Government & Politics

Clare O’Neil says protecting Australians is ‘driving force’ for decisions in the case of domestic terrorist Abdul Nacer Benbrika Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil has faced questions around the release of one of Australia’s most infamous domestic terrorists, as his detention order is set to expire.

(Sky News) Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil has reassured Australians that national security is of utmost importance while being quizzed about the potential release of Abdul Nacer Benbrika. The infamous domestic terrorist’s future is up in the air, with a detention order […]

Clothing

California senator announces bill to protect religious practices of incarcerated individuals Backers of the bill say that allowing religious detainees and prisoners to wear religious garb does not constitute 'coddling' them.

(Religion News) Rami Nsour, an advocate for the incarcerated, has seen firsthand how difficult it can be for those being held in California’s jails and prisons to practice their faith. As his clients are transferred from one facility to another, he said, […]

Government & Politics

Far-right terrorism rise in UK ‘masks threat of Islamist extremism’ Security expert concerned risk is being misjudged and warns of possible ISIS resurgence

(National-UAE) Britain cannot afford to underestimate the threat Islamist terrorism continues to pose to its security, an expert has warned, amid growing emphasis on the rise of far-right ideology among prisoners. Dr Paul Stott, head of security and extremism at Policy Exchange, […]

News: North America

‘ISIS Beatle’ Alexanda Kotey disappears from US prison system records Less than a year after being handed a life sentence, 'ISIS Beatle' Alexanda Kotey has disappeared from federal prison records

(Fox) The notorious terrorist and member of the ISIS cell dubbed “The Beatles,” who was serving a life sentence for the kidnap, torture and murder of western journalists and aid workers in Syria, has disappeared from the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), […]

Discrimination & “Islamophobia”

Ron DeSantis: Republican rising star alarms Muslim, Palestinian communities As the Florida governor positions himself for a possible presidential bid, activists and organisers say DeSantis reminds them of bigoted rhetoric birthed in US-led 'war on terror'

(Middle East Eye) In 2006, then-Navy officer Ron DeSantis was an appointed attorney supporting the US military’s mission at Guantanamo Bay. Not much is officially known about his months-long stint at the prison, which at its peak held nearly 800 Muslim men […]

Government & Politics

Terror laws: Australian Human Rights Commission, AFP weigh in on review Controversial legislation that aims to keep terrorists behind bars — even after they’ve completed their jail terms — has been subjected to intense scrutiny.

(NCA NewsWire) A controversial law that aims to keep terrorists behind bars after the completion of their prison sentences is under review. On Monday the independent national security legislation monitor (INSLM), Grant Donaldson SC, continued his assessment of Division 105A of the […]

Deradicalization

Toronto 18 terrorist leader gets parole after RCMP interrogation to show he isn’t a threat The intense scrutiny of Zakaria Amara's radicalization and subsequent deradicalization while in prison for the past 17 years was his idea. And it paid off

(National Post) Zakaria Amara, leader of an al-Qaida-inspired terrorist plot to explode truck bombs in Ontario in 2006, recently faced two days of interrogation by RCMP national security investigators to assess what threat he might still pose as he sought release on […]

Legal

Convicted Sydney terrorist Blake Nicholas Pender to walk free from jail Islamic extremist Blake Nicholas Pender, who once threatened to behead police and murder a magistrate, will be released from his Sydney jail this week. Find out when.

(Daily Telegraph) A convicted terrorist who threatened to behead a cop and once declared he was “at war” with Australia will walk free from a NSW prison this week, five years after he was jailed for an Islamic State-inspired knife attack in […]

Government & Politics

Court OKs Iran prisoner exchange

(VRT) The court of first instance in Brussels has thrown out a request to stop Belgium from handing over the convicted Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi to Tehran saying the request is unfounded in law. The decision means that in principle the Belgian […]

News: North America

Toronto 18 terror attack plotter denied full parole; still ‘an undue risk’ despite progress 'It was the opinion of the board that the seriousness of your actions and their potentially devastating nature called for caution,' parole board says

(National Post) Shareef Abdelhaleem, one of the Toronto 18 terror plotters who tried to detonate large bombs in 2006, has been denied full parole despite his gregarious chat with parole board officials. His day parole, living in a halfway house in Montreal, […]

News: North America

Architect of Toronto 18 terror plot is loud and sometimes still angry — but not dangerous, he says 'I hope the board does not base their decision on whether for the next 30 years of my life I will ever get angry — of course I’ll get angry. It’s a human thing'

(National Post) Shareef Abdelhaleem, an architect of the Toronto 18 terror plot to blow up Canadian infrastructure, can be hard to stop once he starts talking. He’s brash, sometimes angry. His voice is loud. He can look intimidating. That doesn’t mean he […]

News: North America

Convicted terrorist Momin Khawaja denied day parole The Ottawa-born man is serving a life sentence in connection with his role in a plot to bomb targets in the United Kingdom

(Ottawa Citizen) The Parole Board of Canada’s appeal division has denied the parole request of convicted terrorist Momin Khawaja, saying he has yet to take responsibility for his crimes. In a recently released decision, the appeal division upheld the parole board’s rejection […]

Legal

IS fanatic Bourhan Hraichie’s non-parole period shortened on appeal The grim details of a prison attack carried out by an Islamic State-inspired religious fanatic have been laid bare as he appealed to have his sentence cut.

(NCA NewsWire) An Islamic State-inspired fanatic known for cruel attacks on fellow inmates has had his sentence cut after a court was found to have made errors when sentencing him. But Bourhan Hraichie, 25, whose crimes include carving an IS slogan into […]

Crime

Turku terror attack perpetrator receives additional sentence for assaulting prison guards Abderrahman Bouanane is currently serving a life sentence for two counts of murder with terrorist intent and eight counts of attempted murder with terrorist intent.

(Yle) The District Court of Southwest Finland sentenced Abderrahman Bouanane, the perpetrator of the 2017 Turku terror attack who was previously given life imprisonment for his actions, to five months in prison for two counts of violently resisting an official in the […]

News: North America

Holy Land Five: Palestinian released, deported to Turkey after more than decade in US prison Mohammad el-Mezain was held in ICE custody for nearly a year after completing his prison sentence

(Middle East Eye) Mohammad el-Mezain, a Palestinian resident in the US, was released from detention and subsequently deported to Turkey after serving more than a decade in an American prison, following a controversial case in which he and others involved in a […]