Clashes were reported in Dhaka, Rajshahi, Chittagong and several other major Bangladeshi cities, the Times of India reports.Activists of the Jamaat-e-Islami party have been hurling stones and handmade bombs at security forces, who were deployed in great numbers in anticipation of a new wave of protests after the hearing.The verdict against Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, the top member of Jamaat-e-Islami, was the fourth from Bangladesh’s war crimes tribunals since January.Over the last week at least 38 people have been killed, according to official estimates, while the opposition says government forces killed hundreds during the protests on Monday alone.Liberation war tribunal The recent surge in Islamic related clashes intensified following the creation of a tribunal by the Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The court was introduced to bring to justice to those who were accused of committing atrocities during the war for independence and a civil war of 1971.Since then, Jamaat-e-Islami, Islamist political party activists have increased their confrontation with the government forces across the country with many hundreds of deaths and mass destruction of public property with the aim of overthrowing Hasina’s government. Historically, Jamaat opposed Bangladeshi independence from Pakistan.On February 28th the tribunal announced a death by hanging sentence for Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, one of the leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami, for the war crimes over 40 years ago. By March, three Jamaat leaders had been convicted of crimes. Bangladesh gained its independence in 1971, following India’s intervention in a rebellion against Pakistan. In 1991, democratically held elections ended two decades of authoritarian rule in Dhaka and positioned two main opposition forces, the Bangladesh National Party (BNP), which now forms the opposition coalition, and the leading party, the Awami League (AL). Jamaat-e-Islami and indirectly its radical wing of Hefajat-e-Islam (Protectorate of Islam) is a key partner in the opposition coalition. Bangladeshi fundamentalist Islamic groups are believed to be responsible for the recent clashes with police. At least seven more verdicts are expected to be announced in the coming months. The high profile cases include Jamaat’s current leader, Motiur Rahman Nizami, as well as the party’s head in 1971, Ghulam Azam. If the defendants are found guilty, then top leadership of the Jamaat will be eliminated.Following deadly Monday’s clashes, the police indicted 194 Hefajat-e-Islam activists with various crimes.It is also this group that since 2011, possibly empowered by the Arab Spring protests across the wider Muslim world, led violent demonstrations against the women’s equal rights policy of the government.In 2013 this group warned the government with a 13-point charter, demanding the government to introduce a new blasphemy law, reinstate the role of Allah in the constitution, make Islamic education mandatory and ban women from mixing with men. Bangladesh has rejected the Hefajat-e-Islam demands.Opposition terror links One of the organizers of the latest violence is Maulana Habibur Rahman who claimed to have been to Afghanistan in 1988 and revealed his involvement with Osama Bin Laden and another banned Islamist militant organization Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami most active in South Asian countries of Pakistan, Bangladesh and India since the early 1990s.BNP’s coalition also includes an Islamist party, the Islamiya Okiyya Jote (IOJ) which is rumored to have connections with Al-Qaeda after some of its members fled to Bangladesh in the aftermath of US war in Afghanistan.Other groups linked with Al-Qaeda are also active on the ground in Bangladesh. Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB) is said to be active in the country’s north-western region. The Government of Bangladesh has classified JMJB as a terrorist organization.Regional threat All of these militant elements inside the country pose not only a domestic security threat but also a regional danger, especially with the ties to Pakistan and the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan.Fundamentalist activism in Bangladesh flourished in 2001 after a four party coalition led by the center-right Bangladesh Nationalist Party and including two fundamentalist parties – Jamaat-e-Islami and the Islamic Oikya Jote rose to temporary power.“Jamaat and Islamic Oikya Jote are not just fundamentalist organizations. They support and have links with the Taliban and al-Qaeda and both parties have supported the terrorist activities,” writes Sudha Ramachandran from the worldsecuritynetwork.com.The BNP led government reign coincided with the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan and the loss of training camps in Pakistan.“Their bases were disrupted by counter-insurgency operations in Afghanistan, so al-Qaeda fighters were forced to look for new nests. Bangladesh emerged as an attractive sanctuary,” Ramachandran writes.“These fundamentalist right wingers who oppose the independence of Bangladesh conspired from the outset of the country. They could not reconcile with the fact that with the demise of Pakistan they never accepted the secular identity of Bangladesh,” Bidit Dey from the University of Northumbria told RT.In the past, Bangladeshi nationals have been linked to terrorist schemes abroad. In October of 2012 a Bangladeshi man was arrested for allegedly trying to blow up the United States Federal Reserve building in New York City. In 2010 British citizens of Bangladeshi origin were arrested in the United Kingdom for plotting to attack during the Christmas holiday season.The Islamist conglomerate in the country are now in opposition of Hasina government as her Awami League official stands has had a vision of freedom and democracy.“They are trying to convert it to another state like Pakistan. They are trying to make it an ungoverned state by creating anarchy,” Dey says.Today Muslims in Bangladesh account for approximately 148.6 million people, some 90 percent of the total population, so the recent Muslim driven protest in Bangladesh can also be attributed to self-identity.“The whole Muslim identity question affects Muslims much further afield as well. It has surfaced in Indonesia, and it has become an issue in the Middle East since the Arab revolts of 2011,” Dr Carool Kersten, lecturer in Islamic Studies at King’s College in London told RT. … Read More
New documents reveal A.A. Milne was a secret wartime propagandist
New documents reveal that venerated “Winnie-the-Pooh” author A.A. Milne, a steadfast pacifist, secretly served as a wartime propagandist for a top-secret intelligence unit called MI7b during WWI. According to the Telegraph, MI7b was founded in 1916 and designed “to sustain support for the war”: The secret propaganda unit was established in 1916 to sustain support for the war when the enormous numbers of soldiers killed were rising and increasing anti-war movements were sweeping war-torn Europe. It was made up of 20 other authors taken from the best of British talent at the time, who had to write thousands of positive newspaper articles about Victoria Cross winners, heroism and sanitised accounts of life in the trenches – as well as reports of atrocities by German troops.Although most of the articles were destroyed, one of the members of the unit, Capt James Lloyd, saved a collection that his great nephew, Jeremy Arter, only recently discovered. He told the Telegraph that “I was astonished when my research showed that they were meant to have been destroyed soon after the war because they were deemed ‘too incriminating.’”Continue Reading… … Read More
Up to 600 European jihadist fighters among Syrian rebels – study
An estimate of the International Centre of for the Study of Radicalization (ICRS), based on more than 450 open sources, has found that up to 5,500 foreign fighters have traveled to Syria since the beginning of the uprising against the ruling regime. Of them, up to 11 per cent originate from Europe.”Between 140 and 600 Europeans have gone to Syria since early 2011,” researcher Aaron Y. Zelin says.Britain accounts for the biggest number of arrivals, with up to 134 people joining the cause. The Netherlands comes second with up to 107 people, next are France (up to 92), Belgium (up to 85) and Denmark (up to 78).”As with previous conflicts, the picture is far from complete and will probably remain so for years to come,” said Zelin on the numbers presented in the study.”There is no ‘true census’ of foreign fighters, and publicly available sources are inevitably incomplete.”The research suggests most foreigners have not yet returned to their home countries.”Based on the conflict totals, we estimate that 70 to 441 Europeans are still currently present in Syria,” ICSR report states. “This suggests that most of the Europeans who have travelled to Syria are still on the battlefield.”Some of the data for the research was pulled from the so-called online martyrdom notices of jihadists, ideologically affiliated with Al-Qaeda. Out of 249 such martyrdom notices, about 3 per cent identify countries of origin as European. People travelled “to die in Syria” from Albania, Britain, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Kosovo, Spain and Sweden.The researchers say, neither political motivations, nor jihadist ideology are among the primary reasons for the people to go to Syria, but the atrocities of war.”The most commonly cited reasons for joining rebel forces are the horrific images of the conflict, stories about atrocities committed by government forces, and the perceived lack of support from Western and Arab countries,” ICSR reports explains.”In many cases, these individuals fully adopt the jihadist doctrine and ideology only when they are on the ground and in contact with hardened fighters.” This ‘ideological’ borrowing cannot but worry the European governments. For instance, the Netherlands raised the threat of a terror attack to “substantial” last month, saying the increased risk stemmed mainly from jihadists returning from fighting in Syria. British security services are also concerned the returnees may use their military know-how to wreak havoc back home.The researchers, however, do not believe there is an immediate connection between fighting in Syria and terrorism in Europe.”Not everyone who has joined the Syrian rebels is Al-Qaeda, and only a small number may ever become involved in terrorism after returning to Europe,” Zelin said. “That said, it would be wrong to conclude that individuals who have trained and fought in Syria pose no potential threat,” he remarked. He pointed at the recently-published research by the Norwegian academic Thomas Hegghammer, which reveals that terrorists with foreign experience are far more lethal, dangerous and sophisticated than purely domestic cells. … Read More
RT aims to revolutionize how the world reports news with own video agency
“Right now there are basically a couple of big agencies that provide the majority of news footage to international outlets, and particularly to TV channels and online platforms that cannot afford bureaus or send correspondents to every hotspot. As a result, viewers often see events around the globe through the eyes of these providers. In such a market there are inevitable gaps in coverage, plus the risk of bias in the eventual reportage,” says Margarita Simonyan, RT’s editor-in-chief.“Now Ruptly can provide an alternative, show a different side of a story, or a story altogether missed by other sources. We offer a bolder, deeper perspective than the one brought to the table by the ‘usual suspects’.”The origins of the ambitious project – which launches after operating in test mode throughout winter – was the coverage of the South Ossetian conflict, involving Russia and Georgia, in 2008.“What we saw in the global media was a much skewed coverage of the conflict, largely biased toward Georgia’s position, dismissing Russia’s and ignoring the atrocities committed by the Georgian side, which had in fact initiated the war. There were plenty of videos from Gori and Tbilisi but nothing showing Georgia’s attacks on civilians in Tskhinval, nor any coverage of the plight of Ossetian refugees,” says Simonyan.“We had video reportage from Tskhinval, and decided to make it available to other news outlets so that they could see – and show – the other side of this war.”RUPTLY works extensively with the international stringer network and leverages RT’s global presence that counts outposts in Washington DC, London, Madrid, Damascus, Cairo, Gaza and Baghdad among its 22 bureaus.One hundred staff have already joined Ruptly’s state-of-the-art, purpose built headquarters in Berlin – a growing news hub conveniently placed for stories from either side of the globe.Unburdened with the legacy platforms of other news agencies, Ruptly will be using the Streamworks International delivery system – the most advanced in the world – to broadcast HD signal to any media, from giant billboards, to news stations, to mobile phones. Ruptly can provide five simultaneous live signals. For comparison, Associated Press, the world’s biggest news agency, only has one live channel.RT, which is a non-profit organization, will charge clients for using its videos, from a single use to a full subscription, but does not intend to make money on Ruptly. Instead, the agency will be expected to break even to support its operations.“It will take a few years for the revenues from the sales of video materials to cover the costs of running the new agency but the ultimate goal for Ruptly, as it has been for RT, is to provide balance in the global media coverage of the world news, and offer an alternative in a highly concentrated market of professional video footage,” says Margarita Simonyan. … Read More
World Must Unite Against US-Saudi-Israeli Proxy War in Syria
The West now admits it, along with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have provided thousands of tons of weapons to militants in Syria – while also conceding that Al Qaeda’s Syrian franchise, Jabhat al-Nusra is the best armed, most well equipped militant front in the conflict. … Read More
NRA vs UN: Arms Trade Treaty stirs frenzy in US gun lobby
UN ministers are hoping to convince the 193-member states tobetter regulate the import and export of particular weapons – forexample, the omnipresent AK-47 assault rifle – which they say couldbe used to commit human rights atrocities, as well as acts ofterrorism.The Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) would apply to small arms, as wellas tanks, artillery, warships, fighter aircraft andmissiles.The UN treaty carries a provision that suggests UN members“adopt appropriate legislative, administrative or other measures toregulate, where necessary and feasible, conventional arms coveredby this Treaty that transit or transship through itsterritory.”These supranational efforts by the United Nations have beenfiercely condemned by the NRA and other US civil groups, mostly onthe right of the political spectrum, who fear a “global gungrab,” as well as the creation of an international database ofgun owners.“What we really object to is the inclusion of civilianfirearms within the scope of the ATT,” said Tom Mason, anattorney who has represented the NRA at the UN for nearly twodecades, the Washington Post reported. “This is a treaty thatreally needs to address the transfer of large numbers of militaryweapons that leads to human rights abuses. We have submittedlanguage that you can define what a civilian firearmis.”Human rights groups, however, insist these fears aremisplaced.Michelle A. Ringuette, chief of campaigns and programs atAmnesty International USA, said the opposition proved the “gunlobby’s creativity” in claiming that ‘civilian weapons’differentiated from military weapons under the ATT.“There is no such distinction,” she emphasized in herstatement. “To try to create one would create a loophole thatwould render the treaty inoperative, as anyone could claim that heor she was in the business of trading ‘civilianweapons.’”The NRA views the UN debate on ATT as the latest challenge togun rights. Last week, the US Senate Judiciary Committee approved ameasure to reinstate a ban on semi-automatic assault weapons, sincethe law prohibiting the firearms expired in 2004. Although thelegislation is unlikely to pass a Senate vote, it shows that publicopinion on gun ownership may be turning.Gun control has become a hot topic in the United Statesfollowing a spate of horrific mass shootings carried out withsemi-automatic weapons.On December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza went on a shooting rampage atSandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, killing 20children and six staff members. The incident ranks as thesecond-deadliest shooting in US history, after the 2007 VirginiaTech massacre (32 dead; 17 wounded).On July 20, 2012, another mass shooting, this one inside of amovie theater in Aurora, Colorado, sent shockwaves of grief throughthe country. The gunman fired into the audience with variousfirearms, killing 12 people and injuring dozens. The sole suspectis James Eagan Holmes, who was arrested outside the cinemafollowing the shooting spree.Due to the increase in such incidents, the Obama administrationis displaying a new resolve towards implementing gun controlmeasures, saying it supports the UN initiative.“The United States is steadfast in its commitment to achievea strong and effective Arms Trade Treaty that helps address theadverse effects of the international arms trade on global peace andstability,” Secretary of State John Kerry said.Negotiations on the Arms Trade Treaty begin Monday at the UNheadquarters in New York.The NRA, which is a founder of the World Forum on ShootingActivities, an international alliance of gun owners and gunmanufacturers, will also be in New York this week petitioningagainst the controversial treaty. … Read More
Britain, Italy, and Greece believe hostages killed in Nigeria
Those kidnapped included four Lebanese citizens and one citizeneach from Britain, Greece and Italy.”This was an act of cold-blooded murder, which I condemn in thestrongest terms,” British Foreign Secretary William Hague saidin a statement.”It is with deep sadness that I must confirm that a Britishconstruction worker…is likely to have been killed at the hands ofhis captors, along with six other foreign nationals who we believewere also tragically murdered,” he added.On Saturday, the Ansaru group announced on an Islamist website thatit had killed the men, after capturing them from a constructionsite in Bauchi on February 16. The statement was accompanied withscreen shots of a video which allegedly showed the dead bodies.In the attack, gunmen first assaulted a local prison and burnedpolice trucks, according to authorities. The attackers then blew upa back fence at the construction company’s compound, killing aguard in the process, witnesses and police told AP.The group blamed the killings on a pledge by Nigerian PresidentGoodluck Jonathan to do “everything possible” to free thehostages. It also said the kidnapping was in revenge for what itcalled “atrocities by European nationals against Islam.”Ansaru claimed the hostages were killed because of a failedmilitary rescue operation by British and Nigerian forces. However,the Italian foreign ministry says that is not the case.”There was never any military attempt to rescue the hostages byany of the governments concerned,” the foreign ministry said ina statement.It added that the group’s actions “can have no explanation otherthan blind and barbaric violence.”The Greek foreign ministry has also made a public statementregarding the situation, saying that it believes a Greek hostagehas been killed.”The information we have shows that the Greek citizen is dead,”it said in a statement. “The ministry has informed hisfamily.”Lebanese authorities have yet to comment on the situation.Last year, Ansaru declared itself a splinter group of Boko Haram,the north’s main Islamic terrorist group. Boko Haram is blamed forat least 792 killings last year alone.It’s the worst such foreign-abduction violence to hit Nigeria indecades. Most kidnappings in the country’s north see foreignersreleased after companies pay ransoms. However, the latestkidnappings in the north have seen hostages killed by their captorsor in military raids to free them. … Read More
