Violence and Security

Pakistani Taliban Attack Targets Election Outcome

July 11, 2018

The Pakistani branch of the Afghan-based Taliban carried out a high-casualty suicide bombing at a political rally in the run-up to country’s national elections, killing a leader of the Awami National Party (ANP) perceived by the Islamist group as “secular” and warning other “anti-Islam” parties and leaders that they would be targeted.
Germany Outlaws Gang with Links to Turkish Government

July 11, 2018

Germany’s Minister of the Interior Horst Seehofer has announced a ban on Osmanen Germania BC (German Ottomans), declaring that the rapidly growing biker gang, with extensive ties to organized crime networks and with close connections to Turkey’s Islamist government, represents “a serious danger for individual legally protected rights and for the general public.”
Facebook Faces Backlash over Censorship in Myanmar

July 11, 2018

The Asia Times highlights the complexity of civil society efforts to tackle online “hate speech,” as Facebook encounters blowback in Myanmar against its censorship of Buddhist-nationalist monks branded as “hate figures” for their posts of anti-Muslim sentiment on the tech giant’s social media platform.
CoE Announces Rights-Focused Counter-terror Strategy

July 11, 2018

The Council of Europe (CoE) has adopted a new counter-terrorism strategy to guide national authorities through the years 2018 to 2022, emphasizing “prevention, prosecution and protection” with a focus on remaining “in full compliance with human rights and the rule of law.”
Children Are Main Casualties in IS Attack in Afghanistan

July 11, 2018

Islamic State (IS) militants in Afghanistan launched a deadly suicide-bombing attack whose main casualties where children, as the jihadi group continued to destabilize the country’s northeastern border region with Pakistan and sabotage fragile ceasefire discussions between the Afghan government and the indigenous Islamist extremist group the Taliban.
OSCE Guide Trains NGOs on Battling "Intolerance"

July 10, 2018

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) recently published guidelines offering a "comprehensive, gender-mainstreamed and human rights-based approach" for nongovernmental organizations to create coalitions combating "intolerance and discrimination" and seeking to build more peaceful societies.
Al-Shabaab Bans Plastic Bags, Not Jihadi Violence

July 09, 2018

The Somali jihadist group al-Shabaab has issued an official order banning the use of plastic bags because of their negative impact on the environment, human beings, and livestock, while comprehensive forms of violence, including against civilian targets, remain central to the Islamist extremist group.
Al-Shabaab Attacks Somalia's Interior Ministry

July 09, 2018

Al-Shabaab, Somalia’s al-Qaeda-affiliated homegrown Islamist extremist movement, killed nine in an attack on the county’s Interior Ministry, a reminder of the group’s resilience and its broader destabilizing impact via jihadist operations in the Horn of Africa.
British Courts Rely on Islamist Preacher as Expert Witness

July 09, 2018

British media are raising questions about the implications of the National Health Service’s use of a radical Islamist preacher who has publicly denounced secular governmental authority and was a longtime public supporter of an Islamist organization advocating for a global sharia state as an expert witness in numerous court cases.
IS Defeat Produces Questions on Mideast Stability

July 09, 2018

Sources report that the Syrian military's recapture of almost all areas formerly under the control of the Islamic State (IS) has produced a decline in the jihadist group's forces and a withdrawal of Iran-backed Hezbollah but emphasize that the impacts on Mideast regional stability stemming from the change in balance of Islamist forces on the ground in Syria remains a question.