Muslims

Students helped killer find teacher who was beheaded, says French prosecutor
October 21, 2020 By Faith Matters

Students helped killer find teacher who was beheaded, says French prosecutor

The 18-year-old suspected killer of a French teacher who showed caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in class paid students to help him identify the victim, France’s terrorism prosecutor has said. Prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard said a 14-year-old and a 15-year-old are among seven people who appeared before an investigating magistrate on accusations of complicity in murder […]

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French militant group and mosque to close after teacher’s killing
October 21, 2020 By Faith Matters

French militant group and mosque to close after teacher’s killing

France’s president has named a domestic militant Islamist group as “directly implicated” in last week’s beheading of a history teacher who had discussed caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed with his class. Emmanuel Macron said the group will be ordered dissolved on Wednesday, when a mosque that relayed a denunciation of the high school teacher is […]

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Thirteen killed, 120 injured in Afghanistan car bomb blast
October 18, 2020 By Faith Matters

Thirteen killed, 120 injured in Afghanistan car bomb blast

A suicide car bombing killed at least 13 people and injured around 120 others in Afghanistan’s western Ghor province on Sunday, officials said. Mohammad Omer Lalzad, the head of a hospital in Ghor, said emergency staff were treating dozens of people with both serious and light injuries from the bombing. He expected the death toll […]

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Chechnya strongman condemns murder of teacher in France
October 18, 2020 By Faith Matters

Chechnya strongman condemns murder of teacher in France

Chechnya’s strongman regional leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who has used massive federal subsidies to rebuild the province and squelched any resistance with his feared security forces, has condemned the killing of a teacher in France. An 18-year-old from Chechnya claimed responsibility for the attack in a Paris suburb before being shot by the police. Mr Kadyrov […]

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Prison officer tells jurors how he fought off convicted terrorist Brusthom Ziamani
September 23, 2020 By Faith Matters

Prison officer tells jurors how he fought off convicted terrorist Brusthom Ziamani

A prison officer has described how he fended off repeated stabbing blows to the head after being floored in an alleged terror attack. Neil Trundle was left covered in blood from multiple cuts after convicted terrorist Brusthom Ziamani, 25, and fellow inmate Baz Hockton, 26, allegedly assaulted him with makeshift weapons at Whitemoor jail in […]

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Saudi Arabia unveils health measures that will allow pilgrims to visit Mecca
September 21, 2020 By Faith Matters

Saudi Arabia unveils health measures that will allow pilgrims to visit Mecca

Saudi Arabia has released new details on how it plans to gradually allow Muslims back to Islam’s holiest site in Mecca to perform the smaller, year-round pilgrimage, which has been suspended for the past seven months due to the coronavirus. Hajj Minister Muhammad Benten said the kingdom will launch an online application that allows citizens, […]

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Officer and three assailants killed in Tunisia resort attack
September 7, 2020 By Faith Matters

Officer and three assailants killed in Tunisia resort attack

Tunisian forces have shot dead three suspected Islamic militants who rammed their vehicle into security officers and attacked them with knives, killing one and injuring another in the coastal resort town of Sousse. Sousse was the site of Tunisia’s deadliest extremist attack in 2015, when a massacre killed 38 people, most of them British tourists. […]

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Saudi Arabia bans foreign pilgrims amid Covid-19 fears
March 3, 2020 By Faith Matters

Saudi Arabia bans foreign pilgrims amid Covid-19 fears

Saudi Arabia has banned foreign pilgrims from entering the kingdom to visit Islam’s holiest sites amid concerns over the coronavirus. The ban potentially disrupts the plans of millions of people ahead of the holy fasting month of Ramadan and as the annual hajj pilgrimage looms. The decision showed the growing worry across the Middle East […]

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‘IS Bride’ Lisa Smith Was Not A Member of a Terrorist Group, Solicitor Claims
December 2, 2019 By Faith Matters

‘IS Bride’ Lisa Smith Was Not A Member of a Terrorist Group, Solicitor Claims

The solicitor representing a former member of the Irish military who became a so-called Islamic State (IS) bride in Syria has claimed she was not a member of a terrorist organisation. Darragh Mackin said the current evidence against Lisa Smith is “inherently weak” and does not point to any terrorist offences. He said that Ms […]

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Hanzalah Patel and Safwaan Mansur – Convicted of Preparing for Terrorist Acts
May 20, 2019 By Faith Matters

Hanzalah Patel and Safwaan Mansur – Convicted of Preparing for Terrorist Acts

Two friends convicted of preparing for terrorist acts in support of the so-called Islamic State after trying to reach Syria have been jailed. Safwaan Mansur, from Birmingham, and Hanzalah Patel, from Leicester, travelled to Turkey in 2016 and 2017 after checking out an area near the Syrian border on TripAdvisor, a two-week trial was told. […]

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