Nobel Peace Prize: Pope Francis picked

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Nobel Peace Prize: Pope Francis picked

Pope Francis is emerging as a favourite to win the Nobel Peace Prize next week.

No Pope has ever won the prize, criticised regularly since its foundation in 1901 for a number of omissions including Pope John II. President Barack Obama won it in 2009.

Pope Francis is one of 278 nominees for the prize this year, a record number. Most are individuals but the nominees include more than 40 organisations.

Others include Russian President Vladimir Putin, Edward Snowden, who leaked vast numbers of US secrets, and Malala Yousafzai, the teenager from the Swat valley Pakistan who was victim of an assassination attempt by the Taliban and who has gone on to achieve an international profile in her campaigns for women’s education and other rights. The $1.24 million award will be announced next Friday in Oslo.

Bookmakers Paddy Power have Pope Francis as the favourite at 9/4. He was nominated by the Argentine parliament because of his work in bringing peace to Syria. His sponsor Oscar Martinez said he was a man who had been “decisive in maintaining international peace through his clear position regarding the conflict in Syria.”

Kristian Berg Harpviken, director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo (Prio), an independent research institute, did not nominate anyone but each year publishes his own list of the shortlist.

This year he put Pope Francis at the top, followed by Snowden and Yousafzai. His fourth favourite is Denis Mukwege, a surgeon from Congo who has played a prominent international role in combating sexual violence. Mukwege is the second favourite at Paddy Power, at 5/1.

An article on the Prio website states: “Since taking over the Papacy on 13 March 2013, Pope Francis has brought attention to the fate of the poor, and the need for a new approach to development and economic redistribution.”

Prio notes that speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2014, the Pope called for a “renewed, profound and broadened sense of responsibility on the part of all” and that the need for a new approach also figured centrally in his Papal statement.

“Beyond his notable efforts for the poor, which in Harpviken’s opinion would be the main justification for awarding him the 2014 Peace Prize, Pope Francis has also instilled new hope for reform of the Catholic Church. He has himself adopted a more modest appearance than his predecessors, uses social media extensively, and signals accessibility for the common man and woman.”
Source: Christian Today

Syria: 41 Children Killed in Suicide Bomb Attack

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Syria: 41 Children Killed in Suicide Bomb Attack

At least 41 children and 48 people in total were killed by two heavy suicide bomb blasts near a school in Homs, Syria, several sources have reported.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is monitoring the mounting number of casualties from the three-year-old Syrian civil war, said that the explosions occurred in the Ekrima neighborhood in Homs. It added that the death toll of 48 people is likely to go up, as there are also a number of seriously injured people.

Official Syrian sources said that a car bomb and a suicide bomber caused the explosions as the children were coming out of school. Fides News Agency said that the children were targeted because many of them belong to the same religious community as the family of President Bashar al-Assad. It added that the attack was one of the heaviest losses of life in terms of children since the beginning of the Syrian conflict.

There are a number of competing rebel factions that have targeted the government of Assad, including terror group ISIS, which has spread throughout Syria and Iraq.

Assad himself has been accused by the international community of severe human rights violations, such as using chemical weapons in an attack near Damascus in August 2013, which killed 1,429 people, including 426 children.

Assad later agreed to hand over all of Syria’s chemical weapons to be destroyed, but The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons found in an investigation in September evidence that chlorine gas had again been used as a weapon in northern Syria this year.

The U.N. high commissioner for human rights revealed in a report in August that the Syrian death toll has topped 191,000 people, and that over 9 million others, close to half of them children, are in need of humanitarian aid.

“It is a real indictment of the age we live in that not only has this been allowed to continue so long, with no end in sight, but is also now impacting horrendously on hundreds of thousands of other people across the border in northern Iraq, and the violence has also spilled over into Lebanon,” Commissioner Navi Pillay said at the time.

Over 3 million Syrian refugees have fled to neighboring countries seeking protection from the civil war, where they have faced various new challenges.

Kristin Wright, director of advocacy for Christian relief group Open Doors USA, told The Christian Post last week that children refugees are often the most affected in war, and spoke of the importance of the international community reaching out to help.

Wright told CP that “supporting the schools for refugee children is one of the most important things that we, as Americans, as people from all backgrounds around the world, can be doing for these children. Providing safe spaces for them to be nurtured, to be educated, to be supported after everything that they have been through.”

The Assyrian Human Rights Watch also announced on Wednesday that three Christians have been kidnapped from the city of Tel Tamar, in the north-eastern province of Hassaké. The kidnappers are believed to be a jihadist faction that has made its stronghold in the city of Raqqah.

Source: Christian Post

Seven Christians arrested in Laos for holding religious meeting

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Seven Christians arrested in Laos for holding religious meeting

Local authorities in Savannakhet province, Laos, arrested seven Protestant Christians after they held a religious meeting yesterday, 29 September.

According to the non-profit advocacy organisation Human Rights Watch for Lao Religious Freedom (HRWLRF), Pastor Sompong Supatto of Bouham village, Atsaphathong district and six Christians from villages in Palansai district met together for worship at Pastor Sompong’s home on the morning of 29 September. Afterwards, as they gathered together for lunch, the village chief, village security officers and village police arrested the seven Christians. A week before, on 21 September, village officials told the Christians they were not allowed to gather for worship in Boukham village, despite the fact that Christians have been meeting for worship in Boukham village for three to four years.

The seven Christians, aged 18 to 60 years old, are currently being detained at the Boukham village government headquarters. Pastor Sompong is reportedly handcuffed and held in leg stocks.

Also in Savannakhet, five Christians accused of the murder of a Christian convert in June this year remain in detention despite having been found “not guilty”. Savannakhet Office of Prosecutors ruled that Pastor Kaithong and four Christians detained since 23 June did not commit any criminal offence. However, they remain in detention as the authority to release the five detainees lies with the Atsaphangthong District Chief. No date has been set for their release. Recent reports claim that the five Christians’ health has deteriorated since their imprisonment.

Research by Christian Solidarity Worldwide 2012-2014 found Savannakhet to be one of the worst provinces for violations against Protestant Christians in Laos, which include forced eviction, arrest and detention, disruption of religious meetings and services, forced participation in animist ceremonies, and threats.

CSW’s Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas said: “We deplore the local authorities’ decision to ban Christian worship in Boukham village, and the arrest of the seven Christians on 29 September. Sadly, this kind of incident is still common in Savannakhet province and other parts of Laos, despite the government’s recognition of Protestant Christianity. We call on the central government to protect and promote the rights of people of all religions or belief, in all parts of the country. We further call on the local authorities in Savanaakhet province to release the seven Christians arrested in Boukham village, and the five Christians cleared of murder in August 2014.”

Source: Christ Solidarity Worldwide

Suit Against Pennsylvania Wedding Venue Unsuccessful

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Suit Against Pennsylvania Wedding Venue Unsuccessful

A Pennsylvania wedding venue will not have to refund a deposit to a straight couple wedding party that disagrees with the owner’s stance on same-sex weddings.

A lawsuit over a security deposit placed at the Inne was dismissed because the judge agreed that the suit was “improperly filed,” according to Liberty Counsel, which represents a banquet hall called the Inne of the Abingtons.”A Christian business owner should not have his contracts dishonored or be hauled into court because he operates his business according to conscience,” Liberty Counsel senior litigator Roger Gannam said. “This is a victory for religious liberty.”

In July, the Inne of the Abingtons, which is located 12 miles North of Scranton, Pennsylvania, declined the request of a lesbian couple wanting use their facility for their wedding. Hosting a same-sex wedding would conflict with venue owner John Antolick’s deeply held Christian beliefs.

Taking to Facebook to release her frustration about the venue’s rejection of her daughter’s wedding, a mother of one of the lesbian women caused a social media firestorm that was hard for the venue to avoid.

“I don’t want to discriminate against anyone, but my conscience will not allow me to use my business to endorse an event that contradicts God’s design for marriage,” Antolick said.

The news of the Inne’s refusal to host a same-sex wedding eventually got to Barb Giarratano, who just a few weeks earlier had placed a $1,000 deposit at the Inne for her daughter’s wedding reception to be held October of 2015. Giarratano was concerned. Although her daugher’s wedding would be a hetrosexual wedding, Giarratano told Citizens Voice that she is sure that there will be many homosexual friends at the wedding and decided cancel the 100-guest reservation.

“Discrimination goes against everything we believe in as a family,” Giarratano said. “Our conscience wouldn’t allow us to invite our gay and lesbian friends and family to a wedding at a place they know openly discriminates against them.”

However, Antolick was not going to fork over the $1,000 dollar security deposit with no legal or contractual obligation to do so. The Liberty Counsel claims that the non-refundable deposit is an industry standard when it comes to reception reservations.

The couple filed a lawsuit seeking three times the original deposit to cover damages. However, the Liberty Counsel claims that when it became apparent on the day of the trial that the judge was going to dismiss the case, the plaintiffs withdrew the lawsuit.

A spokeswoman for a Harrisburg based gay-rights lobbying group, Equality Pennsylvania, told The Times-Tribune that the homosexual couple that was refused service would have legal ground to sue the Inne if they want.

“The law would say any private business that offers services to the public cannot refuse service to someone on the basis of sexuality or gender identity,” Equality Pennsylvania spokeswoman Levana Layendecker said. “Just as a mixed-race couple turned away could today sue a wedding venue, under S.B./H.B. 300 a same-sex couple turned away would have the option to sue the Inne of the Abingtons.”

Although Antolick said his venue hosts all other events and parties open to homosexuals, a New York farm farmhouse wedding venue held a similar stance regarding homosexuals and was fined $13,000 in August as a result of a lawsuit.

Source: Samuel Smith Christian Post.

Synagogue Collapse Aftermath: Pastor gives Stern Warning

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Synagogue Collapse Aftermath: Pastor gives Stern Warning

The General Overseer of The Synagogue, Church Of All Nations Temitope Balogun popularly known as T. B. Joshua has issued a stern warning to the media and all individuals speaking foul against the recent building collapse of September 12th at the Synagogue Church of All Nations’ guest house in Ikotun area of Lagos state where over 115 people were feared dead and many injured. This is coming after series of back talks and moves of sueing the man of God to court.
The message which was uploaded on their Facebook account reads thus:

Good morning church and viewers all over the world. I want to thank you for your prayer and your love for the victims and relations of all those involved in the incident.

The battle is for the Lord. I really want to thank God. God has been doing so much. We need to know a thousand victories, all the way long. Glory and honour to God Almighty.

For those who are outside the Lord, they would not know. When you are outside God, you will not know what I am talking about. When you are outside the light, you can’t understand what I am talking about.

For the three weeks before the incident, if you heard my message and sat down, you would know I was giving you a vision and prophetic Word on how to handle the situation at hand. Trials and tests are meant for our belief. I go by the directives of God.

I salute the martyrs of faith and the victims. I also salute their relations. My love and my prayers are always with them. The martyrs, victims and their relations, what they would like to see is the work of God continue. That is what they died for, suffered for and are living for.

From your heart, commit the relations of the martyrs to God. Ask God to strengthen them and open their understanding more to know and understand what happened here. Ask God to give them the grace to continue in God. In Him we live; in Him we move. Ask God to give them the grace to continue the work of salvation.

Remember the victims in one way or the other and ask for God’s intervention. Ask God for His power of resurrection within them and outside them, in Jesus Christ’s name we pray.

Remain silent and give thanks to God, within you. I want you to change your confession and give thanks to God.

Listen to God, not men. Don’t let your faith be disturbed. If anyone wants to disturb your faith with their negative words and message, remember God. See the need of God the more. See the need of serving the Lord the more, the need of moving closer to Him.

Don’t be disturbed. Pray for the relations; pray for the victims. That is your assignment – your love and prayer for the victims and the relations of the martyrs. That is your duty at this time.

Don’t allow yourself to be used by satan. If you do, satan will use his people to run to you and disturb you the more. This is an opportunity for them to disturb your faith with their negative words. Those who hate you and those who want you to die will run after you because of this issue. It is not that they love you but they want to see your countenance, your appearance, how you look and whether you are worried. Never allow this. Remember Jesus. Don’t change your words in a moment. Jesus is Lord.

What you saw happen – God is aware. If God is aware, who else is aware does not matter. The martyrs, victims and relations want to see your faith grow; they want to see the work of salvation and the work of God in your life continue. They want to see you serve the Lord the more. The only way you can allow the work of God to continue is to be with yourself and God, not to allow intruders and people around you to advise you and tell you what to do when they could not stop what happened.

I pray the satanic agents should be the only ones to suffer this. I said, our God will get back to them. Warn your family and brothers about their talk. You will know I am a man of God this time. People who are looking for your downfall and run to disturb your spirit, warn them to be careful of their tongues and the people who come to them. God is a God of vengeance – anybody can go for it.

You cannot help me, only God. Don’t disturb me; please leave me with God. You will see the outcome. I am saying this so that only the people who did this will suffer for it and you will not in any way suffer for it. The people who are writing whatever they are saying – all of us will see the outcome of this. Leave it for God.

I have been on this journey for 27 years. Do you think God can close His eyes and rubbish everything here? They are asking God to bring more evidence of whether He is the One who called me. Warn everyone to be very careful. This issue at hand is a delicate issue.

People are using all this to gain money and friends. This is a warning. Whatever anybody wants to write, let them write it; they will be the ones to read it.

I said, our God will get back to them. He has started somewhere. He is coming. If your brother is involved, unless he can resurrect the people who died, he will join them. If you can resurrect the people who died, you can go free. The servants, the people who sent them, the people who heard the stories all around and those who want to use it for themselves and disturb my spirit, you may likely join them. Be careful. To be forewarned is to be forearmed. Let us be very careful of our tongue.

Your responsibility is to the victims and the relations of the victims and martyrs of faith. If you say you are born again, wherever the victims and their relations are, wherever the relations of the martyrs of faith are, look for them. Let them know you are praying for them. What you eat, let them eat it. What you wear, let them wear out of it. What you have on your table, let them have it on their table, too. Share what you have with them – your love, prayer, affection and strength. Share it with them at this time. This is what we call ‘born again’ – my pain is your pain. Your joy is my joy.

The multitudes of people who claim to be with T.B. Joshua in prayer – if the same people turn to the families of the victims and martyrs of faith, do you not think life would be better for them than before? Join them, look for them, as many others are doing now.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/tbjministries

First Case of Ebola in US Confirmed by CDC

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First Case of Ebola in US Confirmed by CDC

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed Tuesday that a patient at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas became the first person in the United States to test positive for the deadly Ebola virus that is ravaging multiple countries in West Africa.

A news release from the Texas Department of Health Services said the CDC confirmed the positive result after a test was conducted at the state public health laboratory in Austin.

“The patient is [a man from Liberia who traveled to Dallas to visit relatives and has] a recent history of travel to West Africa. The patient developed symptoms days after returning to Texas from West Africa and was admitted into isolation on Sunday at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas,” said the release.

It noted that the Texas Department of State Health Services is working with the CDC, the local health department and the hospital to prevent transmission of the disease and investigate the case further.

“The hospital has implemented infection control measures to help ensure the safety of patients and staff,” said the release.

Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the CDC, said at a press conference in Atlanta, Georgia, Tuesday that his office is not sure how he contracted the virus.

He noted that others could have also been exposed to the virus but he was certain that it would be contained in the U.S.

“There is no doubt in my mind that we will stop it,” he said.
“Ebola can be scary. But there’s all the difference in the world between the U.S. and parts of Africa where Ebola is spreading. The United States has a strong healthcare system and public health professionals who will make sure this case does not threaten our communities,” Frieden warned further in a CDC release late Tuesday.

“While it is not impossible that there could be additional cases associated with this patient in the coming weeks, I have no doubt that we will contain this,” he reiterated.

Frieden said the patient first showed symptoms of Ebola on Sept. 24. He then sought care on Sept. 26, and was admitted to the hospital on Sept. 28.

Patients with early symptoms of Ebola may experience sudden fever, fatigue and headache anywhere from two to 21 days after they have been exposed.

An investigation of the patient’s infection will also include identifying everyone he was in contact with while he could transmit the virus. They will be monitored for 21 days and will be isolated if they develop a fever during the monitoring period.

The CDC is expected to make a decision as to whether or not they will move the patient to a high level isolation facility. There are five high level isolation facilities in the U.S.

The patient is currently isolated at the hospital which said it is complying with all recommendations from the CDC and the Texas Department of Health to prevent contagion.

Zachary Thompson, director of the Dallas County Health and Human Services, reiterated Tuesday that the virus would be kept under control.

“This is not Africa,” said Thompson in a WFAA report. “We have a great infrastructure to deal with an outbreak.”

More than 3,000 Ebola-related deaths have been reported in West Africa, according to The World Health Organization. The Ebola virus has reached epidemic proportions in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone.

“The CDC recommends that individuals protect themselves by avoiding contact with the blood and body fluids of people who are ill with Ebola. DSHS also encourages health care providers to ask patients about recent travel and consider Ebola in patients with fever and a history of travel to Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, and some parts of Nigeria within 21 days of the onset of symptoms,” advised the Texas Department of Health.

In an assuring message to Americans on Tuesday, however, the CDC noted in their release that: “We do know how to stop Ebola’s further spread: thorough case finding, isolation of ill people, contacting people exposed to the ill person, and further isolation of contacts if they develop symptoms. The U.S. public health and medical systems have had prior experience with sporadic cases of diseases such as Ebola. In the past decade, the United States had five imported cases of Viral Hemorrhagic Fever diseases similar to Ebola (one Marburg, four Lassa). None resulted in any transmission in the U.S.”

Source:Leonardo Blair Christian Post

ISIS Beheads 7 Men and 3 Women in Syria

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ISIS Beheads 7 Men and 3 Women in Syria

Terror group ISIS has beheaded seven men and three women in Syria as part of a campaign to scare locals to drop their resistance against the Islamic militants’ advances. U.S.-led airstrikes have meanwhile hit an ISIS stronghold near the Syria-Iraq border.

“I don’t know why they were arrested or beheaded. Only the Islamic State knows why. They want to scare people,” said Rami Abdulrahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Reuters reported.

The beheadings were apparently carried out on Tuesday, 8 miles west of Kobani, a Kurdish town near the Turkish border, which has been battling ISIS. The victims included five anti-ISIS Kurdish fighters, three of them women; four Syrian Arab rebels, and a Kurdish male civilian.

USA Today added on Thursday that the British Royal Air Force bombed an ISIS stronghold on the Iraq-Syria border, where close to 30 militants are holed up. The ISIS soldiers are allegedly remnants of a larger 400-man force that ISIS had sent to Rabia.

Kurdish fighters revealed that 50 Islamic militants had been killed during a bloody day of fighting, while the others fled to Syria or back toward another ISIS stronghold in the city of Mosul.

A U.S.-led coalition has been carrying out heavy airstrikes in the region, giving cover to Kurdish forces and attempting to push back the jihadists.

The Islamic State, as the group is also known, has carried out a number of beheadings in the region, using the executions as a form of punishment or scare tactic to push their agenda. It has targeted a number of westerners as well, and in recent weeks has beheaded two American journalists, a British aid worker, and a French tourist.

There has been some debate over the effectiveness of using airstrikes against ISIS, with world leaders including President Barack Obama insisting that is the correct strategy, while Catholic peace leaders have warned that they only serve to help ISIS recruit more fighters.

“The terrorist group known as ISIL must be degraded, and ultimately destroyed. This group has terrorized all who they come across in Iraq and Syria,” Obama said at the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September, and announced an expansion of airstrike operations.

“Mothers, sisters and daughters have been subjected to rape as a weapon of war. Innocent children have been gunned down. Bodies have been dumped in mass graves. Religious minorities have been starved to death. In the most horrific crimes imaginable, innocent human beings have been beheaded, with videos of the atrocity distributed to shock the conscience of the world,” he added.

A number of Pax Christi International leaders said last week, however, that the airstrikes place more innocent people in danger.

“We believe that especially the expansion of bombing is more likely to create significant recruiting bonanza for some of the extremist groups, ISIS included,” said Marie Dennis, Pax Christi co-president.

“The Islamic State, ISIS, is very well funded and steps must be taken to identify the sources of their funding and to stop them.”

Original Post by Christian Post

Exodus: Gods and Kings

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Exodus: Gods and Kings

It seems the era of making movies of biblical characters is still trending, first it was Noah, and now from the stables of acclaimed movie director, Ridley Scott comes the epic adventure “Exodus: Gods and Kings,” the movie centers on Moses,and the man’s daring courage to take on the might of an empire and how the defiant leader Moses rises up against the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses, setting 600,000 slaves on a monumental journey of escape from Egypt and its terrifying cycle of deadly plagues. It also showcases the relationship between the almighty God and his servant Moses, displaying a lot of the biblical miracles and happenings wrought by Moses.
Rounding out the cast of Exodus: Gods and Kings are such acting folk as Christian Bale ( The Dark Knight) , Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad), Sigourney Weaver (Avatar), John Tuturro (Transformers: Dark of the Moon), Ben Kingsley (Iron Man 3), Indira Varma (Game of Thrones), and Ben Mendelsohn (The Place Beyond the Pines).
Initial release date of the movie is December 4, 2014 (Argentina)

Christianity: Religion or Relationship

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Christianity: Religion or Relationship

End time Christians of today in many ways seem to have lost touch with the foundations of their Faith. Many a Christian are now becoming name bearers instead of following the examples of the tested and tried apostles of the days of old.There are various misconceptions that have arisen amongst the faith that like the scripture says many have led many astray.
The path of being a Christian goes beyond the mundane systematic practice of a mere religion, it is more than a routine or daily lifestyle, being a christian goes beyond bearing a name tag alone.

There is more to being a Christian,being a Christian entails conviction, sacrifice, steadfastness, discipline amongst other wholesome vices, principles and morals.Christianity is based on dogged practicality. Being a Christian simply put is to be Christlike in all ramifications,all. Although this quality seems to be deficient amongst we end time Christians.We seem to have lost the very essence of being “called out”, like earlier said we are now nominal in nature than thorough bred saints.

To be a Christian is to begin a divine relationship with the Lord and Creator of all,an eternal relationship that demands commitment, openness, trust, faith amongst other virtues.Christianity as it stands should be the ultimate goal for humanity, our goal and purpose on earth is built on the foundation of having a relationship with the Almighty.

Christianity is not a trend to belong to, neither does your being born into a Christian home give you the access to be called a Christian, without accepting the Lord and letting him take over your life by starting a relationship with him you are not counted amongst the Christians, ponder on this a little while, we are obviously in the end days of the end time and soon a day of reckoning will come where would you be found, on the side of true Christians or on the other side.
Start a relationship with him today, tomorrow might be just too late.

Preacher arrested after tweeting ‘Muslims will prevail over Christians’

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Preacher arrested after tweeting ‘Muslims will prevail over Christians’

Christianity Today reports – Police arrested a radical Muslim preacher in London yesterday, just after he tweeted “Muslims will prevail” over the Christians in Iraq and Syria.

Anjem Choudary, 47, was one of nine arrested yesterday under anti-terror legislation. A further two arrests have been made today.

Arrested with him were supporters of Al-Muhajiroun, the Islamist organisation he founded 20 years ago, and that was blacklisted by the government in 2010.

Scotland Yard said yesterday that it was searching 19 properties, including the sweet shop, Yummy Yummy, owned by Choudary’s brother.

Among Choudary’s followers are the two men convicted of the brutal murder of Fusilier Drummer Lee Rigby in south London last year.

The arrests are not connected with a planned terror attack. However, police have long been monitoring Choudary’s activity, particularly any language showing support for the rise of Islamic State in Syria and Iraq

Police arrested a radical Muslim preacher in London yesterday, just after he tweeted “Muslims will prevail” over the Christians in Iraq and Syria.

Anjem Choudary, 47, was one of nine arrested yesterday under anti-terror legislation. A further two arrests have been made today.

Arrested with him were supporters of Al-Muhajiroun, the Islamist organisation he founded 20 years ago, and that was blacklisted by the government in 2010.

Scotland Yard said yesterday that it was searching 19 properties, including the sweet shop, Yummy Yummy, owned by Choudary’s brother.

Among Choudary’s followers are the two men convicted of the brutal murder of Fusilier Drummer Lee Rigby in south London last year.

The arrests are not connected with a planned terror attack. However, police have long been monitoring Choudary’s activity, particularly any language showing support for the rise of Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.

“There is no doubt that Mr Choudary and his supporters are an influence on people who are going to Syria,” one source told the Times. “He has always watched his words carefully but recently he and others seem to have become increasingly supportive of what is going on in Syria and Iraq.”

It is a criminal offence to be a member of Al-Muhajiroun. The group’s co-founder, Omar Bakri Mohammed, was exiled after showing public support for the 7/7 terrorist bombings in London. A number of splinter groups from Al-Muhajiroun have also been banned.

The nine were arrested on suspicion of belonging to and supporting a proscribed organisation in breach of the Terrorism Act 2000 as well as encouraging and supporting terrorism contrary to the Terrorism Act 2006.

Choudary is a trained solicitor, and was the chairman of the Chairman of the Society of Muslim Lawyers. He has always denied accusations that he has glorified terrorism.

He is a controversial figure among Muslims in the UK, as many believe he damages the reputation of Islam.

Just before his arrest he tweeted “FACT: It has already been foretold by Muhammad(saw) that Muslims & Christians will fight a big battle in As-Sham & that Muslims will prevail”.

Source : Christianity Today

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