Paris Attacks Gunman has Refugee Status, reached France via Greece

http://www.newsbharati.com/ Paris Attacks Gunman has Refugee Status, reached France via Greece.

Paris terrorist held Syrian refugee passport, says Greek government official



ONE of the terrorists responsible for the slaughter of 129 people in the Paris attacks held a passport used to enter Europe from Syrian, officials have claimed.



By ROB VIRTUE

PUBLISHED: 00:23, Sun, Nov 15, 2015 | UPDATED: 00:27, Sun, Nov 15, 2015











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Terror attacks in ParisGETTY•REUTERS

Greek officials said the passport of the man showed he was Syrian

The shocking development suggests the killer may have been posing as a refugee before travelling across the continent to carry out the atrocity.



Officials have also revealed a second man who carried out the mass murder was likely to have a passed through to the continent in a similar way.



A Greek government official revealed the first terrorist, who died in the series of attacks on the French capital, held the document of a man who had passed into the southern European country, probably by refugee boat, last month.



The passport was found near the body of the terrorist. Greece said the holder of the document arrived in mainland Europe from the island of Leros, suggesting he had made his way there by sea.



It has been revealed the man was one of the suicide bombers at the Stade de France. He was not known to the French authorities.



Citizen Protection Minister Nikos Toskas, in charge of police forces in Greece, said: "On the case of the Syrian passport found at the scene of the terrorist attack, we announce that the passport holder had passed from Leros on October 3 where he was identified based on EU rules.



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the passport holder had passed from Leros on October 3 where he was identified based on EU rules

Nikos Toskas

"We will continue the painstaking and persistent effort to ensure the security of our country and Europe under difficult circumstances, insisting on complete identification of those arriving.



"We do not know if the passport was checked by other countries through which the holder likely passed."



A Greek police force source said the passport owner was a young man who had arrived on a small vessel from Turkey with a group of 69 other refugees.



He had his fingerprints taken by officials.



Greek officials revealed a second terror suspect was also likely to have passed to an island via the same route.



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They are currently investigating the development and are looking to match the remains of the attackers with the passports.



Police have refused to name the Syrian passport holder, saying France wanted to keep it from the public.



But they say the man was believed to have left Greece to go to Macedonia



Tony Smith, former head of UK Border Force said it was "very worrying".



The migration expert said: "We expected either lone wolves or home grown terrorists radicalised before travelling to Syria and then coming back.



"The complexities of this group, that they were fingerprinted, suggests that there have been some breaches of external barriers in Europe."



The latest development comes as Belgian police have arrested a number of people in Brussels suspected of being linked to the attacks, according to the country's justice minister Koen Geens.



France has declared a three-day period of mourning following the killingsGETTY

France has declared a three-day period of mourning following the killings

French media reported three of the attackers were from the Molenbeek area of Belgium, where police raids were carried out today.



An eye-witness said one of the cars used by the terrorists had a Belgian numberplate. Another car is also believed to have a Belgian numberplate, French sources said.



Both vehicles were black.



Another of the terrorists, who carried out killings at the Bataclan theatre, is said to have been from the Paris suburb of Courcoronnes, 20 miles south of the French capital.



He was understood to have Islamic links and was known to the French authorities.



The French prosecutor said the 30-year-old had been arrested for eight minor offences in the country and was on the radicalisation watch list since 2010.

Paris Attack- French Protests Against Muslims For Terrorism

http://www.newsbharati.com/ Paris Attack- French Protests Against Muslims For Terrorism.

Muslims Around The World Condemn Paris Attacks Claimed By ISIS

Muslim leaders the world over are condemning the horrific terror attacks that struck Paris Friday night, expressing outrage and shock at an onslaught of shootings and bombings that left at least 120 dead and hundreds wounded.

The outpouring of support for the victims and and disgust for the attacks began even before ISIS, the militant terrorist group current terrorizing entire sections of Iraq and Syria, claimed responsibility for the carnage. Muslim imams, scholars, commentators, and average Muslims expressed grief and horror using social media. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, an Islamic movement founded in British India in the 19th century, released a statement rebuking the “barbaric attacks.”

In Ireland, the Imam of the Al-Mustafa Islamic Centre and Chair of the Irish Muslim Peace & Integration Council, offered prayers for the victims and dismissed terrorist’s claims to Islam.

“My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Paris and every other place on earth plagued by sick men with weapons and bombs,” Imam Umar Al-Qadri said. “Terrorists have no religion whatsoever. Their religion is intolerance, hatred for Peace.”



Shuja Shafi, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, repeated Al-Qadri’s rejection of ISIS.

“This attack is being claimed by the group calling themselves ‘Islamic State’,” he said. “There is nothing Islamic about such people and their actions are evil, and outside the boundaries set by our faith.”

The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar University, the thousand-year-old, highly influential center for Sunni Muslim scholarship, called the attacks “odious” and called on the world to “unite to face this monster,” according to French magazine Jeunea Frique.

There is nothing Islamic about such people and their actions are evil, and outside the boundaries set by our faith.

Leaders of several Muslim-majority nations also spoke out. Iranian president Hassan Rouhani called the attacks a “crime against humanity,” Qatari foreign minister Khaled al-Attiyah described them as “heinous,” and Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister declared they were “in violation and contravention of all ethics, morals and religions.” Saudi Arabia’s highest religious body also spoke out, saying “terrorists are not sanctioned by Islam and these acts are contrary to values of mercy it brought to the world.”

Joko Widodo, president of Indonesia — the largest Muslim nation population-wise — said “Indonesia condemns the violence that took place in Paris.”

In the United States, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim social justice group, quickly issued a press release rejecting terrorism — something they do regularly in response to such incidents. Their statement also made mention of a bombing in Beirut, Lebanon on Thursday that wounded 200 and killed 45. Three residents of Dearborn, Michigan lost their lives in that attack attack, which ISIS also claimed responsibility for.

“These savage and despicable attacks on civilians, whether they occur in Paris, Beirut or any other city, are outrageous and without justification,” CAIR’s statement read. “We condemn these horrific crimes in the strongest terms possible. Our thoughts and prayers are with the loved ones of those killed and injured and with all of France. The perpetrators of these heinous attacks must be apprehended and brought to justice.”

CAIR is also part of a broad coalition of Muslim groups scheduled to hold a press conference noon Saturday to collectively condemn the attacks. The group is said to include representatives from CAIR, American Muslims for Palestine, Islamic Circle of North America, Muslim Alliance in North America, Muslim American Society, Muslim Legal Fund of America, Muslim Ummah of North America, and the Mosque Cares.

Pope Francis appeared to echo their rejection of ISIS’s religious claims in a phone interview with the Italian Bishops’ Conference television network on Friday. Explaining that he sees the violence as part of a “piecemeal Third World War,” he said “there is no religious or human justification” for the attacks.

[The pope] said ‘there is no religious or human justification’ for the attacks.

“I am close to the people of France, to the families of the victims, and I am praying for all of them,” Pope Francis said. “I am moved and I am saddened. I do not understand, these things hard to understand.”

The Vatican seconded the pope on Saturday.

“We are shocked by this new manifestation of maddening, terrorist violence and hatred which we condemn in the most radical way together with the pope and all those who love peace,” said Rev. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican’s chief spokesman said in a statement.

Paris Terror Attack, Bashar Al-Assad Reaction

http://www.newsbharati.com/ Paris Terror Attack, Bashar Al-Assad Reaction.



Bashar al-Assad Blames Paris Attacks on France’s Foreign Policy

France’s support for opponents of Syrian regime was reason for attack, says Syria’s president

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, pictures in Damascus on Nov. 14, said that France’s foreign policy had contributed to the attacks that killed 127 people in Paris. ENLARGE

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, pictures in Damascus on Nov. 14, said that France’s foreign policy had contributed to the attacks that killed 127 people in Paris. PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

By SAM DAGHER in Beirut

Nov. 14, 2015 9:09 a.m. ET

7 COMMENTS

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Saturday that Friday’s terror attacks in Paris were a direct result of French backing for the Syrian opposition in its quest to topple his regime.



Speaking to reporters in the Syrian capital Damascus after meeting a visiting delegation of French lawmakers and journalists, Mr. Assad said he was ready to cooperate with the French government in the battle against Islamic State, should the French abandon their goal of regime change in Syria.



“Act in the interest of your people,“ Mr. Assad said, referring to the foreign policy of French President François Hollande. ”The first question asked by every French citizen today is, ‘Have the French policies over the past five years brought any good to the French people?’ The answer is no, so what I ask him to do is to act in the interest of the French people—which means changing his policies.”



Mr. Assad said he was ready to share intelligence with French authorities if they altered their course in Syria.



“We can’t speak about intelligence sharing to fight terrorism when French government policies all feed into supporting terrorism,” he said.



Mr. Assad regards all those fighting his regime “terrorists” whether they are Islamic State militants or secular and relatively moderate rebels.



France has been in the forefront of Western countries in backing the Syrian opposition politically, financially and logistically since the conflict began in 2011.



Along with other countries in the West, it has provided military and financial support to the so-called Free Syrian Army, an umbrella rebel group made up mostly of defected Syrian army officers and soldiers.