Belgium: Terror suspect doesn't show up for trial, is in Syria fighting Assad

Belgium: Terror suspect doesn't show up for trial, is in Syria fighting Assad
Via VRT:

In Brussels, a trial has started against 7 radical Muslims. The defendants are facing terrorism charges. They are suspected of planning a terrorist attack in Brussels, and of recruiting new members for Al Qaeda on Belgian soil for the "holy war" in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to their lawyers, there is no proof that they actually had plans to carry out a terrorist attack.

(...)

One of the suspects is the son of sheik Bassam, a radical imam who was recently convicted in Italy, receiving 8 years' imprisonment. The suspect did not show up in Brussels today, he is said to be fighting the Assad regime in Syria.

(source)

Sheik Bassam is Bassam Ayachi.  Abdelrahman Ayachi's lawyer told the court: "My client is originally from Syria.  He's currently there and is committing terrorist acts against the regime of president Assad. (...) He's doing in Syria, with support of the UN, the same things for which he is being charged here in Brussels today.  In Iraq he fought against the Americans.  That's not allowed.  In Syria he's fighting against Assad and that's OK.  Whether someone is a terrorist or a hero now depends mainly on the geo-strategic interests of our country."

Updated: Abdelrahim was previously convicted for inciting hatred against Jews, but some of the charges were dropped on appeal.

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London: Young Syrians travel to country to support protest

London: Young Syrians travel to country to support protest



Via the BBC:

As the violence and unrest in Syria continues a number of young Syrians raised in London are travelling to the country - and risking their lives - to support the protest movement aiming to topple the regime of President Assad.

'Mohammad' is in his early twenties and lives in west London. He is closely involved with activists both here in the capital and in the Middle East. But he is frustrated at being unable to do more.

"For me living in London, not knowing Syria and never having been there I never thought of going back to my country, but just seeing all the bloodshed whilst sitting here in London not doing anything, I feel like I'm useless," he said.

"I have to sacrifice whatever I can to help this revolution succeed."

(source)

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Berlin: Syrian Channels Aid to Embattled Countrymen

Berlin: Syrian Channels Aid to Embattled Countrymen

Via Spiegel:

A Syrian expat in Berlin has teamed up with Germans to launch a donation drive similar to long-distance "adoption" programs for children in poor countries. Though they fear the wrath of Syrian intelligence agents and for the safety of aid recipients in the country, they are determined to foster peaceful revolution on the home front.

Aktham Abazid and two German friends lead the way into an office that looks more like a storage room off a courtyard in Berlin. The men would like to keep this location secret because they are fighting against Syrian leader Bashir Assad from here. Even in Berlin, they believe that one can't feel completely safe.

Darkness falls as the men flip open their laptops. The seats are plastic, but they have Internet access -- and that's all they need. Abazid, 38, writes three names on a scrap of paper: Hama, Aleppo and Derik. In these three Syrian cities, people are sitting in clandestine offices waiting for their help. The men in Berlin plan to add these locations to the aid program they have devised for Syrian opposition activists.

(source)

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Prague: Syrian community protests against Assad's regime

Prague: Syrian community protests against Assad's regime

About 30 people gathered in Prague's centre Friday to protest against the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad and present an improvised exhibition of photos of victims of the people's revolution in Syria.

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Brussels: Pro-Assad protest

Brussels: Pro-Assad protest

250 people gathered for a pro-Assad demonstration in Brussels this weekend. The protest was an initiative of the Dutch and Belgian Syrian communities. (see video)

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Germany: Two arrested for spying on Syrians

Germany: Two arrested for spying on Syrians

Via Expatica:

German police arrested two men in Berlin Tuesday accused of spying on opponents of the Syrian regime in raids involving some 70 officers, federal prosecutors said.

The suspects were identified only as 47-year-old German-Lebanese citizen Mahmoud El A. and 34-year-old Syrian national Akram O., the federal prosecutor's office said in a statement.

(source)

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Syria: Syrian-German tells of defection from Assad's forces

Syria: Syrian-German tells of defection from Assad's forces

(youtube clip)

Via NYT:

Mr. Omar, 29, the soft-spoken and wiry son of Syrian parents who immigrated to Germany in the 1950s, grew up in Rheda-Wiedenbrück, a prosperous village of half-timbered 16th-century houses, where he listened to Mariah Carey and daydreamed about one day returning to Syria.

Today, he is still trying to make sense of his unlikely transformation from a dutiful German student to a killer for the brutal Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad and, ultimately, a defector. “I was proud to be Syrian, but instead became a soldier for a regime that was intent on killing its own people,” Mr. Omar said on a recent day, chain-smoking at a cafe in this Turkish border town. “I thank God every day that I am still alive.”

(...)

There is no way to corroborate much of Mr. Omar’s account of his journey to becoming an enforcer for the Assad government. Though human rights groups and activists operating in Syria say it fits the pattern of hundreds of defectors who have fled the country, it is simply one man’s tale. It began in 2004 when he left Germany for Aleppo, in Syria’s north, with the aim of getting in touch with his roots, studying law, improving his Arabic and finding a wife.

He managed to do all that, entering law school, marrying a doctor and, eventually, having a child. His parents, meanwhile, had moved back to Aleppo because his father wanted to live out his final years in the old country.

(source)

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EU: Syrian embassies attacked by protestors

EU: Syrian embassies attacked by protestors

The Syrian embassy in London was attacked Saturday by a small group of angry protestors. Similar scenes played out in the past couple of days in Athens and Berlin.

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