amonck on "FARC, PFLP not terrorists?"

amonck — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 12:46:48 +0000

"This is not the first example of faulty investigations into mosques in the UK. A Dispatches programme on radicalism in British mosques that was aired on Channel 4 earlier this year was found to have taken evidence wholly and unfairly out of context. "

LONDON (Reuters) - Channel 4 was cleared on Monday of misleading viewers or presenting material likely to incite racial hatred following a recent undercover documentary on Britain's mosques.

FARC, PFLP not terrorists?,

terrorism.openDemocracy — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 17:47:24 +0000

Danish t-shirt sellers acquitted

In an unusual ruling, a Danish court acquitted seven leftist activists - who had sent funds to the FARC in Colombia and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - of sponsoring terrorism. The panel of judges ruled that though both groups were branded as terrorist groups by the United States, the European Union, and Denmark, "their actions were not meant to intimidate the population or destroy a political and economic system. They were therefore not guilty of any terrorism." The Danish leftists - members of an activist organisation calling itself Fighters and Lovers - plan to continue transmitting the profits of their FARC and PFLP t-shirts to support the "non-violent" operations of both rebel groups.

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The Home Affairs select committee of parliamentarians refused to accept the case made by Gordon Brown's government that it was necessary to extend the pre-trial period of detention of terrorist suspects from 28 days to 42 days. The committee's report stressed that any extension of the already substantial 28 days could be counterproductive in combating terrorism and radicalisation.

BBC editors have stood firm in support of a Newsnight investigation into a report conducted by the conservative UK think-tank Policy Exchange. Newsnight found that a report by the think-tank on radical propaganda available at British mosques was based on faulty and at-times fabricated evidence. This is not the first example of faulty investigations into mosques in the UK. A Dispatches programme on radicalism in British mosques that was aired on Channel 4 earlier this year was found to have taken evidence wholly and unfairly out of context.

Deadly blast on Indian train

A bomb blast on a major national passenger train as it travelled through restive eastern Indian state of Assam killed five people. Police suspect the All Adivasi National Liberation Army - a rebel group championing the cause of indigenous "tribal" people - to be behind the attack. AANLA is thought to be responsible for a string of other attacks on the local rail network.

Watch video footage at the scene of the attack from IBN.

Direct dialogue with Taliban

Citing the recommendations of local jirga councils and of Afghan lawmakers, the Frontier Post urges Hamid Karzai's government to open channels of communication with the Taliban. Negotiations can staunch the bloody loss of civilian life in the country, but as long as Kabul takes its orders from Washington, no such diplomacy will take place.

Eleven people were killed in suicide blasts in the Pakistani border town of Quetta.

Indians detained under Malaysian security law

Five leaders of an ethnic Indian activist organisation in Malaysia have been detained under a draconian law for bringing 10,000 Indians into the streets to demand more rights for the Indian minority in the country. Malaysian prosecutors have accused the leaders of "threatening national security".

Algiers bombers were released on amnesty

The two suicide bombers who struck Algiers this week were convicted terrorists who had been released from prison thanks to a controversial amnesty law. Algeria has experimented with amnesty as a means of defusing the fifteen-year Islamist insurgency.

India joins Star Wars

Indian defence officials plan to install a national missile defence system similar to that being established by the United States by 2010. Capitals around the region warn that the move will spark an arms race neither of South Asia's principal powers - India and Pakistan - can afford. Bharat Karnad of the think-tank the Centre for Policy Research insists that "the US can afford such follies, but a developing country like India cannot."

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amonck on "FARC, PFLP not terrorists?"

FARC, PFLP not terrorists?,