Security and Counterterrorism
European Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality publishes new report on radicalisation, violent extremism and women
The report examines women’s involvement with radicalisation and violent extremism in the EU, programmes in place to prevent and counter this, and the role of women themselves in these programmes.
Charlie Hebdo gets new threats over cartoon on accused Islamic scholar
The Paris prosecutor’s office opened an investigation on Monday of death threats against the satirical French weekly Charlie Hebdo, over a cartoon of the Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan, who faces rape allegations. The investigation was opened against “written death threats” and “public praise for a terrorist act,” The magazine depicted Ramadan with with an explicit…
Returnees, unaccounted combatants, child jihadists: Germany struggles with the ‘foreign fighter’ phenomenon
Ever since the Islamic State group began to lose the territories it had so spectacularly conquered during 2013 and 2014, analysts and policy-makers in the West have warned of potential large-scale return movements of so-called ‘foreign fighters’. 40,000 ‘foreign fighters’ Although the term ‘foreign fighter’ is vacuous with respect to international law, it still permeates…
Aftershocks of Berlin Christmas market attack lead to counter-terrorism debates in Germany
It is now almost a year ago that Anis Amri, a Tunisian man who had arrived in Germany in 2015 and claimed to be a refugee, steered a lorry into a Berlin Christmas market, killing 12 and injuring 56. New report on intelligence failings Almost immediately after the event, growing evidence pointed to severe failings…
Hate crimes against UK mosques double between 2016 and 2017
Hate crimes against British mosques doubled in the period between March and June of last year and the same time period this year. This may be related to several high-profile, ISIS-claimed terrorist attacks. Hate crimes at or near mosques have ranged to vandalism of vehicles to bomb threats to violent assaults on worshippers. The greatest…