News: Europe – Page 93 – Eye on Islamism

EU’s border agency deliberately, systematically cooperated with Greece in pushbacks: report EU Commission’s vice president acted more for Greece than as bloc’s senior official, says German magazine Der Spiegel

July 28, 2022 Ahmet Gencturk

(Anadolu) The European Union’s border agency, Frontex, has deliberately and systematically cooperated with Greece in illegal pushbacks of asylum seekers to Turkish waters, a German magazine reported Thursday. Findings of an investigation by OLAF, the bloc’s anti-fraud agency, on the dimension of […]

France: Muslim man storms church during mass attacking parishioner

July 28, 2022 Chris Tomlinson

(Breitbart) A Muslim man interrupted mass in a French church in the suburbs of Paris over the weekend, attacking a parishioner and screaming during the liturgy. The incident took place on Sunday at the Church of Saint-Germain, in Saint-Germain-en-Laye in the Paris suburbs […]

Court of Appeal refuses to hear Lisa Smith bail application today

July 27, 2022 Unlisted Author

(RTÉ) The Court of Appeal refused to hear a bail application this afternoon for Lisa Smith. The former Irish soldier was sentenced to 15 months in prison just five days ago for joining Isis when she travelled to Syria in 2015. However, […]

Ofcom rules TV channel broadcast ‘antisemitic hate speech’ The Ahlebait channel, serving the UK's Shia Muslim community, said it 'sincerely regrets potentially offensive antisemitic remarks were broadcast,' after CST complains to broadcast watchdog

July 27, 2022 Lee Harpin

(Jewish News) The broadcast watchdog Ofcom has ruled that a television channel serving the Shia Muslim community in the UK broadcast content that “amounted to antisemitic hate speech” and was “abusive and derogatory towards Jewish people.” Investigating a complaint made by the […]

Outrage: No murder charge for migrants accused of overdosing, raping child

July 27, 2022 Chris Tomlinson

(Breitbart) Three Afghan migrants accused of drugging and raping 13-year-old Austrian girl Leonie and leaving her to die by a tree are not set to face murder charges in an Austrian court. The three Afghan migrants have been charged with rape resulting […]

Germany places Somali in psychiatric care over knife attack

July 26, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AFP) A German court on Tuesday committed a Somali man to a psychiatric hospital, after he knifed three people to death in the southern city of Wuerzburg last year. Nine other people were injured in the attack in the Bavarian city in […]

Man on French terror watchlist arrested after threatening people with a knife

July 26, 2022 Chris Tomlinson

(Breitbart) A man on the French S-file terrorist watchlist was arrested over the weekend in Marseille after brandishing a large knife and threatening locals and passers-by in the street. The 27-year-old man, identified as Ali B., who was dressed in the traditional […]

Serbian police break up people-smuggling gang, find migrants

July 26, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AP) Serbia’s police broke up a people-smuggling gang near the border with Hungary early on Tuesday, and found various weapons and hundreds of passports and other documents taken from migrants trying to reach Western Europe, officials said. Police also discovered 120 migrants, […]

German woman jailed for taking son to Syria to join IS

July 26, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AP) A German woman was convicted Tuesday of membership in the Islamic State group and other offenses for traveling to Syria to join the organization with her young son. She was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison. The Duesseldorf state court […]

Turkey says Greece pushed migrant boat back into Turkish waters

July 25, 2022 Yesim Dikmen

(Reuters) Turkey on Monday accused Greece of pushing a boat carrying migrants out of Greek territorial waters and back into Turkish ones. The defence ministry in Ankara said the incident occurred on Sunday near Rhodes, and posted drone footage on social media […]

N. Macedonia: Police find 86 migrants, arrest truck driver

July 24, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AP) Police in North Macedonia have found 86 migrants, including minors, crammed into a truck with an attached trailer in the southern part of the country and arrested the truck driver. The migrants from Pakistan, Syria and India were discovered late Saturday […]

Spain’s Guardia Civil rescues a youngster captured by a Belgian jihadist

July 24, 2022 Anna Ellis

(Euro Weekly) The young girl has been released in Belgium in an operation in which a man accused of radicalising the child has been arrested. The operation was carried out with the cooperation of the Belgian Federal Police and the judicial bodies […]

Over 1,000 migrants arrive in Italy amid election campaign

July 24, 2022 Gaël Branchereau

(AFP) More than a thousand migrants arrived in Italy within a few hours while hundreds of others, rescued by humanitarian vessels, were waiting for a port to receive them, NGOs and authorities said Sunday. The influx — while not unusual for the […]

Turkey’s Erdogan rails at Greece over Muslim minority rights

July 24, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AP) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday criticized Greece for allegedly violating a settlement that has governed relations between the rivals for nearly a century. In a statement released on the 99th anniversary of the Lausanne Treaty, Erdogan accused Athens of […]

Tory leadership: Truss and Sunak promise crackdown on migration

July 23, 2022 Dulcie Lee

(BBC) Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak have vowed to toughen controls on migration into the UK as part of their bids to become next Tory leader and prime minister. Mr Sunak said he would tighten the definition of who qualifies for asylum […]

Athens shoots down Turkish allegations over minority schools in Thrace

July 23, 2022 Unlisted Author

(Kathimerini) Greece’s Foreign Ministry has issued a terse response to allegations from Turkey regarding the closure of four minority primary schools in the northeastern province of Thrace, which Ankara claims constitutes a violation of the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne provisions safeguarding the […]

Does Germany’s special network to prevent Islamist extremists’ attacks work? Political and religious extremism has long been seen as a threat to democracy in Germany. The Counter Terrorism Center is where agencies and police network to prevent Islamist extremist attacks. Is it effective?

July 23, 2022 Marcel Fürstenau

(Deutsche Welle) December 19, 2016, was a particularly dark day for Germany’s Joint Counter Terrorism Center. That was the day when the terrorist Anis Amri steered a stolen truck into a crowd of people at the Christmas market on Berlin’s Breitscheidplatz. Twelve […]

Three sentenced for Easter Qur’an riots as activist prepares more burnings

July 23, 2022 Chris Tomlinson

(Breitbart) Three men in the Swedish city of Linköping have been sentenced to prison over their involvement in riots triggered by anti-Islam activists burning the Qur’an. More burnings are now planned. The three men, 21-year-old Moulham Abo Gamous, 26-year-old Elvedin James Emini, and […]

Belgian court puts on hold any bid to release Iran diplomat

July 22, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AFP) Belgian judges granted a request Friday from opponents of the country’s new prisoner-swap deal with Tehran to block any attempt to send home an Iranian diplomat convicted on terror charges until the decision can be challenged in court. A lawyer acting […]

Germany: Würzburg attacker still highly dangerous, says doctor A psychiatrist has told a German court that the man accused of carrying out multiple fatal stabbings in June 2021 suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. Three people were killed and nine others were injured in the attack.

July 22, 2022 Nik Martin

(Deutsche Welle) A German court on Friday heard that the man who allegedly killed three people and injured nine others in the southern central city of Würzburg last summer is mentally ill and still very dangerous if he does not undergo successful treatment. Somali national Jibril A., […]

Former Irish soldier Lisa Smith jailed for 15 months for IS membership

July 22, 2022 Paul Reynolds

(RTÉ) Former Irish soldier Lisa Smith has been sentenced to 15 months in prison at the Special Criminal Court for membership of ISIS, the Islamic State terrorist organisation. The 40-year-old mother-of-one is the first person to be convicted in an Irish court […]

Terror threat cancels Iranian opposition’s summit in Albania

July 22, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AP) Iranian dissidents in Albania on Friday said they had canceled a summit following warnings from local authorities of a possible terrorist threat. Some 3,000 Iranian dissidents from the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, best known as MEK, live at Ashraf 3 camp in Manez, 30 […]

Channel migrants: Home Office response ineffective, says second report

July 21, 2022 Mark Easton

(BBC) The Home Office response to the migrants’ crisis in the Channel has been “ineffective and inefficient,” a much-delayed report has found. The approach exposes security weaknesses while “leaving vulnerable migrants at risk,” says David Neal, independent chief inspector of borders and […]

Belgian parliament approves prisoner swap treaty with Iran Critics fear the deal will pave the way for the release of a convicted terrorist to Iran.

July 21, 2022 Camille Gijs

(Politico) Belgian MPs ratified a controversial treaty with Iran that could allow an Iranian convicted of terrorism in Belgium to be sent back to Tehran. Out of the 131 MPs present, 79 voted in favor while 41 rejected the treaty, and 11 […]

Migrant crisis: Border Force may have made it worse — report

July 20, 2022 Mark Easton

(BBC) The Border Force, which polices the UK’s borders, may have made the small boats crisis in the Channel worse, an independent report has found. The report, commissioned by Home Secretary Priti Patel, described the overall approach as “ineffective and possibly counterproductive.” […]

Rights group slams Morocco, Spain over migrant deaths

July 20, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AFP) A rights group on Wednesday said Moroccan and Spanish authorities were responsible for a horrific border tragedy last month in which two dozen migrants died. It resulted in the highest migrant death toll in years of attempts to enter the Spanish […]

Tony Blair’s government feared backlash over failure to expel UK extremists after 9/11 Newly released archive reveals rising tensions among young Muslims in Britain

July 19, 2022 Nicky Harley

(National-UAE) Former British prime minister Tony Blair feared his government would face a backlash over its failure to remove extremists from the UK in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Newly released Cabinet papers from the UK’s National Archives in Kew […]

Denmark to demolish migrant ghettos to combat parallel societies

July 19, 2022 Chris Tomlinson

(Breitbart) In an effort to combat the rise of parallel societies, the Danish government is set to demolish a “migrant ghetto” area in the city of Aarhus, with around 1,000 homes set for demolition. The nearly 1,000 homes to be demolished reside […]

Downing Street confirms ban on Muslim Council of Britain contacts New controversy surrounds Penny Mordaunt after 2021 meeting with MCB

July 18, 2022 Thomas Harding

(National-UAE) Downing Street has stated that ministers should continue to boycott the Muslim Council of Britain following controversy over a meeting with one of its leaders by Conservative leadership candidate Penny Mordaunt in defiance of the long-standing policy. The trade minister has […]

Swedish LGBT writer demands mosques welcome and include homosexuals

July 18, 2022 Chris Tomlinson

(Breitbart) Swedish writer Jonas Gardell has demanded that mosques welcome and include members of the LGBT community and examine their attitudes toward homosexuals following the Oslo gay pub shooting. Jonas Gardell, who self-identifies as gay, stated that after two people were killed […]

Boy, 15, denies plotting Isle of Wight Festival attack

July 18, 2022 Unlisted Author

(BBC) A boy accused of plotting a so-called Islamic State-inspired terror attack, with the Isle of Wight Festival as a possible target, appeared in court. The 15-year-old, from the Isle of Wight, was arrested after the FBI said he was planning to […]

Tenth anniversary of terrorist attack on Israelis at Bulgaria’s Bourgas Airport

July 18, 2022 Unlisted Author

(Sofia Globe) A solemn commemoration was held at Bourgas Airport on July 18 to mark the 10th anniversary of a terrorist attack in which five Israelis and a Bulgarian died and close to 40 were seriously injured. In a statement ahead of […]

Isle of Wight boy, 15, accused of planning terrorist attacks

July 17, 2022 Unlisted Author

(BBC) A 15-year-old boy from the Isle of Wight has been charged with a terrorism offence. The teenager, from Cowes, was arrested by officers from Counter Terrorism Policing South East with help from Hampshire Constabulary last week. Following questioning, he was charged […]

Slovenia army starts removing Croatia border razor wire

July 15, 2022 Darko Bandic

(AP) Slovenia’s army on Friday started removing a razor wire fence on the border with Croatia that was put up to curb migrant crossings after more than 1 million people fleeing violence or poverty entered Europe in 2015. About a dozen soldiers […]

New leader must tackle Islamophobia within UK ruling party: Muslim group Whoever wins race to succeed Boris Johnson 'must represent everybody,' says Muslim Council of Britain head

July 14, 2022 Karim El-Bar

(Anadolu) The new British prime minister must treat “systemic” Islamophobia in the ruling Conservative Party seriously, according to the head of the UK’s leading Muslim organization. As the party searches for outgoing premier Boris Johnson’s successor, whoever wins “must represent everybody and […]

Ahmet Mete, controversial ‘mufti’ among Greek Muslims, dies

July 14, 2022 Costas Kantouris and Demetris Nellas

(AP) Ahmet Mete, who was recognized by Turkey but not by Greece as the elected mufti for the Muslim population in the Xanthi region, died Thursday at age 57, his family said. The family did not discuss the cause of death, but […]

Arena bomb brother guilty of failing to attend public inquiry

July 14, 2022 Daniel De Simone

(BBC) The elder brother of the Manchester Arena suicide bomber has been convicted of failing to appear at a public inquiry he was ordered to attend. Ismail Abedi, 29, refused to answer questions from the inquiry in case he incriminated himself. The […]

Serbia police detain 85 migrants; weapons seized in raid

July 14, 2022 Jovana Gec

(AP) Authorities in Serbia on Thursday detained 85 migrants near the border with Hungary where a clash earlier this month apparently involving people smugglers left one person dead and several injured. A police task force found automatic weapons, guns, knives and other […]

Stockport councillor Alanna Vine suspended in racist retweet probe

July 13, 2022 Unlisted Author

(BBC) A councillor has been suspended for allegedly sharing tweets claiming mosques were hiding “secret arsenals” and immigration was “cultural suicide.” The Conservative Party is investigating Alanna Vine, councillor for Bramhall North, in Stockport. Ms Vine declined to comment on her suspension […]

Spain reduces sentences for two convicted over Catalonia attacks

July 13, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AFP) A Spanish court Wednesday reduced by ten years the sentences of two out of three people convicted over 2017 attacks in Catalonia that killed 16 people, it said. Mohamed Houli Chemlal, a 25-year-old with Spanish nationality, was handed a reduced sentence […]

Attacks down, terrorism still a threat to EU: Europol

July 13, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AFP) Attacks are down but terrorism remains a threat to the European Union due to the war in Ukraine and a rise in propaganda during the pandemic, Europol said Wednesday. The total number of successful, thwarted and failed attacks was 15 in […]

Norway orders forced psychiatric probe of shooting suspect

July 13, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AFP) A Norwegian court on Wednesday decided that a suspect behind a shooting in Oslo that left two dead and 21 wounded would be admitted to a psychiatric hospital for evaluation. “The court believes that an investigation in an institution is necessary […]

Paris attacker transferred to Belgium to face new trial

July 13, 2022 Unlisted Author

(AFP) The sole surviving member of an Islamic State group cell that killed 130 people in Paris in 2015 was on Wednesday transferred from France to Belgium, where he will be tried later this year. Salah Abdeslam, a 32-year-old Frenchman of Moroccan […]

Moroccan report: Stampede at fault for migrant border deaths

July 13, 2022 Tarik El Barakah

(AP) Morocco’s state-affiliated human rights council released a report Wednesday depicting last month’s attempt by hundreds of migrants to storm the border between the North African kingdom and the Spanish enclave of Melilla as “unprecedented in nature, tactics used and scope.” At […]

Paris 2015 attacker’s sentence stands after no appeal filed

July 12, 2022 Anne-Sophie Lasserre and Marie Dhumieres

(AFP) The sole surviving member of an Islamic State group cell that killed 130 people in Paris in 2015 has not appealed his whole-life sentence, the Paris chief prosecutor said Tuesday, allowing France to close the legal chapter of its worst atrocity […]

EU preparing for ‘huge challenge’ of migration waves sparked by food crisis

July 12, 2022 Unlisted Author

(Euronews) The food crisis and rising energy prices could lead to instability in some countries and prompt new waves of migration to the European Union, the Commission has warned. Ylva Johansson, EU commissioner for home affairs, told reporters following an informal meeting […]