'Devout' Muslim and Saudi Wife Kill 14 in Massacre - Obama Says Could Be 'Terrorism'

EXPRESS: A DEVOUT Muslim and his Saudi wife were shot dead after killing at least 14 people at a work Christmas party.

Officers confirmed the suspects as Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and Tashfeen Malik, 27.

The couple had more than 6,000 rounds of ammunition and a dozen pipe bombs on them and elsewhere, authorities said as they sought to determine whether the pair had links to Islamic militant groups.

They were a married couple who dropped off their 6-month-old baby with her grandmother hours before carrying out the deadly rampage, according to a family member.

In a press conference US President Barack Obama said it is possible the mass shooting was “terror-related” but the motive is not yet clear.

Law enforcement sources have said Farook was radicalised and was in contact with an individual under FBI investigation for terrorism links but other motives may have played a role in the shooting.

Farook attended a Christmas party with colleagues at the San Bernardino County Health Public Health Department but had left in an “angry” state, according to witnesses.

He was next seen by his co-workers dressed in battle gear and wielding an assault rifle.

The suspects have killed at least 14 people and injured another 17 - two of which [sic] remain in a critical condition, California Hospital confirmed. » | Dion Dassanayake, Peter Henn, Jake Burman & Selina Sykes | Thursday, December 3, 2015

German President Apologizes for Nazi-era Massacre

YNET NEWS: During a diplomatic trip to Greece, President Joachim Gauck visited site of 1943 atrocity to pay respect, ask the families for forgiveness.

A visibly emotional German president laid a wreath Friday at a monument in northwestern Greece to villagers massacred by German soldiers during World War II, at the end of a three-day visit that combined political talks with efforts to bring closure to wounds from the German wartime occupation of Greece.

Joachim Gauck expressed "shame" at the 1943 atrocity at Ligiades, where Nazi troops executed dozens of villagers, including months-old babies, in reprisal for a partisan attack: "With shame and pain I ask the families of those murdered for forgiveness in Germany's name."

The German president emphased: "I pay my respects to the victims of the monstrous crimes mourned here and in many places across Greece." » | Associated Press | Friday, March 07, 2014

Syrian Rebels Accused of Massacring Civilians

Armed group committed war crime in August by killing at least 190 Alawite villagers in Latakia, Human Rights Watch says.

Egypt's Ambassador to Britain Defends Assault on Opposition Protesters

Egypt's ambassador to Britain made an extraordinary defence last night of his regime's assault on opposition protesters, claiming many of the dead had been shot by their own side.

Read the article here | Damien McElroy | Friday, August 15, 2013

Inside Story: Egypt: After the 'Massacre'

As violence continues to spike in Cairo, we ask what are the risks of ignoring the different groups within the country.

French Writer Says Anders Breivik Was 'What Norway Deserves’
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Richard Millet, a respected French writer and editor, has sparked controversy for his comments on Anders Breivik, the Norwegian mass killer, whom he described as “without doubt what Norway deserves”.

Mr Millet, who says he has read all 1,500 pages of Breivik’s online manifesto, insists that he does not approve of the Norwegian gunman’s crimes.

However, he praised Breivik’s writing and cry of hatred for social democracy, immigration and multiculturalism.

“Breivik is without doubt what Norway deserves,” wrote Millet in an 18-page pamphlet.

He is “as much a child of a broken family as of an ideological and racial fracture caused by immigration from outside Europe over the last 20 years,” added Mr Millet, who has edited several award-winning books in France. » | Source: AFP | Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Islam's Critics Won't Be Silenced

LOS ANGELES TIMES: Nathan Lean wants "society" to take action against those who stand for freedom and human rights against jihad, Sharia and Islamic supremacism, for we "must be stopped." This is a veiled but clear call for restrictions on our freedom of speech. By publishing it on its Aug. 26 Op-Ed page, The Times is working against its own interests. For my opinions are certainly politically incorrect today, but if Lean succeeds in getting them criminalized, editors at The Times might find one day that they too hold an opinion unacceptable to those in power.

Lean thinks that "society" should act against my colleague Pamela Geller and me because the Norwegian mass murdererAnders Behring Breivik cited us in his manifesto. But actually, Breivik cited many, many people, including Barack Obama,John F. Kennedy and Thomas Jefferson -- who are never blamed for Breivik's murders. Also swept under the rug is the fact that Breivik’s manifesto is ideologically incoherent: So far was he from being a doctrinaire counter-jihadist that he wanted to aid Hamas and ally with jihad groups. Brevik’s real inspiration for his violence was, by his own account, Al Qaeda, as becomes clear in his manifesto when he spends 25 pages quoting extensively from the Koran and other Islamic sources. I am no more responsible for Breivik than the Beatles are for Charles Manson.

Indeed, the whole attempt to smear Geller and me with Breivik’s murders rests on several leaps of illogic and unstated assumptions. Even if Breivik’s views really were exactly the same as ours, would it therefore hold that if someone commits violence in the name of an idea, that idea is thereby discredited and must be driven out of the public discourse? In that case, precious few ideas would be left, since people at one time or another have committed violence in the name of virtually every cause under the sun. » | Robert Spencer | Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Breivik Will Not Appeal Sentence, Sorry He Did Not Kill More
Norwegian mass killer Anders Breivik has been declared sane and jailed for 21 years for murdering 77 people in July last year. He also used the sentencing as a chance to express regret that he didn't kill more people that day. Al Jazeera's Paul Brennan reports from Oslo.

Anders Behring Breivik's 21-year Jail Term Closes Norway's Darkest Chapter

THE GUARDIAN: Calls for debate on multiculturalism as far right extremist is sentenced for killing 77 in twin attacks on Utøya island and Oslo

The darkest chapter in Norway's recent history came to a close, as judges delivered a sentence that is likely to see Anders Behring Breivik spend the rest of his life in prison, before they read out harrowing accounts of the gun and bomb attacks he perpetrated last year.

An Oslo court found that Breivik, whose twin assaults killed 77 people, was sane – the verdict that he and most Norwegians had wanted.

The conclusion of Norway's most high-profile judicial case for decades provoked immediate calls for the country to engage in a more rounded and open debate on multiculturalism.

Survivors and relatives welcomed the court's decision, saying they were now able to move on with their lives, 13 months after Breivik detonated a bomb in Oslo and embarked on a shooting rampage on Utøya island. More than half of those shot were teenagers.

The 33-year-old, who had earlier admitted the attacks that traumatised the peaceful country, smirked as the court's verdict was delivered. He was given the maximum sentence of 21 years, but with a "preventive detention" clause that means his time in jail can be extended as long as he is deemed a threat to society. It is unlikely he will ever be released.

In a final parting shot, clearly designed to offend, Breivik used his chance to address the court by apologising to "militant nationalists" across Europe, apparently for not killing more people during his two attacks. » | Mark Townsend in Oslo | Friday, August 24, 2012

Breivik Verdict: Mass-murderer Declared Sane and Sentenced to 21 Years
THE GUARDIAN: Court decides confessed killer was not psychotic when he went on rampage in Oslo that left 77 people dead

Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian far-right extremist, has been sentenced to at least 21 years in prison after a court declared he was sane throughout his murderous rampage last year that killed 77 people.

The Oslo district court declared its verdict that the 33-year-old was not psychotic while carrying out the twin attacks, including the shooting of dozens of teenagers attending a political camp.

The court's decision will have delighted Breivik, who had hoped to avoid what he called the "humiliation" of being dismissed as a madman.

The mass-killer had desperately hoped the court would find him criminally culpable for the killings, claiming they were "cruel and necessary" to protect Norway from becoming overrun by Muslims. » | Mark Townsend | Friday, August 24, 2012

Video: Victims describe their loss »

Norway Remembers Victims of Massacre One Year On
In Norway, memorial services have been taking place to commemorate the victims of last year's massacre. Eight people were killed by a bomb blast at government headquarters there, and a further 69 were shot dead at a youth camp on Utoeya Island. From Oslo Barnaby Philips reports.

Anders Behring Breivik's Defence Calls for Lenient Sentence
On the last day of the trial against mass killer Anders Behring Breivik, his defence council asks the court to declare Breivik criminally accountable allowing him to take responsibility for his actions with a lenient sentence. Speaking outside the court, the leader of the Norwegian Labour party's youth wing, Eskil Pedersen – himself a survivor of the Utøya massacre – says it is obvious that Breivik is insane

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Anders Behring Breivik: History Will Exonerate Me
THE GUARDIAN: Victims' relatives walk out as trial ends with killer demanding to be set free and asking court to reject insanity claim

The trial of Anders Behring Breivik has ended with the confessed mass killer demanding to be set free and vowing that history would exonerate him for a bomb and gun rampage that killed 77 people.

As the self-styled anti-Muslim militant spoke for the last time in the 10-week proceedings, around 30 relatives of his victims walked out of the courtroom as he spoke.

In a rambling statement, Breivik lashed out at everything he perceived to be wrong with the world, from non-ethnic Norwegians representing the country in the Eurovision song contest to the sexually liberated lifestyle of the characters in the American TV show Sex and the City.

He also claimed fellow rightwing extremists were behind a small amount of explosives found outside a Swedish nuclear plant this week. The Swedish police spokesman Tommy Nyman had no comment, adding "especially not if he says it".

While some of Breivik's comments prompted laughter in the Oslo court, gravity returned when he reiterated his motive for bombing a government building in Oslo, killing eight, and hunting down teenagers at the Labour party's youth camp on Utøya island. Sixty-nine people died and dozens more were injured in one of the worst peacetime shooting massacres by a single gunman.

"History shows that you have to commit a small barbarism to prevent a bigger barbarism," the 33-year-old Norwegian said.

"The attacks on July 22 were preventive attacks to defend the indigenous Norwegian people," he said. "I therefore demand to be acquitted."

Breivik claims the governing Labour party has betrayed the country by accepting Muslim immigrants and must be stopped before turning Norway into what he called a "multiculturalist hell". » | Associated Press in Oslo | Friday, June 22, 2012

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Anders Behring Breivik Has 'Human Right' to Be Jailed: Defence
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Norwegian far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik should be punished in prison for his brutal terror attacks last July, according to the killer's defence lawyer who pushed to overrule a recommendation that his his client should face "compulsory mental health care".

The defence's closing argument began the last session of the gruelling 10-week trial in which the Nordic nation has tried to come to terms with the worst atrocity in its post-war history.

"It is not violence which lies behind his acts, but political extremism," defence lawyer Geir Lippestad argued at the end of a speech in which he sought a "more lenient standard of proof on the question of sanity", for a case he said was "without precedent".

"The accused always benefits from reasonable doubt. When the accused wishes to be punished, then what?" he asked

"If we consider basic human rights, beginning with the fact that the accused has a radical political project that makes his actions pathological, then we could deprive him of his basic human rights: the right to be responsible for one's actions."

An insanity ruling would come as a bitter disappointment to the 33-year-old in his battle to ensure that his anti-Islamic ideology is not written off as the rantings of a madman.

Breivik has described treatment in a mental hospital as “a fate worse than death” and “the ultimate humiliation”, and has considerably toned down his original rhetoric about the Knights Templar movement to sway the judges.

Many fear that the killer will use the closing speech in the trial to once again expound his radical views, arguing that he should be seen as a hero for the atrocities he committed. » | Richard Orange | Friday, June 22, 2012

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Anders Behring Breivik Resists Insanity Claim by Prosecution
THE GUARDIAN: Prosecutors claim Norwegian is a delusional psychotic schizophrenic, but killer wants to be found sane

Norway is facing the prospect that Anders Behring Breivik could evade prison and live out his days in a specially constructed hospital after prosecutors asked judges in Oslo to rule him insane.

However, Breivik, who admits killing eight people in a bomb blast in the centre of Oslo before driving to nearby island Utøya and slaughtering 69 more, mostly teenage members of the Labour party youth wing, wants to be found sane.

If he gets his way he can be sentenced to 21 years in prison, with a provision to keep him longer if still considered dangerous. Crucially for Breivik, who claims to be part of a pan-European rightwing terror network called The Knights Templar, a jail sentence would also allow him to burnish his credentials as a political prisoner rather than be written off as a madman.

The self-styled anti-Islamic militant said his victims were legitimate targets in his battle against the "cultural-Marxists" encouraging an Islamic colonisation of Europe. (+ video) » | Mark Lewis in Oslo | Thursday, June 21, 2012

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Anders Behring Breivik Trial Hears Closing Statements
The prosecution in the trial of the Norwegian far-right mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik has delivered its closing statement, calling for him to be sent to a mental institution instead of prison. The defence is likely to argue against a finding of insanity on Friday, the last day of the 10-week trial. Breivik is on trial for the murder of 77 people in a bombing and shooting massacre last summer

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Prosecutors Want Mass Killer Breivik Ruled Insane
CHICAGO TRIBUNE: OSLO (Reuters) - Prosecutors asked a Norwegian court on Thursday to declare far- right mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik insane and commit him to a mental institution, in line with their original indictment.

Breivik, who admits to killing 77 people in twin attacks last year, most of them teenagers at a Labour Party summer camp, says he should be declared sane, but acquitted on grounds that he was defending the Norwegian people by fighting the supporters of Muslim immigration.

Court-appointed psychiatrists have come to opposing conclusions. One team declared Breivik a psychotic paranoid schizophrenic, while a second concluded that he most likely suffered from a narcissistic personality disorder but was not psychotic, and could therefore be held criminally responsible. » | Reuters | Thursday, June 21, 2012

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Anders Behring Breivik Trial Nears End with Closing Arguments
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The trial of Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people in Norway last July, enters the final stretch on Thursday with the prosecutors' call for him to be sent either to prison or to a mental hospital.

Prosecutors Svein Holden and Inga Bejer Engh are to begin presenting their much-awaited closing arguments at 1000 GMT, when they will reveal whether they want the court to find Breivik responsible or not for his actions.

They will base their request on psychiatric evaluations of the 33-year-old right wing extremist which have sharply contradicted each other.

In the formal indictment presented in March, in which Breivik was charged with "acts of terror", the two prosecutors called for him to be committed to psychiatric care but left the door open to change their minds if new information were to surface about his mental health.

They adopted that line based on the sole psychiatric evaluation that had been completed at the time which diagnosed Breivik as insane, suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and therefore not responsible for his actions.

That conclusion caused an uproar in Norway, with many stunned to learn that the man who spent years secretly and meticulously planning his twin attacks could not be held responsible for his actions. » | Source: AFP | Thursday, June 21, 2012

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Anders Breivik Was Challenging and Aggressive Child, Court Hears
THE GUARDIAN: Forensic psychiatrists give evidence to Oslo court where Breivik is on trial for the murder of 77 people in Norway last year

Norwegian social workers considered removing Anders Behring Breivik from his mother when he was four years old because she was unable to cope with his behaviour, described in court as challenging, clinging, hyperactive and aggressive.

The claim came as it emerged that for a brief period in the 1980s Breivik and his sister were taken away from his mother – who was separated from his father – and put into respite care at her request.

The evidence of social problems beginning in Breivik's childhood came in a detailed psychiatric assessment presented to the Oslo court where Breivik, 33, is on trial for the murder of 77 people in a bombing and shooting massacre in Norway last summer, including scores of young people shot at a political camp on the island of Utøya.

The evidence was being given by two forensic psychiatrists, Torgeir Husby and Synne Sørheim, who controversially ruled that Breivik was suffering from "paranoid schizophrenia" when he carried out the murders. » | Peter Beaumont in Oslo | Thursday, June 14, 2012

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Anders Behring Breivik Tells 'Beautiful Nordic' Prosecutors He Is Their 'Defender'
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Anders Behring Breivik has demanded that his two ethnic Norwegian prosecutors recognise him as the true "defender of their heritage".

Fixing prosecutors Inga Bejer Ingh and Svein Holden with a direct stare, he attacked their argument that his extreme anti-islamic ideology was the result of "delusions" as "very arrogant."

"Bejer Engh, a beautiful Nordic woman, should recognise the defender of her own heritage," he said. "And Holden, a beautiful young Nordic man, should recognise the defender of his own genealogy."

Judge Wenche Arntzen immediately stopped him, cautioning him for commenting on the prosecutors and not information from the witness.

The 33-year-old extremist has always denied being a racist or a fascist, arguing that he defends the rights of indigenous people across the world, and likening the condition of today's Norwegians to Native Americans in the nineteenth century.

He expressed satisfaction that Randi Rosenqvist, a consulting psychiatrist who saw him in prison, told the court she believed that it was his extreme ideology had led him to plan and carry out last year's brutal massacre, rather than paranoid schizophrenia or another mental disorder. » | Richard Orange, Oslo | Tuesday, June 12, 2012

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