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| Europe |
| Europe |
| 2016-11-18 |
| German prosecutors charge Syrian man with war crimes [Ynet] German prosecutors say they have charged a 41-year-old Syrian man with committing war crimes and carrying out kidnappings. Federal prosecutors say the man, identified only as Ibrahim Al F., in line with German privacy laws, was a commander in the group Ghurabaa al-Sham. The group was part of the Free Syrian Army ... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund... , which took up arms against the army of Syrian President Bashar Assad in 2012. Swedish Journalist Accused of Smuggling Syrian Boy [AnNahar] A Swedish TV journalist is to face trial over human smuggling after helping a Syrian boy migrate from Greece to the Nordic nation, an offense punishable by imprisonment, a legal source said Thursday. In the spring of 2014, Fredrik Onnevall was filming a documentary about European nationalist parties' response to the migration crisis when he met the 15-year-old Abed in Greece. Along with two colleagues, Onnevall helped Abed enter Sweden. The Swedish Prosecution Authority said on Wednesday that Onnevall and his colleagues had "during the period of May-June 2014 intentionally helped a foreigner pass through Greece...(to) Sweden despite the fact that the person was missing a passport or any other permission required to enter these countries." The journalist, a program host for the Swedish public broadcaster SVT, who along with his two colleagues could face up to three months in prison, has pleaded not guilty. "I regret absolutely nothing! I know what we did and I would have done the same today," Onnevall told SVT in March when he was called for questioning over human smuggling. "How can I regret helping a terrified boy begging for my help?" Broadcast nearly two years ago, the documentary sparked a wave of sympathy among Swedes as well as anger, prompting complaints over the Syrian boy's entrance to Sweden. Report: Flow of German jihadis almost at 'standstill' [DeutscheWelle] The self-proclaimed "Islamic State" (IS) caliphate has "pretty much no power left to draw in" recruits from Germany, the police and intelligence services say, according to reports first published on Thursday. In the reports, German state broadcasters and the daily Süddeutsche Zeitung cited a study which is allegedly set to be discussed in late November. The IS offensive in 2014 and establishment of what it calls a "caliphate" in Iraq and Syria and had initially "mobilized and emotionalized" the Islamists in an unprecedented measure, the officials said. Also, the developments in the Middle East motivated thousands of Europeans to join the IS and similar militias. At its peak, nearly one hundred people left Germany every month to take part in the fighting, officials say. However, the numbers dropped quickly and reached an average of "fewer than five travelers per month" between the summers of 2015 and 2016. Although reasons for the plunge are not completely clear, they may include tougher travel controls and seizure of passports, officials claim. Other motives could be "violence and brutality" of living in the self-proclaimed caliphate, as well as current military pressure on the IS. At the same time, the IS itself urged its supporters "not to travel to the caliphate, but to commit attacks in their home countries." The officials said they could not determine whether this recommendation also helped drive the numbers down. In general, the security situation in Germany has grown more dangerous, according to the study. Alongside returning jihadis, the country also faces "radicalized people who have stayed in Germany and whose number is difficult to estimate," officials say. Germany to repatriate about 12,000 Afghans: report [DeutscheWelle] Around 12,500 Afghan migrants to Germany are to be repatriated despite the civil war still raging in parts of their home country, a newspaper report said on Thursday. According to the report in the "Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung," which cited a German government document, the Interior Ministry estimates that 5 percent of the almost 247,000 Afghans who had reached Germany by the end of September will probably have to leave. The government statement justifies the planned move by saying that security was guaranteed in Afghanistan's larger cities. "A worsening of the security situation in the entire country cannot be confirmed," the newspaper cited the document as saying. The document said the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) would, however, handle applications for asylum by Afghans on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the risks faced by each applicant. Some migrants were expected to return of their own accord, it said, but noted that other removals might be by force. The document is the response by the government to a question posed by the hard-left Left party. At the start of October, the EU and Afghanistan signed a much-criticized agreement that would make the deportation of rejected asylum-seekers easier. In the past few years, there have been few Afghan deportations owing to the civil war there. The "Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung" reported in its article that just 27 rejected Afghan asylum-seekers had been deported so far this year, and only nine in 2015. However, the rate of acceptance of Afghan asylum applications fell in 2016 to 52.4 percent as compared with 77.6 percent the year before. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #3 "Repatriated" means you get some lovely parting gifts |
| Posted by: Pappy 2016-11-18 11:19 |
| #2 Repatriated - is that European for deported? /sarc |
| Posted by: AlanC 2016-11-18 09:05 |
| #1 In the spring of 2014, Fredrik Onnevall was filming a documentary about European nationalist parties' response to the migration crisis when he met the 15-year-old Abed in Greece. Along with two colleagues, Onnevall helped Abed enter Sweden. Betcha Abed is 25 & member of ISIS. Welcome to Sweden |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2016-11-18 04:48 |