Latest news with #MuslimBrotherhood
Libya Review
8 hours ago
- Politics
- Libya Review
Tunisia Extends Military Measures at Libya Border Over Terrorism Fears
Tunisia has extended the operation of its military buffer zone along the border with Libya for an additional year, citing growing security concerns linked to instability in western Libya. The renewal, announced in Tunisia's official gazette, will remain in effect from August 29, 2025, through August 2026. Originally established in 2013, the buffer zone stretches across Tunisia's southern border with Libya and parts of Algeria. Entry is strictly prohibited without prior authorization from Tunisian military authorities. The measure was introduced to counter cross-border threats, including arms trafficking, terrorist infiltration, and the movement of irregular migrants. The extension comes at a time of renewed tension in western Libya, where security vacuums continue to exist due to militia rivalries and weak state control. Tunisian officials remain concerned that instability in neighboring Libya could spill over into Tunisian territory, especially in light of the country's ongoing counter-terrorism efforts and crackdown on extremist networks. According to analysts, the move reflects Tunisia's increasing anxiety about potential retaliatory attacks from groups affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as the continued presence of armed factions in western Libya near the border. The area remains a hotspot for smuggling routes and irregular migration flows, putting pressure on Tunisian border forces. The buffer zone serves not only as a military security measure but also as a strategic line of defense against the ripple effects of Libya's unresolved conflict. While Libya's political institutions remain divided between rival governments in Tripoli and Benghazi, neighboring states like Tunisia are reinforcing their own borders in anticipation of further instability. Tunisian authorities have not indicated when the military zone might be lifted, suggesting it will remain a fixture of the country's national security policy for the foreseeable future. As long as Libya remains unstable, Tunisia is likely to maintain heightened security along its southeastern frontier to prevent spillover threats and protect internal stability. Tags: borderlibyaMilitary ControlsecurityTunisia
Al-Ahram Weekly
19 hours ago
- Politics
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Egypt leads Palestinian assistance drive - Egypt - Al-Ahram Weekly
Egypt is exerting tremendous efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and deliver as much humanitarian aid as possible to the Palestinians under siege Foreign Ministry Spokesman Tamim Khallaf indicated this week that Egypt is moving on three parallel tracks to help the Palestinians suffering from war and siege in Gaza. 'There is the security track, which includes efforts to reach a comprehensive ceasefire and truce, the political track which involves continuing to mobilise international support for recognition of the Palestinian state, and the humanitarian track, which aims to ensure the flow of aid into the Gaza Strip despite the obstacles imposed by Israel,' Khallaf said. He strongly denied that the Rafah Crossing linking Egypt with the Gaza Strip is closed, denouncing a 'malicious propaganda campaign' trying to distort Egypt's role in supporting the Palestinian cause. 'Egypt has never closed the Rafah Crossing on its side, and it has led a drive to secure a ceasefire and deliver aid while rejecting the displacement of the Palestinians,' Khallaf said. In recent days, posts have circulated on social media accusing Cairo of contributing to the blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip by preventing the entry of humanitarian aid through the Rafah Crossing. In response, the Foreign Ministry said it is fully aware of the attempts led by some malicious organisations (thought to include the Muslim Brotherhood) trying to distract Arab and international public opinion from the real reasons behind the humanitarian disaster that has afflicted more than two million Palestinians in Gaza. 'In fact, the Rafah Crossing has never been closed on the Egyptian side, but the crossing on the Palestinian side is occupied by the Israeli army, which blocks the flow of aid into the Strip,' said the Foreign Ministry. The Rafah Crossing is an economic and security gateway on the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip facilitating the entry of humanitarian aid into the Strip and the exit of travellers and wounded Palestinians. When the Israeli army took control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah Crossing on 2 March, Egypt announced it would not coordinate with it in order not to avoid legitimising its occupation. The Israeli forces have prevented the entry of aid, fuel, civil defence supplies and shelter for the displaced who have lost their homes in Gaza. They have also refused to bring in the heavy equipment necessary for removing the rubble and carrying out reconstruction in the Gaza Strip. President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi explained in a televised speech on Monday that the Rafah Crossing is a gateway for individuals and is operating not only from the Egyptian side but also from the other side. He noted that the Gaza Strip is in need of 600 to 700 trucks of humanitarian aid every day. 'Over the past 21 months, Egypt has been keen to bring the largest volume of humanitarian assistance into the Strip through the Rafah Crossing,' Al-Sisi said, indicating that 'the volume of trucks ready to enter the Gaza Strip in the next days is very large, and for these trucks to flow without obstacles there should be coordination with the other party.' 'This is just part of what we are doing, including stopping the war, and releasing the hostages,' Al-Sisi said. Al-Sisi called on US President Donald Trump and other world leaders to intervene swiftly to end the war in Gaza and allow the entry of humanitarian aid. He warned that conditions in the Strip have become 'tragic and intolerable' in recent months. The entry of aid to Gaza was resumed in May according to a mechanism implemented by the occupation authorities and a US security company, despite the rejection of this by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). Negotiations are underway through the efforts of Egypt, Qatar, and the US to reinstate the truce, stop the war on Gaza, bring in humanitarian aid, and release prisoners and detainees. Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli stressed this week that 'the Rafah Crossing has never been closed by Egypt and the state is making every effort to bring aid into the Gaza Strip.' 'As much as 80 per cent of the aid that has entered the Gaza Strip so far has been contributed by the Egyptian government and civil society organisations,' he said. Egypt's Cairo News Channel reported that 180 aid trucks carrying various types of aid were brought into Gaza early this week, including 137 carrying flour while the rest contained other food supplies. They entered the Gaza Strip through the Zikim Crossing in the northern Gaza Strip and the Kerem Shalom Crossing with Egypt. On Sunday, the Egyptian Red Crescent (ERC) launched a convoy of more than 100 humanitarian aid trucks carrying more than 1,200 tons of food supplies to Gaza. The ERC posted photographs of the convoy, dubbed 'Zad Al-Izzah' (Provision of Honour), while moving towards the enclave. The aid comprised around 840 tons of flour and 450 tons of various food supplies bound for southern Gaza. It said that more than 35,000 aid trucks carrying over 500,000 tons of aid have entered Gaza since the war erupted in October 2023. Assistance has included food, water, medical supplies, and essential items such personal hygiene products, baby formula, and diapers, as well as ambulances and fuel trucks. Official statistics show that around 105,000 Gazan Palestinians have entered Egypt since 2023 to receive medical treatment in Egyptian hospitals. The delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza this week came after the Israeli army declared a 10-hour 'truce' during which military operations were suspended in three areas of the Gaza Strip: Gaza City in the north; Deir Al-Balah in the centre; and Khan Younis in the south. The pause in military activity will take place from 10am to 8pm each day until further notice, the Israeli army said. Most media outlets agree that pressure exerted by the UN, Egypt, and Qatar compelled Israel to allow the delivery of aid through the Rafah Crossing and to declare a 10-hour truce. The Gaza government's Media Office, however, said on Monday evening that Israel had allowed no more than 87 aid trucks into the Strip, the majority of which were looted and stolen. It indicated that the occupation forces had opened the way for the trucks to enter, only for them to fall into the hands of criminal gangs and thieves under their direct protection. North Sinai Governor Khaled Megawer said the trucks that departed from the Rafah Land Port in North Sinai this week were part of Egypt's ongoing efforts to alleviate the worsening humanitarian crisis in the Strip. 'All the Egyptian state authorities are working around the clock to coordinate efforts to deliver as much aid as possible to the besieged Palestinians in Gaza,' Megawer said. He indicated that in addition to the humanitarian aid given by the Egyptian Red Crescent, the Al-Azhar-affiliated Beit Al-Zakat (House of Alms) also sent a relief convoy carrying hundreds of tons of food and medical supplies plus 1,000 tents to shelter Palestinians who have lost their homes during the war. Former foreign minister and chairman of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs Mohamed Al-Orabi stressed that Egypt's role and contributions to efforts to find a solution to the Palestinian problem are well-known. 'It is Egypt that has stood firmly against all attempts to liquidate the Palestinian cause and disrupted Israeli schemes for displacing the Palestinian people from the Gaza Strip,' Al-Orabi said, noting that 'the queues of humanitarian aid trucks standing in front of the Rafah Crossing, waiting for Israel to allow them to enter, clearly confirms the falsity of what some parties are promoting, claiming that the crossing is closed on the Egyptian side or that Egypt has to open the crossing by force even if it means war with Israel.' He added that the dubious calls for gatherings in front of Egyptian embassies abroad are merely a 'bubble' that will soon disappear. Al-Orabi said there is no question that the banned Muslim Brotherhood group is ready to participate in the campaign against Egypt. 'The entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza this week confirmed to all that this group is lying and that it is not Egypt that is closing the Rafah Crossing, but it is Israel that has occupied the Palestinian side of the crossing since March and prevented any flow of aid,' Al-Orabi said. MP Mahmoud Hussein, head of the Central Secretariat for Egyptians Abroad, said the banned Muslim Brotherhood's lies about the Rafah Crossing and its calls for demonstrations in front of Egyptian embassies abroad aim to politicise the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza. 'This group's calls are intended to secure internal political gains rather than hold Israel accountable or to put it under international pressure to end the war,' Hussein said. * A version of this article appears in print in the 6 August, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
Mada
a day ago
- Politics
- Mada
Surging arrests in several governorates in parallel with alleged Gaza protest incident at Helwan station, lawyers say
Citizens and lawyers across several governorates have described a clear surge in arrests being carried out by the National Security Agency, human rights lawyer Nabih al-Genady told Mada Masr, describing the pace as 'higher than usual.' A second lawyer who works frequently near the Maasara police station in Helwan, the site of an alleged security incident that has prompted public commentary after footage was shared widely over recent days, said they have also observed arrests and raids in the area around the police station, as well as in several other governorates, describing them as proceeding 'at an unusual pace.' Footage circulating on Friday night of the Maasara incident shows two young men apparently storming the NSA office in the Maasara police station in Helwan and briefly holding an officer in an adjacent room, while calling for Egypt's border crossing with the Gaza Strip to be opened to allow for aid to be delivered to Palestinians enduring Israel's starvation policies and protesting Egyptian authorities' arrest of civilians for expressing support for Palestine. The Interior Ministry has since issued two statements denying the authenticity of the video. It described the footage as 'fabricated,' adding that the documents shown — apparently former prisoner cards used by the NSA for monitoring purposes — are 'completely unrelated to reality.' The individuals responsible for producing and disseminating the video have been apprehended and legal action is being taken against them, the ministry stated in its first statement in the early hours of Saturday morning. Citing an unnamed security source, the ministry said the incident was part of what it called 'attempts by [the Muslim Brotherhood] to falsify facts and spread rumors in an effort to undermine the country's stability,' adding that 'the Egyptian people are fully aware of these attempts.' The statement accused the Muslim Brotherhood of seeking to discredit Egypt's longstanding support for the Palestinian cause. The Helwan-based lawyer told Mada Masr, however, that people who frequent the building, especially those who have previously visited the NSA offices on the fourth floor, are aware that the incident 'did in fact happen.' 'Everyone here knows the incident is real,' the lawyer said. 'But when it's brought up, people prefer to stay silent. They say, 'we don't know.' They neither confirm nor deny. If someone admits it, it's as if they've told a secret.' Speaking on condition of anonymity, the lawyer said documents visible in the footage, including the prisoner monitoring cards, belong to known detainees who are currently under surveillance. The lawyer said they believe the incident likely took place on the morning of July 25, just before Friday prayers. Additional security has been deployed since then at the Maasara police station, they continued, describing a security cordon and the frequent sounds of police sirens in the area, with a military police vehicle visible stationed nearby. Iron fencing which has enclosed the building for years also remains in place. In a statement likewise casting doubt about the official narrative of the events, the Egyptian Network for Human Rights (ENHR) has also expressed deep concern over the fate of the two young men visible in the video — Mohsen Mohamed Mostafa and Ahmed al-Sherif. In a statement published Monday, the organization held the public prosecutor, Interior Ministry, and NSA responsible for their safety. While the surge in arrests was notable in Helwan, Genady said he observed the uptick even before the video's circulation. The arrests do not appear to be targeting a specific group, the lawyer continued, noting that some of the arrests were conducted in connection with content people had published on their personal Facebook pages. But the uptick in arrests is not reflected in the pace of referrals to the State Security Prosecution, the defense lawyer said, with the prosecution already processing a steady stream of cases related to publishing offenses and affiliations with banned groups. Detainees in such cases, however, are often held by the NSA for longer periods of two to seven days before being presented to prosecutors, Genady added, which perhaps explains the fact that arrests are not yet reflected in prosecution referrals.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
ICE continues to hold Ohio cleric. His defenders say the government's claims are bogus
Ayman Soliman, the former Muslim chaplain at Cincinnati Children's Hospital whom federal authorities are trying to deport on what his lawyers are saying is a trumped-up basis. (Photo courtesy of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance.) The Trump administration is continuing its efforts to deport an Ohio cleric using what the cleric's defenders say is a shifting, false rationale. Meanwhile, Covington, Ky., authorities are walking back some of their charges against two journalists after police there violently ended a July 17 protest against the cleric's detention. Ayman Soliman, an Egyptian national, continues to be held in Butler County Jail after being arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on July 9. Under pressure from President Donald Trump to make 3,000 immigration-related arrests a day, officials accused Soliman of providing 'material support' to terrorists in Egypt more than a decade ago. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Soliman was beaten and tortured by Egypt's totalitarian government after he worked with western journalists during the Arab Spring uprising, his lawyers said. He later served as a Muslim chaplain at Cincinnati Children's Hospital after coming to the United States in 2014 and seeking asylum. It was granted in 2018, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported. That asylum was suddenly revoked on June 3 over supposed ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, which the United States has not designated a terrorist group. After the cancellation of a July 3 hearing in immigration court on Soliman's loss of asylum status, ICE arrested him on July 9 and took him to Butler County Jail in Hamilton. To stop ICE from whisking the 51-year-old out of the country, U.S. District Judge Michael Barrett on July 15 issued a temporary restraining order keeping Soliman in Ohio. On Thursday, Barrett extended the order at least until July 30. After a bail hearing before an immigration judge on Tuesday, Soliman's legal team accused the Trump administration of a blatant bait-and-switch as it tried to deport their client. Robert Ratliff, Soliman's attorney, said that the original 'charge of removability' — the basis the government gave to deport Soliman — was material support of terrorism. Now it's stopped making the claim for that purpose. But it's still making it to argue that the immigration court judge doesn't have jurisdiction to release Soliman on bail, Ratliff said. If the immigration judge doesn't have jurisdiction to grant bail, no one does, the attorney said. 'The amended charges no longer make that (support-of-terrorism) accusation,' Ratliff said during the press conference. 'The government, however, is still holding to that accusation for purposes of jurisdiction in the bond case.' CONTACT US Immigration judges are not part of the judiciary. Instead, they're appointed by the U.S. Justice Department, and thus part of the same branch of government as the agency that Trump tasked with deporting millions. Immigrant advocates say the arrangement is inherently unjust. However that may be, an immigration judge in Cleveland delayed a decision on Soliman's bond until July 29 because government lawyers made a lengthy new filing just before Tuesday's hearing. There wasn't much in it that was new, Ratliff said. And the government is again using academic articles to 'support' its claims even though their authors say the articles they wrote do not, he added. 'The extensive brief that (the government) filed today — some 140 pages about an hour or so before the hearing — contains some of the same articles that were previously cited by the asylum officer in his decision (to remove Soliman) — articles about which we submitted letters from the authors of those articles who dispute the findings of the asylum officer, that dispute the fact that their articles were used in this way, and dispute the suppositions the government came to citing their articles.' A spokeswoman for the Justice Department declined to comment on the matter. But Franchel Daniel, an attorney with the Muslim Legal Fund of America, said the Trump administration is looking for any excuse to deport Soliman, who has broad community support in Cincinnati. 'The fact that the government would raise these types of allegations against him is just ludicrous,' she said. 'They continue to make unfounded allegations, and they haven't given any support whatsoever. It's been a massive game of six degrees of separation — how can we connect you to somebody so we can connect them to something else?' Egyptian police arrested Soliman over his work as a journalist during the Arab Spring more than a decade ago. Then Covington, Ky., police arrested two Cincinnati reporters last week as they covered a protest of Soliman's detention. CityBeat reporter Madeline Fening and photo intern Lucas Griffith were arrested as they covered about 100 protesters who marched from a vigil for Soliman in Cincinnati and across the John A. Roebling Bridge into Kentucky. Protesters marched in the travel lanes, obstructing traffic. The two journalists and 13 others were swept up in arrests that began about 20 seconds after police gave the order to disburse, the Enquirer reported. Fening and Griffith were charged with felony rioting even though videos posted online seem to show only police engaging in violence. One officer repeatedly punched a protester about the head as another took the man to the ground and handcuffed him. The protester did not appear to be resisting. 'As previously stated, the officer in question was placed on administrative duty and we have opened an extensive investigation regarding our agency's response to the unlawful disturbance on the Roebling Bridge,' a spokesman for the Covington Police Department said in an email. 'We hold our officers to the highest standard. If any misconduct is identified, it will be addressed.' The spokesman didn't respond to questions about the felony arrest of the two journalists. Prosecutors dropped the felony charges Wednesday, but Fening and Griffith are still accused of misdemeanors. While Covington police won't explain why they arrested journalists in the protest, Children's Hospital isn't addressing claims by two of its chaplains who said they were fired for speaking out on Soliman's behalf. The Enquirer reported the claims on Thursday. Asked for comment, a spokesperson for the hospital said in an email, 'We don't comment on current or former personnel.' The spokesperson didn't respond immediately when asked whether Children's Hospital believed chaplains' public speech regarding the controversial deportation of a former chaplain who is an asylee is merely a personnel issue. As the furor grows over the attempted deportation of Soliman, his attorney said much more than his fate is at stake. If Soliman can be deported on makeshift claims that he supported the Muslim Brotherhood, authorities can make similar claims against any asylee, Ratliff said. 'The procedures in this case, the procedures used by (the Department of Homeland Security) are broader than one group, one man, one entity,' he said. 'If this policy, this procedure, is allowed to stand, anybody who fled any of the violence in Central or South America can now find themselves charged under the same (material-support accusation) for something in those countries as routine as paying extortion demands or paying war tax or things of that nature. So this is a process that if it's successful in this case… it can be used to revoke any immigration visa.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Solve the daily Crossword
New York Post
3 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
Muslim Brotherhood's ‘grand jihad' is growing— just over the US border
In a chilling internal memo, the Muslim Brotherhood laid out its long-term strategy to conquer North America through what it called a 'civilization-jihadist process' aimed at 'sabotaging' and 'eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within.' The detailed 18-page document, written in 1991, surfaced in 2007 during the Holy Land Foundation trial — the largest terrorism financing case in US history. More than three decades later, the Brotherhood's strategy is no longer theoretical. It is materializing just north of the US border in Canada. Advertisement 7 Murad Adailah, head of Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood, in an interview. REUTERS The Muslim Brotherhood, a transnational Sunni Islamist movement founded in Egypt in 1928, is committed to establishing a global caliphate governed by sharia, an often extreme set of laws on a range of religious and societal matters that Muslims believe was given to them by God. Though often cloaked in the language of charity and civil society, the Brotherhood's true objective remains Islamist dominance — something its leaders have repeatedly emphasized. Indeed, the group's founder Hassan al-Banna once declared, 'It is the nature of Islam to dominate, not to be dominated, to impose its law on all nations and to extend its power to the entire planet.' Advertisement And while the Brotherhood renounced violence in the 1970s, its ideology is broadly seen as a 'stepping stone' to violent jihad. Its teachings provided the foundation for jihadist groups like Hamas and al Qaeda and inspired notorious terrorists like Osama bin Laden, Islamic State founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel. 7 Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie walks out of a defendant cage to speak before judge during his trial in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, May 18, 2014. AP Advertisement State actors like Qatar and Turkey strategically lend the Brotherhood substantial support, giving it the resources and legitimacy needed to expand its influence across the West. In Canada, though, these realities are almost entirely absent from public conversation or debate. The country's shockingly permissive immigration policies, multiculturalist ethos and general complacency toward national security threats have made it fertile ground for the Brotherhood's insidious ambitions. 7 Sealed entrance to the Muslim Brotherhood's office in Amman. AFP via Getty Images Advertisement Brotherhood-affiliated organizations have proliferated in Canada for decades, the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy warned last month, methodically expanding and spreading radical Islamist ideology without fear of repercussion. These organizations, often posing as benign religious or charitable entities, have built an extensive infrastructure of mosques, schools and community centers across the country — with the help of significant taxpayer funds. Senior Brotherhood leadership in Canada has reportedly encouraged followers to take up key government positions to push policies in line with sharia. This strategy mirrors the Brotherhood's operations in Europe — and there, authorities have begun to take notice. A recently leaked French government report described the Brotherhood's European activities as a political project designed to gradually transform democratic societies through 'strategic ambiguity.' 7 Senior Brotherhood leadership in Canada has reportedly encouraged followers to take up key government positions to push policies in line with sharia. REUTERS The report warned of the Brotherhood's duplicitous nature — charming in public, conniving in private — and of its aspirations, which are fundamentally at odds with democratic pluralism. The British government reached similar conclusions in a 2015 investigative review. In Canada, these warnings have gone largely unheeded. Politicians fear losing the increasingly important Muslim vote, and dread being labeled 'Islamophobic,' the most feared word in the country. Advertisement As a consequence, the country is witnessing troubling symptoms of burgeoning extremism. 7 Muslim Brotherhood supporters protesting in Cairo. AP Antisemitic incidents in Canada spiked by a staggering 670% in 2024, and the 83 terrorism-related charges filed between April 2023 and March 2024 represented a 488% jump. Those figures, along with the increasingly menacing nature of pro-Hamas demonstrations and widespread youth radicalization, all point to the Brotherhood's growing grip on the ideological landscape. Advertisement And they pose serious ramifications for US national security. The porous northern border, combined with Canada's lax immigration vetting procedures, creates an ideal launch pad for extremist cross-border propaganda and recruitment — and even terror operations. 7 Antisemitic incidents in Canada spiked by a staggering 670% in 2024, and the 83 terrorism-related charges filed between April 2023 and March 2024 represented a 488% jump. dts News Agency Germany/Shutterstock 7 Protestors in Amman, Jordan, waving flags and signs against the US-led Middle East economic conference. AFP via Getty Images Advertisement Last year, for instance, a Pakistani national was arrested as he attempted to enter the United States via Quebec to carry out an ISIS-inspired mass attack on the Jewish community in New York. A new bill in Congress seeks to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization — but it would mean little to continental security if Canada doesn't follow suit. North America urgently needs a coordinated response. The United States must press Canada to blacklist Brotherhood front groups masquerading as religious and charitable organizations, and to scrutinize its activists' and ideologues' activities. Advertisement Further, US authorities should pay closer attention to a wide range of cross-border activities that could have Brotherhood connections — including academic exchange programs, live speaking events and asset transfers. The Canadian fentanyl threat that President Donald Trump decries pales in comparison to the Muslim Brotherhood's aspirations of a North American Islamic caliphate. Trump must get Canada to prevent its Islamist threat from metastasizing further — or risk the United States becoming collateral damage in the Brotherhood's 'grand jihad.' Casey Babb is an adviser with Secure Canada and director of the Promised Land Project at Ottawa's Macdonald-Laurier Institute, where Joe Adam George is a national-security analyst.
