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), […]

Law Enforcement

Is Islamist terror a threat to Germany? The arrest of two terror suspects once again raises questions about the scope of the terrorist threat to Germany. It also brings back memories of the 2016 Christmas market attack.

(Deutsche Welle) The most recent arrest of two terror suspects in Germany has raised the specter of Islamist terror in Germany — despite intensified efforts to prevent such an attack in recent years. Two men had intended to kill “an unspecified number of people” […]

Legal

German court opens trial of suspected ‘Islamic State’ member A 37-year-old German woman is accused of crimes against humanity for her time with the so-called 'Islamic State.' Nadine K. is accused of 'enslaving' a Yazidi woman in Syria and Iraq.

(Deutsche Welle) A court in the western German city of Koblenz on Wednesday began the proceedings against a German national accused of assisting the so-called “Islamic State” (IS) terrorist group in Syria and Iraq. What do we know so far about the […]

Legal

Suspect in bike path killing faces first death penalty trial under Biden Though President Biden campaigned against capital punishment, Attorney General Merrick Garland is charting his own course in pursuing the death penalty in the trial of Sayfullo Saipov.

(NY Times) On Halloween 2017, Sayfullo Saipov plowed a rented pickup truck down Manhattan’s crowded West Side bicycle path, smashing into pedestrians and cyclists, killing eight people and injuring more than a dozen, the authorities said. Soon after Mr. Saipov was charged, […]

Health & Medicine

Barber shop owner who sent COVID grants money to Islamic State fighters jailed Police identified transfers of money with a total of about £11,280 — while the court heard Tarek Namouz was recorded telling a visitor in prison he had sent around £25,000.

(Sky News) A barber shop owner who sent thousands of pounds to Islamic State (IS) fighters in Syria after claiming COVID grant payments has been jailed for 12 years. Tarek Namouz, 43, from Hammersmith in west London, had received the bounce-back loans […]

Academics & Education

Muslim children disconsolate as Sweden forces Islamic schools shut Swedish authorities have closed 17 private Islamic schools since 2019, claiming they're unfit to conduct school activities. But critics say it's part of 'anti-Islamic rhetoric'

(Middle East Eye) Samsam Ahmad’s children, eight and 12, were inconsolable. They had just found out that their school in the Swedish capital Stockholm was closed down, leaving their mother at a loss of how to explain why they would no longer […]

Law Enforcement

North York man arrested on U.S. charges of using bitcoin, GoFundMe to raise money for ISIS Khalilullah Yousuf, 34, allegedly raised and transferred money to a 'facilitator' for the Islamic State and was arrested by Canadian police Wednesday.

(Toronto Star) Using aliases and social-media fronts, Khalilullah Yousuf was allegedly the driving force behind fundraising efforts to help the desperate and downtrodden Palestinians of the Gaza Strip. But FBI investigators allege the 34-year-old North York man, who was arrested Wednesday, used […]

Law Enforcement

Brussels bombing trial: Judge calls for dialogue after accusations of violence Ali [El] Haddad Asufi claims he was mistreated in retaliation for complaining about security measures

(National-UAE) The presiding judge of the Brussels bombing trial on Thursday intervened to call for improved relations between the parties involved after one of the defendants accused a policeman of strangling him. The incident was said to have been in retaliation for […]