Law & Paneir

ABU SAYYAF GROUP aka  al Harakat al Islamiyya (the Islamic Movement) Description:  The Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) was designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization on October 8, 1997. ASG is the most violent terrorist group operating in the Philippines and claims to promote an independent Islamic state in western Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago. The group split from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in the early 1990s. Activities:  ASG has committed kidnappings for ransom, bombings, ambushes of security personnel, public beheadings, assassinations, and extortion. In April 2000, an ASG faction kidnapped 21 people, including 10 Western tourists, from a resort in Malaysia. In May 2001, the group kidnapped three U.S. citizens and 17 Philippine citizens from a tourist resort in Palawan, Philippines; several hostages were murdered, including U.S. citizen Guillermo Sobero. A hostage rescue operation in June 2002 freed U.S. hostage Gracia Burnham; her husband, U.S. nationa...

By Sheith Khidhir Bin Abu Bakar   PETALING JAYA: A criminologist has urged members of the public to be alert against well-trained thieves. R Paneir Selvam, chairman of the Association of Legal and Policy Researchers, told FMT he believed many thieves on the prowl today had improved their art because they were receiving top-notch training. He said the recent CCTV footage of a pickpocketing incident at Sunway Pyramid appeared to show that the culprits had received such training. According to a report on the incident, fifteen seconds was all it took for the victim to lose her mobile phone to the thieves. “There’s a possibility these thieves received their training from a guild for thieves either inside or outside the country,” Selvam said. He said the two pickpockets, who appeared to be women, could well be members of an international crime syndicate. “Organised crime operates internationally,” he said. “What usually happens is they send these people to go to a pa...

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP):  The PFLP, one of the original members of the PLO,  is a Marxist-Leninist group founded in 1967 by George Habash. The group was against the 1993 Declaration of Principles; participation in the PLO was also suspended. Participated in meetings with Arafat's Fatah party and PLO representatives in 1999 to discuss national unity but continues to oppose negotiations with Israel. Committed numerous international terrorist attacks during the 1970s, has allegedly been involved in attacks against Israel since the beginning of the second intifadah in September 2000. Syria has been a key source of safe haven and limited logistical support. Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC):  This group, led by Ahmed Jibril, split from the PFLP in 1968, wanting to focus more on terrorist than political action; violently opposed to the PLO and is closely tied to Syria and Iran. The PFLP-GC conducted mul...

By  Anne Speckhard, Ph.D The draw for young people to join a terrorist group has never been as strong as it is today. I know because I have spent over a decade interviewing over four hundred terrorists around the world and, in the case of suicide bombers who are already dead, interviewing their family members, close associates and even the hostages they held. My questions always centered on what put these (mostly young) people on the terrorist trajectory. Could their movement along this trajectory have been prevented? Once on the trajectory, could they have been moved back off it by some sort of intervention? From my research I learned firsthand what makes up the prime ingredients of the terrorist cocktail. First, there is a group with a political aim that has framed a problem and its solution in violent terms – a group that is willing to use terrorism. Second, the group’s ideology argues that the group’s political aim and purpose is so important to justify the use of ter...

By Nick Grothaus In our  Types of Terrorism post  we laid out the different kinds of terrorism that exist. Here we discuss the causes of terrorism, or more specifically, why people become terrorists. In order to combat terrorism, we must first understand the drivers of terrorism. Identifying these drivers allows policy makers to target terrorism at its root causes rather than fight those who have already become radicalized. The causes of terrorism have been under much debate. There is evidence for and against every reason on this list however, more often than not, it is a combination of several that lead to terrorism. Below are the most common causes cited by leaders in the counterterrorism field. Causes of Terrorism Ethno-nationalism The desire of a population to break away from a government or ruling power and create a state of their own can cause the formation of terrorist groups. In the 20 th  century this was seen often times with region...

1.   Political terrorism involves an overall, overarching moral philosophy that is used to justify acts of terrorism, while criminal terrorism generally involves personal greed and selfishness.  This is a very important point.  There is a moral justification for the use of political terrorism, an ends justifies the means notion because we are going to yield a better overall social state.  There is no such reasoning in the criminal terrorist. 2.   Political terrorism can involve activities to obtain money, but those dollars are used for political ends.  Generally speaking, criminal terrorism has an economic basis. 3.   Political terrorists' targets tend to be almost indiscriminate and unpredictable.  Usually no one person is particularly the target, therefore no one is safe.  Criminal terrorists targets on the other hand tend to be more logical - a bank, an armored car - and the targets tend to be specific people, th...

According to the National Advisory Committee on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals, there are six distinct types of terrorism. All of them share the common traits of being violent acts that destroy property, invoke fear and attempt to harm the lives of civilians. 1. Civil disorder is a sometimes violent form of protest held by a group of individuals, usually in opposition to a political policy or action. They are intended to send a message to a political group that “the people” are unhappy and demand change. The protests are intended to be non-violent, but they do sometimes result in large riots in which private property is destroyed and civilians are injured or killed. 2. Political terrorism is used by one political faction to intimidate another. Although government leaders are the ones who are intended to receive the ultimate message, it is the citizens who are targeted with violent attacks. 3. Non political terrorism is a terrorist act perpetrated by a group for any other...

On the campaign trail, no foreign policy issue seized Donald Trump more than the fight against the Islamic State. Once president, he signed an executive order giving his generals 30 days to produce a plan to defeat the terrorist group, and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis gave him options on Feb. 27.  Yet if Mr. Trump has decided on a new plan for defeating   ISIS , it isn’t obvious. The missions underway in Iraq and Syria were set in motion by President Barack Obama. While they have achieved some tactical successes, they point to a deepening American military involvement in both countries. The question now is whether Mr. Trump will continue, or accelerate, that trend.  Last week, American officials announced plans to nearly double their forces in Syria with 400 more troops and the Pentagon is reportedly considering sending 1,000 extra troops to Kuwait as a reserve force. They are also weighing more troops for Iraq, where about 5,000 Americans are traini...

By  Gina Stepp The point of terrorism is psychological: to instill fear and a sense of helplessness in victims in order to force specific outcomes or behaviors. But psychological forces are at work in the terrorist too, and psychologists and policymakers alike are trying to understand them. What makes a terrorist? And how does one stop the assembly line?  Contrary to past assumptions, researchers have found little to back up the idea that terrorists suffer from economic deprivation, lack of education or high levels of mental disorders.  Georgetown University’s Fathali Moghaddam, who specializes in intergroup relations and conflict, describes   the making of a terrorist   as a staircase where each successive floor is characterized by specific ways of thinking. On the ground floor, individuals are disgruntled because they feel deprived and have particular perceptions of fairness. These may be inaccurate, but if no doors seem open to pa...

 By Christopher M. Centner A bstract  Pundits and politicians have proposed many models to explain al Qaeda's actions. One theory postulated for understanding terrorist organizations such as al Qaeda is that the group might be like a cult. In this view, Usama bin Laden is a controlling figure, and the members are disconnected from the greater Islamic community. If this theory held, then it might be possible to create a cultic model of terrorist groups in general and to understand their behavior as more akin to a destructive religious movement than to a violent political faction. This paper will explain that al Qaeda is a religiously spawned movement that seeks to create an Islamic State, and even an Islamic World Order. The paper will explain that al Qaeda, and most terrorist groups, are not cults in the traditional sense. Al Qaeda has, however, some cult-like attributes. This paper will also propose certain indicators that might be useful in identifying religious ...