|
In this mailing:
by Soeren Kern
• March 13, 2016 at 5:00 am
- Hans-Georg
Maaßen, the head of Germany's domestic intelligence agency (BfV),
warned that the Islamic State was deliberately planting jihadists
among the refugees flowing into Europe, and reported that the number
of Salafists in Germany has now risen to 7,900. This is up from
7,000 in 2014 and 5,500 in 2013.
- "Salafists
want to establish an Islamic state in Germany." — Hans-Georg
Maaßen, director, BfV, German intelligence.
- More than 800
German residents -- 60% of whom are German passport holders -- have
joined the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. Of these, roughly
one-third have returned to Germany. — Federal Criminal Police
Office.
- Up to 5,000
European jihadists have returned to the continent after obtaining
combat experience on the battlefields of the Middle East. — Rob
Wainwright, head of Europol.
Last month, Safia S., a 15-year-old German girl of
Moroccan descent, stabbed and seriously wounded a police officer in
Hanover, in what appears to be the first lone-wolf terrorist attack in
Germany inspired by the Islamic State.
A 15-year-old German girl of Moroccan descent stabbed and seriously
wounded a police officer in Hanover. The stabbing appears to be the first
lone-wolf terrorist attack in Germany inspired by the Islamic State.
The incident occurred at the main train station in Hanover on the
afternoon of February 26, when two police officers noticed that the girl
— identified only as Safia S. — was observing and following them.
The officers approached the girl, who was wearing an Islamic
headscarf, and asked her to present her identification papers. After
handing over her ID, she stabbed one of the officers in the neck with a
six-centimeter kitchen knife.
According to police, the attack happened so quickly that the
34-year-old officer, who was rushed to the hospital, was unable to defend
himself. After her arrest, police found that Safia was also carrying a
second, larger knife.
Turkey:
Normalizing Hate
World
Champion Violator of Right to Freedom of Speech
by Uzay Bulut
• March 13, 2016 at 4:00 am
- "[T]hey
have launched an investigation against me in accordance with article
301 because I mentioned 'peace, brotherhood, and human rights' in my
statement to the press. Hundreds of lawsuits have been brought
against lawyers and members of opposition in Turkey because they
talked about peace and brotherhood." — Ilhan Ongor,
Co-President of the Adana branch of the Human Rights Association.
- Starving or
murdering civilians does not, apparently, constitute a crime in
Turkey, but speaking out about them does.
- Insulting
non-Turkish and non-Muslim people has almost become a social
tradition in Turkey. Prejudice and hate speech have become
normalized.
- What makes this
hate speech even more disturbing is that these people -- Armenians,
Greeks, Assyrians, and Jews, among others -- are the indigenous
peoples of Anatolia, Mesopotamia and Thrace, where they have lived
for millennia. Today, as a result of Turkey's massacres, pogroms and
deportations, they have been turned into tiny communities.
In December, peace activists walked to the city of
Diyarbakir in Turkish Kurdistan in an action they called "We are
walking towards peace." When they arrived, they were attacked by the
police. Four were injured and twenty-four were arrested, accused of
"carrying out acts on behalf of a terrorist organization."
(Image source: JINHA)
According to the 2015 statistics of the European Court of Human
Rights (ECHR), Turkey, 28 lawsuits were opened by applicants against
member states regarding their violations of freedom of expression. 10 of
those applications (complaints) were made against Turkey's violations of
freedom of expression. So Turkey ranked first in that category.
Turkish law professor Ayse Isil Karakas, both a judge and elected
Deputy Head of the ECHR, said that among all member states, Turkey has
ranked number one in the field of violations of free speech.
"619 lawsuits of freedom of expression were brought at the ECHR
between 1959 and 2015," she said. " 258 of them -- almost half
of them -- came from Turkey and most were convicted as violations of
freedom of expression."
|
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment