Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Southeast Asia

Malaysians guilty of roles in 2002 Bali bombings released from Guantanamo

2024-12-25

2024-12-18
[BenarNews] The families of Mohammed Nazir bin Lep and Mohammed Farik bin Amin celebrated news of their return home.

Two Malaysians who pleaded guilty for their roles in the 2002 Bali bombings were in their government’s custody after the United States announced their repatriation from the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, where they were locked up for 18 years.

The duo, Mohammed Farik bin Amin and Mohammed Nazir bin Lep, were turned over to Malaysian authorities, according to a statement from the home ministry in Kuala Lumpur.

"The unity government has received from the United States government the two Malaysian nationals, Mohammed Farik bin Amin and Mohammed Nazir bin Lep, who were in prison since 2006 at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp on the principle of human rights
One man's rights are another man's existential threat.
and support for universal justice," the ministry said in a statement Wednesday.

However,
if you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning...
it did not mention whether the two would be sent to a Malaysian prison upon being repatriated from the U.S. naval base in Cuba.

In January, a U.S. military judge at Guantanamo Bay sentenced bin Amin and bin Lep to five more years in prison after they pleaded guilty to five charges connected to their supporting roles in twin bombings that killed 202 people in October 2002 — Indonesia’s deadliest-ever terror attack.

Their repatriation this week was made in secret and information was released to their lawyers at the last minute.

Lawyer Brian Bouffard said his client, bin Lep, was a changed man and ready to be reunited with his family. Their repatriation this week was made in secret and information was released to their lawyers at the last minute.

"It is now more than two decades since Nazir was taken. He has grown in that time, and is today a man of peace who will live the remainder of his life in peace. We are grateful to everyone, in Malaysia and in the U.S., who understood that it was time to bring Nazir home," Bouffard said in a text message to BenarNews.

In its own statement, the U.S. Defense Department said both men had provided testimony before their departure against Indonesian Encep Nurjaman (Hambali

...real name Riduan Isamuddin, close personal friend of Osama bin Laden, one of the founders of Jemaah Islamiyah and the planner of the 2002 Bali bombings. He was captured with the help of a mid-Eastern intel service, shipped to Guantanamo to rot but he'll likely be released eventually because that was a long time ago and we were all so much younger then...
) the alleged criminal mastermind of "al-Qaeda-affiliated attacks on nightclubs in Bali, Indonesia, in 2002, and the attack on the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 2003."

Hambali is expected to stand trial before a military court at Guantanamo Bay on similar charges against him. As part of their plea agreements, bin Amin and bin Lep could not return to the United States for any reason, making it necessary for them to testify before leaving, Bouffard said.

Arrested in Thailand in 2003, bin Amin and bin Lep were held at a CIA black site before being transferred to Cuba in 2006. They pleaded guilty in January to murder, conspiracy and three other charges linked to the Bali bombing that killed over 200 people.

Previously, a source who requested anonymity for privacy concerns, told BenarNews that both were likely to be sent home before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump

...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and whatever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th and 47th President of the United States...
’s inauguration on Jan. 20.

"There has been concern following Trump’s victory in the U.S. election. But we leave it to the government and the authority to work on it. Our hope is for him to be released soon," the source said.

WE LOVE HIM
Relatives of bin Lep were elated that he is back in Malaysia.

Professing his love for his younger brother, Najib Lep, 60, said he had already made plans to reintegrate him back into the society.

"We love him. We will take care of him and his welfare when he returns to us," Najib told BenarNews.

"For now, we have yet to receive any information from the Malaysian authorities. What we’ve got so far is just details from the media. Nevertheless, we cannot be more happy and grateful to Allah."

A source, who requested anonymity to ensure the safety of bin Amin’s family, said they were ready to welcome him home.

"Mohammed Farik has expressed his desire to care for his ailing parents upon return. His siblings have prepared a place for him to stay and will provide other necessary assistance for him. It will take time to readjust as he has been away from home for more than 20 years.

"The family is not ready to speak to the press and is waiting for clearance to meet Mohammed Farik," the source told BenarNews.

Bin Amin’s parents, ages 82 and 88, had been made aware of his return.

Lawyer Christine Funk said she and other members of bin Amin’s legal team were overjoyed by the prospect of their client being back in Malaysia.

"Mr. bin Amin said it best at his sentencing, when he told the Commission, the prosecution, the victim family members, and the observers, ’Instead of trying to change the world, I can only change myself. And over the past 20 years, I have changed. I am not an angry young man anymore. I am a reformed man,’" Funk said in a statement to BenarNews, adding he planned to "go forward as a good and peaceful Moslem."

Funk said the other members are confident that bin Amin will succeed.

Malaysian National Police Chief Razarudin Husain said the pair were to be evaluated and rehabilitated before being reintegrated into society, adding "everyone deserves a second chance."

"Both individuals are in good and healthy condition and feel blessed that they are able to return home and finally reunite with their family," he said in a statement about bin Amin and bin Lep.

"Both showed a positive attitude and openness toward the evaluation process and rehabilitation and have expressed their high commitment to become progressive members of society."

CONGRESS NOTIFIED LAST MONTH
Leading up to their release, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin notified Congress on Nov. 14 "of his intent to repatriate" the Malaysians "and, in consultation with our partners in Malaysia, we completed the requirements for responsible transfer," the statement from the Pentagon said. A 30-day notice must be filed before such transfers can occur.

The Malaysians had been linked to Hambali until their cases were separated from his in 2023 ahead of their plea deal.

Court documents state that beginning at the end of 2001, "including the periods before, during, and after the October 12, 2002, Bali bombings," bin Lep and bin Amin helped Hambali "transfer money for operations, and obtain and store items such as fraudulent identification documents, weapons and instructions on how to make bombs."

With the transfer, the number of detainees at Guantanamo Bay has been reduced to 27, the Pentagon said.

Link

India-Pakistan

Number of TTP Militants in Pak-Afghan Border Region Between 7,000 and 10,000: Pak Interior Minister

2022-12-30

[News18] Pakistain’s Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah has said that the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban
...Arabic for students...
Pakistain (TTP) Death Eater group has between 7,000 to 10,000 fighters in the Pakistain-Afghanistan border
...also known as Pashtunistan, home of ignorance, poverty, and automatic weapons...
area.

Sanaullah also revealed that the rebels were accompanied by 25,000 members of their families.

His remarks to Dawn News TV come at a time when the TTP has stepped up its countrywide attacks, including the first suicide kaboom in the capital Islamabad since 2014.

The TTP has increased the attacks on security forces since November when they ended a months-long cease-fire with the Pakistain government.

Sanaullah pointed out that some locals were also involved in crimes such as extortion and blackmail and alleged that the provincial government had failed to stop them, Dawn newspaper reported.

"The biggest reason for this is the failure of (the) Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government and Counter Terrorism Department (...) It is their job to stop it," the interior minister said, blaming the provincial government led by ousted prime minister Imran Khan

...aka The Great Khan, who ain't the sharpest bulb on the national tree...
’s Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf
...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations....
: party.

He said that Pakistain had its Army for the protection of the borders, adding that if the provincial government cannot handle the situation, it can request the federal government.

"The Army will eliminate all such elements of terrorism." Commenting on the prevalent viewpoint that TTP took the dialogue and ceasefire excuse to regroup, Sanaullah said the group never scattered and was further bolstered by the success of the Afghan Taliban.

Agreeing with the idea of an all-party conference or a national security meeting on the emerging threat of terrorism, the minister said such huddles must take place but stressed that the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government first needed to sit with the federal government and talk.

"The KP government needs to inform the federal government about the law and order in the province — the counter-terrorism department is in peril and the police are demoralised — and ask what help the Centre can extend and it is ready to assist them.

"We held two meetings in Islamabad where the chief minister was invited but the latter didn’t show up as he was planning to mount on the capital (for a long march) and was not allowed by party chief Imran Khan," Sanaullah claimed.

A policeman along with two suspected faceless myrmidons was killed and at least six others, including four coppers, were maimed in the bombing on Friday in the upscale residential area. The bombing was claimed by Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP)-a banned terrorist group that has reactivated after the capture of Kabul by the Afghan Taliban.

The TTP, believed to be close to al-Qaeda, has been blamed for several deadly attacks across Pakistain, including an attack on army headquarters in 2009, assaults on military bases, and the 2008 bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad.

In 2014, the Pak Taliban stormed the Army Public School (APS) in the northwestern city of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistain's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire...
, killing at least 150 people, including 131 students.

The Friday attack was the first suicide kaboom incident in Islamabad since the 2014 courthouse bombing that killed 10 people.

Link

India-Pakistan

Suspects involved in Islamabad suicide blast arrested: Sanaullah

2022-12-28

[Dawn] Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said on Tuesday that the suspects involved in the suicide kaboom in Islamabad last week — that left a policeman martyred and several injured — have been arrested.

The incident, in which four coppers and two civilians were maimed, took place in Islamabad’s I-10/4 sector on December 23. The police had said that a suicide attacker, riding a cab, went kaboom! after the vehicle was stopped over suspicion.

The outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban
...Arabic for students...
Pakistain (TTP) had grabbed credit for the attack.

In a tweet today, the interior minister confirmed that the miscreants and their handlers behind the attack had been arrested.

"The taxi driver was innocent. He was hired by the suspects and had no involvement [in the attack]. The turbans moved from

Kurram Agency
...home of an intricately interconnected web of poverty, ignorance, and religious fanaticism, where the laws of cause and effect are assumed to be suspended, conveniently located adjacent to Tora Bora...
and stayed in Rawalpindi. We have rounded up four to five people," he said.

The development comes days after the Islamabad police formed a joint investigation team (JIT) to probe the bombing.

According to the notification, the JIT was constituted under Section 19-A of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 to investigate the case registered on Dec 23 on charges of 7ATA, along with PPC Section 302, 324, 427, and 4/5 Explosive Act at the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) cop shoppe, Islamabad.

SECURITY ON HIGH ALERT IN ISLAMABAD
Meanwhile,
...back at the Hubba Hubba Club, Big Shirley was still trying to snatch Nunzio bald-headed. She was already halfway there...
since Friday, security has been beefed up in the capital city. Earlier today, Dawn reported that the Islamabad police have issued a "special" plan that introduces 25 temporary checkposts in the city and requires citizens and foreigners to carry their identification documents with them.

According to the security plan, shared on Islamabad police’s official Twitter, entry points of the Red Zone will be recorded via Safe City cameras while video surveillance of metro bus passengers would also be conducted.

Police asked the capital’s citizens, as well as foreigners, to carry their identification documents with them.

Authorities also warned of action over non-specimen number plates and unregistered vehicles, directing citizens to ensure their vehicles had number plates issued by the excise office.

Police said citizens who had employed unregistered local or foreign workers would also be investigated. They further appealed to citizens to inform authorities of any unusual activity on the 15-helpline.

This plan has been devised as Pakistain continues to see a rise in terror incidents in recent days, particularly after the holy warrior TTP called off the ceasefire between them and the government in late November.

Two days after the I-10 blast, the US embassy in the capital had issued a security alert, prohibiting its staff from visiting the city’s Marriott Hotel due to concerns of a "possible attack".

Moreover, Saudi Arabia

...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Fifteen of the nineteen WTC hijackers were Saudis, and most major jihadi commanders were Saudis, to include Osama bin Laden. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman quietly folded that tent in 2016, doing terrible things to the guys running it, and has since been dragging the kingdom into the current century...
, the United Kingdom and Australia issued separate security alerts on Monday, asking their citizens to limit their movement in Pakistain.

Link

Afghanistan

Daily Evacuation Brief December 26, 2022

2022-12-26

[AfghanDigest] LAST 24 HOURS

BOMB BLAST REPORTED IN POLICE DISTRICT 6, KABUL – A blast was reported by multiple news outlets on Sunday evening in the Darul Aman neighborhood of Kabul. One of the outlets quoted sources who said the blast was caused by a magnetic mine that destroyed a vehicle. Taliban authorities claimed there were no casualties reported from the incident but media sources say that some deaths and injuries resulted. No group has claimed responsibility for the blast and no further information was available.

US AND UK EMBASSIES WARN CITIZENS OF POTENTIAL THREAT IN PAKISTAN – Both embassies released public announcements that describe an unspecified threat to US and UK nationals in the country. The Marriott Hotel in Islamabad was mentioned by name and Pakistani security forces have elevated the threat level in Islamabad to ‘imminent’ after reviewing the intelligence about the threat.

TALIBAN FORCIBLY CLOSE SEVERAL GIRLS’ HOSTELS IN KABUL – A video of Taliban thugs entering a private dormitory for girls/women in Kabul was posted on social media Sunday. The owners of several of the lodging establishments said they were threatened with imprisonment if they did not immediately evict the females from their establishments.

POSSIBLE INTERNAL PURGE COMING FOR THE TALIBAN – The all-powerful Ministry of Vice and Virtue has demanded all provincial departments draw up lists of government officials who are in polygamous relationships. A source in the Ministry of the Interior claimed the lists have created a ‘state of fear’ among those loyal to the Taliban.

HACKERS REPORTEDLY TARGET THE TALIBAN REGIME – Several social media sites claiming to be affiliated with the Anonymous hacking group have claimed several targeted attacks have been made against the Taliban regime. The group claims to have penetrated the Central Bank as well as gained access to the newly installed security camera system in Kabul. The group has not provided details about the nature of the attacks. However, it is possible that banking services may be disrupted for a time in the country.

CONFLICT TRACKER
Baghlan: A small Taliban force made repeated forays against an NRF emplacement in the Faj region. The NRF commander, Sediq Andrabi reportedly thwarted the attack, and the Talibans retreated to Deh Salah. The engagement was brief. There has been no informaton concerning casualties on either side.

NEXT 24 HOURS

POTENTIAL TERROR ATTACK IN ISLAMABAD – The situation in Islamabad may indicate that a terror attack against foreign targets is in the works. There are local reports that a TTP suicide bombing team was captured on Sunday but these reports have yet to be confirmed and it is unclear if this is the only threat American and British diplomats have communicated. Pakistani security forces are out in force in the Red Zone of Islamabad and additional reports suggest they have confirmed the identities of possible terrorists and a search operation is underway.
PAKISTAN SECURITY OPERATIONS – With news of additional reinforcements being sent to the Durand Line, there is concern that a cross-border operation targeting the TTP will begin soon. Pakistan had announced potential contingency operations against the TTP soon after the new military chief was sworn into office. According to sources in the Pakistan government, the Bannu uprising has convinced those who had been pleading for a peaceful resolution to the problem are now willing to resort to force. We assess the recent troop deployments are primarily defensive in nature and meant to counter any potential Taliban response to possible air strikes or commando raids.

SOCIAL MEDIA TARGETING OPERATION ORDERED BY TALIBAN – As protests to the Taliban’s newest restrictive decrees are being put down in cities across Afghanistan, activists have taken to social media in an effort to have their voices heard. In response, the Ministry of the Interior has called in additional analysts to assist with online targeting operations to identify people who may show sympathy to the plight of women. Two similar operations were launched over the course of 2022 and resulted in the arrests of several activists who had failed to conceal their identities. We encourage at-risk Afghans to refrain from publicly supporting the online campaigns if they have not successfully secured their identities/locations/communications information.

Notes on the Pakistan border: 1. Local sources say that additional artillery units (4 regiments) have been deployed along the Durand line. The artillery units deployed to Kurram, Bajaur, Shawal, and Chaman.

2. Locals living along the border with Afghanistan have reported an uptick in the number of drones flying along the border over the last three days.

Link

-Lurid Crime Tales-

Suspect, 16, who 'shot and injured Marine' in Times Square is charged with attempted murder

2021-07-09

[Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] Avon Darden, 16, handed himself over to cops at the Midtown South Precinct station house on Wednesday a whopping ten days after the shooting

Samuel Poulin, 21, was hit in the back by a ricocheting bullet as he walked with his family near the Marriott Hotel on W. 45th St. around 5:15 p.m. on June 27

The young Marine was hospitalized after the shooting but was luckily not seriously injured

Because of his age, Darden was reportedly charged as a minor for a number of crimes including attempted murder and assault

Link

Britain

Blind men say they were ‘accosted' by animal rights activist for using guide dogs

2019-10-24

[NYPost] Amit Patel, a disability activist, took to Twitter Sunday to detail the drama at the Portsmouth Marriott Hotel in the UK after he spoke at an awards ceremony that gives recognition to animals and humans.

Link

Afghanistan

Taliban reacts at the killing of a top Al-Qaeda leader in Afghanistan

2017-12-07

[Khaama Press] The Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
group has reacted at the killing of a top al-Qaeda leader in a joint Afghan and US forces operation in Afghanistan.

The group’s front man Zabiullah Mujahid issued a statement calling the killing of the bully boyz in ZZabul, Ghazni, and Paktia a propaganda.

Mujahid further added that no foreign or local bully boyz were killed during the operations in the three provinces as claimed by the security institutions.

This comes as the Afghan security authorities said Tuesday that a top leader of the al-Qaeda terrorist network has been killed along with at least 80 other bully boyz during the operations of the Afghan and US forces. The Afghan Intelligence, National Directorate of Security
...the Afghan national intel agency...
(NDS), the bully boyz were killed during the operations conducted in Ghazni, Zabul, and Paktia provinces.

According to NDS, the senior al-Qaeda leader killed during the operation has been identified as Omar Khetab who was also famous was Omar Mansoor. Khetab is among the several top al-Qaeda network leaders who have been killed during the counter-terrorism operations so far.

A U.S. counter-terrorism ~~Arclight~~ airstrike

conducted March 19 in Paktika
...which coincidentally borders South Wazoo...
Province, Afghanistan, resulted in the death of Qari Yasin, a well-known al Qaeda terrorist leader responsible for the deaths of dozens of innocent victims, including two American service members.

According to Pentagon, Yasin, a senior terrorist figure from Balochistan

Link

Afghanistan

3 Al-Qaeda network members killed in Paktika province of Afghanistan

2017-04-10

[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least three al-Qaeda network members were killed during an ~~Arclight~~ airstrike in southeastern Paktika
...which coincidentally borders South Wazoo...
province of Afghanistan.

The Ministry of Defense (MoD) front man Dawlat Waziri said the ~~Arclight~~ airstrike was carried out in the vicinity of Jani Khel district.

This comes as the US Department of Defense confirmed the death of a high level al-Qaeda network leader who was killed in Paktika province last month.

The al-Qaeda leader killed in the ~~Arclight~~ airstrike was identified as Qari Yasin with the Department of Defense saying he was a senior terrorist figure from Balochistan

...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
, Pakistain, had ties to Tehrik-e Taliban and had plotted multiple al Qaeda terror attacks, including the Sept. 20, 2008, bombing on the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad that killed dozens of innocent people, among them U.S. Air Force Maj. Rodolfo I. Rodriguez and Navy Cryptologic Technician Third Class Petty Officer Matthew J. O’Bryant.

In the meantime, Gen. Waziri said at least eight ISIS snuffies were killed in another ~~Arclight~~ airstrike in eastern Nangarhar
The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country..
province while eight Taliban forces of Evil were killed in a similar operation in northern Kunduz province.

Link

Afghanistan

Pentagon: US drone strike in Afghanistan killed a senior Al-Qaeda militant

2017-03-26

[DW] The US military has confirmed that a US dronezap in eastern Afghanistan on March 19 killed the senior al-Qaeda military commander Qari Yasin. He had been linked to numerous attacks in his native Pakistain.

Qari Yasin was killed in a US dronezap in Barmal District of Paktika
...which coincidentally borders South Wazoo...
Province in Afghanistan. Three of his accomplices were also reportedly killed in the strike.

"The death of Qari Yasin is evidence that holy warriors who defame Islam and deliberately target innocent people will not escape justice," US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said in a statement.

Yasin was accused of plotting the 2008 bombing on a Marriott Hotel in Islamabad that killed dozens of people, including two US service members.

Yasin was affiliated with several terrorist organizations and had assisted bad boy outfits Jundallah
..."Soldiers of God," a name used by two separate terror outfits, one active in Iran and the other in Pakistain. Both are Sunni organizations that target Shiites. The Pak version has close relations with al-Qaeda and the Pak Talibs and is probably a false nose and mustache for Lashkar-e-Jhangvi...
and al-Qaeda in several attacks.

Yasin - a native of the Pak region of Balochistan

...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
who had ties to the Tehrik-e-Taliban group - was wanted by the Federal Investigation Agency for attacks on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore in 2009, GHQ Rawalpindi, ISI Lahore Office, Marriott Hotel and a kaboom at Data Darbar Lahore, among other terrorist attacks.

Yasin was also believed to be behind attacks on Pakistain Army colonel and Punjab
1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots....
Home Minister Shuja Khanzada and former President

Pervez Perv Musharraf
... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ...
.

Link

Home Front: WoT

Zahid: One Malaysian detainee at Guantanamo Bay may be transferred home

2016-09-25

[THEMALAYMAILONLINE] Mohamad Bashir Lap, one of the two Malaysians being held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp may be transferred to Malaysia but he will have to continue to undergo the deradicalisation process in prison, said Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

He said this information was conveyed to him during the meeting he had on Wednesday with Lee Wolowsky, the United States Special Envoy for Guantanamo Closure.

"This possibility is in tandem with our efforts to bring home the Malaysian detainees in Guantanamo Bay," Ahmad Zahid, who is also the home minister, told Malaysian journalists yesterday.

Ahmad Zahid had led the Malaysian delegation to the 71st session of the United Nations
...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships...
General Assembly here.

Mohamad Bashir and Mohd Farik Amin are the two Malaysians being held at Guantanamo Bay detention camp since 2006 for their involvement with the Jemaah Islamiyah holy warrior group in early 2000.

They are also alleged to have been involved in the bombing at the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta in 2003 and were detained in Bangkok that year.

Ahmad Zahid said the US Periodic Review Board, by consensus, determined that "continued law of war detention of the detainees remains necessary to protect against a continuing significant threat to the security of the United States".

"However,
Caliphornia hasn't yet slid into the ocean, no matter how hard it's tried...
the United States has informed of the possibility of one of them (Mohamad Bashir) being sent back to Malaysia, but he has to continue to undergo the deradicalisation process," he said.

As such, Ahmad Zahid said, a high-level committee under his chairmanship would be established immediately pertaining to the matter.

The committee would comprise representatives from the Home Ministry, Foreign Ministry, Defence Ministry, National Security Council, Attorney-General's Chambers, Royal Malaysia Police, Prisons Department and Immigration Department, he added.

- See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/zahid-one-malaysian-detainee-at-guantanamo-bay-may-be-sent-home#sthash.aFUTK0lU.dpuf

Link

Terror Networks

Hambali Receives Guantanamo Review Board Hearing

2016-08-20

[HUMANRIGHTSFIRST.ORG] Yesterday, Gitmo detainee Encep Nurjaman, better known by his alias, "Hambali," appeared before the Periodic Review Board (PRB) for the first time to advocate for his release. One of 15 remaining "high-value" detainees, Hambali has been consistently referred to in both national and international media as the "Bin Laden of Indonesia."

According to the Senate intelligence committee’s torture report, he was considered "the CIA's ’number one target’ in Southeast Asia" shortly after the 9/11 attacks. The Indonesian government recently stated it considers it too great a danger for Hambali to return to the country. However,
a good lie finds more believers than a bad truth...
his representatives describe him as a "respectful and energetic" man, who "wants nothing more than to move on with his life and be peaceful."

A mistranslation of the Arabic. He wishes submission, not peace... and that submission is to Islam, not to a secular government in opposition to it.

The U.S. government alleges that Hambali's involvement in terrorism dates back to the 1980s, when he first began training as a jihadist in Afghanistan. From there, he purportedly branched out to participate in violent jihad across Southeast Asia.

The U.S. government believes that Hambali was involved in the 2000 Christmas Eve attacks, a series of bombings in churches across eight cities in Indonesia carried out by al Qaeda and the Indonesian group Jemaah Islamiyah. He allegedly helped plan the Bali bombings in 2002, which killed 202 and injured 209 more.

The government also alleges that in 2003 Hambali facilitated al Qaeda’s financing for the bombing of the Jakarta Marriott Hotel, which killed 12 people and injured 150. It also believes Hambali was involved in planning post-9/11 attacks against U.S. interests and that he provided a microbiologist to al Qaeda to assist it in developing an anthrax program.

Hambali was captured in 2003 and arrived at Guantanamo Bay in 2005. Despite the serious allegations against him, he has never been charged with a crime.

That's because all those activities are acts of war by non-uniformed, non-state actors for the purpose of replacing existing governments around the world with Islamic rule, not criminal activities on American soil for the purpose of revenge or material gain.

Hambali is featured prominently in the Senate’s torture report, which notes he had been cooperative in response to "standard" interrogation techniques, but when subjected to so-called "enhanced interrogation" methods, Hambali "provided the false information in an attempt to reduce the pressure on himself ... and to give an account that was consistent with what [Hambali] assessed the questioners wanted to hear." The report also states that an interrogator said to Hambali: "We can never let the world know what I have done to you."

Although Hambali’s personal representatives said he "has no ill will toward the U.S.," and the government described him as "mostly compliant," it also asserted that Hambali "remains steadfast in his support for Death Eater causes and his hatred for the US," and "has been heard promoting violent jihad while leading daily prayers and lectures."

There are currently 61 detainees still at Guantanamo, with 20 cleared for release. Four detainees are still eligible for their first PRB hearing and nine are waiting on decisions. The Obama Administration has stated that it plans to complete all initial PRB hearings and transfer all cleared detainees by this fall.

What is the recidivism rate? How many of those released have looked up their old jihadi friends or found new ones?

Link

Home Front: Politix

Ted Cruz: Closet Pentecostal

2016-03-11

Maybe. Maybe not. Here it is for your consideration.
While Ted Cruz proudly proclaims he is an Evangelical Christian, his campaign takes pains to hide the truth that Cruz and his pastor father, Rafael Cruz are Pentecostal Christians, a fact further hidden by having Ted and Heidi Cruz’s belong to the congregation of First Baptist Church, a Southern Baptist church in Houston, as their home church.

Both Cruz’s parents, his father Rafael a Cuban-born immigrant, and his mother Eleanor, born in Wilmington, Delaware, grew up in Catholic families. Both were among the millions of that left the Catholic Church since the 1960s to embrace Pentecostalism, a Christian movement estimated to make up 4.4 percent of the U.S. population, accounting for some 13 percent of evangelical churches in the United States.

Holy Spirit’s "Purifying Fire"

The name "Pentecostal" derives from the feast of the Pentecost, typically celebrated fifty days after Easter, and identified in the Acts of the Apostles 2:1-31 as the day when the Holy Spirit descended in "purifying fire" upon the Apostles of Jesus Christ, inspiring them to go forth from hiding in fear to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Pentecostals believe the Apostles of Jesus were aided by the Holy Spirit’s "gift of tongues," in what Pentecostals consider as "baptism by the Holy Spirit," deriving from 1 Corinthians 12:14, that gave the Apostles the ability to speak in a "God-enabled prayer language" that Pentecostals believe even today allows the unintelligible human utterances of an Pentecostal evangelist to be understood by foreigners who do not speak the Pentecostal evangelist’s language.

Heidi Nelson Cruz, Ted’s wife, is the daughter of Seventh-day Adventist missionaries, explaining why she spent part of her childhood traveling with her parents to places like Kenya. "Speaking in Tongues" Religion reporter Sarah Pulliam Bailey, writing in the Washington Post on March 25, 2015, was of the first to recognize Ted Cruz’s 2016 presidential campaign logo and the purifying tongue-of-fire logo used commonly to identify Pentecostal churches.

Here is Ted Cruz’s 2016 presidential campaign logo:

Here is the logo of the Church of Pentecost:

The symbol derives from Acts 2:3, writing about the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, "They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them."

Sarah Palin’s nomination as vice president put Pentecostalism into the spotlight, when the press revealed that from the time she was a teenager until 2002, Palin attended a church affiliated with the Assemblies of God that the Pew Research Center in an analysis published on Sept. 12, 2008, described as "the largest Pentecostal Christian denomination in the U.S."

The Pew Research Center went on to note that Pentecostalism "emphasizes such practices as speaking in tongues, prophesying, divine healing and other miraculous signs of the Holy Spirit, which it believes are as valid today as they were in the early Christian church."

"Ted is the anointed one"

Rafael Cruz is a pastor with Purifying Fire International Ministry, although in January 2014, as Ted Cruz was preparing his presidential swing, Rafael Cruz scrapped the group’s website after various blogs began identifying the ministry as rooted in "a radical Christian ideology known as Dominionism or Christian Reconstructionism."

Dominionism calls on anointed Christian leaders to take over government to make the laws of the nation in accordance with Biblical laws. Rafael Cruz, at the Pastor Larry Huch’s New Beginnings mega-church in Bedford Texas, outside Dallas, on Aug. 26, 2012, in a Dominionist sermon proclaimed his son, Ted Cruz, to be the "anointed one," a Dominionist Messiah who would bring God’s law to reign.

At a Dominionist pastor’s meeting held at the Marriott Hotel in Des Moines, Iowa, on July 19 and 20, 2013, the following "anointing prayer" was read over.

So to pull all this logic together, God anoints priests to work in the church directly and kings to go out into the marketplace to conquer, plunder, and bring back the spoils to the church. The reason governmental regulation has to disappear from the marketplace is to make it completely available to the plunder of Christian "kings" who will accomplish the "end time transfer of wealth."

Then "God’s bankers" will usher in the "coming of the messiah."

The government is being shut down so that God’s bankers can bring Jesus back. In an editorial published in the Washington Post on Feb. 4, on the heels of Cruz’s victory in the Iowa GOP primary, John Fea of the Religion News Service published an op-ed piece noting the frequent references Ted Cruz makes in stump speeches to his father "the traveling evangelist" Rafael Cruz.

"During a 2012 sermon at the New Beginnings Church in Bedford, Texas, Rafael Cruz described his son’s political campaign as a direct fulfillment of biblical prophecy," Fea wrote. "The elder Cruz told the congregation God would anoint Christian ‘kings’ to preside over an ‘end-time transfer of wealth’ from the wicked to the righteous. After this sermon, Larry Huch, the pastor of New Beginnings, claimed Cruz’s recent election to the U.S. Senate was a sign he was one of these kings."

Fea noted that Rafael Cruz and Larry Huch preach a brand of evangelical theology known as Seven Mountains Dominionism. The name comes from Isaiah 2:2, "Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the Lord’s house shall be established on top of the mountains."

Fea commented that Rafael Cruz believes Christians must take dominion over seven aspects of culture: family, religion, education, media, entertainment, business, and government.

By identifying Ted Cruz as the "anointed one," Rafael Cruz has designated his son as what he believes is God’s choice to lead an evangelical coup d’etat, such that, as Fea notes, "Cruz’s campaign may be less about the White House and more about the white horses that will usher in the God’s Kingdom in the New Testament book of Revelation, Chapter 19."

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