Antisemitism, Antizionism, Jihadism and the Reunited Germany. News by Fred Alan Medforth
An asylum seeker (31) sexually abused the neighbour’s children (6 and 8 years old), he was in detention. But now he cannot be deported: According to the authorities, his home country Afghanistan is too dangerous for the convicted child molester.
The abuse case caused a big stir in Landau in the Palatinate ( Germany) in 2018. The then 26-year-old Afghan, married father of two children, attacked the neighbour’s children. His justification in court: the stress of the German lessons, his uncertain future, his wife’s third pregnancy. The sentence: three years and six months in prison.
After three years he was released early from prison and deported to his home country. But he returned illegally. After his apprehension, the Afghan had to serve his outstanding remaining sentence. Next Monday he will be released, he is a free man again.
The incredible thing: The 31-year-old migrant can no longer be deported, reports the news magazine Focus. Since the Taliban took power, the German Interior Ministry has banned all deportations to Afghanistan. Too dangerous – even for convicted child molesters.
The only thing the family man will have to observe in future are court-ordered conditions of behaviour. He has to report regularly to the police, but is allowed to continue working on construction sites.
As the mother of the young children said in court after the verdict: “Tax evaders are punished more severely than child molesters in our country.”
It’s unbelievable what prison officers in Saxony’s jails have to go through!
In Dresden Prison on Hammerweg, the Libyan prisoner (51) was screaming in his cell. When a guard (45) looked in, everything was trashed. Abdurahman E. threatened to stab police officers in custody and held a sharpened cutlery knife in his hand.
Then the former Gaddafi soldier threw his kettle of bubbling hot tea at the officer. He was able to close the door at the last moment – through which he had been looking.
On Thursday in court, it continued: the Libyan spat around, undressed in the detention cellar. During the trial, he spoke of “my mother, Mrs Merkel”. The former chancellor would have flown him to Germany – in 2012, he said, he was treated in a military hospital for a war injury.
Verdict: “No positive social prognosis”, according to district judge Petra Heinze (53). 14 months in prison. The Libyan is now held in Leipzig Prison.
Two Brazilian tourists were subjected to sexual assault and rape near Paris’ iconic Eiffel Tower early Monday morning. Police are searching for suspects.
The two women, both sisters from Brazil, were sightseeing on Sunday and met with two young men who took them to the Champ-de-Mars, the large park by the famous Eiffel Tower and one of Paris’ most well-known tourist attractions.
At around 5:30 am, the eldest of the sisters claims one of the men touched her buttocks and she fled, looking to find her sister who had separated from her. The elder sister found her sibling on the ground with the other young man on top of her raping her, broadcaster BFMTV reports.
The alleged rapist then fled the area and the two tourists, who speak very little French, attempted to explain their situation to Paris police. The Paris prosecutor’s office announced that an investigation into the rape attack has been opened but so far no arrests have been made.
Rachida Dati, mayor of the 7th arrondissement (district) where the Eiffel Tower is located, commented on the case saying, “The rape of a woman at the foot of the Eiffel Tower highlights once again the dangerousness of the site of the Champ-de-Mars.”
Dati has argued that the Champ-de-Mars should be secured with a fence and closed at night with dedicated municipal police on the site, however, the Paris government has shown little interest in the proposal.
Issues with personal safety, particularly for women, have been an issue in Paris for years. In 2017, a mobile phone app was launched that attempted to warn people if they were in a “no-go area” or were at risk of sexual assault.
Just a year later in 2018, another app was developed in partnership with the Paris public metro company RATP to allow travellers to match up with others in order to chaperone each other and avoid being at risk of becoming targeted by criminals.
The Budapest prosecutor’s office has charged seven Hungarian nationals belonging to a fringe group with attempting to overthrow the existing constitutional order, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement on Thursday.
It is understood some of the accused had set up an organization to “violently change the constitutional order” and had encouraged their followers to kill 33 public figures, including Prime Minister Viktor Orbán; they had been recruiting members at meetings and via the internet.
The group was set up as a small state within a state, with even a judge, while another member was in charge of organizing the executive branch and drafting a new constitution.
Their anti-state stance is shown by the fact that, according to the indictment, a young couple from Bács-Kiskun county gave birth to a child in 2019 at home, without supervision, and without registering the child because they do not believe Hungary exists.
“In doing so, the parents deliberately failed to provide their child with citizenship or any documents needed for social identification and entitlement to benefits, and systematically and completely refused to cooperate with professionals acting legally to protect the child,” the statement from the prosecution read. “These repeated failures to comply with their obligations have endangered the physical development of their minor child,” it added.
The prosecutor’s office stated that the group’s leaders led the child’s parents to believe they could influence the guardianship proceedings, which they considered unlawful, and to call on the authorities to return their child.
In June 2020, one of the defendants issued a “death warrant” over the child protection and related criminal proceedings, which was posted on a video-sharing portal and sent by the parents to the authorities in a warning email.
https://rmx.news/hungary/hungarian-fringe-group-accused-of-attempting-to-overthrow-the-state/
While Turkey is the focus of earthquake reporting, the war-torn country Syria finds itself in a terrible situation. Western sanctions stand in the way of aid to quake victims.
A German weekly publication Tichy’s Einblick (TE) spoke to the Christian aid organization CSI, which works on the ground in Syria. They interviewed Pastor Peter Fuchs, CSI’s Germany manager, who has repeatedly visited Syria and is in close contact with the local officials.
TE asked Fuchs about the many images of killed Christian clergymen circulating on social media.
According to Fuchs, a good friend of his, Father Imad Folge, died in the earthquake that lasted several minutes. He had survived the terrible fighting for Aleppo in 2016 with serious injuries, losing an eye and half of his face at the time. Now this faithful priest died under the rubble of a house in the Melkite Archdiocese.
Aleppo, Hama, Tartus and Latakia have been hit by the worst earthquake in 800 years. The Chaldean Bishop of Aleppo, Antoine Audo, compared the quake to a gigantic bomb which fell on Aleppo after 12 years of war.
Another Christian relief worker said his organization Open Doors was providing shelter for the Christians at some churches and providing them with food and warmth. “It’s very cold now.”
People left their homes suddenly, and in many cases they cannot return – either because their houses have been destroyed, or are unsafe. “We’re talking about more than 20 000 Christians now in the streets,” he said. “I’m now in the street also. No one is at home. No shops, no food. People are really suffering.”
The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese in Aleppo consecrated in December 2000, posted photographs of the damage to its cathedral on social media. “This unprecedented earthquake caused great destruction of life and body,” the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese said in a statement. The archdiocese traces its beginnings back to the Antioch of the earliest Christians and Apostle Paul.
Because of Western sanctions, Syrians are already struggling. According to Fuchs, the quake has made the situation worse. Aleppo is a center and symbol of Syrian Christianity and that this apocalyptic catastrophe will further increase the pressure to emigrate from Syria – among Christians and Muslims, he said.
https://freewestmedia.com/2023/02/10/syrian-christians-in-aleppo-hard-hit-by-quake/
The gang-rape of a woman in Islamabad has sparked furious protests against the countrys “rape epidemic” and the culture of impunity that surrounds violence against women, according to a media report.
The 24-year-old was walking with a male colleague through Fatima Jinnah park, known locally as F-9 park, the city’s largest, at about 8 p.m. last Thursday when they were attacked by two armed men. The man was chased away and the woman raped, The Guardian reported.
The attackers told the woman that she should not have been in the park at that time of night, and threatened to call their friends to assault her again if she spoke about the incident, the report said.
Hundreds of people protested in the park this week over the police handling of the assault and demanded the arrest of the attackers. The crime also triggered widespread anger on social media.
“Horrified to hear of rape at gunpoint in F9 park which is full of families and kids esp on weekends. Why our public spaces are not safe for all citizens? Why is there no security at Islamabad’s biggest park,” asked journalist Sana Jamal on Twitter.
The victim is now in a secure location, but is said to be concerned about her safety after activists claimed police leaked her name, profession and contact number to reporters.
“The negligence from police is evident [they are] not taking the case seriously and have failed to arrest the culprits even a week after the incident,” said Farzana Bari, a women’s rights activist, The Guardian reported.
“This is not the first incident in this park and the police should take it seriously,” she added, referring to an occasion in 2018 when a woman was raped by a park worker.
“It is their responsibility to make public places safer for women.”
https://hindupost.in/world/pakistan/protests-and-fury-over-pakistans-rape-epidemic/
On Wednesday, February 8, 2023, the All-India Muslim Law Personal Board (AIMLPB) told the Supreme Court there is no bar on Muslim women offering Namaz in mosques, provided there is no intermixing of men and women in the mosque. In an affidavit filed in the apex court, the Muslim Personal Law Board told the Supreme Court that as per Islamic texts, traditions, and beliefs, women are permitted to enter mosques for namaz as long as there is no free intermixing of men and women in common areas.
“Considering the said religious texts, doctrines, and religious beliefs of the followers of Islam, it is submitted that entry of women into mosques for offering namaz inside mosques is permitted,” the affidavit filed through advocate M R Shamshad said.
The affidavit was filed in the hearing of a petition filed by one woman, advocate Farha Anwar Hussain Shaik, who urged the apex court to declare the prohibition of entry of Muslim women into mosques as illegal and unconstitutional. She said that this only violates the constitutional rights of Muslim women, it is also not allowed as per Quran. She argued that no Islamic holy text mandates keeping men and women separate in mosques.
The petitioner also claimed that women are allowed to perform hajj and umrah rituals in Mecca and Medina along with their male companions.
However, the Muslim Personal Law Board completely dismissed her arguments, saying that intermixing of men and women in mosques is not allowed in Islam. The affidavit claimed that no Islamic religious text authorised the mixing of genders in any mosque.
It further stated that when it comes to practising namaz around the Kaaba in Mecca, temporary arrangements are made by constructing barricades to separate men and women worshippers during the prayer.
The etiquettes of prayer, particularly no open intermixing of both sexes, are freely, scrupulously, and truly observed by all devotees, men and women alike, AIMLPB said. In reality, aside from Masjid Al-Haram, there are scores of mosques in Mecca where, since the time of the Prophet Muhammad, no intermingling of the sexes is permitted, the affidavit further read.
It is worth noting that almost every mosque has separate entrances for men and women, as well as separate cleansing and washroom spaces.
According to the affidavit, the AIMPLB, as a body of experts with no state authority, can only provide advisory opinions based on Islamic principles. It stated that the AIMPLB and, for that matter, the Supreme Court cannot delve into the realm of particular arrangements of a religious place, which is a completely privately managed entity for religious practises of believers in religion.
“Thus, a Muslim woman is free to enter into a masjid (mosque) for prayers. It is her option to exercise her right to avail such facilities as available for prayers in a masjid,” the affidavit said.
According to the affidavit, Islam does not mandate Muslim women to join daily five times prayers in congregation, nor does it require Muslim women to offer weekly Friday ‘Namaz’ in a congregation, but Muslim males must.
“The Muslim woman is differently placed because, as per doctrines of Islam, she is entitled to the same religious reward (sawab) for praying as per her option, either in the masjid or at home,” it said. The board further appealed to the community that the issue of making appropriate space for women should be kept in mind wherever new mosques are constructed.
The next hearing in the plea is likely to be held in March.
Dutch authorities have confirmed the main suspect in the murder of an elderly woman stabbed to death in her home is a 30-year-old asylum seeker who had been living in a temporary refugee shelter nearby.
Seventy-year-old Fenny suffered fatal stab wounds in an attack at her home in Groningen on Jan. 31. She is understood to have run outside after the attack crying, “I’ve been stabbed. I’ve been stabbed,” showing a wound to her abdomen to a neighbor who called for help.
Fenny was transferred to the hospital where she died a few days later as a result of her injuries.
After an investigation, the Dutch public prosecutor confirmed a 30-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of qualified manslaughter. The police are working on the assumption the elderly victim was murdered after a botched burglary attempt in the quiet Dutch neighborhood.
Despite the prosecutor’s office refusing to divulge further information about the suspect, insisting, “We never go into the background of a suspect,” Dutch media outlet DVNH reported on Thursday that the main suspect is a 30-year-old asylum seeker whose country of origin and asylum status is currently unknown.
The case has caused uproar in a local area that had already recently challenged the government’s decision to accommodate asylum seekers in temporary housing in the city.
Dutch media reported how the murder suspect had recently been residing on a boat in the Eems Canal, which has been used by the local government as a winter shelter for asylum seekers. The boat is close to the victim’s home in De Holtstek, an area close to the city center but a quiet neighborhood.
“This is another neighborhood, where we look after each other’s house and cats. I’m very sorry that this happened here,” one resident told local media.
A number of local residents had expressed concern about the number of new arrivals to the area after two asylum centers were established nearby: the canal boat and another location for daytime activities for asylum seekers located on the Eemskanaal Noordzijde.
“Our neighborhood has become a drain,” one resident of De Holtstek told DVNH who claimed he and his neighbors had told local authorities they feel unsafe due to the aggressive behavior of newcomers who hang out in the residential courtyard.
“We have not heard from the police. How dangerous is it to live here? Is there a chance of recurrence? Everyone here is worried,” said another resident, while a third woman added, “We are careful, we feel unsafe. It’s like the devil is after us.”
The victim had been due to go on holiday with a fellow neighbor and had been discussing plans with her friend the night she died. Were it not for the attack, “they would be in Bali now,” said a neighbor.
Local government has sought to reassure residents the matter was an isolated incident and there is no further threat to the public.
“Of course, we can well imagine the feelings of unrest among local residents following this tragic incident,” said a spokesperson for the municipality. “That is also the reason that the municipality and network partners have been in the neighborhood many times in recent days, and are in close contact with the neighborhood organizations,” they added.
The FIS does not mention possible US espionage. It also fails to provide concrete evidence and facts that could support its threat analysis in connection with certain states.
The topic of academic infiltration by China has also occasionally come into the media spotlight in recent months. At Zurich universities, Chinese researchers are now being eyed more critically: The suspicion is that they might be working for a secret service.
According to Article 7 of the Chinese Intelligence Law, “all organisations and citizens must support and cooperate with the national intelligence service”, the Sunday edition of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) reported.
Swiss universities have apparently become more of a target for espionagerecently. “China has set up a system to collect information from the Western scientific community,” Jean-Marc Rickli said recently. He deals with global risks at the Geneva-based Center for Security Policy.
Several universities therefore work closely with the intelligence service: “There is contact with representatives of the NDB and the cantonal police. These can be approached if we suspect espionage. They are also available for exchanges and give tips on prevention,” the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland, for example, told the NZZ am Sonntag.
The Swiss Intelligence Service (NDB) also apparently sees increased danger. It recently published the brochure Technopol.
The title of the brochure is: “Akademische Welt im Visier”. The intelligence service hoped to draw attention to the dangers of espionage at universities. It pointed out how universities and universities of applied sciences are always at risk of having their knowledge and technologies misused by “authoritarian” states.
“Despite publicly accessible research results, universities and research institutes are threatened by espionage and proliferation activities,” the brochure warned.
The latter is understood to mean the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction – i.e. nuclear, biological and chemical weapons – and their delivery systems. These include ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones.
The same applies to materials and technologies that can also be used to manufacture weapons. The FIS brochure described, among other things, what espionage via academia could look like in practice. This was shown by means of several case studies.
One example given is that of a Chinese guest researcher in Europe working in the field of space technology on projects for the European Space Agency (ESA). The researcher works for a physics professor whose research is civilian but can also be used for military purposes.
The Chinese researcher claims to work for the Chinese Academy of Sciences (a civilian institute), but in fact she works for a military research institution.
The FIS also pointed to false Linkedin profiles, for example, which the Chinese intelligence service has used to contact potentially interesting people.
According to the FIS, universities must be particularly careful with academics or students from “authoritarian” states. This is because these states appeal to the loyalty of their nationals to serve the homeland.
“They should put the knowledge they have acquired abroad at the disposal of the state, for example by participating in research projects to develop weapons systems,” the brochure noted. Many of these students were dependent on their home state, which often financed their studies but expected something in return.
What is striking about the FIS brochure is that it places a special focus on Russia and China. Repeatedly, examples of academics from these states are cited to show how great the danger of espionage from these countries was. Conversely, examples remain unmentioned of US researchers conducting espionage at Swiss universities on behalf of the intelligence services.
Against this background, Transition News contacted the intelligence service and wanted to know how it had arrived at this assessment:
The FIS did not answer any of the questions in detail. Isabelle Graber, media spokesperson for the intelligence service, commented to Transition News: “The Federal Intelligence Service (FIS) is a security policy instrument of Switzerland with a clearly defined mandate by law. Its core tasks are prevention and situation assessment for the attention of political decision-makers. In this context, the FIS deals with the early detection and combating of terrorism, violent extremism, espionage, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their carrier technology, cyber attacks on critical infrastructures and security policy processes abroad.
“The FIS does not comment on individual cases or on its operational findings and procedures. The FIS also does not comment on the number of cases of espionage at Swiss universities by Chinese academics/students. Within the framework of its legal mandate, taking into account the current situation and within the limits of the resources at its disposal, the FIS handles all cases of prohibited intelligence of which it becomes aware. Early detection and countering espionage (including industrial espionage) are central tasks of the FIS. You can find further information on the FIS’s fight against espionage in the fact sheet ‘What does the FIS do against espionage’.”
It is important to know that individual Swiss universities have repeatedly come under criticism in the past for their close cooperation with the US security apparatus. In 2013, for example, it became public that the US Department of Defence was financing numerous studies at Swiss universities.
It is also known that Swiss universities work more closely with the US. In the ranking of countries with which Swiss science cooperates, China is only in seventh place behind the US.
Against this background, the online outlet also wanted to know from the FIS whether there was a greater danger of espionage from the US than from China. However, the FIS did not give any information on this. The FIS also did not comment on questions about the FIS’s cooperation with Swiss universities.