israeli media said the drill was organized by the groups’...

Egypt's military court on Tuesday sentenced to life imprisonment 168 terrorists for involvement with the Wilayat Sinai terrorist group, which has carried out 63 terror attacks in the Sinai Peninsula and is affiliated with the Islamic State terrorist organization (IS, outlawed in Russia), Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper reported CAIRO (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th December, 2020) Egypt's military court on Tuesday sentenced to life imprisonment 168 terrorists for involvement with the Wilayat Sinai terrorist group, which has carried out 63 terror attacks in the Sinai Peninsula and is affiliated with the Islamic State terrorist organization (IS, outlawed in Russia), Al-Masry...

... A police officer was killed and three officers were wounded in an attack by the Taliban on Monday morning on the police headquarters in the western Farah province, ... Police shot a suicide bomber whose vehicle exploded followed by insurgents opening fire on police, Mohib said, the AP reported. At least four insurgents were killed and eight were wounded. In a separate incident, two provincial revenue agency employees were fatally shot in the eastern Ghazni province, ... In another incident, a roadside bomb killed a security forces member and wounded two others including a council member, provincial council leader...

Kabul , December 29 : A suicide bomber blew himself up before reaching his target in the town of Torghundi in Afghanistan's Herat Province, local police said. According to Herat police spokesman Abdul Ahad Walizada, the man blew himself up after being identified by police. No one was injured by the blast, the police spokesman said. Meanwhile, the Herat branch of the National Directorate of Security (NDS) said the suicide bomber had wanted to plant a mine in Torghundi, but ended up detonating the explosives and killing himself before reaching the intended target.

VIENNAAfter being subjected to police violence in a raid targeting his home under the pretext of a “terror operation”, 12-year-old Mustafa A. has started therapy for sleep disorder. Vienna police on Nov. 9 raided 60 addresses and detained 30 Muslim activists and academics in an operation called “Operation Luxor” on charges of "establishing a terrorist organization, financial support for terrorism, organized crime formation, and money laundering." The police using disproportionate force against people well-known to the public and treating them as terrorists led to reactions from various segments of the society. Many NGOs, journalists, and writers called for the issue...

Austrian police arrested 30 people suspected of being radical Islamists yesterday as part of the government's "war on Islamism", the Times reported. The individuals were apprehended during a series of pre-dawn raids, collectively termed 'Operation Luxor', conducted by almost 1,000 police officers, including special forces, counterterrorism personnel and dog handlers. The raids, which were conducted simultaneously around the country at 5am yesterday, focused on the Austrian branches of Hamas, the Palestinian group, and the Muslim Brotherhood, a transnational Islamist organisation. More than 70 individuals are currently being investigated, according to the Times, though only 30 were arrested during yesterday's raids....

Some 1,000 girls are forced to convert to Islam in Pakistan each year, according to a report Monday from the Associated Press (AP). The forced conversions often take place as a prelude to non-consensual marriages and frequently involve underage girls, AP stated, a practice that has only increased during the long months of coronavirus lockdowns. “Forced conversions thrive unchecked on a money-making web that involves Islamic clerics who solemnize the marriages, magistrates who legalize the unions and corrupt local police who aid the culprits by refusing to investigate or sabotaging investigations,” AP declared, citing child protection activists. These conversions and...

What does a society look like when it is in the process of committing suicide? Like this. “She led the Islamic State Women’s Brigade in Syria – now Fatin, 33, receives protected identity and grants in Sweden,” translated from “Hon ledde Islamiska statens kvinnobrigad i Syrien – nu får Fatin, 33, skyddad identitet och bidrag i Sverige,” Fria Tider, December 23, 2020: Domestic. The leader of the Islamic State’s women’s brigade in Syria, Fatin al-Mandlawi, 33, has moved back to Sweden and now lives in Angered in Gothenburg, Fria Tider can reveal today. The Swedish Tax Agency has given her...

DHOBLEY, Somalia — A 7-year-old boy was hospitalized for three days after male Muslim teenagers attacked him for his father’s Christian faith. The attack occurred after the father finished a Bible study Oct. 9 with other underground Christians in Dhobley. The father has been targeted since leaving Islam eight years ago. In 2012, he fled from another country to Kenya. There, a German missionary couple told him about Jesus and the man later accepted Jesus. His wife accepted Christ in 2013. The couple have been attacked and persecuted repeatedly since then, often by the woman’s father. Her father beat her,...

Several Hindus had taken out a Ramnidhi Sangrahan rally in Ujjain to collect donations for the Ram Mandir constructions at Ayodhya when it was attacked by stones in a Muslim dominated area A violent Muslim mob targeted Hindu groups and pelted stones at them for carrying out yatra near Begumbagh in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh on Friday evening. According to the reports, several Hindus had taken out a Ramnidhi Sangrahan rally in Ujjain to collect donations for the Ram Mandir constructions at Ayodhya. The rally was scheduled to start from the tower area and end at Bharat Mata Mandir in Mahakal...