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22 April 2009
The families of the victims of the Madrid train bombings commemorated the fifth anniversary of Europe’s worst Islamic terror attack, which killed 191 people and injured 1,800. Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero laid flowers at trees in the Forest of Remembrance – a hill specially landscaped with trees for each of the victims.
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22 April 2009
A judge sentenced a Canadian man to 10 1/2 years in prison for plotting with a group of British Muslims to bomb buildings and natural gas lines in the United Kingdom. Mohammed Momim Khawaja, 29, is the first person to be sentenced under Canadian anti-terrorism laws passed after the Sept. 11 attacks. His case is considered to be the first major test of the laws.
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22 April 2009
The British government has introduced an updated version of its counter-terrorism strategy CONTEST. In CONTEST 2, there is a stronger focus on training civilians, such as shop and hotel owners, to intervene in case of a terrorist threat. This might not be an actual attack but any act that undermines the belief in democracy, human rights, free speech and tolerance.
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22 avril 2009
Counter-terrorism officials believe an alleged al-Qaida terror plot against the UK, designed to cause mass casualties, was due to be carried out over Easter. The police raided fifteen locations in the North-West of England on Wednesday, 8 April, arresting 12 suspects of whom 11 are Pakistani nationals. They are believed to be part of a Pakistan-based and trained al-Qaida cell.
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23 March 2009
Ex-Guantánamo inmate Binyam Mohammed has been released and flown back to the UK. Despite having been on hunger strike, his medical condition is stable. After seven years in detention he has now reunited with his sister but so far not talked about what has happened to him. Being a UK resident, Mr. Mohammed does not have British citizenship and it is not guaranteed that he will be able to stay permanently.
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18 March 2009
Spain has told the United States that in principle, it is open to accepting some prisoners currently being held at Guantanamo Bay when the military base shuts down, according to a recent edict by president Barack Obama.
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17 March 2009
London’s high-security Woolwich Crown Court has opened the trial about the 2006 attempted terrorist attacks on flights from London Heathrow to Canada and the US. Eight men, aged between 22 and 30, are on trial and they all deny conspiracy to murder. They plotted to detonate homemade bombs disguised as soft drinks.
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17 March 2009
Guantánamo inmate and British resident Binyam Mohamed is said to be sent home to the UK within a short time. The student from West London went on hunger strike on 5 January and is in a very weak physical condition. Trying to avoid a British fatality US authorities have pressed ahead with negotiations.
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17 March 2009
Spanish police arrested a Spanish solder and his girlfriend for allegedly posting videos on the internet promoting Islamist extremist views and calling for attacks in Spain according to the Ministry of Interior. The 23-year-old suspects, both Muslim, were arrested in the city of Granada.
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16 March 2009
An alleged group of persons arrested last December in one of the largest counter-terrorism operations in Belgian history have been found to have connections to a senior al Qaeda operative who helped orchestrate the 2006 «airline plot.»