Convicted criminal Anjem Choudary who was found guilty of telling British citizens to join ISIS, is to be released this week. He will be living in a tax-payer funded safe house in North London and we have learnt that he will be living within reach of his wife and family, so that his human rights are not infringed.

Yet, this very man has never cared about the human rights of others. He has been the poisonous inspiration for young men who have gone on to murder and maim others and his decades of  Islamist agitation have caused enormous tensions and further fuelled far right activism, as some people thought that his views represented all Muslims. They clearly did not.

Just a few days ago, former EDL member, Ivan Humble made clear on a Newsnight interview about child grooming and the rise of the far right, that he was inspired to join the English Defence League since he believed that Anjem Choudary reflected the views of Muslims in general.

Choudary has used the legal and democratic process, to circumvent arrest for years and is now in the process of being released half-way through his sentence. Granted, he is under severe and restrictive conditions but the Government’s inability to stop his release, raises many questions. Why for example, is he being released half-way through his sentence? On what basis is this being done and does the Government realise that his early release is a gift for Islamist and far right groups. Both will use this opportunity, with Islamist extremists suggesting that Choudary has resisted the Government and ‘stood up against them’, whilst far right extremist groups will once again, make out that the Government is not working for the general public’s safety and that the Government is in cahoots with Muslims. This will be their narrative.

This whole affair leaves a foul taste in the mouth. How can a man who has been a driver for Islamist extremism be released half-way through his sentence? His actions have been a national security threat, yet he will now live in London, enjoying access to his family and living at the tax-payers expense.

If we are to send out a message to extremists that they will be given no quarter to spread their poison, the release of Choudary makes a mockery of this. This whole affair has shown how weak we are when many Muslims themselves, do not want this man released until he serves his whole sentence.

A Jordanian soldier who was convicted of killing seven Israeli school girls two decades ago has been released from prison after serving his sentence, family sources said on Sunday.

They said Ahmad Daqamseh was now in his family home in the village of Ibdir near the city of Irbid in northern Jordan.

In July 1997, a five-member Jordanian military tribunal found Corporal Daqamseh guilty of opening fire at a group of Israeli schoolchildren and killing seven of them before soldiers seized him and rushed to help the victims.

The incident took place on March 13 of that year during a school field trip in the border area in Jordan.

Daqamseh would have faced the death penalty but the tribunal said he was mentally unstable and was sentenced to life sentence which is equivalent to 20 years under Jordanian law.

A few days after the incident, the late King Hussein personally apologised for the incident, travelling to Israel to visit and pay his respects to the families of the slain girls.

Daqamseh became a hero to a strong opposition movement led by Islamists and nationalists who vehemently opposed the country’s peace treaty with Israel in 1994.

Many lawmakers had lobbied in previous years for his release in a kingdom where many see Israel as an occupier state that drove out Palestinians from their land.

Jordanians of Palestinian origin form a large portion of the kingdom’s population.

Belgium’s federal prosecutor said a man held since November in connection with the Nov. 13 Paris attacks would be released on Friday under strict conditions.

Abdellah C, a 35-year-old Belgian national, accompanied one of the Paris attacks suspects, Mohamed Abrini, to the airport when the latter left to fight in Syria, state broadcaster RTBF reported.

His lawyer told Reuters he denied any involvement.

 (Reporting by Robert-Jan Bartunek; editing by Barbara Lewis) – Reuters News

Faith Matters warmly welcomes the release of Shaker Aamer after 14 long years. Many of them were spent in the legal black hole that is Guantanamo and it is clear that the long periods of solitary confinement have also had an impact on his mental and physical health.

Yet, it should never have come to this given that Aamer was cleared for release in 2007. It has taken a further 7 years for his actual release and now that he is back in the UK, no doubt questions will again be raised as to the possible complicity of UK intelligence services in the torture of Aamer. Only time will tell whether these allegations are true or not.

Guantanamo Bay should have been shut down a long time ago and President Obama’s political assertions that he would close the site down, have come to nothing. The site still continues to operate albeit in a scaled down manner when compared to the Bush period in office. However, what cannot be denied is that many see Guantanamo as a relic of the past, a period of time when the ‘War on Terror’ was in full swing.

According to Dick Cheney, the former Vice President in the Bush administration, ‘the worst of the worst‘ were being held in Guantanamo. That view is not accepted by some today and the example of Aamer counters this view given that he was not charged and that he has sat in legal limbo for over a decade. The incarceration of individuals in Guantanamo without any charges being laid against them has been unacceptable and due process should have been carried out many years ago. Instead, many individuals like Aamer were forgotten and left incarcerated in the hole of Guantanamo.

We hope over time, we can close the dark chapter that is Guantanamo . The last decade has been a difficult one for many communities and we hope that the future provides hope and peace and stability for us all.