WP 10 : Securitization and Religious Divides in Europe after 9/11

Articles

• CAIR reaffirms repudiation of terror on anniversary of Madrid bombings

  22 April 2009, by prnewswire
  The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) marked the 5th anniversary of the Madrid train bombings. In a statement released b the nation’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy group, CAIR stated: On the 5th anniversary of the tragic 3/11 Madrid attacks, we once again condemn and repudiate all those who seek to justify the killing of civilians in order to achieve political or religious goals.

• Spain commemorates Madrid train bombings

  22 April 2009, by News Agencies
  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.

• Islamists are the main terror threat, says report

  22 April 2009, by Adnkronos
  The Italian government investigated 216 terror threats against Italy last year, concluding that Islamist cells were the «primary threat to the public interest, both Italy and abroad.» The extent of the terror threats were revealed in an anti-terrorism report presented to the department of information security.

• Italian court upends trial involving CIA links

  22 April 2009, by New York Times
  Italy’s highest court ruled on Wednesday that Italian prosecutors had violated state secrecy in their case against American and Italian intelligence operatives. The decision by the Italian Constitutional Court was a significant blow to a case in which the CIA, the American Air Force colonel, and several Italian intelligence officials are charged with the seizure of an Egyptian terrorism suspect in 2003.

• Canada’s First Convicted Terrorist Sentenced

  22 April 2009, by News Agencies
  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.

• Two men charged with terrorism in Germany

  22 April 2009, by Deutsche Welle
  Two men with alleged ties to a radical Islamic group have been charged with terrorism, German prosecutors said. Investigators said the accused had connections to a man who planed to bomb US interests in Germany.

• Anti-terrorism strategy updated

  22 April 2009, by News Agencies
  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.

• Police carry out anti-terror raids across country

  22 April 2009, by Adnkronos
  Twenty-six foreigners suspected of links to international terrorism and aiding illegal immigration, are being investigated by Italian police, after raids carried out in several Italian cities. The raids were carried out in the northern cities of Vicenza, Venice, Padova, Brescia, Como, Cuneo, Trento, and Florence.

• CIA launches recruitment drive on internet and TV

  22 April 2009, by Times Online
  The Central Intelligence Agency is attempting to recruit more spies by advertising on the internet, radio, and television, and holding meetings with American Muslims to make up for a severe shortage of Arabic speakers. Leon Panetta, the new CIA director, will meet with Muslim groups in cities such as Detroit to spearhead the new drive to recruit more Arabic speakers and Muslims. Urdu and Pashtu speakers are also among those being sought in the continuation of an anti-terror initiative launched by former US president George W. Bush.

• Police feared ‘Al-Qaida terror attack’ on UK was planned for Easter

  22 avril 2009, par News Agencies
  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.

• The Securitisation of Islam in Europe

  21 April 2009, by Cesari Jocelyne
  This paper summarises the main hypotheses and results of the research on the securitisation of Islam. It posits that the securitisation of Islam is not only a speech act but also a policy-making process that affects the making of immigration laws, multicultural policies anti discrimination measures and security policies. The paper deconstructs and analyses the premises of such policies as well as their consequences on the civic and political participation of Muslims.

• Cambridge Chaplain fighting fanaticism in Pakistan

  23 March 2009, by The Telegraph
  John Butt, a Cambridge University chaplain, has established a radio station in Pakistan through which he tries to counter extremist teachings. Having first traveled to the region in 1969 and converted to Islam soon after, he is now based in both Cambridge and the Pakistani Swat valley. This is exactly the region where the Taliban have recently been allowed to introduce Sharia law, who also depend on radio broadcasting to disseminate their ideology.

• Binyam Mohammed has returned to the UK, while British involvement in torture remains unclear

  23 March 2009, by News Agencies
  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.

• CIA warns terrorists targeting German vote

  23 March 2009, by The Local
  A CIA official on Monday warned that the US intelligence agency had received indications al Qaeda was planning to launch terrorist attacks in Germany with the aim of influencing the country’s general election this autumn. The anonymous official from the CIA told German news agency DDP that Washington’s intermediaries in Pakistan had supplied information on German Muslims plotting to return from training camps in northwestern Pakistan just a few weeks before the parliamentary election in September to prepare attacks on «high-ranking targets» in Germany.

• German train bomber among defendants in Lebanon terror trial

  23 March 2009, by Monsters and Critics.com
  A Lebanese military court on Tuesday began a trial in absentia of a terrorist group network that includes a man currently in a German jail for plotting an August 2006 train bombing, according to a court source.

• New Al-Qaeda video targets Germany

  18 March 2009, by Adnkronos
  A new video purportedly from Al-Qaeda criticizes the German government for squandering taxpayers’ money on troops stationed in Afghanistan. The video, which has been posted to jihadist websites, urges Germany to renounce capitalism and embrace Islam to escape economic recession.

• New German Islamist video released

  18 March 2009, by PR Inside
  A new extremist video featuring a German speaker was released Thursday on a jihadist Web site, German officials said.

• Jihad TV in Europe

  18 March 2009, by Wall Street Journal Europe
  Their propaganda notwithstanding, Hamas and, two years ago, Hezbollah suffered devastating military defeats that may diminish their ability to attack Israel with rocket fire. But these Iranian-backed terrorist organizations are deploying another dangerous weapon in their war against Western democracies — terrorist television stations.

• Spain may accept Guantanamo Bay detainees

  18 March 2009, by News Agencies
  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.

• Trial about 2006 plot to blow up flights begins in London

  17 March 2009, by News Agencies
  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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