LONDON: British radical Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary, whose followers have been linked to numerous plots around the world, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Tuesday for directing a terrorist organization.
Choudary, 57, was convicted last week of directing Al-MuHajjiroun, which was banned as a terrorist organization more than a decade ago, and encouraging others to support the proscribed group.
“Organizations such as yours normalize violence in support of an ideological cause,” Judge Mark Wall told Choudary at London’s Woolwich Crown Court.
“Their existence gives individuals who are members of them the courage to commit acts which otherwise they might not do. They drive wedges between people who otherwise could and would live together in peaceful coexistence.”
Wall imposed a life sentence on Choudary with a minimum term of 28 years before he can be eligible for parole, less just over the year that he has spent in custody since his arrest.
Once Britain’s most high-profile Islamist preacher, Choudary drew attention for praising the men responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States and saying he wanted to convert Buckingham Palace into a mosque.
He was previously imprisoned in Britain in 2016 for encouraging support for Daesh, before being released in 2018 after serving half of his five-and-a-half-year sentence.
Prosecutor Tom Little said on Tuesday that Choudary became “the caretaker emir” of Al-MuHajjiroun after fellow preacher Omar Bakri Mohammed was jailed in Lebanon in 2014.
Choudary’s lawyer Paul Hynes argued that Al-MuHajjiroun was “little more than a husk of an organization” and that almost all terrorist acts linked to the group had already taken place.
But Wall said Al-MuHajjiroun was “a radical organization intent on spreading sharia law to as much of the world as possible, using violent means where necessary.”
Choudary stood trial alongside Canadian citizen Khaled Hussein, 29, who was arrested on the same day as Choudary in 2023 when he arrived on a flight at Heathrow Airport.
Hussein was found guilty of membership of a proscribed organization and sentenced to five years in prison.
Radical UK Islamist preacher Choudary jailed for life for terrorism offenses
https://arab.news/g2yvj
Radical UK Islamist preacher Choudary jailed for life for terrorism offenses
- “Organizations such as yours normalize violence in support of an ideological cause,” Judge Mark Wall told Choudary at London’s Woolwich Crown Court
- “Their existence gives individuals who are members of them the courage to commit acts which otherwise they might not do”
Bangladesh calls for faster resettlement process for Rohingya Muslims
- Around 8,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled across the border to Bangladesh as fighting intensifies between Myanmar’s ruling junta, Arakan Army
- The new arrivals add to the more than one million Rohingya refugees already living in overcrowded camps in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district
DHAKA: The head of Bangladesh’s interim government, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, on Sunday called for a fast-tracked third-country resettlement of Rohingya Muslims living in the south Asian country, as a new wave of refugees flee escalating violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
Around 8,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled across the border to Bangladesh in recent months as fighting intensifies between Myanmar’s ruling junta and the Arakan Army, a powerful ethnic militia drawn from the country’s Buddhist majority.
The new arrivals add to the more than one million Rohingya refugees already living in overcrowded camps in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district, most of whom fled a military-led crackdown in Myanmar in 2017. The Rohingya refugees have little hope of returning to their homeland, where they are largely denied citizenship and other basic rights.
The call to expedite resettlement efforts was made during a meeting with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), in which Yunus, Chief Adviser to the interim government, said the “resettlement process should be easy, regular, and smooth.”
Abdusattor Esoev, head of the IOM in Bangladesh, said the resettlement of Rohingya to third countries resumed in 2022 after a gap of 12 years, but has only gathered pace this year, a statement from the Chief Adviser’s office said.
Washington has reaffirmed its commitment to resettle thousands of Rohingya in the United States, but the process has not yet been accelerated, the statement said.
The recent surge in violence is the worst the Rohingya have faced since the 2017 Myanmar military-led campaign, which the United Nations described as having genocidal intent.
Bangladesh’s de facto foreign minister, Mohammad Touhid Hossain, told Reuters last month that Bangladesh cannot accept more Rohingya refugees and called on India and other countries to take in more of those fleeing violence.
He also urged the international community to apply more pressure on the Arakan Army to cease its attacks on the Rohingya in Rakhine state.
Harris campaign plans for aggressive outreach in swing states after Tuesday’s debate with Trump
- After the debate, political leaders on Wednesday are set to commemorate the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks
PITTSBURGH: Vice President Kamala Harris plans a four-day campaign trip through major swing states after the Democrat’s debate Tuesday with Republican Donald Trump.
Her “New Way Forward” tour will include a new television spot, rallies, canvassing events and programs designed to target important voting groups, the campaign said Sunday, adding that the tour will culminate at the start of Hispanic Heritage Month on Sept. 15.
In a tight race against the former president, the Harris campaign sees itself as having the room to persuade voters before focusing more intently on turnout with the beginning of early voting before the Nov. 5 election. Trump has also stepped up his outreach with rallies and interviews in seemingly friendly forums.
The period after the debate in Philadelphia marks the start of the aggressive sprint toward the end of what has been a dramatic race.
“Our campaign will take the vice president’s message directly to the voters wherever they are -– on the airwaves, on the doors, and online,” said Michael Tyler, the campaign’s communications director. “With so much at stake in this election, we are blitzing the battlegrounds and leaving it all out on the field.”
Trump, who campaigned Saturday in Wisconsin, posted on social media that “when” he wins, anyone who he deems as having been “involved in unscrupulous behavior” tied to the election “will be sought out, caught, and prosecuted at levels, unfortunately, never seen before in our Country.”
After the debate, political leaders on Wednesday are set to commemorate the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Harris kicks off her tour Thursday in North Carolina and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, will be in Michigan. On Friday, Harris will return to Pennsylvania while Walz is in Michigan and Wisconsin.
The candidates’ spouses will also be part of the tour. Doug Emhoff, Harris’ husband, will go to Nevada, Arizona and Florida. Gwen Walz is scheduled to be in Georgia, New Hampshire and Maine.
More details are to come.
Harris’ campaign will start running a new television ad that will speak to her plans for middle-class tax cuts, limiting prescription drug prices and addressing the housing shortage. The ads are part of a broader $370 million media investment and will be tailored state by state for voters in Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Nebraska.
Bangladesh calls for faster resettlement process for Rohingya
- Around 8,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled across border to Bangladesh in recent months as fighting intensifies between Myanmar’s ruling junta and Arakan Army
DHAKA: The head of Bangladesh’s interim government, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, on Sunday called for a fast-tracked third-country resettlement of Rohingya Muslims living in the south Asian country, as a new wave of refugees flee escalating violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
Around 8,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled across the border to Bangladesh in recent months as fighting intensifies between Myanmar’s ruling junta and the Arakan Army, a powerful ethnic militia drawn from the country’s Buddhist majority.
The new arrivals add to the more than one million Rohingya refugees already living in overcrowded camps in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district, most of whom fled a military-led crackdown in Myanmar in 2017. The Rohingya refugees have little hope of returning to their homeland, where they are largely denied citizenship and other basic rights.
The call to expedite resettlement efforts was made during a meeting with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), in which Yunus, Chief Adviser to the interim government, said the “resettlement process should be easy, regular, and smooth.”
Abdusattor Esoev, head of the IOM in Bangladesh, said the resettlement of Rohingya to third countries resumed in 2022 after a gap of 12 years, but has only gathered pace this year, a statement from the Chief Adviser’s office said.
Washington has reaffirmed its commitment to resettle thousands of Rohingya in the United States, but the process has not yet been accelerated, the statement said.
The recent surge in violence is the worst the Rohingya have faced since the 2017 Myanmar military-led campaign, which the United Nations described as having genocidal intent.
Bangladesh’s de facto foreign minister, Mohammad Touhid Hossain, told Reuters last month that Bangladesh cannot accept more Rohingya refugees and called on India and other countries to take in more of those fleeing violence.
He also urged the international community to apply more pressure on the Arakan Army to cease its attacks on the Rohingya in Rakhine state.
Starmer says US ‘understands’ UK decision to partly suspend Israeli arms sales
- Prime minister denies reports move sparked anger in Washington
- UK leader will meet President Biden next week to discuss Middle East, Ukraine
LONDON: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer says the US “understands” his government’s decision to partly suspend arms sales to Israel.
His comments to the BBC followed reports that Washington had been angered by the move, according to The Independent.
However, Starmer said that the Biden administration “understands the decision we have taken” and was forewarned about the suspension.
The UK suspended about 30 of its 350 arms export licenses to Israel earlier this week after a review that warned of a “clear risk” of British weapons or parts being used by Israel to breach international humanitarian law in its war in Gaza.
After the suspension was announced by Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned what he described as a “shameful decision.”
Starmer told the BBC: “We have been talking to the US. We have been talking to the US beforehand and afterward, and they’re very clear that they’ve got a different legal system, and they understand the decision that we’ve taken.
“So, that’s very clear.”
Starmer will make his second visit to the US next week.
He is expected to meet President Joe Biden in Washington on Sept. 13 to discuss an “ever more pressing situation” in the Middle East and Ukraine.
“What I want to have the opportunity for is a more strategic discussion about the next few months in relation to Ukraine and in relation to the Middle East,” he said.
Allegations of double standards by politicians, media dominate reaction to American killed by Israel
Allegations of double standards by politicians, media dominate reaction to American killed by Israel
CHICAGO: Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, was shot and killed on Friday in the West Bank village of Beita near Nablus during a non-violent protest against the expansion of illegal Jewish settlements and escalating settler violence against Palestinian home and landowners.
Social media discourse was dominated by expressions of outrage over what was described as a double standard in US media, which did not hesitate to blame Arabs and Muslims when pro-Israel Americans were killed but was reluctant to point a finger at Israelis when pro-Palestinian Americans were killed.
Human rights attorney and author Qasim Rashid condemned American media’s double standard, writing on X: “Shame on these legacy media outlets. Not one is willing to state the fact that the Israeli military killed Aysenur Ezgi Eygi — a US citizen. Apparently, a magical bullet appeared out of thin air & killed her. This is how legacy media normalizes violence against people of color.”
When several Israelis, including one with American dual citizenship, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, were killed in Gaza last week, mainstream news media featured an avalanche of condemnation from American politicians.
President Joe Biden said he was “devastated and outraged” over Polin’s death, while Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris invoked a Jewish prayer for the dead, saying, “May Hersh’s memory be a blessing.” Harris went on further to denounce Hamas as “an evil terrorist organization,” adding that “with these murders, Hamas has even more American blood on its hands.”
In contrast, both Biden and Harris were personally silent regarding the killing of Eygi, allowing the release of a generic media statement attributed to the White House, which said it was “deeply disturbed” by her death.
The White House called for Israel to investigate Eygi’s killing, a sentiment reiterated by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken who, during a press briefing in the Dominican Republic, expressed condolences to the victim’s family but said: “Let’s find out exactly what happened … and that’s exactly what we’re in the process of doing.”
Neither the White House nor Blinken, however, asked for an investigation into Polin’s death and immediately embraced Israel’s assertions that he was killed by Hamas. And while Blinken did not post any comments regarding Eygi’s killing on his official X account, he posted at length on Polin’s death, writing on social media: “Hersh Goldberg-Polin is an American hero who will be remembered for his kindness and selflessness. Our hearts break for Jon, Rachel, and their entire family, as well as the other families who found out today their loved ones won’t be coming home. May their memory be a blessing.”
US State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller also spoke at length at a press briefing following news of Polin’s death but repeated Blinken’s statement saying the State Department is “urgently” gathering more information on Egyi’s death.
After graduating from university, Eygi volunteered with the International Solidarity Movement, which monitors and protests the expansion of illegal Jewish-only settlements on non-Jewish-owned lands in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem.
The ISM released a lengthy statement describing Eygi as “peacefully demonstrating alongside Palestinians” but criticized the hypocrisy of American politicians and news outlets’ response to her death.
“This is just another example of the decades of impunity granted to the Israeli government and army, bolstered by the support of the US and European governments, who are complicit in enabling genocide in Gaza. Palestinians have suffered far too long under the weight of colonization. We will continue to stand in solidarity and honor the martyrs until Palestine is free.”
The New York Times came under particularly harsh criticism when it reported that Eygi had “joined the rally in Beita, where residents have been protesting for years — sometimes violently — against a settler outpost on lands claimed by the village.”
The outlet later updated the story to remove the phrase “sometimes violently” from the original story authored by Ephrat Livni, an Israeli-American writer.
Family members and witnesses said Eygi had traveled to the West Bank to celebrate her graduation with relatives there when she observed a protest in Beita near Nablus against repeated acts of violence by Israelis and soldiers from a nearby settlement, which is being expanded onto Arab land.
According to the Associated Press, two doctors on the scene said Eygi was shot in the head, killing her instantly.
Israeli officials referred to Eygi as a “foreign national,” not referencing her citizenship as an American. She has dual citizenship and is of Turkish origin.
Eygi’s parents published a statement on Instagram calling for an immediate investigation into their daughter’s killing, describing her as a “fiercely passionate human rights activist” and “staunch advocate of justice” who “felt a deep responsibility to serve others.”
Eygi graduated from the University of Washington where she studied psychology and Middle Eastern languages and cultures.
Her parents said in the statement: “She was active on campus and (in) student-led protests advocating for an end to violence against the people of Palestine. Aysenur felt compelled to travel to the West Bank to stand in solidarity with Palestinian civilians who continue to endure ongoing repression and violence.”
They said Eygi “was peacefully standing for justice when she was killed by a bullet that video shows came from an Israeli military shooter.”
