Law & Paneir

Last Monday in Manchester, a lone suicide bomber, Salman Ramadan Abedi killed 22 people including children and injured more than 59 others. The British-born terrorist of Libyan parents recently returned from Libya. The countries like Libya, Somalia, Syria and Iraq are considered as incubators or hot spots for terrorist recruitment. The timing and target of place where this terrorist attack happened in very much similar to Paris attacks last year. Interestingly he does not raised any alarm within the radar of the intelligence and security forces in United Kingdom. Further his profile does fit for the current characteristic of terrorists globally.  He is young, son of the immigrants parents, drop out from his studies, involved with petty crimes and associated with extremist groups. Further he is from Manchester and his knowledge on the target area is vital for success of this attack. ISIS has praised him as the solider of the caliphate after the attack. This is a most recent de...

Hate Crimes Hate crimes are the highest priority of the FBI’s Civil Rights program, not only because of the devastating impact they have on families and communities, but also because groups that preach hatred and intolerance can plant the seed of terrorism here in our country. The Bureau investigates hundreds of these cases every year and works to detect and deter further incidents through law enforcement training, public outreach, and partnerships with a myriad of community groups. Traditionally, FBI investigations of hate crimes were limited to crimes in which the perpetrators acted based on a bias against the victim’s race, color, religion, or national origin. In addition, investigations were restricted to those wherein the victim was engaged in a federally protected activity. With the passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009, the Bureau became authorized to investigate these crimes without this prohibition. This landmark legislati...

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...