Belgian authorities searched houses and detained eight people for questioning on suspicion of supporting Islamic State financially and through the recruitment of fighters for the Syrian civil war, federal prosecutors said on Tuesday.

The prosecutors said nine houses were searched in a district of Brussels, as well as the cities of Bruges, Antwerp and Sint-Niklaas. No weapons or explosives were found.

“Those concerned are suspected to be involved in recruiting people to leave for Syria and having financially supported IS,” prosecutors said in a statement, adding a judge would decide whether they would be detained further.

In a separate announcement on Tuesday, prosecutors said they had arrested a fourth suspect, a 43-year-old Belgian man named as Reski A., in the case of a police stabbing in August which was claimed by Islamic State.

Singapore has detained eight Bangladeshi men planning to stage terror attacks in their home country as the Islamic State in Bangladesh (ISB), the city state said on Tuesday, the second group of Bangladeshis investigated in the past six months.

The men, aged 26 to 34, were working in Singapore’s construction and marine industries, the government said in a statement. At least two more members in the group were in Bangladesh, it added.

“ISB poses a security concern to Singapore because of its support for ISIS and its readiness to resort to the use of violence overseas,” the Ministry of Home Affairs said, referring to Islamic State.

The men were detained in April under Singapore’s Internal Security Act, the government said. It was not immediately clear if or when they would be charged or deported. Singapore’s Straits Times called it the first detentions under the act involving a foreign workers’ cell.

The government of wealthy, multi-ethnic Singapore, which has not faced any militant attacks in decades, said investigations showed the ISB had identified several possible attack targets in Bangladesh.

Islamist militants in Bangladesh have targeted atheist bloggers, academics, religious minorities and foreign aid workers in a series of killings that date back to February 2015 and have claimed at least 20 lives. A Hindu tailor was hacked to death on Saturday.

The Islamic State and a group affiliated to al Qaeda have claimed responsibility for most of the attacks. Bangladeshi police said home-grown militant group are responsible.

In January, Singapore said it had arrested 27 Bangladeshi construction workers who supported Islamist groups including al Qaeda and Islamic State and deported 26 of them.

Fourteen of the 26 have since been jailed in Bangladesh on “terror charges”, Bangladeshi police said, but denied they had any link to the Islamic State or al Qaeda.

The Singapore ministry said the eight detained men had intended to join Islamic State as foreign fighters. It provided photographs of the men, a bomb making manual and other documents it said the group had used.

The ministry said the men felt it would be difficult for them to make their way to Syria and focused instead on returning to Bangladesh to overthrow the government by force, and bring it under the Islamic State’s self-proclaimed caliphate, the ministry said.

As we move into 2016, it is important to reflect on what has been achieved for the public over the last year.

Tell MAMA is now moving into its fourth year of existence and the results over the last year have been humbling. But this has been about how we have made a difference. When we stop making a difference, then it is time for any project or organisation to re-assess its future.

So these are the successes over the last year which have helped in tackling anti-Muslim prejudice and in ensuring stronger and more cohesive communities, whilst also helping to push back far right groups and their narratives.

— We were the first organisation to call out the large spike in anti-Muslim hate incidents that were reported to us by members of the public after the horrendous terrorist killings in Paris in November 2015. We acted, again, as an early warning indicator against a rise in anti-Muslim prejudice and community tensions.

— We worked with Ministers and senior officials in informing them around risks relating to anti-Muslim prejudice and in the need to ensure better recording of anti-Muslim hate incidents.

— Our material was sourced by over 768 local, national and international press sources over the last year. This made Tell MAMA, the leading organisation in creating a wider awareness of anti-Muslim prejudice and we will continue to push hard in the coming year.

— We reached out to over 2.8 million people in the UK on-line and our reach has meant that we received cases from the US, South America and other countries. Whilst we would like to have helped, our main and key priority is the UK, hence we did not record or count these cases. (Only UK based cases are included in our annual reports).

— We were one of two organisations, (the other being the Community Security Trust), who signed a partnership and data sharing agreement with police forces in England and Wales. This means that we have started to receive data from forces to add to the self-referrals for assistance that we receive in Tell MAMA. This year, our projections are that we will have over 2,000 anti-Muslim hate incidents logged.

— We have now assisted over 5,600 people with casework, advice, emotional and signposting support since we started work in March 2012.

— We have been successful in achieving over 524 arrests and 412 prosecutions since March 2012. These are figures from police forces who have fed results back to us and the figure may well be higher.

— We have disrupted far right activity on-line and ensured that over 1,370 acounts have been closed on Facebook and Twitter. Again, these are from figures that we have received when social media providers have fed this information back to us.

— We have developed an extensive network of police contacts who work on tackling hate crimes in forces in England and Wales.

— We were instrumental in advising the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service), in looking for keywords that may associate evidence and cases with anti-Muslim prejudice. Those key words are now included in the Prosecutor’s Guidance on anti-Muslim hostility.

— We have developed a wide information network which feeds in anti-Muslim material which is circulated by far right networks to us. This allows us to be pro-active and to feed in the material to law enforcement, ensuring the safety of communities.

These are just some of the achievements to date. In all of this, we must not forget the victims of anti-Muslim prejudice, who are predominantly Muslim women who are visible, (who wear the Hijab or the Niqab). To many, we have been a key point of support and as we go into 2016, let us think about our impacts on society. Let us collectively stand up for the weak, those who have no voice and those who deserve peace. If we can stand up for the most marginalised and the voiceless in our communities, then we really are making a real difference.

The post Our Achievements in Tell MAMA as We Move into 2016 appeared first on TELL MAMA.