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  • Austrian Teenage Girl Who Joined ISIS ‘Killed in Syria’

    Austrian Teenage Girl Who Joined ISIS ‘Killed in Syria’

    One of two young Austrian women who travelled to Syria to fight with Islamic extremists has reportedly been killed just months after arriving in the country.

    Sabina Selimovic, 15, and Samra Kesinovic, 16, both the daughters of immigrant families from Bosnia, left their homes in Vienna in April with the apparent intention of fighting for Syrian rebels.

    They are thought to have travelled to Turkey and then to have crossed the border into Syria, having become radicalised after attending a local mosque in Vienna and reading about jihad on the internet.

    They posted on social media photographs of themselves handling assault weapons and wearing black, full length burkas.

    But Austrian authorities now think one of them – they have so far refused to divulge which one – may have been killed during fighting.

    “The parents of the girl concerned have been informed that there is a risk that their daughter is dead,” said Konrad Kogler, the director-general of public security for Austrian police.

    Alexander Marakovits, a spokesman for the Austrian interior ministry, told The Salzburger News: “We also have this information, but cannot say with absolute certainty that it is true. But the parents have been informed their daughter could be dead.”

    Austrian authorities fear that the two teenagers’ example is inspiring other young, radicalised Muslim women to travel to Syria and volunteer to fight.

    In Germany, meanwhile, an alleged jihadist went on trial on Monday, accused of fighting in Syria for Isil.

    In the first German criminal proceedings involving Isil, Kreshnik Berisha, a 20-year-old born near Frankfurt to a family from Kosovo, has been charged with membership of a foreign terrorist organisation.

    He could face 10 years in prison if convicted by the city’s superior regional court.

    Berisha is believed to have become radicalised when he fell in with a group of Muslim fundamentalists while on a job training programme.

    Federal prosecutors say Berisha travelled to Syria via Turkey in July 2013 with other Islamists planning to join the fight to create an Islamist “caliphate” straddling Syria and Iraq.

    Soon after his arrival, Berisha allegedly underwent firearms training and was put to work as a medic and a guard.

    In the six months he spent in Syria, he is believed to have fought in at least three battles on the side of the jihadists against President Bashar al-Assad’s troops.

    He returned home for reasons that are unclear to German authorities in Dec 2013 and was arrested at Frankfurt airport.

    Authorities estimate around 400 German nationals have travelled to Iraq and Syria to battle for the militants.

    Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/austria/11098039/Austrian-teenage-girl-jihadist-killed-in-Syria.html

  • ‘Halal’ Sex Shop Aims to Sell Halal Sex Devices and Props

    helalsexshop

    Browsers are directed to different pages for men and women. They are offered a range of condoms, massage oils, sprays, and scents.

    “Despite what outsiders may believe, sexuality is a normal human necessity in Islam,” says the site’s founder, 38-year-old Haluk Demirel.

    “But people, especially women, don’t feel comfortable buying products from pornographic looking web sites. Or they don’t like to go into to Western-style sex shops. So my online shop serves as a comfortable area, where they can easily find something to cater for their natural needs.”

    halalsexshop

    Mr Demirel describes his business as the first online sex shop in the Muslim world to operate in line with Islamic teaching – the world’s first Halal sex shop is, reportedly, in the Netherlands – a regular home for sexual innovation.

    He does not have a formal Halal certificate (“Halal”, or “Helal” in Turkish, means permissible under Islamic law), so carries out his own unofficial checks to make sure that the products he sells are allowed in Islam.

    “In Islam, masturbation is forbidden therefore I don’t sell vibrators, dolls or other similar toys for self pleasure,” he says.

    In particular, Mr Demirel hopes to attract to his site women who may be put off by the more direct language of traditional sex websites. So far, around 45% of his customers are female.

    “We use words which are delicate, not pornographic,” he explains. “For example, instead of ‘horny’ we use ‘desiring’. These details are important.”

    In Turkey, public discussion of sex is still a delicate subject. Some politicians prefer to avoid the subject altogether.

    During a recent visit to a new Ankara shopping centre, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan faced the potential indignity of walking past a Victoria’s Secret shop, a chain most famous for its lingerie.

    Quietly, the owners of the shop pulled down their shutters before the prime minister walked by – avoiding the possibility of mutual embarrassment.

    Here in Istanbul, in neighbourhoods unlikely to be disturbed by prime-ministerial walkabouts, several dozen sex shops operate. None claims to operate in the name of religion.

    halalshop

    “People come freely to shop here,” says one owner, who preferred not to give his name.

    Does he worry about his customers leaving him for Helal Sex Shop?

    “I haven’t checked their website,” he answers dismissively.

    But many others have. Some accuse the website of taking advantage of a trend for Islamic-approved products.

    “They invented ‘Islamic fashion’,” writes one Turkey’s most-read newspaper columnist, Ahmet Hakan, “Then ‘Islamic hotels’ and ‘Islamic holidays’. Now, finally, they’ve moved into sexual products.”

    On social media in Turkey, Helal Sex Shop is the subject of intense, occasionally mocking and graphic debate – much of it unrepeatable here.

    “Let your Helal shop be for the best… 🙂 The only thing you have not exploited for religion was lubricant,” writes one critic on Twitter.

    “It’s a website that helps people who are having sex with their spouses,” posts another commentator. “Instead of being criticised it deserves to be appreciated.”

    The debate has helped to spread the word. Helal Sex Shop now gets around 50,000 clicks a day.

    The interest has taken Haluk Demirel by surprise. Under the weight of users, his site has now crashed.

    Source: BBC