News: North America

Is Khaled Barakat part of a terrorist group or a victim of Israeli intimidation? Israeli intelligence is not alone in situating Barakat, who resides in Vancouver, in the upper echelons of the PFLP’s chain of command

(National Post) He’s a high-ranking member of a Palestinian terrorist organization best known for dramatic airplane hijackings, suicide bombings and a 2014 massacre at a Jerusalem synagogue that left several worshippers severely injured and five dead, including Toronto-born rabbi Howie Rothman. That’s […]

Government & Politics

Ex-Guantanamo detainee sues Canada over 14-year ordeal of detention and torture Mohamedou Ould Slahi, a Mauritanian who lived briefly in Montreal, was haunted by a phone call asking for 'tea and sugar,' which interrogators claimed was code.

(Toronto Star) A former Guantanamo detainee, whose story of detention and torture was featured in a best-selling memoir and Hollywood film, is going to court to try to force the Canadian government to reveal its role in his ordeal. Mohamedou Ould Slahi, […]

Clerics & Preachers

London mosque hosts hate preacher who called 9/11 and Charlie Hebdo attacks ‘comedy’ MP demands to know how Egyptian-born Dr Omar Abdul Kafi, who has also given sermons about getting 'revenge' on Jews, was allowed into the UK to speak at Finsbury Park mosque in north London.

(Jewish News) An MP has demanded to know “how on earth” an Egyptian-born “hate preacher who has previously given sermons about killing Jews” was allowed to enter the UK. Dr Omar Abdul Kafi had last month given a lecture at the Finsbury […]

Discrimination & “Islamophobia”

Americans on FBI watchlist face detention, extra screenings when flying The ACLU estimates 1.6 million people are currently on the federal watchlist.

(ABC) Already missing their flight to Canada, Zainab Merchant held her then-6-month-old baby inside a cold room in an airport in September of 2016 while she waited for her husband’s screening to be over after her family was detained for a random […]

Holidays

New York Muslims voice concern over Times Square’s first Tarawih prayers Several members of the Muslim community have voiced concern over holding Tarawih, an extra night prayer performed during Ramadan, at the bustling thoroughfare

(Middle East Eye) New York City’s Times Square is set to host its first ever Tarawih prayers on Saturday, but several members of the Muslim community have voiced concern over the event being held at the bustling location. According to social media advertisements […]

Government & Politics

Muslim leaders want NYPD official censured for denying post-9/11 surveillance One attendee called for the ouster of John Miller, deputy commissioner of intelligence and counterterrorism.

(Politico) Muslim community leaders told Mayor Eric Adams during a closed-door meeting Tuesday that a high-ranking member of the NYPD should face consequences for claiming the department never surveilled Muslims in the wake of 9/11 — with one attendee calling for the […]

Government & Politics

German intelligence on alert for extremists travelling to Afghanistan Intelligence chief says Al Qaeda could establish new training camps in country

(National-UAE) German security services are bracing themselves for the possibility of extremists in Europe travelling to Afghanistan to fight or train with Al Qaeda. Bruno Kahl, the head of Germany’s foreign intelligence agency, said the Taliban’s return to power had made Afghanistan […]

Government & Politics

US Muslims react to Biden’s nomination of first Muslim woman to be federal judge Nusrat Choudhury has been praised for her commitment to defending marginalised communities and fighting for civil rights

(Middle East Eye) Muslims across the United States are celebrating President Joe Biden’s judicial nomination of Nusrat Choudhury, who, if confirmed by the Senate, will be the first Muslim woman to be appointed as a US federal judge. Choudhury, a Bangladeshi American among […]

Employment

US: Justice Department urged to probe anti-Muslim group’s alleged spying More than 80 groups call on US government to determine whether the Investigative Project on Terrorism violated any federal laws in an alleged espionage campaign

(Middle East Eye) More than 80 Muslim organisations, including rights groups, mosques and charities, have sent a letter to the US Department of Justice, calling on the administration to launch an investigation into whether an anti-Muslim group violated federal laws by allegedly […]

Demonstrations

Islamist groups waged misinformation campaign to free terrorist Aafia Siddiqui in months before Texas synagogue attack Advocates for Siddiqui claim, without evidence, she was tortured in CIA blacksite, beaten in federal prison

(Free Beacon) Islamist groups in the United States and abroad waged a months-long propaganda campaign to free convicted terrorist Aafia Siddiqui from a Texas prison before a British national attacked a nearby synagogue in her name this weekend. The Council on American-Islamic […]

Government & Politics

Fears of ‘chain-reaction’ 9/11 attack on Australia Australia was advised that its support of the US-led military response to the 9/11 attacks raised ‘our profile with the terrorists themselves.’

(NCA NewsWire) The Australian government feared terrorists would strike on our shores in the days after September 11 — and that the Defence Force was not equipped to fight back. Two decades since the attack on the United States that changed the […]

Discrimination & “Islamophobia”

US Muslims call for action as ‘spying’ incidents shake community Council on American-Islamic Relations says it uncovered a ‘mole’ within its organisation and a ‘spy’ at a US mosque.

(Al-Jazeera) First, the major Muslim-American advocacy group reported that a “mole” had infiltrated the leadership of one of its state branches. Then, only days later, the organisation said a “spy” at a US mosque had passed information on to an “anti-Muslim” group. […]