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Issue: 82
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February 2015
EXCLUSIVE
‘West Can’t Defeat
Islamic State’
British IS Fighter
Approved by
Abu Rahin Aziz from Luton is the latest
recruit to the Islamic State.
Aziz who goes by the name Abu
Abdullah al-Britani skipped bail and
evaded the security services and now
y
rtified b
he is fighting in Syria, his journey led
him from UK via Amsterdam before
travelling on to Turkey, where he crossed
the Syrian border. The security services
estimate that between 600-2000 British
Ce
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nationals have joined the Islamic State in
recent years.
In an in depth Interview with PI he
speaks about his life in the Islamic State.
Continued on page 2 & 3
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‘ West Can’t Defeat
Islamic State ’
EXCLUSIVE
British IS Fighter
Abu Abduallah Al Britani in battle
Why did you go out to Syria?
“The reason I decided to go out
to Syria was due to the ongoing
oppression committed by Bashar
Al-Asad upon the Sunni population
while the international community
watched.
Almighty blessed me with the
opportunity to answer the call of
jihad which is in fact an obligation
upon those who are able and have
capability to defend the weak, the
needy and the oppressed and
ultimately to make the word of
Almighty the highest.”
What would you like to achieve in
Syria/Iraq?
“The oppression unleashed by
Bashar was barbaric and couldn’t go
unanswered so no doubt we wanted
to repel the aggressors.”
“The root of all of this oppression
the Muslims have been facing was
due to absence of the Khilafah. So
ultimately, we wanted to see the
tyrants removed, see stability, peace
and security and the only way we can
achieve this is via the khilafah.”
“Since my time fighting here in
Syria I have been able to witness
restoration of peace and security
under the Islamic State and I was
present when what the Muslim
Ummah has been waiting for almost
a century, the establishment of the
Islamic State and the implementation
of the Shariah of Almighty.”
“So part of what I wanted
to achieve has already been
accomplished by the will of Almighty,
which is the establishment of the
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I February 2015
khilafah and all that is left for me
now, is to see the justice of Islam
spread across the whole world, just
as we have seen it spread across
Iraq and Syria in accordance to the
prophecy of prophet Muhammed
(pbuh) being that he saw the
authority of the Muslim ummah
across the east and west. And lastly
to achieve something I have longed
for, being martyred for the sake of
Almighty.”
What is daily life like living in
Islamic State?
“As a citizen living under the Islamic
State is pretty normal, people going
about their normally daily business,
children going to school except
when the kuffar (non believers)
are bombing them, businesses are
running like usual, women going
shopping etc.”
“There are lots of facilities also
available by the state for its citizens
such as free medical treatment, free
medication, subsidised gas, free
monthly food packs for the needy,
free electric, free housing (especially
for the immigrants; IS unlike the UK
welcomes migrants and opens its
borders for foreigners; as Khalifah
NEWS
Ibrahim said “Sham is not just for the
Iraqis or the Syrians”).”
“You could say life here is good,
you still get you little luxuries from
western branded chocolates like your
Snickers and Twix to Pringles, your
fizzy, even have chicken and chips
(although I’ll admit it don’t beat the
chicken and chip shops from back
home) but yeah life here is pretty
good no doubt the Islamic state is
not perfect and there is still room for
improvement but considering its only
been established for 6 months, the
Islamic state has been able to meet
the basic needs of its people and put
in place a solid infrastructure which
will only strengthen with time, which
I can’t see any other nations being
able to boast about.”
Have you been involved in
combat/ have you killed anyone?
“Alhamdulllah I have participated in
many battles, battles in which we
liberated towns and villages. I have
even been in battles where we were
attacked and we managed to repel
the enemies so Alhamdulillah I have
been in a fair few battles.”
“As for whether I have killed, I
sure hope so, however the battles
I3
are not always face to face so
it’s hard to know whether a bullet
you fired penetrated and killed an
enemy.”
What is your message to the UK
“My message to the UK is simple, if
you want to live in peace and security
then stay out of Muslim affairs, they
have managed to stick their nose in
our country many times and have
actively attacked us, currently they
have decided to go to war with the
Islamic State so remember you have
gone to war with us and in a war
you cannot expect to attack without
getting attacked back, If you play
with fire then expect to get burnt.”
Do you expect to come back to UK
“Not all, no plans to return at all
unless it is part of the foreign policy
of the Islamic State.”
Can west defeat IS?
“West can’t defeat Islamic State,
Its taking the worlds army coming
together to fight Islamic State and
they still can’t do it, how can they
defeat an army that loves death the
way these kuffar (non believers) love
life.”
4
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LOCAL & NATIONAL NEWS
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I February 2015
Website launched to stop CTS bill
The Counter Terrorism and Security
Bill has just passed its second
reading in the House of Lords and
now is in the final committee stages.
This is yet another piece of
terrorism/extremism legislation
since the year 2000, which is
going to have a major impact on
Muslim communities in Britain and
elsewhere, as well as wider society.
This legislation will affect public
servants in particular as they will be
required to implement many of its
proposals.
We have been asked by many
of our community leaders to help
them understand the proposals and
potential impact of this bill so they
can understand how it will affect
them and their work. We have
produced this simply website to
explain how this proposed bill will
change the lives of thousands in the
UK.
The new bill makes the following
proposals:
Seizure of passports from persons
suspected of involvement in terrorism
– The Bill proposes granting powers
to police and border officials to
seize a person’s passport for up
to 14 days (This can be extended
upon application to a judge). The
seizure applies to those coming
into the UK as well as those leaving
and affects UK citizens as well as
non-UK nationals and is based on
‘suspicion’; the officer need not have
any grounds or evidence for his
suspicion.
Temporary exclusion orders – The
Bill will empower the Home Secretary
to issue a Temporary Exclusion
Order, which will ban a UK citizen
who is abroad from returning for up
to 2 years, where she/he believes
there is a “reasonable suspicion
of involvement in terrorist activity
abroad”. The Home Secretary may
issue a permit for the individual to
return, but the permit will impose
conditions including where the
person lives and what flight they take
to return to the UK.
Introduction of new, tougher
measures within Terrorism
Prevention and Investigation
Measures – TPIMs replaced Control
Orders, which were used to restrict
the activity of suspected terrorists
who had not been convicted. When
TPIMs were introduced in 2011 they
decided they would scrap the powers
to move people across the country.
The Home Secretary now proposes
bringing back the power to send
suspects to new towns (up to 200
miles from their normal residence),
introducing internal exile.
Creating an obligation to monitor
and report extremism – Colleges,
schools, prisons, GPs and councils
will now have a legal duty to prevent
people being drawn into terrorism.
Schools, nurseries even GPs will
be required to monitor those they
provide services to and report
anyone they believe is at risk of,
or has in fact been drawn in to
terrorism. Universities will have
to draw up policies on extremist
campus speakers, and prisons will
be required to have policies for
dealing with radicals. The Home
Office will be able to get court orders
obliging bodies to comply with their
obligations.
“De-Radicalisation” Panels – The
Bill creates a legal duty that will
require local authorities to establish
a panel to refer people identified
as being at risk of ‘being drawn
into terrorism’. The composition of
that panel is set out in the Bill, and
its purpose is to draw up a “deradicalisation” plan for the person
identified as being at risk. The Bill
makes no provision for the person
identified to have legal or other
representation, or in the case of a
child, to have a parent present.
Obligations on airlines – Airlines
will now be required to disclose
personal information about their
passengers in advance. Airlines that
refuse or fail to provide advance
passenger lists will be banned from
landing in Britain and may face a
penalty.
The above is a summary of
the main points contained within
the proposed Counter Terrorism &
Security Bill, the website can be
accessed at
www.stopthebill.co.uk
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I February 2015
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UK’s Iraq war
report delayed again
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I February 2015
LOCAL & NATIONAL NEWS
I7
In Case Y
o
Missed It u
The publication of a long-awaited
inquiry into the UK’s participation
in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and
its aftermath has once again been
postponed until after the country’s
general elections later this year.
British media cited government
sources as saying that the
inquiry chairman, John Chilcot,
in a exchange of letters with
Prime Minister David Cameron
explained the reasons for the new
postponement.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick
Clegg reacted angrily to the
news, saying the further delay is
“incomprehensible.”
Clegg’s Liberal Democrats also
suggested that the inquiry report is
being “watered down” after those
criticized in the report, such as then
Prime Minister Tony Blair, were given
the opportunity to respond to the
findings.
The judge-led inquiry into how
Blair led Britain into war in Iraq was
ordered by former Prime Minister
Gordon Brown in 2009 and was
expected to publish its findings within
18 months.
The Chilcot report had previously
been delayed by rows over its
criticism of leading figures in the
Blair government. The report had
also been delayed due to diplomatic
negotiations between the US and
the UK about what can be revealed
from correspondence between Blair
and former US President George W.
Bush.
The report is believed to be highly
critical of Blair, who is accused of
misleading the British public about
the reasons for joining the 2003 USled Iraq war.
The US and Britain invaded Iraq
in blatant violation of international law
in 2003 over the allegation that the
regime of then Iraqi dictator Saddam
Hussein possessed weapons of
mass destruction (WMD). No WMDs,
however, were ever found in Iraq.
New documents indicate further MI6
spying on lawyers’ communications
Previously-secret guidance, which
MI6 has been forced to publish
following legal action by charity
Reprieve, acknowledges that the
agency may have intercepted
communications relating to criminal
investigations and legal cases
brought against it.
The revelation comes as
MI6, together with other parts of
the British Government, faces
an ongoing Metropolitan Police
investigation and a civil case over its
part in the kidnapping and rendition
of two families – including a pregnant
women and four young children – to
Gaddafi’s prisons in 2004.
The guidance, published in
response to a case brought in the
Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT)
by Reprieve for the Belhaj and alSaadi families , admits that:
In the course of conducting
interception in pursuit of its functions
it is possible that SIS [MI6] will
intercept LPP communications in
connection with litigation, other legal
proceedings (such as inquiries or
inquests) or criminal investigations
in which SIS or HMG is a party to or
has an interest in (all such material
will be referred to as ‘other party LPP
material’).
Reprieve says that it is
concerned that the guidance dates
only to December 2014, and thus
presumably was developed in
response to Reprieve’s litigation. As
a result, MI6 may already have been
given an unfair advantage in the
legal cases and police investigations
concerning its activities.
It appears the fresh guidance is
intended to improve on the previous
policies, which Reprieve had said
were woefully inadequate and
created a real risk of prejudice to
ongoing torture proceedings.
Cori Crider, a director at Reprieve
and lawyer for the Belhaj family,
commented: “MI6’s brand-new
eavesdropping policy still has serious
problems – it still envisages that MI6
will snoop on private legal calls even
in cases where it is being sued for
torture. But these issues are nothing
compared to the double-decker sized
loopholes that were in place when Mr
Belhaj and his wife were preparing
their legal claims.
“This last-minute effort by MI6 to
clean up their act shows Reprieve
was right to fear that our private calls
with torture victims, and possibly
with the police in Operation Lydd,
were compromised. There can be
no justification for spying on our
privileged calls in this family’s torture
claim.
“If spying took place, and
information leaked, the government
must come clean about it
immediately so we can begin to
set our torture trial back on a fair
footing.”
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LOCAL & NATIONAL NEWS
I9
UK spies stored
journalists’ emails -report
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In Case You
Missed It
Britain’s GCHQ eavesdropping
agency stored emails from
journalists working for several large
media organisations, according
to documents released by former
U.S. spy agency contractor Edward
Snowden, the Guardian newspaper
reported.
The emails from the New York
Times, the Washington Post, the
Guardian, the Sun, Le Monde, NBC,
the BBC and Reuters were among
70,000 harvested as part of a 10minute bulk surveillance exercise
on one day in November 2008, the
newspaper said.
The communications, which
ranged from press releases to
discussions between reporters and
editors about stories, were accessed
by a tap on fibre-optic cables, saved
by GCHQ and then shared on its
intranet as part of a test exercise.
The Guardian said new evidence
from British intelligence documents
revealed by Snowden also showed
that a GCHQ information security
assessment had listed investigative
journalists as a threat along with
terrorists and hackers.
Asked about the report,
GCHQ said it did not comment on
intelligence matters.
“All of GCHQ’s work is carried
out in accordance with a strict legal
and policy framework, which ensures
that our activities are authorised,
necessary and proportionate, and
that there is rigorous oversight,” the
agency said in a statement.
Snowden caused an international
uproar in 2013 when he disclosed
details of the extent of surveillance
and electronic monitoring by the
U.S. National Security Agency and
its British equivalent, the General
Communications Headquarters, or
GCHQ.
Facing charges in the United
States, he fled to Russia where he
still lives.
Cyber cell to fight online attacks
A cyber cell of British and American
intelligence and security agents is
being created to defeat online attacks
in an “unprecedented” deal to be
struck by David Cameron and Barack
Obama in talks at the White House
today.
A rolling programme of war games
will be staged across the Atlantic
starting with attacks on the City and
Wall Street to test their resilience.
It comes as a report by
government listening post GCHQ
warns the computer networks of
British companies are under attack
on a daily basis by hackers, criminal
gangs, commercial rivals and foreign
intelligence services.
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I February 2015
LOCAL & NATIONAL NEWS
I 11
UK gov’t in $9m bid to win
contract to help run Saudi prisons
In Case You
Missed It
The British government’s Ministry of
Justice has submitted a bid for a $9
million contract to help run prisons in
Saudi Arabia.
The commercial arm of the
Ministry of Justice, Just Solutions
international (JSi), has lodged the bid
to run the prisons, despite growing
criticism from UK human rights
groups about the country’s justice
system.
The contract, according to The
Guardian newspaper, is “to conduct
a training needs analysis across
all the learning and development
programmes within the Saudi
Arabian Prison Service”.
JSi, the commercial brand for
the National Offender Management
Service, which is actively seeking to
‘promote its products and services
to international justice markets, has
also submitted a ‘large scale bid’ to
the Royal Oman Police to help with
the design of a new prison.
The ministry insisted that all JSi
projects had had been signed off
by both the Foreign Office and the
local embassy after an evaluation
that included an assessment of
human rights. If JSi is successful,
the ministry spokesperson said full
details of the contract, including
human rights safeguards, would be
made public.
Saudi Arabia has come under
increasing pressure in recent weeks
over its justice system after Western
governments widely criticised the
decision to sentence a Saudi blogger
to 1,000 lashes after he was found
guilty of insulting Islam. Raif Badawi,
a blogger and founder of the “Free
Saudi Liberals” website, was also
sentenced last year to 10 years in jail
and handed a fine of 1 million riyals
($267,000).
Badawi was subjected to the
first 50 lashes two weeks ago but a
second round of flogging, scheduled
to be held last Friday was postponed,
ostensibly on medical grounds.
Govt letter to Muslim leaders
betrays Islamophobic premise
A letter sent to over 1000 Islamic
leaders in Britain by the communities
secretary Eric Pickles that they must
do more to counteract religious
extremism reinforces Islamophobic
tropes.
The letter, which is signed by Tory
peer, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon,
urges the leaders to use the recent
attacks in Paris demonstrate more
vigorously how faith in Islam can be
part of a British identity and to face
the challenges of integration and
radicalisation.
“There is a need to lay out more
clearly than ever before what being a
British Muslim means today: proud of
your faith and proud of your country.
We know that acts of extremism
are not representative of Islam; but
we need to show what is”, says the
letter.
The very fact that the government
has singled out Muslim leaders
as the recipient of these letters
suggests to us that the government
believes that Muslims are at best
not committed to the fight against
so-called religious extremism and
at worst aiding and abetting the
perpetrators.
In asking the leaders to help
their charges define what it means
to be both British and Muslim the
letter panders to the Islamophobic
stereotype that Muslims are
inherently disloyal or less British than
an assumed norm. In fact studies
show that a greater proportion of
Muslims identify themselves as
British than other minorities.
IHRC also believes that expecting
the Muslim community alone
to conform to some vague and
undefined concept of Britishness
is setting a standard for it that is
different from everybody else.
IHRC chair Massoud Shadjareh
said: “Before the government starts
preaching to people to subscribe to
slogans about British values let us
all sit down and decide what British
values actually are. Without this,
expecting the Muslim community
to conform to an undefined notion
of Britishness is fanning an
Islamophobic agenda.”
I WORLD NEWS
I February 2015
Charlie Hebdo: Freedom of
Speech an Absolute Right?
12
The dramatic scenes played out
in Paris and the ensuing carnage
resulting from the savage and brutal
killing of the employees in the offices
of the Charlie Hebdo publishing
house by French jihadists earlier
this month brought with it a clear
reminder that the threat of terror is
very much alive in Western Europe.
We may ask ourselves the
questions were the actions of the
Kouachi brothers a proportionate
response to the publishing of
the rather distasteful cartoons
lampooning the Prophet Muhammad
(PBUH) (PBUH)? This article shall
examine the notion of freedom of
speech and more crucially the right to
offend religions.
Since the arrival of Islam in the
Arabian Peninsula in 611 AD and
in the following 1400 years we
have seen several attempts made
by European personalities such
as Dante Aligheri, Pedro Pascual
and Salman Rushdie to depict the
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) (PBUH)
in rather a distasteful fashion.
Western Europe to all intents and
purposes for many centuries has had
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a Christian ethos and therefore it is
unsurprising to find that Christianity
was very much at heart of Western
civilisation. Therefore, with the
advent of Islam with its missionary
ethos at the heart of its ideology
it was unsurprising to find that
Christianity saw it as a direct threat
to its own survival hence the decision
to target the Prophet Muhammad
(PBUH) in a variety of genres ranging
from the arts to literature. European
history for the last millennium in
essence depicts a rather frosty
relationship between Islam and
Christianity coupled with the ideals of
the European enlightenment project
which has been in existence since
the 1600’s.
France as nation which after
the execution of Louis XVI and
the ensuing French Revolution
saw the birth of libertarianism and
consequently became the bastion of
secularism . The sacred Trinitarian
principle of La Republique namely,
Fraternity, Liberty and Equality is
the cover that the Charlie Hebdo
systematically utilised to lampoon
and caricature revered personalities
of the great religions of the world.
Indeed the irony of the tragic events
of Paris came full circle when the
founder of the publication when Henri
Roussel warned the editor Stephane
Charbonnier that he was taking a
big risk by continually fanning the
flames of provocation through the
construction of these ghastly and
offensive images depicting the
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in
rather a crude manner.
However, Charbonnier before his
untimely demise vowed to defend his
right to freedom of speech granted
to him by the founding principles
of the staunchly avowed French
republic. The Charlie Hebdo editor
famously claimed that as he was
not bound by the blasphemy laws
of Islam on the premise that he
was not a Muslim. That may be the
case but the campaign launched by
Charbonnier over a number of years
have ultimately offended billions
of Muslims, Christians and Jews
through a rather crude, crass, and
one might add a satirical campaign
against the great religions of the
world.
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I February 2015
WORLD NEWS
I 13
...when Islam and Muslims find themselves
under attack from the Neoconservative right and
those engrossed in Islamophobic tendencies
then the bandwagon of freedom of expression
steamrolls all those who come before it.
This in recent weeks has created
the debate centring upon whether
freedom of speech is an absolute
right for all or is there an urgent need
to limit it. Even his holiness Pope
Francis waded into the debate and
made a passionate argument against
the right to absolute freedom of
expression by stating that he would
punch anyone if they insulted his
mother! The strong remarks by the
Pope demonstrate the utter disgust
felt by people of faith right around the
world especially when blasphemous
images and remarks are made
and widely disseminated for public
consumption.
In addition to this it is a shame
that those who are staunchly
opposed to Islam continue to claim
that Islam as a faith is inherently
linked to terrorism.
Any historian worth their salt
will tell you that Islam like its
contemporaries is not stuck in the
quagmire of terrorism.
The passionate and intense
debate and discussion in the last
month has brought one question to
the fore that if freedom of speech
was to be limited then who ultimately
has the right to decide and it is the
latter that becomes to all intents and
purposes the much vaunted elephant
in the room.
There is no doubt that this debate
will continue for years to come and
others will come to the fore who will
once again attempt to defame the
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and
as a consequence one fears that
Muslim sensitivities will be tested
on a regularly basis. Muslims in
Western Europe face the perfect
storm in that their loyalty to their faith
will come under intense scrutiny in
light of the cherished right to freedom
of expression in the years to come.
However, a number of Muslims
in recently have argued that there
is utter rank hypocrisy over the
cherished right to freedom of
expression.
For example, a select number of
Muslims in recent times have been
hauled before the courts charged
with offences relating to comments
made on social media and as a result
been prosecuted. But when Islam
and Muslims find themselves under
attack from the Neoconservative right
and those engrossed in Islamophobic
tendencies then the bandwagon of
freedom of expression steamrolls all
those who come before it.
Muslim communities around
the world face testing times ahead
where their devotion to the Prophet
Muhammad (PBUH) is going to be
scrutinised in light of the cherished
sacred rights of Western European
civilisation.
Muslims it seems will remain very
uneasy until the charges of double
standards and rank hypocrisy are
addressed by vested bodies right
around the world.
By Dr Abdul B Shaikh
Lecturer in Arabic Studies
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WORLD NEWS
I February 2015
Pakistan torture victim execution
suspended as gov orders inquiry
The Pakistani government has
suspended its plans to execute a
man who was convicted at the age
of 14 after being tortured into a
‘confession’ and wrongly tried in an
anti-terrorism court.
In a speech, Pakistan’s interior
minister Chaudry Nisar told the
country’s Parliament that the
government had “suspended capital
punishment of Shafqat Hussain after
his case reached interior ministry”,
after requests by “civil society”. The
Government had suspended the
execution and ordered a full inquiry
into how a warrant for his execution
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was allowed, he said.
Earlier the family of Mr Hussain
had been summoned to visit him
in prison for the last time, after
a so-called ‘Black Warrant’ was
issued slating him for execution.
Justice Project Pakistan, the
partner organisation of legal charity
Reprieve, warned that Mr Nisar’s
announcement must be followed
by an official notification that Mr
Hussain’s execution would not take
place.
Pakistan has the largest death
row in the world, with 8,261 people
currently awaiting execution.
Executions have resumed in Pakistan
ending a six-year moratorium, as part
of the government’s response to the
mass school shooting that took place
in December in Peshawar.
The government has claimed
it is executing only ‘terrorists’,
but Reprieve and Justice Project
Pakistan have found that the majority
of those sentenced to death in the
ATC, like Mr Hussain, were convicted
on charges unrelated to terrorism.
Commenting, Maya Foa,
director of Reprieve’s death penalty
team, said: “This news is hugely
encouraging. Executing Shafqat, who
was a child when he was tortured
into a false ‘confession’ to a crime
bearing no relation to terrorism,
would do nothing to reduce the terror
threat in the country, and would be
a grave stain on Pakistan’s justice
system.
The inquiry into the errors made in
this case is most welcome, but there
are potentially thousands more like
Shafqat. In the interests of justice,
these hasty and symbolic executions
should be halted and the moratorium
on the death penalty restored.”
Egypt police arrests senior
Brotherhood leader’s son
The son of a senior Muslim
Brotherhood leader was arrested by
police, the leader’s family has said.
The family of Mohamed al-Beltagi,
who used to be the head of the
Muslim Brotherhood’s party’s office
in Egyptian capital Cairo, said in a
statement that his son, Khaled, was
arrested by policemen.
It added that police had raided alBeltagi’s house in Cairo and arrested
Khaled, who is 16 years old.
“This is a vengeful act against the
rest of the family,” the family said in
the statement.
Al-Beltagi himself has been in
jail for more than a year now, facing
charges of inciting violence. His elder
son Anas is also in jail.
Al-Beltagi’s daughter, Asmaa,
was killed in August of 2013 when
Egyptian police violently evicted
an eastern Cairo protest camp
in support of ousted President
Mohamed Morsi.
A judicial source, meanwhile, said
that Khaled faced multiple charges,
including inciting riots, theft, and
joining a terrorist organization.
“He was arrested during a protest
by the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood
organization,” the source told The
Anadolu Agency on condition of
anonymity.
He noted that a laptop was found
with Khaled at the time of his arrest
along with fliers calling for staging
protests during the January 25
revolution anniversary.
Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected
president, was ousted by the military
in July of 2013 following massive
opposition protests.
While Morsi’s supporters describe
his overthrow as a “military coup,”
opponents term it a “military-backed
revolution.”
Ever since Morsi’s overthrow,
Egyptian authorities have maintained
a harsh crackdown on his supporters,
detaining thousands and killing
hundreds.
In December of 2013, Egyptian
authorities branded the Muslim
Brotherhood, the group from which
Morsi hails, a “terrorist” group.
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Thirty-four die in
Bangladesh vote protest
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I February 2015
WORLD NEWS
I 15
In Case You
Missed It
At least 34 people have died in
Bangladesh and scores have been
injured, most of them in firebomb
attacks, amid rising political unrest
fuelled by a stand-off between Prime
Minister Sheikh Hasina and the main
opposition leader.
The renewed political turmoil
could cause a delay in shipments
by the country’s $24-billion garment
industry, already under pressure after
a string of fatal accidents.
Begum Khaleda Zia, whose
opposition Bangladesh Nationalist
Party (BNP) boycotted the election
on Jan. 5 last year, has demanded
that Hasina and her government
step down for a new vote under a
caretaker administration.
Hasina has refused, instead
tightening her grip by arresting key
opposition leaders and clamping
down on critical media as antigovernment protests spread. The
violence has worsened sharply since
Jan. 5, the first anniversary of the
vote.
Police said at least 25 people
have died in arson attacks, including
eight more were killed in clashes with
Muslim named Swiss of the year
Praising his courage and tolerant
approach, a Muslim imam in Bern
has been named Swiss of the Year
by the Swiss weekly newspaper
SonntagsZeitung.
“Constant reports of terrorism and
extremism make it a challenge for
us,” Imam Mustafa Memeti of Bern
said in an interview.
“At Friday prayer services I often
stress that we don’t have any choice
other than to open ourselves to
Swiss society. We cannot operate in
closed circles, we cannot construct
parallel societies.”
Over the past year, Islam and
Muslims were the center of lots of
debates surrounding the nature of
the religion
According to the newspaper, the
imam, who serves as the imam of
the Muslim Association of Bern and
as President of the Albanian Islamic
Association of Switzerland, was an
outspoken supporter of religious
tolerance and of the integration of
Muslims in Switzerland.
He was chosen for “his courage
and his engagement in the most
explosive debate of our time”.
Born in Albania, the imam of
a Serbian origin has moved to
Switzerland in 1991. Later on, he
became a Swiss citizen in 2005.
Memeti said that many Muslims in
Switzerland are afraid of losing their
identity.
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police, and one died following injuries
from a crude bomb blast, they added.
At least 50 people were injured,
some critically, after opposition
activists firebombed several vehicles
in the capital, Dhaka, and surrounding
districts, police and witnesses said.
In Dhaka, at least 29 people
suffered burns after attackers hurled
petrol bombs at a bus, police said.
More than 7,000 opposition
activists have been detained since
the anniversary, Industry Minister
Amir Hossain Amu, the head of a
government law and order panel, has
said.
Khaleda called the blockade after
she was prevented from holding a
mass rally in Dhaka on the Jan. 5
anniversary.
Legal action could be considered
against Khaleda for ordering the
killing of innocent people, said Health
Minister Mohammed Nasim.
Hasina and Khaleda have
alternated as prime minister for
most of the past two decades in a
fierce rivalry marked by periods of
widespread political violence.
The United States, the European
Union and Britain have voiced
concern and urged all Bangladeshi
parties to engage in dialogue.
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WORLD NEWS
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I February 2015
Turkish parliament votes against
corruption trial for ex-ministers
The Turkish parliament voted not to
send to trial four former ministers
accused of wrongdoing in a
corruption investigation, in a boost
to President Tayyip Erdogan who
cast the graft scandal as a plot to
undermine his rule.
The outcome was expected as
the ruling AK Party (AKP) has a
large majority in parliament and it
closes one of the last avenues in the
investigation after earlier court cases
had already been dropped.
The four separate votes on the
Sydney siege victim hit by
police bullet: Police probe
The Australian police investigation
has revealed that Katrina Dawson,
one of the victims in the Sydney
siege last month, may have died
from bullet wounds.
According to Australian media
reports, pieces of a bullet shot by the
police ricocheted and struck the 38year-old in the heart and shoulder.
Dawson was one of two people
killed when officers stormed a cafe in
the city of Sydney where a hostagetaker identified as Man Haron Monis
was holding 17 hostages.
Sources close to the probe were
quoted by media reports as saying
that Ms Dawson, a barrister and
mother of three, was hit when police
entered the Lindt cafe to end the 16hour siege.
The New South Wales Coroner
will establish her cause of death
once the probe into the deadly
incident is completed.
A spokesman for Police Minister
Stuart Ayres, meanwhile, said, “The
minister will be making no comment
whilst there is a critical incident
investigation taking place.”
The siege ended after the
hostage-taker was killed during the
shoot-out with police.
New South Wales Police
Commissioner Andrew Scipione said
in December 2014 that a separate
probe was launched into the actions
of police officers at the siege, adding
that he believed officers made
“absolutely the right call” in storming
the cafe.
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ex-ministers indicated some 40 AKP
deputies voted to commit them to
trial, in a blow to party unity on the
issue. The opposition fell several
dozen short of the 276 votes needed
for the motions to be carried.
The investigation became public
in December 2013 and posed
one of the biggest challenges to
Erdogan and his decade-long rule.
He cast the probe as a coup attempt
orchestrated by his former ally, U.S.based cleric Fethullah Gulen.
The affair led to the resignation
of the economy, interior and
urbanisation ministers and European
Union Affairs Minister Egemen
Bagis lost his post in a subsequent
reshuffle. All four denied wrongdoing.
Erdogan fought back by purging
the state apparatus, reassigning
thousands of police and hundreds
of judges and prosecutors deemed
loyal to Gulen, in what was seen as
a cleansing of the cleric’s influence in
the state.
Bangladesh blocks
Viber and Tango
over security
Bangladeshi officials have blocked
Internet calling and messaging
services Viber and Tango following
a request by law enforcement
agencies, citing security concerns.
The voice and messaging
services will remain disabled in the
South Asian country for a limited
time, said Sarwar Alam, an official
at Bangladesh Telecommunication
Regulatory Commission SAID.
Police officials say a number
of vandals used the applications
earlier this month to organize
criminal activities.
The measure came after over
20 people were killed in clashes
following a call by Bangladesh
Nationalist Party chief, Khaleda
Zia, for a nationwide transport
blockade as part of efforts to topple
the government of Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina and pave the way
for new elections.
www.pi-media.co.uk
I February 2015
WORLD NEWS
I 17
Senater threatens Palestinian
Authority with annual aid cut
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham
warns Palestinians that they could
lose US’ annual aid should they
lodge a lawsuit against Israel at the
International Criminal Court.
Graham, who was visiting Israel,
Saudi Arabia and Qatar as part of a
seven-member senate delegation,
said that existing US legislation
“would cut off aid to the Palestinians
if they filed a complaint.”
He described the prospect
of a lawsuit against Israel as a
“bastardizing of the role of the ICC”,
saying it is “incredibly offensive” and
a “provocative step”.
The US supplies more than $400
million dollars worth of aid to the
Palestinian Authority annually.
Last month, Israel halted the
transfer of more than $120 million in
taxes belonging to the Palestinians
after the Palestinian Authority applied
to join the ICC.
After foreign aid is deducted, tax
revenues account for around twothirds of the Palestinian Authority’s
yearly budget.
UN Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon has confirmed that
Palestinians will formally become a
member of the ICC on April 1, after
applying earlier this month.
The US condemned the ICC
decision to launch a preliminary
investigation into Israel’s crimes
calling it a “tragic irony”.
In addition, Israel started lobbying
member states of the ICC to cut their
funding to the body in retaliation for
Danish student jailed for Insulting
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) (pbuh)
A Danish student charged with
insulting the Prophet Muhammad
(PBUH) and disseminating Nazi
propaganda has been sentenced to
two years in prison in Austria.
The 32-year-old university
student, who has not been named
and had been living in Vienna since
2010 while studying chemistry, was
said to have insulted the Prophet
Muhammad (PBUH), refuted Jewish
genocide and praised Nazi ideas on
Facebook, a regional court in Vienna
heard.
The case came after an antifascist group countering extremists
online discovered the Dane
expressing racist and anti-Islam
statements and filed a case against
him.
Judge George Olschak said
that insulting a religion was an
extremely aggressive attitude and
the man deserved the sentence for
committing the crime of religious
incitement.
The Dane had argued his rights
had been breached and claimed
the court process was invalid, as
his remarks were the business of
historians, not of the courts, calling
the trial “nonsense”.
Officials said he would also face
charges related to allegations of
writing extreme-right slogans and
comments denying the Holocaust on
prison walls while he was detained,
causing damage to state property.
its bid to launch a probe into Israeli
war crimes.
ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda
has announced that her office
intends to conduct an “analysis in full
independence and impartiality” into
suspected war crimes carried out by
Israeli military forces.
During its Gaza offensive last
summer, Israel killed nearly 2,200
Palestinians, including 577 children,
injured over 11,100.
Supreme Court
rules for bearded
Muslim Inmate
The Supreme Court has ruled in
favour of a Muslim prison inmate
in Arkansas who sued for the right
to grow a short beard for religious
reasons.
The nine justices, on a 9-0
vote, said the prison policy that
prevented Gregory Holt from
growing a beard violated his
religious rights.
Holt wants to grow a half-inch
(1.3cm) beard in accordance with
his Muslim beliefs.
The court rejected the state’s
reasoning that the policy was
needed for security reasons.
Justice Samuel Alito, writing
on behalf of the court, said the
state already searches clothing
and hair and had not given a valid
reason why it could not also search
beards.
Holt’s lawyers noted that more
than 40 states and the federal
government allow prison inmates
to have similar beards.
Holt is serving a life sentence
for a brutal assault on his girlfriend
and is being held at a maximum
security prison 80 miles southeast
of Little Rock.
His case first came to the
court’s attention when he filed
a handwritten plea to the court
asking it to block enforcement of
Arkansas’ no-beard rule.
Pakistan bans Haqqani
network after talks with Kerry
18
I WORLD NEWS
www.pi-media.co.uk I February 2015
In Case You
Missed It
Pakistan has outlawed the Talibanlinked Haqqani network, officials
said, days after U.S. Secretary
of State John Kerry urged Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif’s government
to fight groups that threaten Afghan,
Indian and U.S. interests.
American officials blame highprofile attacks in Afghanistan on the
powerful Haqqani network, which
mainly operates out of Pakistan’s
border areas, and say it has ties to
the Pakistani state.
Senior Pakistani government
officials told Reuters a formal
announcement of the ban would be
made “within weeks”.
“We have decided to ban the
Haqqani network as a step in
implementing the National ActionPlan
devised after the (Peshawar) school
attack,” said a cabinet member,
referring to a massacre of 134
children by Taliban gunmen last
month.
“The military and the government
are on the same page on how to
tackle militancy. There is no more
‘good’ or ‘bad’ Taliban.
“Kerry specifically pressed
for action against the Haqqanis,
including banning the group,” the
official added.
A second official, a minister who
spoke on condition of anonymity,
confirmed the decision to outlaw the
Haqqani group.
The United States accuses the
Pakistani intelligence agency of
supporting the Haqqani militants and
using them as a proxy in Afghanistan
to gain leverage there against the
growing influence of its arch-rival
India. Pakistan denies this.
A formal announcement of the ban
would show the government is keen
to convince the United States it will
no longer differentiate between ‘good’
and ‘bad’ fighters.
But it remains to be seen if the
ban will translate into significant
action.
There has been intense debate
within the government on whether
to brand the group a terrorist
organisation.
Some officials have argued the
move would have little battlefield
impact but risks setting back Afghan
reconciliation efforts and unleashing
more attacks against Pakistan.
In June last year the Pakistan
army launched a long-expected
military operation in the troubled
North Waziristan region, said to be
the base of the Haqqani group.
“Pakistan has done a lot already
to disrupt the activities of the
Haqqanis...within Pakistan,” said a
Western diplomat.
“But they must also take follow
up steps ... to ensure the Haqqanis
and other groups are not allowed
to regroup or return to sanctuaries,
their assets are frozen, their funding
is blocked and their networks
dismantled.”
Muslims sentenced for
‘terror links’ in Myanmar
A group of 20 Muslims -- including
a groom and bride-to-be heading to
their wedding have been sentenced
to long prison terms in Myanmar for
alleged terrorism activities, despite
a lawyer saying no evidence was
submitted in court.
According to local media reports,
fifteen men and four women have
been sentenced to 14 years each,
and a boy under the age of 15 was
handed a seven-year prison term.
The court in Taunggyi, eastern
Shan State, also handed one of the
men an additional five years for an
immigration offense.
Thein Shwe, a lawyer for three
of the convicted, told The Irrawaddy
that the defendants “were given the
maximum sentence even though no
one could provide evidence that they
have links to terrorists.”
He added, “These sentences
are unfair because… the evidence
presented, which was based only on
a police report, is insufficient to prove
them as terrorists. They are just
normal people.”
The 20 Muslims have been
incarcerated since August last year,
when they were arrested while
traveling to a wedding ceremony in
Kunhein in southern Shan.
Officers claim they found
weapons in their car and Myanmar’s
national police chief, Win Khaung,
was quoted by Radio Free Asia as
saying the group had links to an
unnamed armed terrorist group and
was planning to carry out an act of
terrorism.
According to Thein Shwe, his
clients had not been armed and
showed no signs of affiliation to any
militant groups.
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I February 2015
WORLD NEWS I 19
HRW says Egypt not serious about
improving prison conditions
Human Rights Watch accused
Egyptian authorities of failing to take
serious steps to improve conditions
in overcrowded prisons which are
causing deaths.
The government denied the
accusations.
The New York-based group said
it had documented nine deaths in
custody since mid-2013, when the
army’s ouster of Islamist President
Mohamed Mursi was followed by a
crackdown on his supporters.
Human Rights Watch said
authorities “are taking no serious
steps” to deal with the issue.
The group said some detainees
appeared to have died after torture
or physical abuse while “many
appear to have died because they
were held in severely overcrowded
cells or did not receive adequate
medical care for serious ailments”.
Citing interviews with relatives
and lawyers, it called the conditions
many detainees faced “lifethreatening” and detailed the deaths
of five men from beating and lack of
medical care.
Interior Ministry spokesman Hany
Abdel Latif said “such talk has no
basis in truth.”
“This is very strange talk and
hasn’t been said anywhere else
before,” he added. Reuters
Former child Gitmo Muslims
burnt to
detainee going blind death in
According to a report by Intercept,
the lawyer for Omar Khadr who
was blinded in the left eye after an
attack in Afghanistan, where he was
captured, is now losing his eyesight
in his remaining eye and can no
longer be able to read or see clearly.
Khadr was told by a doctor that
he has a cataract due to a “foreign
object,” which appears to be most
like a piece of shrapnel from the
firefight, she said.
“Initially he was having trouble
reading because there was a light
flashing and he could not focus,”
Zinck said, as she prepared to visit
Khadr.
“Now he can’t see through that
cloudiness to be able to do any more
than look at small pieces of text for a
short period of time.”
News of Khadr’s failing eyesight
came on the decision by the
Supreme Court of Canada on
whether it will consider his case. The
Canadian government asked the
high court to review an Alberta Court
of Appeals decision that condemned
Ottawa for not treating Khadr as a
youth once he was transferred to
Canada from Guantanamo.
Following his capture in 2002,
Khadr was held for several months
at Bagram Airbase before being
transferred to Guantanamo.
At both sites he was subjected to
torture, including sexual humiliation,
shackling in stress positions, and
sleep deprivation, according to his
lawyer.
In one 2003 incident, he is alleged
to have been dragged through a
mixture of pine oil and urine by his
interrogators and denied a change of
clothing for two days thereafter.
In 2010, Khadr entered into a plea
bargain with the Guantanamo military
commission, admitting to throwing a
grenade which killed a U.S.
Army combat medic during
the deadly raid that led to Khadr’s
capture.
He was sentenced to eight years
in prison, not including time served,
and was allowed to complete his
sentence in a Canadian prison.
north India
Police in India’s eastern state
of Bihar have arrested eight
people in connection with the
deaths of three Muslims who
were reportedly burnt to death,
according to local media.
Violence erupted in the
predominantly Muslim village
of Azizpur, in the district of
Muzaffarpur when angry villagers
torched more than a dozen huts
belonging to Muslims, reported
local daily The Hindu.
The attack was reportedly
sparked by the discovery of the
dead body of a 19-year old Hindu
youth, who had been missing for
more than a week after an alleged
love affair with a Muslim girl.
Most of the villagers ran away
fearing backlash.
The state government has
announced a compensation of
$8,100 for each of the families of
those killed in the violence.
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WORLD NEWS I 21
Human Rights Watch says China draft
terror law a “licence to commit abuses”
U.S. advocacy group Human Rights
Watch urged China to revise draft
legislation aimed at combating
terrorism, saying it was little more
than “a licence to commit human
rights abuses”.
The law, which was made public
for consultation last November, would
establish a new counter-terrorism
body that would have the power
to designate organisations and
members as terrorists without any
protections of due process.
The draft’s definition of terrorism
includes “thought, speech, or
behaviour” that attempt to “subvert
state power”, “incite ethnic hatred”
or “split the state”. Subversion and
splittism are catch-all charges that
have been used against dissidents.
Human Rights Watch China
director Sophie Richardson called
for the draft law to be brought in line
with international standards, saying
that “in its present form this law is
little more than a licence to commit
human rights abuses”.
“The Chinese government
needs to respect rights, not build a
new architecture of surveillance,”
Richardson said in a statement.
The law would require all
telecommunication and internet
service providers to help the
government in preventing the spread
of terrorism-related content.
Public areas would be outfitted
with facial recognition equipment - a
system that “could easily be abused
for personal or political ends”, Human
Rights Watch said.
China has stressed that it is facing
a serious and complex struggle
against terrorism. Hundreds of
people have been killed over the past
two years in the far western region
of Xinjiang in unrest the government
has blamed on Islamists who want to
establish a separate state called East
Turkestan.
China’s Foreign Ministry did not
immediately respond to a faxed
inquiry for comment.
Rights groups and exiles blame
the government’s repressive policies
for stoking resentment among the
Muslim Uighur people who call
Xinjiang home.
Last year, China said it would
set up a national anti-terrorism
intelligence system.
British woman awarded $27k after
injury at Emirates Palace hotel
A British woman who sustained
injuries when a wooden shelf fell
on her head at the luxury Emirates
Palace hotel in Abu Dhabi has been
awarded $27,225 in compensation by
a court.
However, the hotel, as well
as a company charged with its
management and a local insurance
company, had the total amount
they were ordered to pay cut by 50
percent at a hearing this week before
the Abu Dhabi Civil Appeals Court,
The National reported.
Natalie Creane, a Dubai resident
originally from Essex, had originally
sued the luxury hotel for AED70
million after claiming the incident,
which occurred in July 2008, had
left her with severe brain damage
and resulted in epileptic seizures
and fainting. She was also seeking
damages after
It was claimed that, while she was
placing her shoes in a wardrobe in
her room, a wooden shelf weighing
2.2 kilogrammes fell on her head.
She subsequently did not go
to work for eight months and was
terminated from her employment as a
result of her absence
The claimant had accused the
hotel of causing the accident due
to negligence in fixing the shelf.
However, an engineering committee
said the shelf would not have fallen
on its own, and that there must have
been a cause
The appeals court ruled that
she had “exaggerated” the impact
of the injury, pointing out she had
married and got another job since it
happened.
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Belgium’s racist party wants
to ban headscarved drivers
Turkey court
orders block
on Facebook
pages insulting
Prophet
Muhammad (PBUH)
Belgium’s racist and anti-Islam party
Flaman Vlaams Belang presented to
the Parliament a draft law to ban the
use of cars by headscarved women.
In the draft presented by Vlaams
Belang’s former president Filip
Dewinter and his colleagues, it has
been suggested that veil reduce the
driver’s ability of the sight of the and
hear.
Dewinter said drivers talking on
the phone, to write messages and to
eat at the wheelm not permitted for
safety reasons and he was argued
that the same ban should apply to
the headscarf cause it restricting the
viewing angle.
In 2007 the racist Dutch Party
for Freedom, led by Geert Wilders,
attempt to banning headscarves for
drivers for similar reasons but the
initiative could not get results.
According to traffic experts scarf,
hat and and similar clothes does not
create any risk for drivers.
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U.N. peacekeepers stationed in the
Golan Heights along the SyrianIsraeli border observed drones
coming from the Israeli side before
and after an airstrike that killed top
several Hezbollah figures, the United
Nations said.
The flight of the drones in the
airspace over the Golan Heights
was a violation of the 1974 ceasefire
agreement between Syria and Israel,
U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq told
reporters.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah said on that
an Israeli helicopter strike in Syria
killed one of its commanders and
the son of the group’s late military
leader Imad Moughniyah. It was a
major blow that could lead to reprisal
attacks.
Haq was asked if the U.N.
observer mission deployed in the
so-called area of separation in the
Golan Heights, known as UNDOF,
had seen anything. He said UNDOF
had “observed two unmanned aerial
vehicles (UAVs) flying from the Alpha
side and crossing the ceasefire line.”
The Alpha side refers to the
Israeli-occupied part of the Golan.
Haq said UNDOF saw the drones
moving towards U.N. position 30,
UN saw Israel
drones over Syria
A Turkish court ordered a block on
access to a number of Facebook
pages that share materials insulting
Prophet Mohammad.
The Golbasi Duty Magistrate
Court gave the order on the
request of Prosecutor Harun
Ceylan, who was investigating the
pages on social media.
The court decided that
Facebook, the world’s biggest
social network, would be blocked
Turkey if Facebook fails to
implement the order.
The court’s decision has been
forwarded to the Presidency
of Telecommunication and
Communication and to the Access
Provider Association.
Previously, a court in Turkey’s
southeastern Diyarbakir province
ruled on January 14th to block
access to web pages showing
Charlie Hebdo’s latest cover
featuring a cartoon of Prophet
Muhammad (PBUH).
The cover depicts Prophet
Muhammad (PBUH) in a white
dress and shedding a tear, holding
up a sign reading, “Je suis Charlie”
-- slogan popularized after Paris
attacks -- below the headline “All is
forgiven.”
after which the U.N. observers lost
track of them.
“This incident is a violation of the
1974 Agreement on Disengagement
between Israeli and Syrian forces.”
“We criticize all violations,” he
added, noting that the U.N. called on
all sides to refrain from actions that
could exacerbate already existing
tensions.
I February 2015
WORLD NEWS I 23
Palestine under pressure to
back down statehood bill
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The Palestinian government has
faced growing pressure by the United
States and some European and
Arab countries to back down on a
statehood bill at the United Nations
Security Council (UNSC), says the
country’s foreign minister.
Despite all pressures, Palestinian
officials “are determined to approach
the UN Security Council,” Riyad al-
Malki told Voice of Palestine Radio
on Sunday, adding, “but we still have
not set a date for this move.”
Malki added that Palestinian
authorities have a plan to visit five
countries that recently became
members of the UNSC -- New
Zealand, Venezuela, Angola,
Malaysia, and Spain -- in a bid to
win their support in case the draft
resolution is submitted to the council.
In December last year,
Palestinians presented a bid for
statehood to the Security Council
as Washington and Tel Aviv were
formulating a joint opposition against
the move.
The resolution needed to secure
at least nine votes to be adopted by
the 15-member council. However,
it managed to garner only eight
positive votes, as the US and
Australia voted against the resolution
and the UK, Rwanda, Nigeria, South
Korea and Lithuania abstained.
The draft resolution designated
occupied East al-Quds (Jerusalem)
as the capital of a future Palestinian
state, addressed the issue of
Palestinians in Israeli prisons
and demanding the end of Israeli
occupation by 2017.
In November 2012, the United
Nations General Assembly voted to
upgrade Palestine’s status at the UN
from “non-member observer entity”
to “non-member observer state”
despite strong opposition from Israel
and the US.
Independent medical report on
Gaza highlights major abuses
A new report from Physicians for
Human Rights Israel (PHR-Israel)
highlights the indiscriminate use
of large quantities of powerful
explosives by Israeli forces during
last summer’s 50-day conflict, and
attacks on medical rescue teams.
According to the United Nations
Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) ,
2,131 Palestinians were killed, 70
per cent of whom were civilians.
Seventy-one Israelis, including five
civilians, were also killed, while
11,100 Palestinians and 724 Israelis
(according to PHR-Israel) were
wounded during the fighting.
The report is based on the
findings of eight independent,
international medical experts who
visited Gaza both during and after
the conflict.
The report says two of the
contributing factors that led to the
high number of casualties can
be ascribed to the indiscriminate
use of large quantities of powerful
explosives in residential areas, as
well as ‘double taps’, in which, after
an initial strike, came a second where
relatives and rescue teams were hit.
The report goes on to say that
attacks on medical teams occurred
although emblems were clearly
shown on ambulances and clothing
worn by medical teams.
According to the World Health
Organisation and the Palestinian
Ministry of Health, 23 medical
professionals were killed, 16
in the course of duty, while 83
were wounded. In addition, 45
ambulances, 17 hospitals and
56 other medical facilities were
damaged or destroyed.
No safe place is based on the
testimonies of 68 people injured in
the Gaza strip, analysis of the photos
of corpses, interviews with nine
Palestinian medical professionals
and reviews of dozens of medical
files.
PHR-Israel said the team was
sent in after the fighting as it was
urgent to collect evidence while it
was still relatively undisturbed, and
events were “still fresh in the minds
of the victims and survivors.” It is now
calling on Israeli government to set
up a national commission of enquiry.
Toure wins fourth African
Player of Year award
24I
SPORT
www.pi-media.co.uk I February 2015
Ivory Coast international Yaya Toure
becomes the first footballer in history
to win the African player of the year
tile for the fourth time in a row.
The 31-year old was named
the best African player of 2014 in
a ceremony in the Nigerian city of
Lagos.
The Manchester City midfielder is
the first ever African player to clinch
the title for the fourth time in a row.
Former Chelsea and Cameroon
striker Samuel Eto’o has also won
the award four times, but not in
succession.
He overcame Gabon international
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and
Nigeria goalkeeper and captain
Vincent Enyeama to claim the
prestigious award.
Toure was the most influential
in Manuel Pellegrini’s winning team
of the 2013-2014 English Premier
League, scoring 20 goals in 35
matches.
The playmaker also featured in
Ivory Coast national team in 2014
FIFA World Cup in Brazil, but failed
to ascend the group stage of the
competition.
The prolific player continues to
shine for his club this year despite
losing his brother Ibrahim due to
cancer and numerous off-the-field
rows.
Toure also helped his country
qualify for the 2015 Africa Cup of
Nations and made his way into the
FIFA shortlist for the 2014 Ballon
D’Or.
Amla reaches fastest 5000
One-day International runs
Hashim Amla became the
fastest player to notch up
5000 One-day International
runs as South Africa handed
West Indies a 61-run defeat
in a rain-affected clash at
Kingsmead last month.
Amla scored 66 in South
Africa’s total of 279 for eight
in 48.2 overs to reach 5000
runs in 101 innings, well
ahead of the previous record
of 114 jointly held by West
Indies great Viv Richards
and Indian batsman Virat
Kohli.
With their target cut to
225 in 32 overs, West Indies
collapsed after the loss of
blazing opener Chris Gayle
to end 164 all out from 28.2
overs and slip to a 61-run
defeat on the Duckworth/
Lewis method.
A torrential downpour
ended the innings 10 balls
shy of the allotted overs
and when play resumed two
hours and 43 minutes later,
the tourist were handed a
stiff revised target.
Gayle (41), so scintillating
in the recently completed
Twenty20 series, blazed
away but lost his wicket
when attempting an ugly
baseball swipe at a Dale
Steyn delivery. He was
caught behind by De Villiers.
Nobody else managed a
significant contribution as the
Proteas bowlers squeezed
the run rate higher and
picked up wickets at regular
intervals.
www.pi-media.co.uk
SPORT I 25
I February 2015
Birmingham Youngster signs
professional football contract
www.pi-media.co.uk
British born 16 year old Easah Suliman signs two-year professional
deal at Aston Villa despite interest from Liverpool and Bayern Munich
Aston Villa have tied Easah Suliman
down to a two-year professional deal
in order to ward off interest from
Bayern Munich and Liverpool.
The 16-year-old signed
scholarship forms with Villa in the
summer but had still been courted by
a selection of Europe’s biggest clubs.
However Suliman, who has
captained England’s Under 17 side,
has agreed to commit his future to
the Premier League outfit.
Aston Villa academy director
Sean Kimberley said: ‘We’re
delighted that Easah has signed his
first professional contract with the
club.
‘Easah has been at the club
Salford Red Devils sign up
Cory Paterson for 2015 season
Salford Red Devils bolstered their
forward options for the 2015 Super
League season with the addition of
Cory Paterson.
The 27-year-old former Hull KR
man originally left Wests Tigers at the
end of the 2014 season to pursue a
career in professional boxing.
Earlier in November Paterson
won his second fight
with a first round
TKO, but will now
make an immediate
return to rugby
league for next
season.
Paterson, who
has made over 100
appearances in the
NRL is the Devils
second signing in the
space of a few days,
following the capture of Scott Taylor
from Wigan Warriors.
He will compete for back-row
spots with internationals Gareth
Hock, Weller Hauraki and Harrison
Hansen who themselves will be
pushed by the array of up and
coming British.
through his foundation years at
junior school and he’s a Birmingham
lad who’s come through the local
recruitment process.
‘We’ve been able to develop
young, local players over the years
and it’s great that we can continue to
do that with Easah.
‘He’s going away with England
U17s next month and he’s continuing
to make good progress both with
them and here at Villa.
‘He’s at the start of his career now
and everything is in front of him.
‘The key for him now is to
continue to work hard, to maintain
the same excellent attitude he has
displayed so far and to continue to
learn from his coaches.
‘Having fought off competition
from home and abroad for his
signature, everyone here at Villa
will help him get the most out of his
abilities and we’re excited to work
with him in the coming years.’
Liverpool winger
Oussama Assaidi
joins Al Ahli Club
Liverpool have confirmed that
Morocco winger Oussama Assaidi
has joined Al Ahli Club in Dubai,
for an undisclosed fee.
The 26-year-old ended his
loan spell at Stoke City early so
he could make a permanent move
to the Middle East.
Assaidi originally joined the
Potters on a season-long loan
deal in September 2013 and
returned to the Britannia Stadium
at the start of the current season.
He moved to Anfield from
Dutch side Heerenveen for £2.4m
in the summer of 2012 but only
made 12 appearances for the
Reds.
Is it right to tutor
4 year olds?
26
I I FEATURED
We have seen a sudden influx of
enquiries from parents who put
children as young as 4 years old into
tuition.
Improve Tuition has advised that
children should not start tuition until
they are six.
Instead play-based learning
common in nurseries and reception
classes should continue until six
years old. There is strong research to
say that formal learning can do some
harm at early ages.
“In many cases parents are
putting children into tutoring with the
assumption that the younger children
advance more when the reverse is
actually the case and the results can
be very destructive,” says Gulam
Dabhad, Education Expert.
It is more necessary to start tuition
at the right age.
“Starting at a very young age can
have negative implications. A good
age to start is six, and once a week,
one hour tutoring is fine,” says Sofia
from Improve Tuition.
“I moved from the UK to Sweden
www.pi-media.co.uk
with my four children. My older two
have gone through the UK system
and my younger two are going
through the Swedish system. The
wide choice of activities available
here until 7 has made me very
impressed and I don’t see how the
later start has disadvantaged my
younger two,” says Mark, Sweden to
the BBC.
“Massive formal tutoring is never
the answer at such a young age,”
said Mr Gulam Dabhad. “There is the
wrong belief among some parents
that tutoring will help children and
this is not always the case.
“Unfortunately, many tutors
look at financial gain. We regularly
recommend a balanced approach
and we always advise parents and
try and deter them to take tuition at 4
and 5 years old.”
“Tutoring is most successful when
parents have to be involved in their
children’s education
“Reading to their child or helping
them with their times tables is helpful
and the best results are achieved
I February 2015
when parents partner with the tutor
along with the child above six.”
Improve’s top seven tips for
parents
1. Don’t put pressure. Don’t
overburden your child with endless
tutoring sessions at a young age.
2. Do not hire a tutor for a child under
six years old
3. Choose a tutor who has a proven
track record.
4. Tutoring should not exceed two to
three times a week.
5. If you do engage a tutor, ask for
regular reports on a child’s progress.
6. When your child gets homework,
don’t get the tutor to help. It’s a way
of teachers assessing you child so let
your child make the mistakes to learn
from.
7. Don’t’ pass on the whole
responsibility of your child’s learning
to a tutor; read to your child; help
them learn the times tables at home
– effuse them – excite them.
Gulam Dabhad (Education Expert)
www.improvetuiton.org
www.pi-media.co.uk
I February 2015
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