Tag: Daesh

Study: Indonesian Jails Are Breeding Grounds For Terrorists

Prisons in Indonesia, notorious for being overpopulated and under- staffed, remain a fertile breeding ground for pro-ISIS militants, according to a new study.

These structural problems within the prison system will continue to defeat efforts in deradicalisation, disengagement and rehabilitation, say analysts from the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (Ipac) in a report released yesterday.

As a result, inmates loyal to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria are able to recruit and radicalise fellow prisoners with impunity, as well as direct attacks from behind bars, says the study by the Jakarta-based think-tank.

“Prisons are overcrowded and understaffed, corruption is rife, and inadequate budgets make it easier for well-funded extremists to recruit inmates when they can offer extra food,” Ipac director Sidney Jones said yesterday.

“No deradicalisation programme is going to be effective unless some of these issues are addressed.”

There are more than 200,000 inmates in 477 correctional facilities across Indonesia, of which some 300 or more prisons and detention centres are overcrowded.

The worst is a facility in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, which has more than six times its capacity, leading the warden to turn toilet areas into holding cells.

Indonesia has about 16,500 prison officers, most of whom have not been adequately trained in areas including the handling of high-risk inmates. With these officers on different shifts in a day, only some 3,650 staff are on duty at any one time.

This represents a ratio of about one officer to 55 inmates, making it almost impossible to closely monitor all prisoners, including 220 terrorist convicts.

While the number of inmates in jail for terrorism-related activities is low relative to the total prison population, the stakes are far higher with these “high-risk” offenders.

The risk is exacerbated with the rising number of terrorist convicts, with more than 120 jailed this year.

The radicalisation of common criminals by pro-ISIS inmates in prison continues to be a nightmare for both the police and prison officials, according to Ipac.

At least 18 former criminal offenders have been involved in terrorism cases in Indonesia since 2010, and most were radicalised in prison.

In one case, an inmate was recruited after he was involved in fights. Two others were recruited because they wanted better food, or had found the tight-knit community of terrorist inmates appealing.

Another factor in the radicalisation of inmates is the presence of jailed ideologues such as Abu Bakar Bashir, the spiritual leader of the old Jemaah Islamiah terror network, and Aman Abdurrahman, who is said to have ordered the Jan 14 attack in Jakarta which killed eight people, including the four perpetrators.

Both Bashir and Aman are known to have followers in and out of prison, and have played active roles in the radicalisation of inmates.

Efforts have since been made to isolate the militant leaders to prevent the spread of violent ideology.

The Ipac report also says there is “probably no alternative to isolating the most hardline extremist prisoners in one or two facilities with specially trained staff so that controls on visitors, communications and outside donations can be strictly enforced”.

Meanwhile, lawmakers on Tuesday asked Parliament for more time to deliberate on proposed legislative changes to beef up the country’s anti-terrorism laws.

These include allowing the police to hold suspects involved in terror attack plots for up to six months, instead of a week, as well as making it an offence for citizens to join militant groups such as ISIS overseas.

Source: www.straitstimes.com

December 15, 2016
Iraq Launches Mosul Offensive To Drive Out ISIS Terrorists

Iraqi government forces launched a U.S.-backed offensive on Monday to drive Islamic State from the northern city of Mosul, a high-stakes battle to retake the militants’ last major stronghold in the country.

Two years after the jihadists seized the city of 1.5 million people and declared a caliphate from there encompassing tracts of Iraq and Syria, a force of some 30,000 Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga forces and Sunni tribal fighters began to advance.

Helicopters released flares and explosions could be heard on the city’s eastern front, where Reuters watched Kurdish fighters move forward to take outlying villages.

A U.S.-led air campaign has helped push Islamic State from much of the territory it held but 4,000 to 8,000 fighters are thought to remain in Mosul.

The Pentagon said that Iraqi forces were meeting objectives and were ahead of schedule on the first day of the offensive.

Residents contacted by phone dismissed reports on Arabic television channels of an exodus by the jihadists, who have a history of using human shields and have threatened to unleash chemical weapons.

“Daesh are using motorcycles for their patrols to evade air detection, with pillion passengers using binoculars to check out buildings and streets,” said Abu Maher, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State.

He and others contacted were preparing makeshift defenses and had been stockpiling food in anticipation of the assault, which officials say could take weeks or even months. The residents withheld their full names for security reasons and Reuters was not able to verify their accounts independently.

The United States predicted Islamic State would suffer “a lasting defeat” as Iraqi forces mounted their biggest operation in Iraq since the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

But the offensive, which has assumed considerable importance for U.S. President Barack Obama as his term draws to a close, is fraught with risks.

These include sectarian conflict between Mosul’s mainly Sunni population and advancing Shi’ite forces, and the potential for up to a million people to flee Mosul, multiplying a refugee crisis in the region and across Europe.

“We set up a fortified room in the house by putting sandbags to block the only window and we removed everything dangerous or flammable,” Abu Maher said. “I spent almost all my money on buying food, baby milk and anything we might need.”

The United Nations’ humanitarian coordinator for Iraq said the military had told the U.N. it expected the first significant population movement to begin in five to six days, suggesting that is when the assault would move to the city itself.

Lise Grande said Iraqi security forces would transport fleeing civilians, who would be vetted to ensure Islamic State fighters could not hide among them, following residents’ reports that militants had shaved off their beards to escape detection.

Video showing rockets and bursts of tracer bullets across the night sky and loud bursts of gunfire was shown on Qatar-based al-Jazeera television after Prime Minister Haider Abadi announced what he called “the heroic operations to free you from the terror and oppression of Daesh”.

“We will meet soon on the ground in Mosul to celebrate liberation and your salvation,” Abadi said in a speech on state television in the middle of the night, surrounded by commanders of the armed forces.

HUMANITARIAN CRISIS FEARED

Early on Monday, Abadi sought to allay fears that the operation would provoke sectarian bloodletting, saying that only the Iraqi army and police would be allowed to enter the mainly Sunni city. He asked Mosul’s residents to cooperate with them.

Local Sunni politicians and regional Sunni-majority states including Turkey and Saudi Arabia warned that if Shi’ite militias take part in the assault they could spark sectarian violence.

The Iraqi army dropped tens of thousands of leaflets on Mosul before dawn on Sunday, warning residents the offensive was imminent, assuring them it “will not target civilians” and telling them to avoid known locations of Islamic State fighters.

Reflecting authorities’ concerns over a mass exodus that would complicate the offensive and worsen the humanitarian situation, the leaflets told residents “to stay at home and not to believe rumors spread by Daesh” that could cause panic.

Resident Abu Abdullah said he had wanted to witness the beginning of the offensive.

“We heard repeated explosions at a distance, so I went to the rooftop to see fireballs, even if it was dangerous. I was happy that the operation to liberate Mosul started,” he said.

In 2014, Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed a “caliphate” in Iraq and neighboring Syria from Mosul’s Grand Mosque. The group faced little resistance but has employed brutal methods to maintain control. On Monday, it circulated photographs showing children executing alleged spies.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, criticized over the level of civilian casualties during Syrian government operations backed by Moscow in and around the city of Aleppo, said on Sunday he hoped the United States and its allies would do their best to avoid hitting civilians in the attack on Mosul.

The United Nations has said the battle would require the world’s biggest and most complex humanitarian effort, which could leave up to 1 million people homeless and see civilians used as human shields or even gassed.

There are already more than three million people displaced in Iraq as a result of conflicts involving Islamic State and up to 100,000 Iraqis may flee Mosul to Syria and Turkey. Medicine is in short supply in Mosul and food prices have risen sharply.

“Families in Mosul started stockpiling food yesterday in case the fighting reaches our streets and we can no longer go out,” said Saeed, a resident.

“Daesh are still in Mosul and it’s not true that they left. They are continuing to erect blast walls in the streets to obstruct any advance.”

(With additional reporting by Maher Chmaytelli and Stephen Kalin in Baghdad, Michael Georgy in Erbil and Stephanie Nebehay and Tom Miles in Geneva; writing by Philippa Fletcher; editing by Giles Elgood and Gareth Jones)

Source: www.reuters.com

October 18, 2016
Significance And Consequences Of ISIS Attack In Madinah

Just when you thought Daesh (so-called IS) militants couldn’t add anything more gruesome to their image, they proved us all wrong again on Tuesday when they targeted the Prophet Mohammad’s Mosque in Madinah. The Mosque (known in Arabic as Al-Masjid Al-Nabawi) is one of two holy shrines the Kingdom hosts, and was one of three locations in Saudi Arabia targeted by terrorists on the same day.

Internal investigations are under way to reveal the identity of perpetrators and whether or not the attacks were coordinated. Until then, it is safe to say that all three cases carry Daesh-like fingerprints, both in terms of execution and motives.

More importantly, and contrary to what some may think, Daesh does declare the Kingdom an enemy, and only a few weeks ago, a Daesh leader called upon his horrid clan worldwide to launch attacks against their foes throughout Ramadan (the Muslim holy month of fasting which concluded Tuesday).

The first attack, which occurred near the American Consulate in the coastal city of Jeddah, may have not only been meant as a jab at the West; but had it not been prevented it would have definitely ‘poisoned the water’ between Saudi Arabia and the United States.

The second attack targeted two Shiite mosques in the Eastern province of Saudi Arabia. The Shiite sect are a minority in the Kingdom and have previously had their own issues with the government. However, they (Shiites) are also a declared enemy of Daesh. As such, had this attack been successful it would have also managed to achieve two things: kill Shiites while also creating tension between this minority and the government by making it seem as if they weren’t properly protected by the Kingdom’s security forces.

Yet, the most significant of all three attacks was definitely the attempt on the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah. There are no words that could describe the horrific impact this attack — had it been successful — both in terms of symbolic significance and the potential number of casualties.

So far, media reports have carried the following scenario: the bomber arrived to the mosque from the southern side during the sunset prayers (the time of breaking the Muslim fast). He was then stopped by Saudi security forces, who informed him that he was attempting to enter a restricted area which is only meant to be used as an exit passage for the people praying inside the mosque.

Assuming that he (the bomber) was there to pray and break his fast, the officers offered him to join them for iftar. However, the bomber ran towards the mosque before he was stopped by the guards.

Surrounded with nowhere to run, the terrorist detonated the bomb killing himself and the officers whose bravery and sacrifice prevented the attack from harming tens of thousands of innocent worshipers.

As expected, the Madinah attack resulted in a wave of solidarity and condemnation across the globe. However, just because it was foiled, we shouldn’t simply move on or ignore its significance.

Indeed, this is an attack that — literally — targeted the heart of Islam itself. As such, it must serve as an eye-opener to any remaining Daesh sympathizers among us who may still believe that their evil creed has anything to do with humanity, let alone Islam.

And to those who are not Daesh sympathizers, but remain silent or indifferent… now is the time to speak up. Most definitely, if this horrid attack doesn’t stir unprecedented worldwide protests, then we — Muslims — deserve to be called nothing less than ‘hypocritical’.

Why do protests only occur only when ‘the West’ is perceived to have humiliated Islam with, for example, a Danish cartoon or by something as trivial a British schoolteacher innocently agreeing that her Muslim students call their teddy bear Muhammad?

Isn’t an attack on a holy mosque, which contains the prophet’s resting place, a far bigger insult to Islam? Or does an insult become acceptable if the perpetrator was “one of us?” (Obviously, the answer is ‘no’)

However, it could also be argued that what is needed now is not anger nor protests. All we need is to apply and accept common sense; after all, it wouldn’t be logical to believe that someone would attack the prophet… in the name of this same prophet!

Faisal J Abbas

Source: http://saudigazette.com.sa

July 12, 2016
Damanhuri Abas: Be Those Who Champion For The Weak And Oppressed

In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Dispenser of Grace.

Neo-Khawarij… an Islamic historical reality undead and simmering. A chronic parasite unleashed by the invasion of Iraq. Less we forget, an invasion that opened the pandora box and killed thousands of Iraqi citizens on a lie to stop Sadam’s non-existent weapons of mass destruction.

In truth the invasion and the war on terror are crafty invocation of a perpetual threat designed to allow for a methodical and systematic destruction of the Islamic middle east for the black gold it has.

A massive energy grab now fully underway with a full checklist after Iraq; Libya, Yemen, Syria, and eventually the Gulf States, Iran and Saudi Arabia. All scripted by the new great game for the middle east that began in the modern era.

Collateral damages are small prices to pay in Iraqi, Palestinian, Libyan, Yemeni, Syrian, Iranian, Saudi, and the occasional western blood to sustained the self-serving blood-lust imagery. The compliant media will continue spewing the scripted deception and exhaust the Islamic blame-game. Focusing on symptoms but never the cure for the disease.

Isis or more accurately known as Daesh is good currency for now, the latest priceless premium brand that encapsulate the ultimate fear invoking terror bogeyman, ever-ready to brutally kill under self-proclaimed divine order texted and received from their social media savvy gods on Instagram, Facebook and Tweeter to the tune of their pay-master.

The Afghan Mujahideen, the Taliban, Sadam, Daesh aka Isis and their lookalikes or wannabes world over are mere black pieces, while the Bushes, the Blairs and their present heirs are the white pieces in the grand chessboard of the neo-colonial project for full economic control of world resources that began in the modern era.

The endgame has only begun for full spectrum dominance and control of energy and world economy by the powerfully rich, the same group that brought millions of death upon death in the 2 world wars not too long ago. The same preachers with blood still dripping from their hands and now owners of nuclear weapons that can destroy the world many times over, are preaching their lies and fooling mankind again.

Humanity is now ever polarized and poised to pit themselves against each other to their total and ultimate destruction. An ordained everlasting cycle of battles between the good that wishes to care, partake and share equally from God’s earth, loosing to an evil wanting to wrest and hoard the temporary riches from the Maker of the world only for themselves and Satan, their vindictive Master. A narrative scripted since times of old found in all books of ancient wisdom, sadly much lost in contemporary translation by the mainstream media through misleading labels and superficial journalism.

Patient is a virtue in this time of spell-binding deception. Institutionalized religion has all but abandoned the Prophetic driven project of action for mankind and sadly outsourced their relevance to melodious rhythms for self delectable pleasure sold for mere pittance. A leader to exit mankind from their impending doom must be at hand. The Word of God will return to fulfill and complete his Divinely disrupted mission. A missing earthly piece to be Divinely returned seeking justice and championing the oppressed on earth.

The Messiah will unite mankind in a new peace to reign again on earth albeit for a moment before another cycle repeats itself and will end with the final destruction. The book mentioned of our beautiful earth to one day mirror the parched desolation of Mars. A testimony of abandoned past Divine theaters with the show long ago ended. The scripts were Divinely written and the inks are all exhausted. The actors and audiences are judged and resides forever justly in their deserved eternal abode. A lesson for mankind today that seemed long forgotten.

God is the Greatest. I am a mortal witness. Let me be among those who will walk in life in the ranks of the champions for the weak, the powerless, the oppressed and the down-trodden. May God have mercy on us all.

End Ramadan Self-Reflection
30 Ramadan 1437H

Source: Damanhuri Bin Abas

July 5, 2016