Australia bans a citizen with alleged IS links from returning from Syria

2026/02/20 2 Comments

Clear message by PM Albanese:

…Former Islamic State fighters from multiple countries, their wives and children have been detained in camps since the militant group lost control of its territory in Syria in 2019. Though defeated, the group still has sleeper cells that carry out deadly attacks in both Syria and Iraq.

Australian governments have repatriated Australian women and children from Syrian detention camps on two occasions. Other Australians have also returned without government assistance.

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday reiterated his position announced a day earlier that his government would not help repatriate the latest group.

“These are people who chose to go overseas to align themselves with an ideology which is the caliphate, which is a brutal, reactionary ideology and that seeks to undermine and destroy our way of life,” Albanese told reporters.

He was referring to the militants’ capture of wide swaths of land more than a decade ago that stretched across Syria and Iraq, territory where IS established its so-called caliphate. Jihadis from foreign countries traveled to Syria at the time to join the IS. Over the years, they had families and raised children there.

“We are doing nothing to repatriate or to assist these people. I think it’s unfortunate that children are caught up in this, that’s not their decision, but it’s the decision of their parents or their mother,” Albanese added.

Source: Australia bans a citizen with alleged IS links from returning from Syria

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Robson: Canada has a youth extremism problem it can’t continue to ignore

2026/02/18 2 Comments

Not sure how practical or implementable it is, and existing prevention programs have a mixed record, but focus on behaviours, rather than beliefs is appropriate:

….A practical National Polarization Metrics model

Canada does not need a new bureaucracy. It needs a light-touch doctrine that makes prevention routine. A “National Polarization Metrics” model would use behavioural indicators that are measurable and non-partisan, focusing on coercive targeting and intimidation rather than beliefs: repeated harassment aimed at identifiable groups; doxxing and coordinated pile-ons; credible threats; and violence-normalizing signalling that changes what peers believe is acceptable.

That doctrine should assign accountable ownership. Every campus and school board needs an escalation lead with a clear mandate to consistently log incidents, coordinate support and safety planning, quickly preserve evidence, and trigger referrals when thresholds are met.

Far from weakening civil liberties, this reduces arbitrary decision-making and makes outcomes less dependent on institutional mood.

It also requires routable handoffs. Educational settings should have a consistent pathway for when matters stay at the level of documentation and support, when they require municipal policing involvement, and when patterns suggest coordination or mobilization indicators that justify a threat-assessment channel. Canada’s National Strategy on Countering Radicalization to Violence frames early intervention as a national priority, but it leaves Canada without a single escalation ladder that is understood—end-to-end—across education systems, municipal police, and federal threat assessment.

Finally, evidence preservation must become doctrine. A standardized 24-72-hour capture-and-preserve practice—time-stamped collection, secure storage, minimal access logging, and a consistent referral format—would strengthen downstream deterrence without criminalizing student life….

Prevention must become doctrine, not late reaction

A pluralist society can withstand disagreement. What it cannot withstand is normalized intimidation combined with institutional paralysis—especially when digital ecosystems accelerate conflict faster than administrators, police, or courts can react. If Canada wants to confront its fault lines before they deepen, it must stop treating youth extremism as cultural weather and start treating it as a measurable pathway.

That means building the missing bridge: shared indicators, accountable ownership, rapid evidence preservation, and standardized handoffs. Not to stigmatize communities, and not to criminalize student life—but to ensure coercion and violence-normalizing signalling do not become the price of campus politics, or the prelude to community harm.

Daniel Robson is a Canadian independent journalist specializing in digital extremism, national security, and counterterrorism. 

Source: Canada has a youth extremism problem it can’t continue to ignore

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“Les parents de Jack Letts, détenu en Syrie, veulent revoir leur fils”

2026/02/10 Leave a comment

Seeing less coverage in English language media than in previous years. Parental nightmare:

“En 2019, en raison du risque qu’il poserait à la sécurité du pays, Jack, qui est né et qui a grandi au Royaume-Uni, s’est fait déchoir de sa citoyenneté britannique. Il ne lui reste que sa citoyenneté canadienne, obtenue par filiation. À l’époque, Ottawa avait déploré que Downing Street se soit « déchargé de ses responsabilités ».

Depuis, le gouvernement canadien refuse de rapatrier Jack, comme tous les autres ressortissants canadiens soupçonnés d’avoir combattu avec Daech. En 2023, la Cour d’appel fédérale avait donné raison à Ottawa en précisant qu’il n’existait pas de « droit absolu » permettant de contraindre l’État à rapatrier ses citoyens afin de « les soustraire aux répercussions de leurs actions ».

Sally Lane espère qu’Ottawa révisera sa position à la lumière des récents développements. Si Jack est traduit en justice en Irak, il risque de subir un procès expéditif et partial, pourrait être contraint de passer aux aveux sous la torture et être condamné à la peine de mort, craignent ses parents.

“« Les abus du système judiciaire en Irak sont bien connus », mentionne Mme Lane. « J’espère que l’attention médiatique va réellement forcer le gouvernement canadien à agir [en le rapatriant], ce qu’il a refusé de faire jusqu’à présent. » Jack pourrait ensuite subir un procès ici, soutient John Letts.

Depuis des années, les autorités kurdes et états-uniennes réclament que les détenus étrangers retournent dans leurs pays d’origine. « Je pense que les Américains utilisent ces transferts comme une technique de rapatriement sous haute pression. C’est la manière qu’ils ont trouvée pour forcer les pays réticents à rapatrier leurs ressortissants », confie Mme Lane.”

“Extrémisme
Les parents de Jack — qui n’ont pas pu parler à leur fils depuis 2017 — se disent tous deux convaincus de son innocence. Jack, qui s’était converti à l’islam à 16 ans et qui s’est rendu en Syrie à 18 ans, s’est fait arrêter parce qu’il se trouvait dans le territoire contrôlé par Daech, clament-ils.



« Ce n’est pas parce que vous travaillez ou vivez dans l’espace géographique contrôlé par Daech que vous êtes forcément membre de Daech », mentionne son père. Plusieurs médias, qui ont affublé leur fils du surnom de Jihadi Jack, l’ont toutefois dépeint comme un homme ayant été radicalisé.



Sally Lane et John Letts ont eux-mêmes dû faire face à la justice en 2019 pour avoir envoyé de l’argent à leur fils. Ils ont été jugés coupables d’un chef lié au financement du terrorisme, puisque l’argent envoyé aurait pu être utilisé par Daech, a statué le tribunal.”

Source: “Les parents de Jack Letts, détenu en Syrie, veulent revoir leur fils”

In 2019, due to the risk he would pose to the security of the country, Jack, who was born and raised in the United Kingdom, was deprived of his British citizenship. All he has left is his Canadian citizenship, obtained by filiation. At the time, Ottawa deplored that Downing Street had “discharged its responsibilities”.

Since then, the Canadian government has refused to repatriate Jack, like all other Canadian nationals suspected of fighting with Daesh. In 2023, the Federal Court of Appeal ruled in favor of Ottawa by specifying that there was no “absolute right” to force the State to repatriate its citizens in order to “subtract them from the repercussions of their actions”.

Sally Lane hopes that Ottawa will revise its position in light of recent developments. If Jack is brought to justice in Iraq, he risks an expedited and biased trial, could be forced to confess under torture and be sentenced to death, his parents fear.

“The abuses of the judicial system in Iraq are well known,” says Ms. Lane. “I hope that the media attention will really force the Canadian government to act [by repatriating it], which it has refused to do so far. “Jack could then face a trial here,” says John Letts. For years, the Kurdish and American authorities have been demanding that foreign prisoners return to their countries of origin. “I think Americans are using these transfers as a high-pressure repatriation technique. This is the way they have found to force reluctant countries to repatriate their nationals, “says Ms. Lane.”

“Extremism

Jack’s parents – who have not been able to talk to their son since 2017 – both say they are convinced of his innocence. Jack, who converted to Islam at the age of 16 and went to Syria at the age of 18, was arrested because he was in the territory controlled by Daesh, they claim.

“It is not because you work or live in the geographical area controlled by Daesh that you are necessarily a member of Daesh,” says his father. Several media outlets, which gave their son the nickname Jihadi Jack, however, portrayed him as a radicalized man.

Sally Lane and John Letts themselves had to face justice in 2019 for sending money to their son. They were found guilty of a charge related to the financing of terrorism, since the money sent could have been used by Daesh, the court ruled.”

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Dosanjh: Canada has put up with Khalistani terrorists for long enough

2025/06/23 Leave a comment

Of note from former British Columbia premier and Liberal minister:

….After decades of frustration over the West’s indifference to the Khalistani menace, India finally sees signs of progress, as the Trump administration appears to be acting on the threat in the United States. Following U.S. National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard’s meetings with Indian officials in New Delhi in March, the FBI arrested a Khalistani terrorist with suspected links to the ISI.

While inviting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the G7 Summit in Alberta was a welcome move to mend Canada-India relations, the Carney government can ill-afford to continue ignoring the Khalistani threat.

As the past four decades have shown, permitting extremist groups with criminal tendencies to operate unbridled in Canada has severely undermined the country’s national security and public safety interests.

The Khalistan movement is not a legitimate political cause. It is an extremist, hate-fest-cum-transnational-criminal-entity that was responsible for Canada’s deadliest terror attack and has made our streets less safe. There is nothing Canadian about a movement that radicalizes children to hate, and threatens and glorifies the assassination of foreign leaders.

As former prime minister Stephen Harper rightly counselled, it’s time for Canada’s political class to “sever” ties with Khalistani separatists and treat them with the contempt that murderous terrorists and criminals deserve.

Source: Opinion: Canada has put up with Khalistani terrorists for long enough

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Violent extremists are using antisemitism to recruit in Canada: CSIS report

2025/02/21 Leave a comment

Not surprising, and presumably many are also using anti-Muslim commentary for the same purpose:

Ideologically motivated violent extremist groups are using antisemitism in a bid to recruit followers and inspire violence, according to a report from Canada’s spy agency.

The report dated May 2024, released under the access to information law by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), said the extremist groups are also tapping into current events, such as the Israel-Hamas conflict, to build support.

“Ideologically Motivated Violent Extremists routinely weave antisemitic commentary into their narratives in order to inspire violence and recruit individuals,” says the report. “These new adherents, in turn, use antisemitic commentary, often tailored to current events, in order to disseminate violent messaging.”

“Thus, antisemitic beliefs, with violent undertones, are disseminated jointly to an ever-expanding circle of recipients.”

The report, obtained by the University of Ottawa’s Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic and shared with CBC News, says much of that antisemitic content is circulated via social media.

“Social media is the main pathway for the consumption of antisemitic and violent extremist content, be it via popular rhetoric available from mainstream providers, or via influencers who actively convey antisemitic content or conspiracy theories,” says the report. “The narratives encourage hate crimes, violence and terrorism.”

The report says the continual increase in incidents targeting the Jewish community will normalize antisemitism in mainstream Canadian society and will likely be exacerbated by the conflict in the Middle East.

It also says pro-Palestinian protests and university encampments “are unlikely to lead to or be staging grounds for violent extremist acts.”

The agency places a number of different groups into the category of Ideologically Motivated Violent Extremist (IMVE) including far-right extremists, anti-authority groups, anarchists, xenophobic violence and violence related to gender such as incels and anti-2SLGBTQ+ groups. Religiously Motivated Violent Extremist (RMVE) groups such as those that support Al-Qaida or Daesh, also known as the Islamic State, fall into a separate category.

While the report says it is difficult to measure the precise level of antisemitism in Canada, it says the number of hate-motivated incidents directed at the Jewish and Arab/Muslim communities reported to police since Oct 7, 2023, have risen….

Source: Violent extremists are using antisemitism to recruit in Canada: CSIS report

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Rioux | La solitude des profs

2024/10/19 Leave a comment

A noter:

…En France, les islamistes s’évertuent à « maintenir un niveau de connaissances faible afin de tuer l’esprit critique et le rationalisme, l’imaginaire et la fiction, ou encore ignorer l’Histoire, qui n’aurait aucun intérêt pour la connaissance de Dieu », dit l’historien Pierre Vermeren. Sans parler de l’éducation sexuelle…

On ne s’étonnera pas que, laissés à eux-mêmes, 56 % des professeurs français s’autocensurent sur la Shoah, le conflit israélo-palestinien, et n’osent plus montrer à leurs élèves la Vénus de Botticelli. Avant l’assassinat de Samuel Paty, ils n’étaient que 38 %. Pourtant, combien sont-ils à se cacher la tête dans le sable sans même oser prononcer le mot « islamisme » ? Face à la démission de ceux qui ne veulent pas faire de vagues, ne vous demandez pas pourquoi les professeurs se sentent abandonnés.

—

… In France, Islamists strive to “maintain a low level of knowledge in order to kill critical thinking and rationalism, imagination and fiction, or ignore History, which would have no interest in the knowledge of God,” says historian Pierre Vermeren. Not to mention sex education…

We will not be surprised that, left to themselves, 56% of French teachers self-censor the Shoah, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and no longer dare to show their students the Botticelli Venus. Before the assassination of Samuel Paty, they were only 38%. However, how many of them hide their heads in the sand without even daring to say the word “Islamism”? Faced with the resignation of those who do not want to make waves, do not ask yourself why teachers feel abandoned.

Source: Chronique | La solitude des profs

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Terry Newman: Trudeau’s Canada safe for alleged terrorist targeting New York Jews

2024/09/09 Leave a comment

One of the first pieces in mainstream media that ventures into country of origin and values arguments against immigration in addition to housing, healthcare etc:

…Canada needs to slow immigration for a number of reasons: lack of housing (it’s unfair to bring immigrants here when they have nowhere to live), rising unemployment, increasing social unrest, and decreasing social cohesion. At the very least, Canada needs to slow immigration from countries whose residents are currently hostile to Canada and the United States. This isn’t rocket science, and the notion that even discussing immigration in any way makes you a racist needs to be put to bed once and for all. There are countries with governments and citizens who hate our way of life and want to destroy it, and they are quite vocal about it. Canada needs a government that is mature enough to recognize this reality in order to keep citizens safe. This does not make us less empathetic. It makes us smart.

Source: Terry Newman: Trudeau’s Canada safe for alleged terrorist targeting New York Jews

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Jesse Kline: The Canadian terrorist supporter who Iran loves

2024/08/23 Leave a comment

Indeed. And shameful:

There are some awards that should give recipients pause and make them reconsider their life choices. Like receiving a Razzie Award for worst actor, a Grand Cross of the German Eagle from the Nazis or a human rights award from the Islamic Republic of Iran. But for Canadian terror apologist Charlotte Kates, the Iranian regime’s recognition of her anti-Israel campaign is considered a badge of honour.

Kates is the international co-ordinator of the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, a registered Canadian non-profit that was founded by members of, and is closely associated with, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which Canada recognizes as a terrorist entity.

Samidoun is also responsible for organizing and funding many of the vile anti-Israel protests that have taken place on Canadian streets since October 7.

Readers may remember Kates as the woman who stood in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery in April, shouting “Long live October 7!” and praising the massacre in which 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, were brutally raped and murdered, and over 250 were taken into captivity, where many remain to this day.

Kates was arrested as part of a hate-crime investigation and released on the condition that she not attend any rallies, pending a court date in the fall. But that did not stop her from boarding a plane to Tehran, where she — along with five other individuals, including slain Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh — received an Islamic Human Rights Award for her “anti-Zionist activities” earlier this month.

A couple days later, Kates appeared as a guest on Iranian TV, clad in a hijab and appropriately spaced from her male host, where she blamed “Zionist organizations and political officials” for her arrest and opined about the “lie of so-called western democracy and concern for human rights.”

Iran, of course, has one of the world’s most dismal human rights records. This is the country where, in 2022, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was arrested and subsequently murdered for improperly wearing a headscarf in public. The government crackdown on the ensuing protests resulted in hundreds of deaths, tens of thousands of arrests and numerous executions….

Source: Jesse Kline: The Canadian terrorist supporter who Iran loves

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Gurski: Again, the Liberals show they don’t really understand national security

2024/07/02 Leave a comment

Interesting commentary on the IRGC listing and related security issues:

Last week saw a flurry of activity from the Canadian government on national security.  First, it announced on June 19 that the IRGC — Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — had been formally “listed” as a terrorist entity. Then the Senate approved Bill C-70 calling for the establishment of a foreign agent registry.

I will defer comments on C-70 for later and focus on the significance – if any – of the decision to add the IRGC to a large number of “listed entities.” The government crowed that it took this move after “years” of hard work and claimed this demonstrated, yet again, how seriously it takes national security.

Except that the IRGC move was not all that urgent: the Conservatives asked that the Liberal government list this group back in 2018, which makes you wonder what took so long. It is not as if the government needed to study whether the IRGC merited this rank given its 40 years of support for other listed entities (among which are Hezbollah, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad) and well-known penchant for mucking about in the Middle East and elsewhere. Calling it a terrorist group now does not exactly constitute rocket science.

The terrorist listing tool dates back to 2002 (full disclosure: I wrote the first al-Qaida listing that year while working as a senior terrorism analyst at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, CSIS) and is used to identify groups the government believes engage in terrorist activity. It is handy largely from a financing perspective: if you are daft enough to send a cheque or e-transfer to Hamas leadership, you are guilty of terrorist financing.

But aside from that, the listing process suffers from two problems. First, it is not essential for a group (or individual) to be listed to warrant attention and investigation from our protectors (Communications Security Establishment, CSIS, RCMP, etc.). We at CSIS had been looking at al-Qaida for decades prior to the creation of the list; in other words, we did not need some mandarin to say “gee, AQ is a terrorist group, maybe our spies should monitor it.” Furthermore, the non-appearance of a group (or individual) from the list does not preclude investigating it (or him/her). Our spies aren’t waiting for orders to carry out their work in accordance with their well-established practices and legislative mandates.

Second, the listings are often purely political in nature. The addition of the Proud Boys in January 2021 was clearly a knee-jerk reaction to the raid on the U.S. Capitol by a dog’s breakfast of wankers, including some members of the U.S. branch of this group. The chapter in Canada has never carried out a single act of violence in this country and frankly, to cite a friend of mine who investigated the far right in Canada in the 1990s, couldn’t make a cheese sandwich. Sources told me that CSIS was not in favour of listing the Proud Boys as the group did not merit that kind of attention/status.

Sometimes groups are “delisted” for purely political reasons too. The Harper government took the anti-Iranian People’s Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI, better known as the MeK) off the list in the early 2010s, despite its use of violence here and abroad. Go figure.

The timing of the IRGC decision also raises eyebrows. Just before the House of Commons rose for the summer? Did the government think no one was paying attention?  Just before a byelection in Toronto? To show it takes national security “very seriously” (to quote Chrystia Freeland)? To deflect criticism of its handling of the ongoing People’s Republic of China interference gong show?

For what it is worth, I have no issue with naming the IRGC a terrorist entity. I worked as an Iranian analyst for 20 years at both CSE and CSIS, and I understand what this ideological bunch of thugs stands for.

At the same time, the choice of day/month for this action does nothing to shake my belief that this government neither comprehends nor cares about national security. The IRGC could have been listed 20 years ago, and in all honesty should have been part of the original process just after 9/11. Making a big deal of it now just looks, well, political.

Phil Gurski is President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting.
http://www.borealisthreatandrisk.com

Source: Gurski: Again, the Liberals show they don’t really understand national security

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Australia cannot strip citizenship from man over his terrorism convictions, top court says

2023/11/02 Leave a comment

Of note:

Australia’s highest court on Wednesday overturned a government decision to strip citizenship from a man convicted of terrorism.

The ruling is a second blow in the High Court to the law introduced almost a decade ago that allows a government minister to strip dual nationals of their Australian citizenship on extremism-related grounds.

The ruling also prevents the government from deporting Algerian-born cleric Abdul Benbrika when he is released from prison, which is expected within weeks.

Source: Australia cannot strip citizenship from man over his terrorism convictions, top court says – The Associated Press

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