Two Afghan migrants, a man and a woman, are in custody after being arrested over the Easter holiday by the Swedish security police Säpo on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack in the Stockholm area.

Last week, on Monday, Säpo announced that the arrests had taken place on the morning of Good Friday during an operation in the Stockholm area.

According to a report from the daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter, the two suspects have been described as a couple — a man and a woman in their thirties with Afghan citizenship — who were living together in an apartment registered in a municipality north of Stockholm.

Per Lindqvist, chief prosecutor at the National Unit for Security Cases, refused to divulge certain details in the case, but said: “I can only say that there were several different reasons that led to the intervention being made just then.”

The prosecutor said that the couple began planning a terrorist attack, which was to take place somewhere in the Stockholm area, on Jan. 2, 2021. Lindqvist noted that investigators had been watching the pair for a “long time” prior to the arrests, and that during their investigations, managed to procure large amounts of IT material as evidence, which could take through the summer to fully examine and analyze.

Lastly, Lindqvist added that the potential terrorist threat had been fully eliminated, since there were no more suspects involved in the case.

Both Afghan suspects have so far refused to acknowledge any wrongdoing. Neither of the suspects had been previously known to authorities for any prior criminal activity.

In March, eight individuals were injured in a brutal knife attack in Vetlanda — a small town of just 13,500 people in southern Sweden — by an attacker who was said to have shouted “Allahu Akbar”, a phrase commonly used by radical Islamic terrorists during attacks, as Remix News previously reported.

At the time, Sweden’s left-wing prime minister, who referred to the attack as a “horrific act”, noted that the Säpo security services were diligently working on the case.

In the same month, the former chief of Säpo, Malena Rembe, demanded that Sweden “take home all Islamic State Swedes”, in what has been viewed by many as a controversial attempt to repatriate Swedish citizens who previously left the country to fight for the Islamic State.

Days ago, Remix News reported that Sweden’s leftist coalition government — composed of the Social Democrats and the Green Party — announced plans to tighten immigration laws which, over the past decade, have allowed some 400,000 non-EU nationals to settle in the country of just over 10 million citizens. 

As per a draft of the proposed legislation, migrants would receive three-year residence permits. Following the expiration of this period, immigrants will only be given a permanent residence if they meet requirements such as having sufficient income and proper command of the Swedish language.

The move made by the left-wing coalition is believed to be a direct reponse to the massive gains in public support that the populist Swedish Democrats — an anti-mass immigration, pro-Swedish party — have made in the past several years.

https://rmx.news/article/article/sweden-security-forces-arrest-two-afghan-migrants-suspected-of-planning-terrorist-attack

At the end of September 2017, Markus Hempel (30), a German, was beaten into a coma by a fist blow outside a shopping centre in Wittenberg and died from the severe injuries. The killer Sabri H., a “protection seeker” from Syria and according to his own statements only 17 years old at the time of the crime, was sentenced to a two-year suspended sentence at the end of March 2020, as the Magdeburg public prosecutor’s office only brought charges of “bodily harm resulting in death” and the judge passed the sentence “in the name of the people”.

While the father has to cope with and deal with the violent death of his son, the next slap in the face followed. At first, the Dessau public prosecutor’s office only spoke of a “self-defence situation” and wanted to cover up the case as much as possible, a new investigation then resulted in the charge of “bodily harm resulting in death” and the verdict of the juvenile criminal division of the Magdeburg Regional Court: two years on probation, the Syrian did not serve a single day in custody and can continue to live his life as if nothing had happened.

Karsten Hempel, as if his ordeal due to the death of his son was not bad enough, who only yearns for justice, was subjected to further degradation after the perpetrator’s conviction: the police pursued him for allegedly plotting revenge against the Syrian and, on top of that,he was given a caution by the police at his workplace. This procedure baffles and shows once again how Germans become second-class victims and bereaved families are harassed.

Hempel could not believe his ears and felt reminded of the most sinister conditions in the GDR. “I thought the era of Stasi methods had ended 30 years ago,” he told the officials. It was common practice in the East for the state to react to groundless denunciations by citizens and thus cause misfortune for innocent people. But in a democratic constitutional state? Hempel received no answer to the question of who the whistleblower was.

However, the 56-year-old had a suspicion. He assumed that the “tip” came from the social environment of the convicted violent offender Sabri H. – or even from the Syrian himself. It is true that after the criminal trial, Mr Hempel had tried to get in touch with Sabri H. in order to sue him under civil law.

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In this country, some follow the Koran, others the Infection Protection Act. The result of this diverse, integrated society à la Dr. Frankenstein can then be seen in the intensive care units: The suspicion is growing and is increasingly becoming a certainty due to concrete evidence from certain regions that the infection rate and the alleged critical situation in the intensive care units, which is used to justify the lockdown, is largely caused by migrants from Muslim parallel societies. Instead of drawing conclusions from this and disciplining the obvious main drivers of the pandemic, however, the state is granting them even more freedom – just in time for Ramadan.

At the weekend, a fawning, servile letter from the office for integration in the district committee of Groß-Gerau to the local mosque communities made the rounds in the social media, in which the bureaucrats, driven by permissiveness, explicitly drew the attention of their Muslim protégés to the fact that it is of course possible for them “to leave their homes during the nightly curfew on the occasion of ‘participation in religious services on special religious occasions’. Formally, this should only refer to the performance of the Ramadan night prayer in the mosques (salat-at-tarawih), as the document that follows sets out:

But the addressees will certainly understand this letter exactly as it is meant by its multicultural senders, who are full of cunning: namely, that the curfew may of course be circumvented for the breaking of the fast every evening, which is regarded as a religious ceremony and is traditionally celebrated in family groups and large groups (although the curfew would not help to prevent this anyway – because the religious gathering. It is precisely for this reason that the constitutional lawyer Anna Leisner-Egensperger fears in an interview with the newspaper “Die Welt” that the curfews will not reduce the incidence rates, but could even increase them.

In order to steal the thunder from the outrage of “right-wing”, “intolerant” and, of course, “Islamophobic” opposing voices, the authorities point out that the possibility to attend “religious services” at night despite the curfew in the “emergency brake” areas (which will soon cover the whole country) is by no means a special treatment for Muslims, but that it would of course also be made available to followers of all other religious communities – i.e. Christians, Hindus, Jews, Buddhists and so on. That sounds great – but in which other religion besides Islam are nightly prayers and services held at this time of year, precisely during the coming weeks with their curfews? Where else is the dovetailing of social, cultural and religious life according to the guidelines of a prophet’s word with the force of law, other than among Muslims?

In this respect, there is absolutely no doubt: It is precisely these milieus that are to be rewarded once again here and even encouraged in their obvious and momentous misconduct, who have already largely disregarded the protective measures and contact rules.

Extra-Service zum Ramadan: Behörden geben Muslimen Tips zur Umgehung der Ausgangssperre

Corona variants, against which current vaccines are less effective or no longer effective at all, can also arise in Germany, according to researchers. This is particularly possible with the virus spreading in a third wave, according to Stefan Pöhlmann and Markus Hoffmann from the Leibniz Institute for Primate Research in Göttingen.

According to the information, such escape variants can arise if the virus spreads in a population with incomplete immune protection. This is also the case, for example, if the immunity slowly decreases after surviving an infection or vaccination.

In a population with a certain degree of immunity, escape variants would have an advantage over the original virus with comparable infectivity, explained Pöhlmann and Hoffmann. In such a scenario, an escape variant would become dominant relatively quickly. An example could be the mutant P.1 in Brazil.

“If there is hardly any immunity in a population, as is currently the case in Germany, an escape variant would be in direct competition with the predominant virus variants, which in turn still find enough susceptible hosts,” the scientists explained.

Then an escape variant would only prevail over a large area if it was also easier to transfer.

The experts from the German Primate Center, together with colleagues from the Ulm University Hospital, discovered that an antibody used for Covid-19 therapy was completely ineffective in variants B.1.351 (South Africa) and P.1. They are classified as escape variants. It can be assumed, however, that B.1.351 and P.1 would still be inhibited by the available vaccines.

“However, the vaccination protection may be reduced and of shorter duration.”

It is therefore all the more important to quickly achieve large-scale immunity in the population through vaccination and thus deprive the host variants that they need to spread, they argued.

In order to improve the protection against variants such as B.1.351 and P.1, the existing vaccines could be adapted. “This procedure would be similar to the vaccination strategy with which we protect ourselves against flu viruses,” explained Pöhlmann and Hoffmann.

The emergence of variants that are no longer inhibited by vaccines that are now available is “an extreme scenario, but cannot be ruled out”. In order to reduce the likelihood that escape variants will arise, the spread of the virus must be effectively contained – for example by complying with the AHA rules and vaccination across the board.

The researchers echoed the concerns of French epidemiologist Professor Didier Raoult, who has warned of the emergence of variants especially as a result of mink breeding since these animals are highly susceptible to the Coronavirus, which spreads rapidly to humans – the most likely initial source of infection. Both Denmark and Sweden have suspended mink farming after outbreaks of Covid-19.

As of January 2021, the virus had been found at 400 mink farms in at least eight countries in the EU and European Economic Area – 290 in Denmark, 69 in the Netherlands, 17 in Greece, 13 in Sweden, three in Spain, two in Lithuania and one each in France and Italy. In France, the region of Brittany has been affected by a variant associated with these animals.

In March, French health authorities warned against this variant after eight infected patients died, ARS Bretagne announced.

In a press release, the Directorate General of Health specified that its discovery was made as part of the monitoring of the cluster at Lannion hospital, in Côtes-d’Armor. “On March 13, 79 cases were identified, including 8 cases carrying the variant, confirmed by sequencing”.

The variant was placed in the VUI (Variant Under Investigation) category of the World Health Organization (WHO) because nasopharyngeal tests do not detect it. Indeed, the PCR tests corresponding to the 8 carriers of the variant were all negative. To detect it, healthcare professionals had to use serological tests or deep breathing samples.

At the end of last month, the prefect of Brittany and the local ARS announced that the 8 patient carriers had died. However, they “have not yet established the link between the variant and their deaths”.

Pierre Tattevin, head of the infectious diseases department at Rennes University Hospital, has alluded to “dozens of cases” and “deaths” on BFM TV due to the difficulty of carrying out the follow-up and the tracing of the positive cases: “The PCR tests are negative […] because the patients do not excrete it at the level of the nose, since when one takes deeper samples – for example when the patients are in intensive care and need lung samples, at that time the test is positive.”

In his weekly bulletin on YouTube, Raoult also urged regulators to ban Remdesivir as a treatment for Covid because it acts as a variant multiplier.

https://freewestmedia.com/2021/04/14/vaccine-immune-corona-variants-conceivable-says-researcher/

Italian prosecutor Andrea Bonomo said in court on Saturday that there was no reason for former Interior Minister Matteo Salvini to stand trial on charges of illegally detaining hundreds of migrants on a ship moored off the Italian coast in July 2019.

Bonomo said in a preliminary hearing in Catania, Sicily, that Salvini should not be tried because his decision did not violate international treaties.

“We also cannot talk about illegal detention because the Gregoretti Coast Guard vessel where the migrants were located was a so-called safe place to provide them with medical care,” he warned.

He added that the then government had supported Salvini’s decision and his overall position on the issue, also with regard to the cabinet’s call on the EU to discuss another mechanism for allocating migrants to countries within the EU.

Salvini has praised the prosecutor for his decision.

“I’m happy because today the public prosecution said there was no crime, no kidnapping, that I have respected national and international laws, that we have saved lives and awakened Europe. Hearing this pays me back for months and months of bitterness, so I will calmly return to my children and hope that this will be over on May 14,” Salvini said about the prosecutor telling the judge in the case that there was no crime. 

The decision on whether to continue the trial will be made on May 14.

Salvini faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted. If sentenced to more than two years behind bars, he could be banned from holding public office for the next six years, making it impossible for him to run in the 2023 parliamentary elections.

This is the second such case charging Salvini for actions he took as interior minister, during which he banned all NGO rescue ships from entering Italian ports.

The whole government wanted it, Salvini argues

In August 2019, the ship of the Spanish NGO Open Arms spent days outside Lampedusa waiting for permission to enter the port, while the situation on board worsened.

The League (Lega Nord), Salvini’s party, takes a hard line on migrants entering Italy, arguing that the country faces an unfair burden as the first entry point for people traveling from Africa to Europe.

During the blockade of ships with migrants, Salvini held the position of minister of the interior and deputy prime minister in the coalition government of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. He claims that the decision is not just his, because the whole cabinet agreed on it.

https://rmx.news/article/article/italy-shock-development-as-prosecutor-says-there-is-no-reason-for-salvini-to-be-on-trial

The federal government is determined to pass its “Democracy Promotion Act” with the Christian Democratic – Social Democratic – Coalition shortly before the end of the legislative period. At its focus are additional hundreds of millions of euros for associations and activists who are to take action against extremism.

So far, the Christian Democrats have refused because the planned law does not include their demand that state-funded activists and social workers sign a written commitment to the Basic Law and exclude cooperation with extremist groups.

Among the hundreds of organisations that are already funded by the “Live Democracy” programme and are to be better and more long-term financed with the help of the new law are many meaningful projects of renowned social sector organisations. For example, they look after dropouts from the radical right or Islamist.

However, problematic organisations also benefit from the funding. For example, the Berlin association Eoto, which sees itself as a “black empowerment association”. The Green Party local politician Jeff Kwasi Klein, who last May praised physical violence as a suitable form of protest, is one of the people who work there full-time.

The association Eoto, for which Klein is employed, is funded by the programme “Democracy Live” with more than 400,000 euros annually for the purpose of racism prevention; the social workers support black youth with so-called empowerment and train them in dealing with experiences of discrimination.

Also active in Berlin is the Islamic association Inssan, which has been granted at least 280,000 euros from the “Demokratie leben” fund in recent years. According to information from the newspaper WELT, the association’s managing director, Mohammad Hajjaj, was and is active in several associations that are considered Islamist by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Recently, the Berlin Senate also appointed Hajjaj to the expert commission for “anti-Muslim racism”.

According to Sigrid Herrmann-Marschall, an expert on Islamism, the importance of the Inssan association “cannot be underestimated”. The chairperson, Lydia Nofal, acts “as a mediator between the majority society and the network of activities of the Muslim Brotherhood”. Nofal and Hajjaj are both members of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) working group of Muslim Social Democrats and enjoy the backing of the Red-Red-Green Senate.

Various actors from the Antifa scene, in which peaceful and violent leftists come together, also benefit from the ” Demokratie leben” budget – at least 47 of the more than 100 Antifa groups nationwide are classified as “left-wing extremist” by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. For example, a recently published Antifa brochure on right-wing extremists in southern Lower Saxony was funded with 5,000 euros, according to the newspaper “taz”.

In the Berlin “Demokratie leben” project called Kiezstory, which is funded with 173,000 euros this year for the purpose of “shaping diversity”, Claudio C., who has roots in the antifa scene, is employed. He was in the headlines in February after nine pipe bombs were found in his flatmate’s room.

https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article230240943/Demokratie-leben-Auch-Islamisten-und-Antifa-profitieren.html

The trial concerning the crime of anti-state association against alleged jihadists and members of the Islamic Linz religious association Rahmet continued on Tuesday in the provincial court in the capital of Upper Austria. The Supreme Court had partially overturned the verdicts of the Graz Regional Court last year, which is why the trial is being held again. The trial was delegated to Linz because the defendants and witnesses are mostly residents of Linz.

After the main accused, the imam in the association, who had been questioned at the start of the trial the previous day, on Tuesday it was the turn of his alleged deputy as the second of the three accused. He was the secretary and gave lectures when the imam was not present. He also considers himself innocent and denied all accusations. He had designed the association’s homepage and its website in a social network. He had not known that he had placed the Islamic State flag found on the internet there. He had believed that it was only the harmless seal of the Prophet. He had always rejected IS or the terrorist organisation Jabhat al-Nusra. He confirmed that he had been involved in a Quran distribution campaign, which he described as basically “nice” because it had only had the aim of informing people about Islam.

The Linz association had never collected money for IS-fighters or their equipment, nor for questionable fellow believers in Bulgaria, he further assured. However, the accused confirmed that he had bought a telescopic sight for his brother at his request on a platform in Germany for about 200 euros and had arranged for its transport to Turkey. He had not known, however, that it could be used to upgrade a Kalashnikov rifle. He believed that the brother would sell it for profit in Turkey to earn money. He did not know whether the brother had fought for IS. He believed the brother worked in an aid organisation for Syrian refugees.

The prosecutor also accused him of having downloaded on his computer the partly brutal “44 Ways of Jihad”, an “Invitation to Jihad”, verses on “Orders to War” and a text on Jihad in Somalia. He had not distributed these in the association, the accused defended himself, nor did he support them. The representative of the prosecution also held up to him an intercepted telephone conversation in April 2014, from which he read out that he had known very well about his brother’s IS involvement. The accused described this as a translation error. The chairman of the jury court ordered a break after a discussion about the nature of the questioning.

https://www.sn.at/panorama/oesterreich/weitere-angeklagte-im-linzer-jihadisten-prozess-befragt-102376009