Mohammed Tariq, 24, was convicted of sexually assaulting a three-year-old girl
The refugee and the victim, who are not related, were both evacuated from Afghanistan during the Taliban takeover
Federal jury heard the abusive sexual contact took place Camp Upshur in Quantico, Virginia
Tariq tried to claim via interpreters his conduct was acceptable in his culture If you wanted a culture that accepted your culture’s behaviour, habibi, you should have stayed home.
He could face a maximum term of life in prison when sentenced on April 26
[Garowe] The US Africa Command is still training Somalia's Special Forces dubbed Danab, General Stephen Townsend has said, noting that despite the withdrawal of the American forces, Washington is still keen to help Somalia defeat al-Shabaab ...... Somalia's version of the Taliban ...Arabic for students... , functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... .
Last year, former US President Donald Trump ...The man who was so stupid he beat fourteen professional politicians, a former tech CEO, and a brain surgeon for the Republican nomination in 2016, then beat The Smartest Woman in the World in the general election... sanctioned the withdrawal of close to 800 US soldiers from Somalia, who was responsible for training the Danab Special Forces, a contingent of Somali National Army [SNA], besides providing aerial surveillance to allied forces.
The soldiers were repositioned to Kenya and Djibouti by the Department of Defense which has been closely monitoring the situation in the troubled Horn of Africa nation battling with instability for decades.
In an interview with the Voice of America, Townsend, who is the Commander of US Africa Command, said there are still close to 100 soldiers offering training to the Danab Special Forces in Somalia.
"If increased pressure is not applied to al-Shabaab, I'm concerned there's going to be a significant al-Shabaab attack," he told VOA.
In Somalia, where local and international partners are battling the al-Qaeda affiliate al-Shabaab, U.S. forces have continued to "commute to work" while leaving fewer than 100 troops in the war-torn country.
Donald Trump ordered most of the 800 U.S. troops out of Somalia in 2020 in one of his last foreign policy moves as American president.
"We are working hard to get our tasks done. I think that there are more effective and efficient ways to do that. We’ve provided those recommendations to the secretary of defense, and we're waiting for decisions there," Townsend said.
A report released by the US Africa Command indicated that there were fewer Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s in Somalia in 2021 compared to 2020. According to the report, the US army fired 10 times in Somalia last year compared to 72 times in 2020.
The Danab Special Forces have been instrumental in the fight against al-Shabaab holy warriors for the last couple of years. The US has been financing and equipping them, further helping to degrade the al-Shabaab in central and southern Somalia.
[OneIndia] With the name of a Khalistani terrorist cropping up in various cases in Punjab, the National Investigation Agency has reached out to its German counterparts for more information.
The NIA is seeking more information on Jaswinder Singh Multan ...Home of the Multan Sultans... i, a member of the Sikhs for Justice, a proscribed organization in India. The NIA has also announced a Rs 10 lakh reward on Multani after his name cropped up in the Ludhiana blast case.
Multani was detained in Germany following a tip off from New Delhi. He was however released after he provided an affidavit promising to cooperate with the probe.
The NIA has so far booked nine people including Multani on charges of attempting to revive terrorism in Punjab. Several pro-Khalistan elements have been operating from Germany and are aiding the revival of terror in Punjab. Further there are Interpol notices pending against four of the suspects. They are Gurmeet Singh Bagaga,Shamider Singh, Bhupinder Singh Bhinda of the SJF and Babbar Khalsa International operative, Harjot SIngh.
Bhinda had had been sentenced to four years in jail by a court in Frankfurt in 2012 for attempting to kill the Radha Saomi Beas Dera head when he visited Germany in 2010. Bhinda who had entered Germany using a fake passport is a close associate of Pakistain based operative Ranjit Singh Neeta.
Officials say that the Germany module has been instrumental in raising funds. An official tells OneIndia that a German national named Avtar Singh is on their radar for both raising funds and recruitments. He is also accused of sending recruits from Germany to both Italia and Pakistain.
Bagga on the other hand was accused of trying to kill a Dera chief in Vienna. Bagga according to officials is instrumental in smuggling weapons from Pakistain to Punjab. For now the biggest catch for the NIA would be Multani. He is active and continues to play an important role in operations of the Khalsitanis both internationally as well as in India. Apart from the Ludhiana blast, he was also involved in the Grenade attack at Nawanshahr was the handiwork of his team.
Harjot Singh also a key player had moved to Thailand on a fake Nepalese passport. He is a primary fund raiser. Following his escape to Thailand, he moved into Pakistain and then to Germany where he applied for asylum. All these persons have applied for asylum.
Multani at the behest of a Babbar Khalsa terrorist from Pakistain conspired and carried out the attack.
They were also in the process of undertaking more such attacks.
The Intelligence agencies had learnt that a Germany based Khalistan terrorist and another from the Babbar Khalsa in Pakistain had planned this attack after being tasked by the ISI.
The Babbar Khalsa terrorist who is currently in Pakistain has been identified as Harvinder Singh Sandhu, while the Khalistan supporter based in Germany is Jaswinder SIngh Multani.
Both had coordinated with each other and planned the attack. The attack was first of the many other acts of terror they had planned to destabilise Punjab, an Intelligence Bureau official told this correspondent.
Sandhu according to the IB official is also wanted in scores of cases that include cross border smuggling. Sandhu is wanted in 30 different cases that include murder, smuggling of arms and ammunition, drug peddling etc.
[Breitbart] Taliban ...Arabic for students... member Anas Haqqani, head of the terrorist Haqqani network ...a branch of the Afghan Taliban, based in Pakistain. The network is a family business founded by the later Jalaluddin Haqqani... , was reported to Norwegian police for war crimes during a Taliban delegation visit to the country.
The police report was filed by Norwegian-Afghan media scientist Zahir Athari, who called for the arrest of Anas Haqqani — whose brother is Afghan interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani ...son of Pashtun warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani, still titular head of the Haqqani Network.... — who landed in Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... on Satuirday as part of a Taliban delegation visiting Norway for talks with the U.S., UK, EU, and others. Athari said of his reporting one of the members of the delegation: "The Norwegian authorities must stand next to the victims — the Afghan people."
"He and his network have been behind the most deadly attacks against the civilian population in Afghanistan since 2001. It hurts that he comes as a respected guest here in Norway, instead of being handcuffed to the bench in the Human Rights Court in The Hague," Athari told broadcaster NRK.
"Inviting them on a private plane to Norway is nothing more than just a dialogue. The dialogue could have been just as good if it were taking place in Afghanistan or Afghanistan’s neighbouring countries, without giving the Taliban the honour of getting on a private plane to Norway," he added.
#1
LOL the Taliban can travel freely in Europe but George W. Bush can't. Just shows you how discriminating they are with their tastes in war criminals. And supposedly these people are our "allies".
[DW] A 36-year-old Syrian doctor has been charged with torture and murder. He testified to witnessing beatings at a military hospital from 2011 to 2012, but not participating in it.
A Syrian doctor on Tuesday denied all charges of crimes against humanity levied against him at the Frankfurt Higher Regional court.
Among a long list of crimes Alaa M.
...more fully Alaa Mousa, or rather Dr. Alaa Mousa, orthopedist, a specialist in bones and joints...
stands accused of gruesome acts, such as dousing the genitals of teenagers with alcohol and setting them on fire, kicking prisoners' broken arms and legs, and administering injections to victims who protested against mistreatment.
The trial began last Wednesday, with some 13 days of hearings scheduled between then and the end of March.
Alaa M. arrived in Germany in 2015 on a skilled worker's visa. He had practiced medicine in Germany until his arrest in 2020.
The 36-year-old now faces 18 counts of torturing detainees in Damascus and the western city of Homs between 2011 and 2012. He also faces one murder count for allegedly administering a lethal injection to a prisoner who resisted being beaten, federal prosecutors said.
The case is among the first of its kind in Germany where atrocities committed by the Syrian regime during the country's civil war are being tried in a court of law.
Earlier this month, a German court sentenced a former Syrian colonel to life in jail for overseeing the murders of 27 people and the torture of 4,000 others at a Damascus detention.
ALAA M. 'FELT SORRY' FOR DETAINEES
The 36-year-old worked at the military hospital in Homs in 2011, after Arab Spring protests against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Light of the Alawites... 's regime led to a brutal crackdown.
He took the stand on Tuesday and told judges that a great number of opposition demonstrators were brought in with injuries and that it was a chaotic scene. He said he had worked in several military medical facilities at the time.
He testified that he "felt sorry" for patients who were beaten and blindfolded, but firmly denied taking part in any violence, saying he did not beat any detainees, and "would never" have operated on a patient without anesthesia, as prosecutors accuse him of doing.
"I saw the military secret service beating injured detainees. I felt sorry for them, but I couldn't say anything, or it would have been me instead of the patient," he told the court. He also said the military police did not permit him to talk about the patients in anything but a medical capacity, saying in most cases he neither knew their names nor knew what eventually became of them.
Asked whether he felt sympathy for the anti-Assad demonstrators, Alaa M. said neither he nor his family were political activists, adding that while protests began peacefully, they quickly turned more "radical."
[OneIndia] While several alerts have been issued ahead of Republic Day, the Border Security Force has said that nearly 100 forces of Evil were present at the launch pads along the India-Pakistain border and are waiting to be launched.
While the situation is under control, the Inspector General of the Border Security Force, Kashmir ...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it Azad (Free) Kashmir. The remainder they refer to as "Indian Occupied Kashmir". They have fought four wars with India over it, the score currently 4-0 in New Delhi's favor. After 72 years of this nonsense, India cut the Gordian knot in 2019, removing the area's special status, breaking off Ladakh as a separate state, and allowing people from other areas to settle (or in the case of the Pandits, to resettle) there.... , Raja Babu Singh said in Srinagar, that there are reports that there are 104 to 135 present at the launch pads waiting to infiltrate.
He also added that a heightened vigil is being maintained after a few local guides crossed the Line of Control. We are maintaining a vigil on them and their families, he also added.
There has been a lot of activity in the border areas. An Intelligence Bureau official tells OneIndia that with the number of forces of Evil in the Valley dropping, Pakistain is on a mission to get more of them to infiltrate and keep Jammu and Kashmir on the boil.
Following the agreement on the cease fire between India and Pakistain, the situation has by and large remained normal.
However there have been several activities such as narcotics and arms smuggling, tunnels being built for infiltration that have been reported. In 2021, the BSG had seized 17 weapons and over 900 rounds of ammunition, 30 bombs and 38 kilograms of narcotics. The BSF had carried out anti-tunnel drives along the International Border. It detected two tunnels as a result of which a huge dent in the infiltration attempts by Pakistain was caused.
As much as 38.160 kg of narcotics, four AK-47 rifles, seven AK-47 magazines, 339 rounds of AK ammunition, 13 pistols, 32 pistol magazines, 371 pistol ammunition, 13 grenades, 233 other ammunition, 16 metres of cordtex wire (a kind of detonating wire), a wireless set, six mobile sets, a radio receiver, 13 detonators, 15 detonator fuses and four sticky mobs were among the recoveries made by the BSF along the International Border, the officials said, according to PTI.
The BSF troops also seized about 10.93 kg of narcotics from Akhnoor along with fake Indian currency with a face value of Rs 2,75,000, they said.
The troops also neutralised a Pak man who was trying to smuggle a consignment of narcotics from Kathua border. About 27.25 kg of drugs was seized from his possession, they said, the report also said.
[IsraelTimes] Safwat Freij, a resident of Kafr Qasim, widely seen as agreeing with pragmatic line espoused by coalition party
The Southern Islamic Movement
... the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood in Israel, based in Kafr Qasim near Tel Aviv. The Northern Branch is the militant wing, based in Umm al Fahm in the Galilee, which coordinates with Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and Erdogan’s Turkey. An estimated 10% of Israel’s Arabs are connected to either the Northern or Southern Branch, if only through their charities...
has elected a new spiritual leader over the weekend, replacing Sheikh Hamad Abu Daabes, who led the faction for 12 years.
The Islamic Movement said on Saturday night that Sheikh Safwat Freij had been elected to the organization’s top spot. Observers widely saw Freij’s election as good news for Ra’am party leader Mansour Abbas, as the sheikh is considered to be close to Abbas and to share his worldview.
Freij, from the central Arab city of Kafr Qasim, previously served as the Islamic Movement’s deputy chief and ran a charitable organization on the faction’s behalf. Freij’s father was killed during a notorious massacre committed by Israeli police in the city during the Suez Crisis in 1956.
Founded in the 1980s, the Islamic Movement was thrust into the spotlight over the past year when its political branch, the Islamist Ra’am party, joined the coalition government.
The movement is informally divided between its more radical "northern" branch, led by Sheikh Raed Salah, and the "southern" leadership, until recently led by Daabes, which is considered more moderate. Israel banned the northern branch for alleged terror ties in 2015, and Salah recently finished serving over a year in prison for incitement.
In contrast to some of his firebrand ...firebrands are noted more for audio volume and the quantity of spittle generated than for any actual logic in their arguments... predecessors, Abbas has adopted a pragmatic approach.
In remarks that stirred controversy among Arab Israelis, Abbas said in late November that Arabs should strategically cease contesting Israel’s Jewish character.
"Israel was born a Jewish state, that was the decision of the people, and the question is not what is the identity of the state — it was born this way and it will remain this way," Abbas said at the time.
Freij defeated his main opponent, Sheikh Mohammad Salameh Hassan, by a vote of 293-214. Hassan was considered to represent a more traditional approach for the Islamic Movement, referring to Israel’s government as an "occupation government" and calling all Israelis "settlers."
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...
...son of Pashtun warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani, still titular head of the Haqqani Network....
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it 
