Radical Cleric Tells Morsi: Kill the 'Thugs' Or We'll Do It

A controversial Egyptian preacher and Islamist writer has urged President Mohammed Morsi to kill “thugs” and “criminals” who are burning the country, otherwise people will do it themselves, Al Arabiya reported.

“I am saying this publicly and I am inciting the killing of criminals; I say criminals; thugs, thieves, those who are burning the country and those who are killing innocent people,” the preacher, Wagdy Ghoneim, was quoted as having said in a YouTube video.

“If the police or the prosecution will not restore justice, we will restore justice...God willing,” he added, according to Al Arabiya.

Ghoneim said Morsi should “use his powers” and be tough on “outlaws” that are burning state institutions and inflicting harm upon the people.

“Your kindness will not work with these thugs Mr. president,” he said.

Ghoneim is reportedly banned from several Western countries, including the United States and the UK, for activities deemed to foment hatred or encourage and support violence.

Some of his previously controversial statements include gloating over the Hurricane Sandy disaster in the United States last October, and the death of Coptic Pope Shenouda III.

Ghoneim described the hurricane as revenge from Allah for the “Innocence of Muslims” film made that sparked waves of violent protests across the Muslim world in September.

"Some people wonder about the hurricane in America and its causes," Ghoneim wrote on Twitter. "In my opinion, this is revenge by the Lord [Allah] for [harming] his beloved Mustafa [another name for the Prophet Muhammad]...," he added, alluding to the film.

In March of 2012, reported Al Arabiya, Ghoneim said Egyptians should be happy for the death of Pope Shenouda III, whom he described as anti-Muslim.

His latest statements against “thugs” and “criminals” came as thousands of liberal forces have demonstrated across Egypt against Morsi, calling for a new constitution that answers the demands of all Egyptians.

At least 50 people have been killed in riots that broke out last week during the two year anniversary of the uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak. Many of the casualties were in the city of Suez, where the military was sent to quell the riots.

The situation worsened when a court sentenced to death 21 soccer fans who were found guilty of causing the riot in a stadium in Port Said last year, in which 74 people were killed.

Morsi declared a state of emergency on Sunday and placed three cities under curfew because of rioting – Port Said, Suez and Ismailiya.

Egyptian Defense Minister Gen. Abdel Fatah al-Sisi warned on Tuesday that Egypt could be facing collapse because of the riots.

"The continuing conflict between political forces and their differences concerning themanagement of the country could lead to a collapse of the state and threaten future generations," Al-Sisi said in a speech to army cadets that was also quoted on the Egyptian military spokesman's Facebook page. Sisi said the country's economic, political and social challenges signify “a real threat to the security of Egypt and the cohesiveness of the Egyptian state.”

Source

Jihadist Threat: Just Website Bluster? ‘Earth-Shattering’ Payback for Mali

The latest terrorist warning of “earth-shattering” attacks on the West shows Islamic extremists are still focused on the United States and Europe, but many analysts doubt that they have the capacity to follow through on their threats.

Threats posted over the weekend on the Ansar al-Mujahedeen Network website called for attacks on the United States and other countries helping France put down a terrorist uprising in the North African nation of Mali. The site began as a bulletin board for jihadists, said Andrew Lebovich, a Senegal-based U.S. analyst who focuses on extremist groups in the Sahel and Maghreb regions of North Africa.

The weekend warning predicted “strong, serious, alarming, earth-shattering, shocking and terrifying” attacks on the West.

Mr. Lebovich said the site is mostly a clearinghouse for extremist materials of all kinds — including translations of official statements by al Qaeda and independent postings such as the latest threats.

“It’s a kind of jihadist crowd-sourcing,” he said.

AQIM, like most al Qaeda affiliates, at some level aspires to attack the West,” said a U.S. intelligence official who was authorized to speak only on the condition of anonymity. “This doesn’t mean it necessarily has ready plots, but, at a minimum, the aspiration makes it a threat.”Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the terrorist network’s North African affiliate, and other extremist groups have vowed to avenge the French-led intervention in Mali, which is aiding the government in recapturing the vast desert north of the country from Islamic extremists.

Analysts generally seem skeptical about the terrorists’ ability to attack Western countries on their own soil.

“I have not seen any evidence that AQIM has a capability to strike outside the region,” Mr. Lebovich said. “It is in my view much more likely that we will see attacks [against Western interests] in the Sahel or the Maghreb, rather than in Europe or the United States,” he added.

In January, extremist fighters loyal to the one-eyed desert bandit, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, seized dozens of Western workers — including Britons, Americans, Japanese, French and Danes — at a natural gas plant in Eastern Algeria, near to the border with lawless post-revolutionary Libya.

Read more here.

Israel Strikes at Syria-Lebanon Border, Sources Say

Israeli forces attacked a convoy on the Syrian-Lebanese border on Wednesday, sources told Reuters, after Israelis warned their Lebanese enemy Hezbollah against using chaos in Syria to acquire anti-aircraft missiles or chemical weapons.

"The target was a truck loaded with weapons, heading from Syria to Lebanon," said one Western diplomat, adding that the consignment seemed unlikely to have included chemical weapons.

A source among rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad said an air strike around dawn (0430 GMT) blasted a convoy on a mountain track about 5 kilometers (3 miles) south of where the main Damascus-Beirut highway crosses the border. Its load probably included high-tech anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles

."It attacked trucks carrying sophisticated weapons from the regime to Hezbollah," the source said, adding that it took place inside Syria, though the border is poorly defined in the area.

A security official in the region also placed the attack on the Syrian side. A Lebanese security official denied any strike in Lebanon. It was not clear whether special forces took part.

The Israeli government declined comment on the issue.

Such a strike would fit its existing policy of pre-emptive covert and overt action to curb Iranian-backed Hezbollah and does not necessarily indicate a major escalation of the war in Syria. It does, however, indicate how the erosion of Assad's family rule after 42 years is seen by Israel as posing a threat.

Some analysts suggested Hezbollah was moving its own arms caches from stores in Syria, fearing rebels would overrun them.

Though Israel this week echoed concerns in the United States about Syrian chemical weapons, officials say a more immediate worry is that the civil war could see weapons that are capable of denting its massive superiority in airpower and tanks from reaching Hezbollah; the group fought Israel in 2006 and remains a more pressing threat than its Syrian and Iranian sponsors.

Wednesday's strike could have been a rapid response to an opportunity. But a stream of Israeli comment on Syria in recent days was a reminder of a standing policy of pre-emptive strikes and may have been intended to limit surprise in world capitals.

The head of the Israeli air force said only hours before the strike that his corps, which has an array of the latest jet bombers, attack helicopters and unmanned drones at its disposal, was involved in a covert "campaign between wars".

Read more here.

Egypt's Army Chief Warns of 'State Collapse' Amid Crisis

BBC News reports: “Egypt's armed forces chief has warned the current political crisis ‘could lead to a collapse of the state’.

General Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, in comments posted on the military's Facebook page, said such a collapse could ‘threaten future generations’.

He made his statement following a large military deployment in three cities along the Suez Canal where a state of emergency has been declared.

More than 50 people have died in days of protests and violence.

Overnight, thousands of people in Port Said, Ismailia and Suez - where some of the worst unrest has been - ignored a night-time curfew to take to the streets.

Gen Sisi's lengthy statement appears to be a veiled threat to protesters and opposition forces as well as an appeal for calm and an attempt to reassure Egyptians about the role of the military, the BBC's Yolande Knell in Cairo says.

‘The continuing conflict between political forces and their differences concerning the management of the country could lead to a collapse of the state and threaten future generations,’ Gen Sisi, who is also Egypt's defence minister, said.

He said the economic, political and social challenges facing Egypt represented ‘a real threat to the security of Egypt and the cohesiveness of the Egyptian state’…”

Source

Netanyahu Stresses: Only U.S. Attack Can Halt Iranian Nuclear Program

Israel National News reports: “In a plea to Israel's closest ally, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu stressed that an Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities could cause ‘significant damage’ but only a US attack could halt their operations.

According to Maariv, Netanyahu told a visiting delegation from the American Jewish Committee that only US military action could completely halt Iran's nuclear program, which Israel and much of the world believes is a guise for building a weapons capability, AFP reported.

And he also hinted that any US military activity ought to be carried out before Tehran finishes the process of enriching uranium to 20 percent purity, the paper said.

‘The sanctions are only likely to stop Iran if there is a credible (military) threat over their head... and in order for it to be a credible threat, you need to mean it, meaning that if the sanctions don't work -- and they haven't until now -- you will use it,’ he said.

Referring to a military strike, Netanyahu described it as ‘a defined and specific mission that the United States is capable of carrying out perfectly whereas we are capable of causing (only) significant damage.’

He also stressed the need to halt Iran's ongoing enrichment efforts…”

Source

Obama Secretly Pledges To Divide Jerusalem

TEL AVIV – Now that he has secured his second term, President Barack Obama has already secretly pledged to the Palestinians he will press Israel into a new round of so-called land-for-peace negotiations, a top Palestinian Authority negotiator told WND.

The negotiator said top members of the Obama administration told the Palestinians the U.S. president will renew talks aimed at creating a Palestinian state in the so-called 1967 borders – meaning in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and, notably, eastern Jerusalem.

 

The negotiator further revealed when it comes to dividing Jerusalem, Obama wants to rehash what is known as the Clinton parameters.

That formula, pushed by Bill Clinton during the Camp David talks in 2000, called for Jewish areas of Jerusalem to remain Israeli while the Palestinians will get sovereignty over neighborhoods that are largely Arab.

WND previously reported how Palestinians are building illegally in Jewish-owned areas of Jerusalem, changing facts on the ground and resulting in Arab majorities on certain neighborhoods.
This is not the first time the Palestinians are claiming Obama will push for new talks during a second term

Read more at here.

Nigeria: Radical Islamists Splinter Into More Violent Group

As if the threat from Boko Haram, the Islamist group that has been killing Christians in Nigeria, wasn’t enough, there’s a new, more radical, threat from a splinter group, analysts are reporting.

The new group is called Ansaru, the Ansarul Muslimina Fi Biladis Sudan, which means Vanguards for the Protection of Muslims in Black Africa.

 

Heritage Foundation Africa analyst Morgan Roach confirms the threat is major.
“Ansaru released a video last spring announcing its creation and is listed on the U.K. Terror List,” Roach said. “One of Ansaru’s suspected leaders is Khalid al-Barnawy. He is a designated terrorist in the US.”

World Threats founder and terrorism analyst Ryan Mauro says both groups are trouble.
“The two Nigerian jihadist groups are vicious. They aren’t the Muslim Brotherhood-type Islamists that put a ton of effort into showing they are friendly towards Christians,” Mauro said.

To see what Christians in northern Nigeria are facing with two major jihadist groups, Mauro says look at other jihadist regimes.
“If you want to predict how Boko Haram and Ansaru will treat Christians, look at how al-Qaida treats them in Iraq and Egypt,” Mauro said.

Roach said that the new group’s operational status definitely means danger for Christians and others.
“While this offshoot has been around less than a year, it’s fair to say that they pose a threat to not only the Christian community but to northern Nigeria as a whole. While Ansaru has attempted to differentiate itself from Boko Haram by denouncing the killing of non-Muslims, evidence suggests otherwise,” Roach said.

“Furthermore, Ansaru maintains that it will attack any group that attacks Islam or Muslims. This includes the Nigerian government and its security forces and [it] has already backed this up with action,” Roach said.

Analysts suggest Ansaru’s only interest is in attacking foreigners and “non-Muslim Nigerians.” However, Strategy World military think tank, publishers of Strategy Page, warns Ansaru may be picking targets outside Nigeria, too.

“Ansaru appears to be … more interested (than Boko Haram) in working closely with Islamic terror groups operating in the new terrorist sanctuary of northern Mali,” the Strategy Page report said.

Boko Haram, meanwhile, seems to have its focus on Nigeria.
The group’s aim, Roach said, is to turn Nigeria into a Muslim nation.
Boko Haram, she said, wants to overthrow the Christian state and replace it with an Islamic government that rules by Shariah law.”

“Attacks against Christians undermine the authority of President Goodluck Jonathan (a Christian) and exploit the government’s lack of will or ability to protect Nigerian citizens,” Roach said.
But Boko Haram’s reach has been described as “limited,” and other groups, such as Ansaru, are stepping in.
In November, Ansaru killed a British hostage and an Italian hostage. In December, the group kidnapped a French engineer.

Military and terrorism analyst Bill Roggio, editor of the Long War Journal , a project of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies , says Boko Haram could use Ansaru’s active operations to its strategic advantage.
“Ansaru says Boko Haram is too moderate, but Boko Haram can actually use Ansaru as a cover,” Roggio said. “Any operation carried out by Ansaru gives Boko Haram cover, and it deflects attention away from Boko Haram.”

Roggio says even though there are philosophical differences, the two groups will likely work together and be able to avoid outside attention at the same time.
“They’ll cooperate in attacks, but even if they do, most Western intelligence agencies won’t notice. To them, Ansaru will just be another group,” Roggio said.

Roggio’s assessment of cooperation is verified by Strategy Page, which says the two groups are jointly fighting Nigerian security
“The battle against Islamic terrorists grinds on, with the Boko Haram and Ansaru terrorists attacking troops and police even while they are being sought and attacked,” the Strategy Page report says.

Read more at WND News

Iran Sentences American Pastor Saeed Abedini to 8 Years in Prison

Christian pastor Saeed Abedini, an American imprisoned in Iran on charges of evangelizing, was sentenced this morning to eight years in prison.

According to the American Center for Law and Justice, Abedini was verbally sentenced in Tehran by Judge Pir-Abassi, known as the “hanging judge,” to eight years in prison for threatening the national security of Iran through his leadership in Christian house churches. He will serve the time in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison, known as one of the most brutal.

The evidence, the ACLJ reports, was based on Abedini’s activities primarily during the early 2000s, when house churches were not considered a threat in Iran.

“This is a real travesty – a mockery of justice,”  Jordan Sekulow, Executive Director of the ACLJ, who represents Pastor Saeed’s wife and children living in the U.S., said in a statement. “From the very beginning, Iranian authorities have lied about all aspects of this case, even releasing rumors of his expected release. Iran has not only abused its own laws, it has trampled on the fundamentals of human rights. We call on the citizens of the world to rise up in protest. We call on governments around the world to stand and defend Pastor Saeed.”

Although the U.S. does not have diplomatic relations with Iran, National Security Council spokesperson Bernadette Meehan said in a statement Sunday the administration is "deeply disappointed that Saeed Abedini has been sentenced to eight years in prison in Iran on a charge related to his religious beliefs.
"We condemn Iran's continued violation of the universal right of freedom of religion and we call on the Iranian authorities to release Mr. Abedini."

Meehan added that the State Department remains in close contact with Abedini.
The State Department also called for Abedini's release.
"Mr. Abedini's attorney had only one day (January 21) to present his defense, so we remain deeply concerned about the fairness and transparency of Mr. Abedini's trial," spokesman Darby Holladay said in a statement.

Iran's state news agency reported last Monday that Abedini, who was born in Iran but now lives in Idaho, would soon be free. But the report, which came on the first day of Abedini's trial, was seen by Abedini's wife, Naghmeh, as just another cruel manipulation.

“This is all a lie by the Iranian media," Naghmeh Abedini said. "This has been a repeated promise by the Iranian regime since Saeed was first thrown in prison on Sept. 26, 2012. We have presented bail. After the judge told Saeed’s lawyer that bail was back on the table, the family in Tehran ran around in circles today to make sure Saeed was let out on bail. But again the bail officer rejected bail."

She said her husband's attorney in Iran,  Nasser Sarbazi, cautioned her that the report, first carried by the state-controlled ISNA news agency and picked up by The Associated Press, did not mean her husband was closer to freedom.
The 34-year-old father of two denied evangelizing in Iran and claims he had only returned to his native land to help establish an orphanage. Authorities pulled him off a bus last August and threw him into the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran.

The exact crimes he is accused of only became public on Monday, when the prosecutor outlined charges that Abedini undermined the Iranian government by creating a network of Christian house churches and that he was attempting to sway Iranian youth away from Islam.
"This trial apparently is focused on 13 years ago, when Pastor Saeed converted from Islam to Christianity,” Sekulow said in a statement to FoxNews.com last week.

According to the ACLJ, upon hearing the news of her husband's sentence, Naghmeh Abedini said: “The promise of his release was a lie. We should not trust the empty words or promises put out by the Iranian government. These false hopes amount to psychological torture. You don’t want to trust them, but they build a glimmer hope before the crushing blow. With today’s development I am devastated for my husband and my family. We must now pursue every effort, turn every rock, and not stop until Saeed is safely on American soil.”


Read more: FOX News

Egyptian President Declares State of Emergency

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi declared a month-long state of emergency in three cities along the Suez Canal where dozens of people have been killed over the past four days in protests that his allies say are designed to overthrow him.

Seven people were shot dead and hundreds were injured in Port Said on Sunday during the funerals of 33 people killed there when locals angered by a court decision went on the rampage as anti-government protests spread around the country.

A total of 49 people have been killed since Thursday and Mr. Morsi’s opponents, who accuse his Islamist Muslim Brotherhood of betraying the revolution that ousted long-time ruler Hosni Mubarak, have called for more demonstrations on Monday.

“Down, down Mr. Morsi, down down the regime that killed and tortured us!” people in Port Said chanted as the coffins of those killed on Saturday were carried through the streets.
Mr. Morsi, who was elected in June, is trying to fix a beleaguered economy and cool tempers before a parliamentary poll in the next few months which is supposed to cement Egypt’s transition to democracy.

Repeated eruptions of violence have weighed heavily on the Egyptian pound.
In a televised address, he said a nightly curfew would be introduced in Port Said, Ismailia and Suez, starting Monday.
Several hundred people protested in Ismailia, Suez and Port Said after the announcement, in which Mr. Morsi also called for a dialogue with top politicians. Activists in the three cities vowed to defy the curfew in protest at the decision.

“The protection of the nation is the responsibility of everyone. We will confront any threat to its security with force and firmness within the remit of the law,” he said, offering condolences to families of the victims.

Read more, here.

Mali: Gao Recaptured

Residents of Mali's northern town of Gao, captured from sharia-observing rebels by French and Malian troops, danced in the streets to drums and music on Sunday as the French-led offensive also drove the rebels from Timbuktu.

The weekend gains made at Gao and Timbuktu by the French and Malian troops capped a two-week whirlwind intervention by France in its former Sahel colony, which has driven al-Qaeda-allied militant fighters northwards into the desert and mountains.

In Gao, the largest town in the north where the insurgents had banned music and smoking, cut off the hands of thieves and ordered women to wear veils, thousands cheered the liberating troops with shouts of "Mali, Mali, France, France".
[Source: Reuters]

Doubts Loom Over New UN Congo Peace Plan

Addis Ababa - The United Nations is days away from announcing a new peace plan aimed at resolving the conflict in the Eastern Congo.

The initiative, still being negotiated between the UN and regional countries, would create a “Special Intervention Brigade” of up to 2,500 African soldiers to take aggressive action in parts of the country.
The force would fall under the mandate of the current UN peacekeeping mission MONUSCO. It would have robust rules of engagement and be considered “peace enforcers,” according to a UN peacekeeping official.



The Congolese Army has been unable to stop an armed opposition by M23 fighters, which has received support from Uganda and Rwanda, according to a group of UN experts.
UN peacekeeping officials are calling the initiative a “new approach” after years of failed efforts. They are hoping for it to be signed off by heads of state and Ban Ki-moon, secretary general of the United Nations, on the sidelines of the African Union summit in the Ethiopian capital on Monday.

But many questions remain about the effectiveness of the agreement, or whether it will join the list of the many failed peace efforts in the region.
“The proposed framework agreement is an ambitious agenda for a political process in the Great Lakes region,” said Jason Stearns, an expert on the region. “[But] the current version is very vague, and a lot of details remain to be filled out.”

These details include how exactly to demobilise M23 fighters, who have been responsible for the majority of the recent violence. The M23 are not specifically named in the current version of the two-page document.
As part of the plan, regional countries, including Congo -Brazzaville, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Africa, Angola, Tanzania, agree principle to non-interference in each other’s affairs.

The government of the DRC will also agree to a series of reforms, including in the army and police force.
The United Nations will also name a Special Envoy to the Great Lakes Region to oversee the implementation of the agreement. Regional countries will meet twice a year, at the AU conference here in Addis, and at the UN General Assembly in New York, to assess progress.

Source

North Korea to Target U.S. With Nuclear, Rocket Tests

(Reuters) - North Korea said on Thursday it would carry out further rocket launches and a nuclear test that would target the United States, dramatically stepping up its threats against a country it called its "sworn enemy".

The announcement by the country's top military body came a day after the U.N. Security Council agreed to a U.S.-backed resolution to censure and sanction North Korea for a rocket launch in December that breached U.N. rules.

 

North Korea is not believed to have the technology to deliver a nuclear warhead capable of hitting the continental United States, although its December launch showed it had the capacity to deliver a rocket that could travel 10,000 km (6,200 miles), potentially putting San Francisco in range, according to an intelligence assessment by South Korea.

"We are not disguising the fact that the various satellites and long-range rockets that we will fire and the high-level nuclear test we will carry out are targeted at the United States," North Korea's National Defence Commission said, according to state news agency KCNA.

North Korea is believed by South Korea and other observers to be "technically ready" for a third nuclear test, and the decision to go ahead rests with leader Kim Jong-un, who pressed ahead with the December rocket launch in defiance of the U.N. sanctions.

China, the one major diplomatic ally of the isolated and impoverished North, agreed to the U.S.-backed resolution and it also supported resolutions in 2006 and 2009 after Pyongyang's two earlier nuclear tests.

Thursday's statement by North Korea represents a huge challenge to Beijing as it undergoes a leadership transition, with Xi Jinping due to take office in March.

China's Foreign Ministry called for calm and restraint and a return to six-party talks, but effectively singled out North Korea, urging the "relevant party" not to take any steps that would raise tensions.

"We hope the relevant party can remain calm and act and speak in a cautious and prudent way and not take any steps which may further worsen the situation," ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters at a regular press briefing.

Read more here.

EU Says Iran Delaying Nuclear Talks

World powers hope to resume talks with Iran "as soon as possible" and are "very flexible" on a venue, an EU spokesman said Wednesday, according to AFP.

At the same time, the report said, Iran appears to be trying to delay the process, according to the spokesman.
"We want to see Iran come back to the negotiating table as soon as possible so that we can make concrete progress towards dealing with the international community's concerns about the Iranian nuclear program," said a spokesman for EU foreign policy Catherine Ashton.

Ashton represents the P5+1 -- the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France plus Germany -- in talks with Iran on its nuclear program.

Consultations between Tehran and the group were ongoing, said her spokesman Michael Mann, with the nations "still hoping to reach agreement with Iran on the modalities of the talks, including venue, with a view to resuming talks shortly."

Earlier, the Iranian-based ISNA news agency said Tehran had suggested Cairo as the venue for the next talks.
Iran has proposed that "the next meeting be held in Cairo, and it was welcomed by our Egyptian brothers," the agency cited Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi as saying after a cabinet meeting.

An EU source said that "several venues have been proposed."
"We do not exclude any, but Iran is proposing different venues all the time. The venue is not the issue, but Iran appears to be trying to delay the process by coming up with new conditions," the source told AFP.

Read more here

Baird Wants Proof Canadians Among Militants in Algeria

 

The Islamist militants who attacked an Algerian natural gas plant in the Sahara last week were well-organized, had insider information and their numbers included two Canadians, the country’s prime minister said Monday.

Abdelmalek Sellal claims that two Canadians were among the terrorists who attacked the plant Wednesday, taking hundreds hostage before a bloody siege ended the crisis over the weekend.
Ottawa has not been able to confirm reports that Canadians were involved in the four-day siege. Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said Monday his department is investigating.

"We can't confirm the accuracy of these reports. But what we are doing, our embassy in Algiers and our team in Ottawa are working to try to verify these informations and get the names of these alleged Canadians. But we can't report anything official at this time," Baird told CTV News Channel.

 

The Algerian prime minister would not say whether the purported Canadians were killed when Algerian troops stormed the plant, or were among the three militants who were captured alive.
Speaking at a news conference Monday, Sellal said the militants came from Egypt, Canada, Mali, Niger, Mauritania and Tunisia, adding that Algerian forces killed 29 of the 32 militants when they stormed the facility.

According to the latest tally, 38 hostages were killed, including seven Japanese and three energy workers from the U.S. and three from the U.K. Five foreign workers are still unaccounted for.
The Algerian interior ministry had said earlier that forces were able to free "685 Algerian employees and 107 foreigners" after they stormed the plant. One permanent resident of Canada who was at the site is safe, and has reportedly departed Algeria.

Sellal's account on Monday was the first official Algerian narrative of what happened during four days of terror at the plant, located roughly 1,200 kilometres from Algiers.
The standoff began Wednesday, and by the time Algerian troops stormed the facility on Saturday, dozens of people had been killed, though many of the bodies were so badly disfigured it was unclear how many of them belonged to hostages or militants.

Sellal said Monday only one of the attackers was Algerian -- a man who served as a driver for the group. The rest of the attackers were foreigners, including a man from Niger who used to work at the plant and "knew the facility's layout by heart."
During the standoff, the militants had boasted that their group included members from Canada, said Paul Schemm, a reporter with The Associated Press based in Morocco.

One terrorism experts says no one should be surprised to hear of a Canadian citizen’s involvement in terrorist activities abroad.
“Canadian involvement in overseas terrorism has been growing,” John Thompson of the Toronto-based Mackenzie Institute told CTV’s Power Play.
When Foreign Affairs Canada hears about a Canadian getting killed in a terrorist attack, “they need to find out if he’s a victim or one of the perpetrators,” Thompson said.

Samantha Nutt, author and founder of War Child North America, said while it’s “conceivable” that a Canadian could have joined a terrorist network in North Africa, it’s still too early to tell if reports from Algeria are correct.
“We need to do due diligence here and try to see where the evidence takes us,” she told Power Play.

The Algerian siege began when militants attempted to hijack two buses at the gas plant. The attackers were initially driven back, but then managed to seize the sprawling facility.
On Monday, security experts were still working to defuse mines planted throughout the facility. It's believed the militants planned to destroy the plant and kill all the workers.
A militant Islamist group known as the Masked Brigade claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was retribution for the French-led military intervention in Mali, designed to stop Islamist militants from establishing a foothold in the country's north.

The group warned there could be many more attacks of a similar nature.
"We stress to our Muslim brothers the necessity to stay away from all the Western companies and complexes for their own safety, and especially the French ones," said a statement from the group.

The group is led by Moktar Belmoktar, the one-eyed Algerian founder of the group. The group, which was originally formed in Algeria before being driven into the Saharan region near the borders of Mauritania, Mali and Niger, has claimed in the past to have Canadians among its membership.

Schemm said the attack at the natural gas plant represents a significant escalation in violence by a terror group in the region.
"This is easily the most audacious attack that has happened in North Africa by a militant organization like this," he said.

Read more: CTV News

PMW: PA TV Show Encourages Kids to Hijack Planes

The European Union, the World Bank, and a host of European countries working outside the framework of the EU, have for years been funding a youth-oriented television program in the Palestinian Authority that has promoted terrorism as an ideal act of “martyrdom,” honoring terrorists whom Israel has released from prison, and glorifying acts of terror in which Israeli women and children were murdered. Now, said Palestinian Media Watch, an independent group that monitors Arab media, the TV show has begun a new campaign – encouraging young viewers to prepare to hijack airplanes.

A poem that has been broadcast repeatedly on the program, called “Raise Your Voice,” says, among other things, that Israelis “should expect us, even though we are the unexpected. We are at all airports, aboard all planes. We stop off in Rome and Zurich, and peep out from under rocks. We hide behind statues and plants. Our brave ones attack without warning, with anger, thunder, lighting and storm. They come in the garb of the prophet and with the sword of the warrior.” The poem also threatens the U.S., saying that “a gun in the hand of the little one can kill the great one.”

According to PMW, the mention of Rome and Zurich in the poem – two cities where Arabs hijacked El Al planes, in 1968 and 1969 – makes clear the poem's intention.

After the poem was read, the young presenters of the program thanked the NDC (Non-Governmental Organization Development Center), which provides funding to the PA organization that produces the program. In the past, PMW said, the program has hosted dozens of PA terrorists for interviews. Terrorists have also appeared on other programs produced by the company, called Fialara. Other organizations that support Fialara include international NGOs Save the Children and Cordaid, PMW added.

Source

British Islamists During Protest: Islam Will Dominate France

Islamists in Britain, who protested outside the French Embassy in London last week, threatened that Islam will dominate France and England, and called to implement Islamic sharia law in all of Europe.

The Muslims, who had been protesting against the French military campaign in Mali, also called French President Francois Hollande a “Son of Pharaoh”. The demonstration was posted on the Internet on January 12 and was translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

The demonstration was led by Muslim hate preacher Anjem Choudary, who has said in the past he plans to flood specific Muslim and non-Muslim communities around the UK and “put the seeds down for an Islamic Emirate in the long term.”

Choudary is the founder of two Muslim groups in Britain that were banned by the British government after being declared terrorist organizations. He has threatened British Jews who support Israel, stating that it is an “Islamic obligation upon Muslims everywhere to support the Jihad against those who fight Muslims anywhere in the world or who occupy Muslim land.”

He has often praised Muslim terrorists, referring to the September 11 terrorists as “magnificent martyrs.” In 2003 he endorsed terrorist attacks by British Muslims and said that al-Muhajiroun, one of the groups he founded, would “encourage people to fulfill their Islamic duties and responsibilities.” He praised the 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai, India and has also called for stoning homosexuals, assassinating the Pope, and prosecuting Queen Elizabeth for genocide.

Source

Palestinians Warn of 'Apartheid State' if Netanyahu Wins Israeli Election

The Palestinian president warned on Friday that Benjamin Netanyahu's expected victory in next week's election could lead to an Arab-majority country that will eventually replace what is now Israel – unless he pursues a more moderate path of a two-state solution to the conflict.

Mohammed Ishtayeh, a top aide to Abbas, said that the president has been warning that Israel could end up with "an apartheid-style state, similar to the one of former South Africa."

Israeli backers of creation of a Palestinian state say relinquishing control of the Palestinian territories and its residents is the only way to ensure Israel's future as a democracy with a Jewish majority.

If that does not happen, Ishtayeh said, "we Palestinians will be the majority and will struggle for equality. He added that Abbas has told the Israelis that "there are Palestinians who are now calling for the one-state solution, because they no longer [consider] the two-state solution viable."

President Abbas has been careful not to intervene in Tuesday's Israeli election, but it is no secret that the Palestinians hope that Netanyahu will either be ousted or at least soften his position in a new term. He has shown no sign of doing so, and opinion polls showing hardline, pro-settlement parties well ahead days ahead of the vote have led to a sense of despair among the Palestinians.

During Netanyahu's current term, the Israeli leader has pressed forward with construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. The international community considers settlement construction illegal or illegitimate. And the Palestinians have refused to negotiate with Netanyahu while he continues to allow settlements to be built, saying it is a sign of bad faith.

Read more at Haaretz News

Panetta: US Will Work With Africans to Fight al-Qaida

 

LONDON — U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says the United States will continue to work with Algeria and other African countries to fight terrorists. The secretary spoke in London after Algerian troops had launched a second attack against gunmen holding hostages at a natural gas facility, resulting in additional deaths.

Information from Algeria was sketchy when Secretary Panetta and his British counterpart Phillip Hammond spoke to reporters Saturday afternoon. But Panetta said the best way to fight al-Qaida groups like the one in Algeria is to help local governments maintain control of their territory and deal with terrorist attacks when they happen.

“I think it's important that as we face this enemy we have to adapt the best efforts to be able to ensure that we do this effectively, and that involves working with these countries in the region to work with us, to develop the capability of identifying where they're located and the ability to conduct operations against al-Qaida,” he said.

Anti-terrorist forces can keep al-Qaida on the run, Panetta said, but no one should be complacent about the effort. He said the United States will not tolerate attacks on its territory, citizens or interests.

“Since 9-11, we've made very clear that nobody is going to attack the United States of America and get away with it.”

Panetta repeated that the United States will go after al-Qaida wherever it tries to hide.

Secretary Hammond appeared to acknowledge that western countries were not entirely pleased with the Algerian decision to attack the compound where the hostages were held, a move that resulted in several hostage deaths. But he praised Algeria's commitment to fight terrorism.

“The nature of collaboration in confronting a global threat is that we work with people sometimes who do things somewhat differently, slightly differently, from the way we would do them ourselves,” Hammond said.

The two men also spoke about the situation in Mali. Secretary Panetta disputed a reporter's suggestion that the United States is not providing much concrete assistance to French forces that moved into the country a week ago to fight another al-Qaida affiliate.

“We are, in fact, providing assistance to the French," he said. "We provided intelligence information to them to assist them in that situation. We are providing an airlift to try to assist them to be able to project more of their force into the area.”

And Panetta said there are talks about further assistance, as well as more involvement by West African forces. But he and Secretary Hammond said there is no plan to deploy American or British combat forces to the region.

Source

Mali: Terrorists Amputate, Whip Victims

'Darkest, most hard-lined versions of Islamic law put into effect'
 
Events in the African nation of Mali are very rarely on the front burner for most Americans or even the American government, but the rise of several Islamic groups there and a related crisis in neighboring Algeria now have our attention.

The most alarming events played out this week in Algeria as terrorists seized more than 40 hostages, with anywhere from three to seven of them being American. A subsequent rescue attempt by Algerian troops resulted in multiple deaths, and the fate of the Americans remains unclear. The abductions came in response to French officials sending troops to Mali in an effort to defeat the radical elements there.

Answering the question of who is on the rise in Mali is more than a little complicated, but experts see multiple groups working together to take control.
Daveed Gartenstein-Ross is a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, where he is also director of the Center for the Study of Terrorist Radicalization. He told WND not all elements of the rebels are radical Islamists, but they are certainly part of the mix.

“You have several different groups, and these include groups that are a bit more secular and with their own aims,” Gartenstein-Ross said. “Secondly, (are) Islamist groups who aren’t necessarily global jihadists, and third is Islamist groups that are global jihadists.

“So there’s a mix of groups which has contributed to a lot of inaccuracy within public discussion of northern Mali. But sum it up concisely and simplifying a bit, it’s a place where, although al-Qaida hasn’t formed a seat of its own, as some people have described it, al-Qaida’s north African contingent was able to find great space to operate. Meanwhile, some of the very darkest, most hard-lined versions of Islamic law were being put into effect.”

Read more at WND News

Foreigners Still Missing After Rescue Mission in Algeria

More than 20 foreigners were captive or missing inside a desert gas plant on Saturday, nearly two days after the Algerian army launched an assault to free them that saw many hostages killed.

The standoff between the Algerian army and al-Qaeda-linked gunmen – one of the biggest international hostage crises in decades – entered its fourth day, having thrust Saharan militancy to the top of the global agenda.

The number and fate of victims has yet to be confirmed, with the Algerian government keeping officials from Western countries far from the site where their countrymen were in peril.

Reports put the number of hostages killed at between 12 and 30, with possibly dozens of foreigners still unaccounted for – among them Norwegians, Japanese, Britons, Americans and others.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland confirmed on Friday the death of one American, Frederick Buttaccio, in the hostage situation, but gave no further details.

Two Japanese, two Britons and a French national were among the seven foreigners confirmed dead in the army’s storming, the Algerian security source told Reuters. One British citizen was killed when the gunmen seized the hostages on Wednesday.

A U.S. official said on Friday that a U.S. Medevac flight carrying wounded of multiple nationalities had left Algeria.

By nightfall on Friday, the Algerian military was holding the vast residential barracks at the In Amenas gas-processing plant, while gunmen were holed up in the industrial plant itself with an undisclosed number of hostages.

Scores of Westerners and hundreds of Algerian workers were inside the heavily fortified compound when it was seized before dawn on Wednesday by Islamist fighters, who said they wanted a halt to a French military operation in neighbouring Mali.

Hundreds escaped on Thursday when the army launched an operation, but many hostages were killed in the assault. Algerian forces destroyed four trucks holding hostages, according to the family of a Northern Irish engineer who escaped from a fifth truck and survived.

Britain, Japan and other countries have expressed frustration that the assault was ordered without consultation and officials have grumbled at the lack of information. Many countries withheld details about their missing citizens to avoid releasing information that might aid the captors.

An Algerian security source said 30 hostages, including at least seven Westerners, had been killed during Thursday’s assault, along with at least 18 of their captors. Eight of the dead hostages were Algerian, with the nationalities of the rest of the dead still unclear, he said.

Algeria’s state news agency APS put the total number of dead hostages at 12, including both foreigners and locals.

The base was home to foreign workers from Britain’s BP, Norway’s Statoil and Japanese engineering firm JGC Corp. and others.

Algerian commanders said they moved in on Thursday about 30 hours after the siege began, because the gunmen had demanded to be allowed to take their captives abroad.

Source

Sudan Cracks Down on South Sudanese Christians

Sudanese authorities rang in the new year by bulldozing a church building outside Khartoum because it belonged to Christians of South Sudanese origin and lacked a permit, a source said.

According to a story by Morning Star News, the South Sudanese have been ordered to leave the country following the new republic's secession from Sudan in July 2011. However, thousands are reportedly stranded in the north due to loss of jobs, poverty, transportation limitations and ethnic and tribal conflict in South Sudan.

Sudanese authorities demolished the Church of St. John in Khartoum without warning on June 18, 2012. (Barnabas Fund photo)

The source told Morning Star News by telephone that officials from the Khartoum State Ministry of Physical Infrastructure accompanied by police on Jan. 2 demolished the building of the Sudan Pentecostal Church in Soba Al Aradi, a Khartoum suburb that began as a refugee camp for South Sudanese. The destruction came without warning as part of a government survey of the area, he said.

“We are surveying this area because it was not officially demarcated,” a civil engineer surveying the area told area Christians, the source said. “We are bulldozing this building because it belongs to a church whose members are South Sudanese, but they are no longer citizens of Sudan.”

Morning Star News reported that officials said the South Sudanese in the area are there illegally, but Christians said the government is targeting churches in its stated objective of making Sudan a purely Islamic country.

A Presbyterian church building in Soba Al Aradi also is slated for destruction, and authorities have already demolished a pastor's house that was attached to it, the source said.

According to Morning Star News, officials told Pastor Mubarak Hamad of the Presbyterian Church of Sudan, an Arabic-speaking congregation, that he needed to apply for a property permit. Hamad is from the Nuba Mountains, an area of Sudan populated by many of South Sudan origin.

The Pentecostal church building that was reduced to rubble was also lacking official permission, Morning Star News said officials told church members. The church had erected the building on land donated by church members, who said they are victims of selective enforcement.

“I saw staff from the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure of Khartoum State with policemen in plain uniform, and a bulldozer destroying the church building,” the source said.

Morning Star News said harassment, violence and arrests of Christians have reportedly intensified since the secession of South Sudan. It was then that Sudan President Omar al Bashir vowed to adopt a stricter version of sharia (Islamic law) and recognize only Islamic culture and the Arabic language.

Morning Star News reported that church leaders say the government is targeting missionaries and expelling them from the country. Last month, Sudan arrested two Coptic priests for baptizing a woman who had converted from Islam to Christianity. The whereabouts of the priests remain unknown, and security officials have refused to allow their families to visit them.

Student Imprisoned

Hostilities against Christians in Sudan have so increased that the country jumped from 16th in 2011 to 12th last year on the 2013 World Watch List of nations where Christians face the most persecution, published by Christian support organization Open Doors.

“The government and society try to squeeze Christians in all spheres of life, and the level of violence escalated in the past year” Morning Star News said the report states.

Morning Star News said South Sudanese Christians in Sudan have faced increased hostilities due to their ethnic origins - though thousands have little or no ties to South Sudan - and their faith.

A 33-year-old university student of South Sudanese origin was imprisoned for three months last year after two Muslim women insulted him on a bus, according to a fellow student who requested anonymity.

He told Morning Star News that the women told George John Tangoon on Aug. 28 that he was an “infidel,” and should leave Sudan. When Tangoon objected, the furious Muslims ordered the bus driver to go to a police station.

Officers held him for three days at Hillat Kuku police station in Khartoum North, where the student said Tangoon was falsely charged with violating Public Order Article 77, which among other things requires men to give up their seats to women on public transport.

Morning Star News reported that said sources said the Public Order Courts are frequently used to try Christians accused of violating Islamic laws that favor Muslims. Without benefit of a lawyer,

Tangoon was sentenced to three months in prison, serving his time first at Kober Prison in Khartoum, then Omdurman Prison, and finally Soba Prison south of Khartoum.

He was released in late November.

Source: ASSIST NEWS

Hamas Tests Improved Long-Range Missiles

Building in Rishon LeZion hit by Gaza missile

Uzi Perlmutter, News 24

 

Hamas is already preparing for the next clash with Israel and its military wing recently test fired improved long-range missiles, the Yisrael Hayom daily reported on Sunday.

The report in the Israeli newspaper was based on sources in the Palestinian Authority media.
According to the reports, based on information from senior sources in Hamas's military wing, the tests included the launching of two rockets with a range of dozens of kilometers.

The rockets were launched toward the Mediterranean Sea off the Gazan coast from a Hamas training base which is located in areas vacated by Israel during the 2005 expulsion from Gush Katif.

Hamas' rocket unit expressed satisfaction with the results of the test launches, Yisrael Hayom reported. The improved rockets were reportedly manufactured and assembled in Gaza using Iranian know-how.

This is not the first time that Hamas has used what was once the thriving Israeli communities in Gush Katif to carry out attacks against in Israel. Hamas has fired many of its rockets at southern Israel from areas that were once Jewish communities.

One of Hamas's training bases is located on what was once the synagogue of the Gaza Jewish community of Atzmona.

In 2005, when the expulsion from Gush Katif was up for the decisive Knesset vote, MKs whose parties were in then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's coalition rejected claims by those opposed to the move that leaving Gush Katif would leave southern Israel under the threat of rocket attacks.

On the seventh anniversary of the expulsion from Gush Katif, which was marked this past summer, statistics indicated that Gaza terrorists had fired 9,393 rockets and missiles at Israeli civilians living on the other side of the border with Gaza.

Those numbers have since grown, particularly during several rounds of escalation, in which hundreds of additional rockets were fired at Israel. 1,506 rockets were fired at Israel during the recent Operation Pillar of Defense alone.

A special report by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center released this week shows that Iran, which has been supplying Hamas with weapons and rockets to use against Israel, is continuing to assist its terror proxy in Gaza and is expected to play a key role in rebuilding the weapons stockpile of the Gaza terror groups.

Source

Jordan King: Arab Spring Should Drive Israeli Government to 'Embrace Peace'

Jordan's king warned Monday that the failure to revive peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians is adding to regional tensions.  

A statement from the royal palace said King Abdullah II told a delegation from the Washington-based American Israel Public Affairs Committee that regional changes tied to the Arab Spring should 'drive' the Israeli government to 'embrace peace.'

In his talks Monday with the pro-Israel group, the king also called on Israel to stop measures that he said hinder peace efforts, including West Bank settlement construction.  

Abdullah urged Israel, the Palestinians and the U.S.­ to resume peacemaking efforts. He called for direct talks based on a two-state solution, which envisions the establishment of a Palestinian state. He said it remains the 'only formula to end the 65-year old conflict'

---

Source: Haaretz

Iranian Weapons Support for Hamas Shows No Signs of Slowing

Haaretz reports: “It's no secret that Iran has been supplying Hamas with weapons and rockets to use against Israel, but a special report by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center concluded just how deep the terror link between Iran and Hamas runs, and showed how Operation Pillar of Defense marked a major turning point in the relationship between the terrorist organization and the renegade state.

In Operation Pillar of Defense, the IDF struck hard at the military power of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, mainly hitting their weapons stockpile, either supplied directly by Iran or built in Gaza using Iranian technology.

 It has long been known that the major military capabilities of Hamas were the product of massive Iranian support. The medium-range Fajr-5 rockets (made in Iran) and M75s (manufactured in Gaza with technology from Iran) targeted Israeli civilian population centers, including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.  

The report noted that aid from Iran to Hamas was being sent over in massive numbers in the years leading up to the military operation. ‘The main route for smuggling arms was from Iran to Sudan and from Sudan to Egypt and into the Gaza Strip through the smuggling tunnels controlled by Hamas,’ said the report, adding that sea routes were also used to smuggle in weapons, as revealed on March 15, 2011 when the freighter Victoria was seized by the IDF.

‘The ship was carrying arms bound for the Gaza Strip by way of Egypt, whose arrival would upgrade military capabilities of the terrorist organizations. Among the weapons on board the Victoria were C704 anti-ship missiles, which could be used to attack not only military and civilian vessels but also strategic targets in the southern Israeli cities of Ashdod and Ashkelon,’ the report noted…”

---

Source: JVIM.org

Criticizing Islam Considered National Security Threat

WASHINGTON – As tensions continue to surge over the expansion of Shariah law both in the Middle East and in Europe, a new speech rights case has emerged in Spain where an ex-Muslim Christian convert is threatened with deportation for speaking out against Islam.

Imran Farasat, who was interviewed by WND, is a Pakistani Christian who converted from Islam in 2004, after, he said, “I realized that what I was following for 26 years of my life is not a religion but in reality is a political dictatorship which persecutes and teaches to persecute through the orders and teachings of a self-proclaimed prophet (Muhammad).”

After his conversion to Christianity, he began to speak out against Islam. He told WND, “Muslims are involved everywhere in terrorism. Christians are being persecuted in Islamic countries to the maximum level of torture and suffering and Islam is trying to invade the Western world and kill our values. Who will stop this all?”

 

In his legal fight, he’s represented by The Legal Project, which describes itself as working “…to protect the right in the West to freely discuss Islam, radical Islam, terrorism, and terrorist funding.”
It has a large, transnational clientele that “includes authors, bloggers, journals and politicians.”
He adds on a more personal note that it is the tenets of his Christian faith that lead him to resist Islam.

“It is the time that the citizens of the Western world should stand up and speak the truth against something what is wrong. [The] Bible teaches us to speak the truth in any situation. And for me the truth is that Islam is a man-made religion which was created in order to govern the world. It has several contradictions in itself. It teaches killing (Jihad), hate non-Muslims, discriminate against women, rule the world at any price etc….”

According to Sam Nunberg, an attorney at The Legal Project who spoke to WND on the details of the case, it was threats from the Islamic community for violating Shariah blasphemy laws that prompted the Spanish Interior Ministry to grant refugee asylum status in 2004.

See what happens to Christians under Islam, in “A Cry From Iran.”

While in Spain, Imran continued his activism against Islam, by calling for the Quran to be banned throughout Europe and after the attacks on the American consulate in Benghazi, releasing a film about Muhammad called “The Innocent Prophet.” ( Innocense of Muslims)
Since the film’s Internet debut, the Spanish Interior Ministry has revoked his asylum status and is now threatening to send him back to Pakistan on the grounds that his activism is “creating national security concern,” according to Nunberg.

The fight now is in the Spanish courts.
But The Legal Project noted, “The Spanish government has revoked Imran Farasat’s asylum status because he made a film. Besides denying him his right of freedom of expression, the government is now trying to facilitate his transfer to Pakistan where Imran will face certain death for blasphemy. It is downright shameful. The Legal Project plans to take every measure possible to make sure that does not happen.”

Spanish government’s role

“He was granted political asylum in 2004 in Spain, and it was granted specifically because his life was in danger because he criticized Islam.”
Nunberg described the case to WND as a straightforward legal fight, explaining, “The Spanish government is reneging on the fact that they granted him asylum in the first place…”
However, Nunberg says that it is more fundamentally “…a violation of his right to freedom of expression to be able to speak out against Islam.”

Both Nunberg and Imran suspect that there are “ideological” reasons behind the Spanish government’s decision to deport Imran. Nunberg told WND the impetus behind the fight now is that the “Spanish government is afraid to lose their economic relations with the Islamic countries. That is why they want to leave a message to the Islamic world that they have taken sufficient actions against someone who criticized Muhammad.”

Nunberg additionally believes the Spanish government is supporting the implementation of Shariah and appeasing Islam. When asked if this is true Nunberg replied “Sure. I would say definitely.”
Imran also adds, “The Spanish government wants to set an example for all the Western countries that all the countries should do the same thing with the anti-Islamic bloggers and activists what Spain has done to me. My status has been revoked and I am on the verge to be deported, not because I have violated any Spanish law, but it is all because of the fear from the Islamic world.”

He said his life is in danger if forced to return to Pakistan.
“I know if I would be sent back to Pakistan, I will be killed on arrival for the blasphemy. What I consider is the truth. Muslims consider that the blasphemy. They do not have the capacity to bear the truth. That is why they kill brutally … everyone who speaks the truth about Muhammad,” he said.
Nunberg commented on the uniqueness of this case by saying that Imran “would be the first case where they [the Europeans] flat out extradite someone to an Islamic country to be killed for blasphemy.”

Nunberg also believes this case is a part of a larger agenda to forward the interests of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation via the Istanbul Process and the UN Resolution 16/18. The OIC, a collection of all Islamic nations at the UN, has been pushing for the implementation of laws globally to criminalize any negative reference to Islam or Muslims.

When asked by WND if this case can set a precedent for the implementation of new speech codes against Islam in Europe, Nunberg said, “Yes that is exactly it. This is certainly a precedent.”
He adds though it is not just Islamic and European nations that are pressing the agenda but the United States under President Barack Obama as well.

“This would set the precedent and Obama also set the precedent. By using the rationale that the Benghazi attack … was all caused by spontaneous combustion … by a video, it becomes the rationale that it [freedom of speech] is a crime.”
Imran also fears the encroachment of Shariah will lead to hate speech laws that protect Islam, while ignoring attacks on Christianity.

“Then a day will arrive in a very near future when expressing your view on Islam will be declared a legal crime according to the Western constitutions. Anyone can criticize Jesus Christ and insult the Christianity and nothing happens. But criticizing Muhammad for his cruel acts and corrupt life doesn’t fall anymore under the right of liberty of speech.”

Nunberg argues that this case serves the core presuppositions of the Istanbul Process and UN Resolution 16/18 by shifting responsibility away from the perpetrator to the victim. He says it sets the legal precedent that, “They [Islamic extremists] are not responsible for the attack, but rather we are responsible for provoking the attack.”

He adds that thanks to already existing European hate speech laws, it provides an already institutionalized precedent for expanding those laws to include the prohibiting of the defaming of Islam.

Nunberg suspects a darker agenda behind the Spanish government, because, “The Spanish Interior Ministry will not even say who accused him….He cannot even face his accuser.”
Imran confesses that even if he is deported back to Pakistan and killed, “I will be happy to die even, if I can change the mentality of some Muslims before something happens to me. I never hated Muslims. For me they are blind. What I hate is the Islamic violent ideology which is not compatible to our Western world.”

He also adds that despite his troubles, “Today I feel proud to say that I am a Christian. I have found the real God and the true message of life. I know that Christ has a special purpose for my life which is to expose the false prophets who misguide and mislead people. I want the entire Muslim world to know that truth which I have recognized.”

Read more at WND

US, Russia at Odds in Syria Talks Over Assad's Fate

Syrian rebels take helicopter base in first seizure of a regime military air base.

Russia and the United States remained deadlocked Friday on the fate of Syrian President Bashar Assad, as international mediator Lakhdar Brahimi met senior officials from both countries in Geneva in a bid to find a political solution to Syria's civil war.

Meanwhile rebels seized control of one of Syria's largest helicopter bases on Friday, opposition sources said, in their first capture of a military airfield used by Assad's forces.

The United States, which backs the 21-month-old revolt, says Assad can play no future role, while Syria's main arms supplier Russia said before the talks that his exit should not be a precondition for negotiations.

Syria is mired in bloodshed that has cost more than 60,000 lives and displaced millions of people. Severe winter weather is compounding their misery. The UN children's agency UNICEF says more than 2 million children are struggling to stay warm.

The capture of Taftanaz air base, after months of sporadic fighting, could help rebels solidify their hold on northern Syria, according to Rami Abdelrahman, head of the pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

But Yezid Sayigh, at the Carnegie Middle East Centre in Beirut, said it was not a game-changer, noting that it had taken months for the rebels to overrun a base whose usefulness to the military was already compromised by the clashes around it.

"This is a tactical rather than a strategic gain," he said.

In Geneva, UN-Arab League envoy Brahimi's closed-door talks began with individual meetings with US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov. He later held talks with both sides together.

A US official said negotiations would focus on "creating the conditions to advance a political solution - specifically a transitional governing body".

Six months ago, world powers meeting in Geneva proposed a transitional government but left open Assad's role. Brahimi told Reuters on Wednesday that the Syrian leader could play no part in such a transition and suggested it was time he quit.

Responding a day later, Syria's foreign ministry berated the veteran Algerian diplomat as "flagrantly biased toward those who are conspiring against Syria and its people".

More, here.