Latest news with #radicalization
CTV News
2 days ago
- Politics
- CTV News
Prayer rooms causing tensions in Quebec colleges, new government report says
Quebec Premier Francois Legault said the report of prayer rooms at Dawson College is 'worrying.' A new report from the Quebec government says prayer rooms are fuelling a climate of radicalization and mistrust in the province's junior colleges. The report questions the relevance of prayer rooms in public colleges and says they make it harder for students to get along. The document is the result of an investigation of two English-language junior colleges in Montreal, launched last November following complaints that the conflict in the Middle East had created an unsafe climate on campus. Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry says the report highlights a series of failings and says the government could take further action. The report finds that some student groups are causing tensions between students, and that the colleges lack the power to intervene. It also recommends that the government adopt a new law to regulate academic freedom in the college system. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 27, 2025.
Arab News
4 days ago
- Arab News
Czech authorities detain 5 teens over online radicalization by Daesh and charge 2 with terror plot
PRAGUE: Czech authorities have detained five teenagers for being radicalized online by the militant Daesh group and charged two of them with terror-related crimes over an attempt to set fire to a synagogue, officials said Wednesday. Břetislav Brejcha, the director of the Czech counterterrorism, extremism and cybercrime department, said most of the suspects are under 18 years old. They were detained between February and June as a result of an international investigation that started last year. The five were promoting hate content on social media against minorities, certain communities and Jews, Brejcha said. During seven raids in the Czech Republic and Austria, police seized some weapons, such as knives, machetes, axes and gas pistols. On Jan. 29, 2024, two of the five tried to set a synagogue in the second largest Czech city of Brno on fire, Brejcha said without offering details. The following month, Czech media reported an arson attempt and said police were looking for witnesses. The reports said two suspects placed a firebomb in front of the synagogue but it did not explode and no damage was reported. The charges against them include hate-related crimes, promotion and support of terrorism and a terror attack attempt. The suspects were also involved in online groups recruiting fighters for Daesh militants in Syria, Brejcha said. The Czech authorities cooperated with their counterparts in Austria, Britain, Slovakia and with the European Union's law enforcement agency Europol in this case, he added. Michal Koudelka, the head of the Czech counterintelligence agency known as BIS, said the five shared a fascination with violence and hatred against Jews, and others. They were approached online by Daesh members and became radicalized, Koudelka said. 'We consider online radicalization of the youth a very dangerous trend,' Koudelka said, adding that the suspects had not been in touch with the local Muslim community.
CTV News
4 days ago
- CTV News
Czech authorities detain 5 teens over online radicalization by IS and charge 2 with terror plot
PRAGUE — Czech authorities have detained five teenagers for being radicalized online by the militant Islamic State group and charged two of them with terror-related crimes over an attempt to set fire to a synagogue, officials said Wednesday. Břetislav Brejcha, the director of the Czech counterterrorism, extremism and cybercrime department, said most of the suspects are under 18 years old. They were detained between February and June as a result of an international investigation that started last year. The five were promoting hate content on social media against minorities, LGBTQ+ community and Jews, Brejcha said. During seven raids in the Czech Republic and Austria, police seized some weapons, such as knives, machetes, axes and gas pistols. On Jan. 29, 2024, two of the five tried to set a synagogue in the second largest Czech city of Brno on fire, Brejcha said without offering details. The following month, Czech media reported an arson attempt and said police were looking for witnesses. The reports said two suspects placed a firebomb in front of the synagogue but it did not explode and no damage was reported. The charges against them include hate-related crimes, promotion and support of terrorism and a terror attack attempt. The suspects were also involved in online groups recruiting fighters for IS militants in Syria, Brejcha said. The Czech authorities co-operated with their counterparts in Austria, Britain, Slovakia and with the European Union's law enforcement agency Europol in this case, he added. Michal Koudelka, the head of the Czech counterintelligence agency known as BIS, said the five shared a fascination with violence and hatred against Jews, LGBTQ+ people and others. They were approached online by Islamic State members and became radicalized, Koudelka said. 'We consider online radicalization of the youth a very dangerous trend,' Koudelka said, adding that the suspects had not been in touch with the local Muslim community.
Associated Press
4 days ago
- Associated Press
Czech authorities detain 5 teens over online radicalization by IS and charge 2 with terror plot
PRAGUE (AP) — Czech authorities have detained five teenagers for being radicalized online by the militant Islamic State group and charged two of them with terror-related crimes over an attempt to set fire to a synagogue, officials said Wednesday. Břetislav Brejcha, the director of the Czech counterterrorism, extremism and cybercrime department, said the suspects, said most of the suspects are under 18 years old. They were detained between February and June as a result of an international investigation that started last year. The five were promoting hate content on social media against minorities, LGBTQ+ community and Jews, Brejcha said. During seven raids in the Czech Republic and Austria, police seized some weapons, such as knives, machetes, axes and gas pistols. On Jan. 29, 2024, two of the five tried to set a synagogue in the second largest Czech city of Brno on fire, Brejcha said without offering details. The following month, Czech media reported an arson attempt and said police were looking for witnesses. The reports said two suspects placed a firebomb in front of the synagogue but it did not explode and no damage was reported. The charges against them include hate-related crimes, promotion and support of terrorism and a terror attack attempt. The suspects were also involved in online groups recruiting fighters for IS militants in Syria, Brejcha said. The Czech authorities cooperated with their counterparts in Austria, Britain, Slovakia and with the European Union's law enforcement agency Europol in this case, he added. Michal Koudelka, the head of the Czech counterintelligence agency known as BIS, said the five shared a fascination with violence and hatred against Jews, LGBTQ+ people and others. They were approached online by Islamic State members and became radicalized, Koudelka said. 'We consider online radicalization of the youth a very dangerous trend,' Koudelka said, adding that the suspects had not been in touch with the local Muslim community.
Daily Mail
21-06-2025
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Toff terrorist could be let out from prison: Parole board is considering release of ex-public schoolboy who plotted suicide bombing on shopping centre
One of Britain's most dangerous terrorists could soon be back on the streets, MailOnline can reveal. Former public schoolboy Andrew Michael, known as Isa Ibrahim after he converted to Islam, was jailed aged 20 when he was found to be plotting a suicide bomb attack on Bristol's Broadmead shopping centre. However, far from having a tough upbringing, the terrorist who idolised Osama Bin Laden was the toff son of Christian church-going parents and lived in a £1million gated mansion in Bristol. His father Dr Nassif Ibrahim was an Egyptian-born NHS consultant pathologist at Frenchay Hospital in Bristol and his elder brother Peter graduated from Jesus College, Oxford, and became a software engineer. But Ibrahim fell under the spell of Muslim radicals such as the 7/7 bombers, Abu Hamza and Omar Bakri Muhammad after watching recordings of their speeches on the internet and converted to Islam. He was unknown to police, and cops only arrested him in 2008 'a matter of hours or days' before he was about to blow himself up with a suicide vest created using internet instructions after a tip-off from the local Muslim community. On July 16, 2009, he was convicted at Winchester Crown Court of making an explosive with intent to endanger life or cause serious injury and preparation of terrorist acts. He was sentenced to an indeterminate prison sentence with a minimum term of ten years. Only three years ago in 2022, he was denied parole on the basis that he was still a danger to society. The now-36-year-old could soon taste freedom after the Secretary of State for Justice Shabana Mahmood referred Ibrahim's case to the Parole Board, which is considering whether to release him. A spokesperson for the Parole Board said: 'We can confirm the parole review of Isa Ibrahim has been referred to the Parole Board by the Secretary of State for Justice and is following standard processes. 'Parole Board decisions are solely focused on what risk a prisoner could represent to the public if released and whether that risk is manageable in the community. 'A panel will carefully examine a huge range of evidence, including details of the original crime, and any evidence of behaviour change, as well as explore the harm done and impact the crime has had on the victims. 'Members read and digest hundreds of pages of evidence and reports in the lead up to an oral hearing. 'Evidence from witnesses such as probation officers, psychiatrists and psychologists, officials supervising the offender in prison as well as victim personal statements may be given at the hearing. 'It is standard for the prisoner and witnesses to be questioned at length during the hearing which often lasts a full day or more. Parole reviews are undertaken thoroughly and with extreme care. Protecting the public is our number one priority.' 'A decision on Ibrahim's case is expected over coming weeks.' Brought up in a luxury gated mansion in the leafy Bristol suburb of Frenchay, Ibrahim seemed set for a prosperous life. But his unruly behaviour and developing drug habit began to take their toll. By the time he was arrested, Ibrahim was a regular hard-drug user who was expelled from three different private schools and had first experimented with cannabis when he was just 12 years old. Ibrahim was first expelled from £19,065-a-year Colston's School before being thrown out of the £9,885-a-year Queen Elizabeth Hospital school in Bristol aged 12 for smoking cannabis. He moved to writer Auberon Waugh's former school, the £24,141-a-year strict Roman Catholic Downside School in Bath as a boarder, but was expelled for drinking alcohol in the dorm and going missing. He ended up at the £7,500-a-year Bristol Cathedral School, where he passed nine GCSEs with good grades. While a student at the City of Bristol College, he made explosives and a suicide vest in his flat and carried out extensive surveillance at Broadmead shopping centre in Bristol, where he planned to cause the maximum damage by using nails and ball bearings in his bomb. He bought the main components for the suicide bomb from high street shops, including branches of Boots. A bomb disposal expert stands by an area cordoned off for a controlled explosion outside Ibrahim's home in 2008 Thirty of Ibrahim's neighbours were evacuated and a controlled explosion was carried out following the raid at 2am on April 18, 2008 Ibrahim was only caught after members of the Al-Baseera mosque in Bristol saw injuries he suffered while testing the explosive and, concerned about his extreme views and what he may be planning, told police that a white Muslim convert was acting suspiciously. It is believed to have been the first time that the Muslim community had played a central role in bringing a potential terrorist bomber to justice. When police entered his flat in Comb Paddock, Bristol, police found between 125 and 245g of the unstable explosive Hexamethylene Triperoxide Diamine, also known as HMTD, the same substance used in the July 7, 2005 London bombings. He had stored it in a McVitie's Family Circle biscuit tin in Ibrahim's fridge. There was so much explosive powder in his flat that the kitchen floor crackled under their feet. Ibrahim had also made an electrical circuit capable of detonating the explosive at short range. Police also found a half-made suicide vest and films of Ibrahim testing the explosives on the floor of his flat. Ibrahim made the HMTD and his suicide vest entirely through instructions from the internet. Soldiers from the Royal Logistic Corps also had to carry out controlled explosions at his home. There was also a large amount of radical literature in the flat and when he was arrested the book Milestones by Sayyid Qutb was in his rucksack. The book advocates jihad and radical Islam. Detective Chief Inspector Matt Iddon said: 'It soon became very, very clear that his kitchen had become an explosive laboratory.' DCI Iddon said Ibrahim had planned to set his suicide vest off in a crowded area of the shopping centre. He said: 'He identified that the food court was a dense area. It's full of families – husband, wives, children, groups of young friends – relaxing and enjoying the day. 'He intended to blow himself up there.' He added: 'He was not on any security services radar. He was completely unknown.' When he was arrested, Ibrahim told officers: 'My mum's going to kill me. Am I going to be on the news?' His father Nassif, mother Victoria and brother Peter were in court every day for the trial 16 years ago. At Ibrahim's trial, where he denied the charges, he said he had trouble interacting and making friends, and admitted even as an adult he talked to teddy bears. Even as he was detained in Belmarsh prison, he thought it would 'give him status' to be in the same jail as the likes of hate cleric Abu Hamza. He claimed he had no intent to harm but just wanted to set the vest off and film. Trial judge Judge Mr Justice Butterfield told the terrorist: 'You were, in my judgment, a lonely and angry young person at the time of these events, with a craving for attention. 'You are a dangerous young man, well capable of acting on the views you held in the spring of 2008.' His mother fled the court in tears as the sentence was passed and since he was jailed his family have regularly visited him in prison.
