GLOBAL FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM FUNDING

In 2017 German authorities offered a suspected Daesh/ISIS terrorist help to travel to Turkey without informing Turkish authorities beforehand, but the plan failed after he was refused a visa, German news agency DPA has reported. Abdullah Al Haj Hasan, 20, who stabbed a person to death and seriously injured another in Dresden earlier this month, has long been under surveillance by German security agencies, according to leaked internal reports.

Al Qaeda-linked extremists have seized on the growing campaign for a boycott of French goods to incite violence against the country’s political leadership. A message posted on Telegram by a prominent online supporter of the group claimed that the boycott should be the minimum required because of the “immoral crusade” launched by France. President Emmanuel Macron has been buffeted by criticism from parts of the Muslim world after promising to target Islamism in France. He also vowed to protect the country’s values of freedom of expression following the beheading of a teacher, Samuel Paty, who showed cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in class.

A 61-year-old Lebanese man detained in April at the request of the Internal Security Agency (ABW) has been deported to Lebanon, the press officer of the Minister-Special Services Coordinator, Stanislaw Żaryn, told the Polish Press Agency (PAP). Mr Żaryn told PAP on Monday that the Lebanese man had been deported in mid-October having been detained in April by the Border Guard further to a decision by the Ministry of Interior requested by the head of the ABW. The deportation decision obliged him to return to his country of origin and imposed a five-year ban

Several days after Turkish and Iranian media were given orders by the governing authorities to critique France for “Islamophobia,” condemnations have now poured in from Pakistan and the terrorist group Hezbollah. The news of the condemnations are reported and pushed by Iran’s Press TV, Turkey’s Anadolu Agency and other state media as part of an effort by the governments to create a largely illusory crisis with France. The goal appears to be getting several groups and countries to condemn France and thus pressure other countries in the Middle East to appear as if they are not being as strong in defending Islam as the leaders of Iran, Turkey, Hezbollah, Hamas, Pakistan and other groups linked to political Islamic movements.

The tragic murder of schoolteacher Samuel Paty in a Parisian suburb last week, the latest in a slew of Islamist terror attacks in the French Republic, has left many questioning how such a crime can occur, and how such incidents could be prevented. France has long grappled with Islamist extremism and terrorism. In fact, more foreign terrorist fighters left France to join ISIS than any other European country and the country has suffered through some of the most devastating terror incidents on European soil in recent memory. Why has France been a key target for extremists? The paths to radicalisation are multifaceted.

A man has appeared in court accused of posting violent films produced by the Islamic State group on social media. Ibrahim Anderson, 43, from Luton, has been charged with 10 counts of disseminating terrorist publications. He also faces one charge of failing to comply with a terrorism notification order by not telling police about an email address he used.

A US district court ruling that a foreign bank based in Istanbul helped finance the Hamas terror group has heaped further pressure on Turkey over its tacit support for terrorism funding. Ankara has remained silent on the verdict, but the court’s findings are likely to isolate Turkey further on the international stage and damage its relations with Israel. Three US law firms, including Stein Mitchell, last year launched legal action against the Kuveyt Turk bank over alleged terror financing. The firms were acting on behalf of the estate of husband and wife Eitam and Na’ama Henkin