Britain denounces Islamic State video showing 'spies' shot

An Islamic State video showing a young boy in military fatigues and an older masked militant who both spoke with British accents is "desperate" propaganda from an organization that is losing ground, Prime Minister David Cameron said on Monday.

The video, which could not be independently verified, also shows the killing of five men accused of spying for Britain.

The masked man threatens Cameron and vows that Islamic State will one day occupy Britain before shooting one of the alleged spies in the head.

The footage revived memories of "Jihadi John", a British Islamic State member who appeared in several videos in which hostages were killed before his own death was reported in an air strike late last year.
"It's desperate stuff from an organization that really does do the most utterly despicable and ghastly acts, and people can see that again today," Cameron told reporters.

"This is an organization that's losing territory, it's losing ground ... Britain will never be cowed by this sort of terrorism, our values are so much stronger than theirs. It may take a very long time but they will be defeated."
In the latest fighting in Iraq, Islamic State has largely been pushed out of the city of Ramadi, its biggest prize of last year.

The United States said in November it had killed Mohammed Emwazi, who as "Jihadi John" had become a symbol of Islamic State. The voice and appearance of the masked militant shown in the new video was different from Emwazi, but he spoke in a clear English accent, waving a gun at the camera while criticizing Cameron.

"This is a message to David Cameron, O slave of the White House, O mule of the Jews," the man said in the 10-minute video released on Sunday.

"How strange it is that a leader of a small island threatens us with a handful of planes. One would have thought you'd have learned the lessons of your pathetic master in Washington and his failed campaign against the Islamic State," the man said.

"PROPAGANDA TOOL"
Some British media speculated that the militant might be Siddhartha Dhar, who is also known as Abu Rumaysah, a convert from Hinduism and a high-profile Islamist, although security experts were divided on whether it was him.

Dhar left Britain with his family to travel to Syria despite being on police bail after being arrested in late 2014 on suspicion of being a member of a banned organization.

Cameron's spokeswoman said Britain was examining the video and the prime minister was being kept updated. She was not aware whether Cameron himself had watched it.

"It serves as a reminder of the barbarity of Daesh and what the world faces with these terrorists. It is also clearly a propaganda tool and should be treated as such," the spokeswoman said, referring to Islamic State by one of its Arabic acronyms.

When asked whether the executed men shown had been spies, the spokeswoman declined to comment on intelligence matters but said the group's past propaganda had not all been true.

After the killings of the five men, a young English-speaking boy, who is wearing a black bandana and appears to be about four or five years old, is shown saying: "So go kill the kuffar [unbelievers] right over there."

The father of Grace Dare, a woman from London who left Britain to join Islamic State and marry a militant, said he believed the boy was her son.

"It's my grandson. I can't disown him," Sunday Dare told Channel 4 News.
"He doesn't like it over there. It's propaganda. They are just using a small boy. He doesn't know anything. They are just using him as a shield."

In November, British officials said that up to 800 Britons had traveled to Iraq and Syria, some to join Islamic State. About 50 percent had returned home while about 70 were believed to have been killed.

Reuters

Saudi Arabia recruits Sunni allies in row with Iran

Saudi Arabia rallied Sunni allies to its side in a growing diplomatic row with Iran on Monday, deepening a sectarian split across the Middle East following the kingdom's execution of a prominent Shi'ite cleric.

Bahrain and Sudan cut all ties with Iran, following Riyadh's example the previous day. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told Reuters Riyadh would also halt air traffic and commercial relations between the rival powers.

He blamed Iran's "aggressive policies" for the diplomatic action, alluding to years of tension that spilled over on Saturday night when Iranian protesters stormed the kingdom's embassy in Tehran.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE), home to hundreds of thousands of Iranians, partially downgraded its relations but the other Gulf Arab countries - Kuwait, Qatar and Oman - stayed above the fray.

Shi'ite Iran accused Saudi Arabia of using the attack on the embassy as an "excuse" to sever ties and further increase sectarian tensions, as protesters in Iran and Iraq marched for a third day to denounce Saudi Arabia's execution of Shi'ite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.

The UAE said Iran needed to stay out of Arab affairs and not act like a protector of Arab Shi'ites. "The Arab world isn't a venue for its blatant interference ... Iran does not have guardianship or jurisdiction over a large number of Arabs for some sectarian reason," UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash told Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV.

A man was shot dead in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province late on Sunday, and two Sunni mosques in Iraq's Shi'ite-majority Hilla province were bombed in the fallout from the dispute between the Middle East's top Sunni and Shi'ite powers.

Oil prices spiked during European trading as the two big petroleum exporters traded insults and after violence hit other crude producers such as Iraq. But prices then eased back on evidence of economic weakness in Asia.

Stock markets across the Gulf dropped sharply, led by Qatar which fell more than 2.5 percent, with geopolitical jitters outweighing any benefit from stronger oil.

Crude importer China declared itself "highly concerned" with the developments, in a rare foray into Middle East diplomacy. The United States and Germany called for restraint, while Russia offered to mediate an end to the dispute.

SYRIA, YEMEN
The row threatened to derail efforts to end Syria's five-year-old civil war, where Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab powers support rebel groups against Iran-backed President Bashar al-Assad.

In neighboring Lebanon, newspapers said the spat had clouded the hopes of filling the vacant presidency that had been raised last month after Iran and Saudi Arabia both voiced support for a power-sharing deal.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Saudi foreign minister on Monday that Riyadh's decision to break off diplomatic ties with Iran was extremely troubling. A spokesman said Ban wanted to help ensure both countries continued their commitment to ending the conflicts in Syria and Yemen.


The U.N. chief urged Saudi Arabia to renew a ceasefire it ended this weekend with the Iran-allied Shi'ite Houthi group in Yemen that it has been bombing for nine months.

But analysts said fears of a sectarian rupture across the Middle East were premature, and the break in Saudi-Iran relations could be more a symptom of existing strains than evidence of new ones.

"The fact that the UAE was unwilling to cut off ties with Iran completely, despite the closeness of its relations with Saudi Arabia, shows the difficulty that the Saudis will have in trying to isolate Iran," said Julien Barnes-Dacey, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

"The downgrading of ties is not fundamentally a question of responding to executions and the storming of an embassy... (but rather) a function of a much deeper conflict between the two states," he added.

Trade between Saudi Arabia and Iran is small compared with the size of their economies, but some business is routed through the United Arab Emirates; comprehensive figures are not available. Investment ties are also minimal, though Saudi food conglomerate Savola has major manufacturing operations in Iran.

"DIVINE REVENGE"
After a furious response in Shi'ite communities worldwide to the Sunni kingdom's execution of Shi'ite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Iran was creating "terrorist cells" among the kingdom's Shi'ite minority.

Saudi Arabia executed Nimr and three other Shi'ites on terrorism charges on Saturday, alongside dozens of Sunni jihadists. Shi'ite Iran hailed him as a "martyr" and warned Saudi Arabia's ruling Al Saud family of "divine revenge".

Shi'ite groups united in condemnation of Saudi Arabia while Sunni powers rallied behind the kingdom, hardening a sectarian split that has torn apart communities across the Middle East and nourished the jihadist ideology of Islamic State.

Al-Azhar, the Cairo-based seat of Sunni Muslim learning, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Saudi Arabia, condemned the attacks on Riyadh's missions and stressed Tehran's obligation to respect the internal affairs of the kingdom.

Bahrain, a Sunni-ruled island kingdom with a restive Shi'ite majority, accused Iran of "blatant and dangerous interference" in the affairs of the Gulf Arab countries, in a statement announcing the severing of diplomatic ties.

Western powers, many of which supply billions of dollars worth of weaponry to Gulf Arab powers, tried to tamp down the tensions with Iran but also deplored the executions, as human rights groups strongly criticized Saudi Arabia's judicial process and protesters gathered outside Saudi embassies. 

REUTERS

Exclusive: Saudi Arabia to halt flights, trade with Iran

Saudi Arabia widened its rift with Iran on Monday, saying it would end air traffic and trade links with the Islamic republic and demanding that Tehran must "act like a normal country" before it would restore severed diplomatic relations.

Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told Reuters in an interview that Tehran was responsible for rising tensions after the kingdom executed Shi'ite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr on Saturday, describing him as a terrorist.
Insisting Riyadh would react to "Iranian aggression", he accused Tehran of dispatching fighters to Arab countries and plotting attacks inside the kingdom and its Gulf neighbors.

"There is no escalation on the part of Saudi Arabia. Our moves are all reactive. It is the Iranians who went into Lebanon. It is the Iranians who sent their Qods Force and their Revolutionary Guards into Syria," Jubeir said.

Tehran says it has sent only military advisers to Syria and Iraq at their governments' requests, and denies plots in Gulf states.

The execution of Nimr provoked protests among Shi'ites across the region and Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran, setting fires and causing damage, prompting Riyadh to cut ties and inflaming an already heated rivalry.

"We will also be cutting off all air traffic to and from Iran. We will be cutting off all commercial relations with Iran. And we will have a travel ban against people traveling to Iran," Jubeir said.


Iranian pilgrims would still be welcome to visit Islam's holiest sites in Mecca and Medina in western Saudi Arabia, either for the annual haj or at other times of year on the umrah pilgrimage, he said.

However, Jubeir said Saudi Arabia had been right to execute Nimr, whom he accused of "agitating, organizing cells, providing them with weapons and money" - allegations that the cleric's family have denied.
After listing the crimes of 43 al Qaeda members also put to death on Saturday alongside four Shi'ites, Jubeir said of the executions: "We should be applauded for this, not criticized."

'AGGRESSIVE POLICIES'
Jubeir, a former ambassador to Washington where the FBI in 2011 said he had been the target of an Iranian assassination plot, said the break in ties was a response to older problems as well as the embassy storming.
"[It] is a reaction to Iran's aggressive policies over the years, and in particular over the past few months. The Iranian regime has been a sponsor of terrorism, they have set up terrorist cells in Saudi Arabia and a number of other countries," he said.

Tehran has consistently denied those charges and itself has accused Riyadh of supporting militancy through its backing of Islamist rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Jubeir also accused Iran's authorities of complicity in the attack on the embassy at the weekend, saying Saudi diplomats had seen security forces enter the building and take part in looting and that the police did not respond to more than one request for help.

Iran has defended its measures to protect the Saudi embassy, saying it is investigating the matter and has made arrests.

Asked what steps Iran needed to take before Riyadh would consider restoring diplomatic ties, Jubeir said Tehran must "respect international norms and treaties and conventions" and "act like a normal country [that] respects the territorial integrity of its neighbors".

REUTERS

JUST IN!!! We Have Used all Channels to Warn Buhari Over Shi’ite Leader… – Iran

Iran says it is using all diplomatic channels to pursue the release of a prominent Shia Muslim cleric Sheikh Ibrahim al-Zakzaky who was arrested by the Nigerian army last month.

“We have used all those channels to warn them [Nigeria] regarding this issue. So hopefully the government… would adopt wise action given the sensitive situation,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hoseyn Jaberi-Ansari told reporters in the capital, Tehran.

Sheikh al-Zakzaky after members of his Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) clashed with the army in the northern city of Zaria.

Campaign group Human Rights Watch said at least 300 IMN members were killed and quickly buried in a mass graves during the incident. The Nigerian military denied the claim.

The military accuses the pro-Iranian sect of trying to assassinate army chief Gen Tukur Buratai, which it denies.

Iran is currently embroiled in a diplomatic row with Saudi Arabia over the execution of a prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

Shia in Nigeria;
▪ Shia are minority in Nigeria but their numbers are increasing
▪ The IMN, formed in the 1980s, is the main Shia group led by Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky
▪ They operate their own schools and hospitals in some northern states
▪ They have a history of clashes with the security forces
▪ The IMN is backed by Shia-dominated Iran and its members often go there to study
▪ Sunni jihadist group Boko Haram condemns Shias as heretics who should be killed

IG Bans Police From Searching Phones Of Civilians Without Warrant

The Inspector General of Police has banned the rank and file of the Nigerian Police Force from illegally accessing the phones of Nigerians.

The ban was contained in a circular to Police Commands across the country.

The instruction form the Inspector General of Police became necessary

due to some police men who would flout privacy rights of law abiding citizens by stopping and searching their phones without recourse to legal processes.

Officer in Charge of Complaint Response Unit (CRU) of the Nigeria Police, Abayomi Shogunle tweeted:
With this order, the Police are unable to search phones of civilians under any pretext without first obtaining a search warrant from a competent court with jurisdiction.

IKPEAZU FILES APPEAL AT THE SUPREME COURT AGAINST THE APPELATE COURTS’ JUDGMENT

IKPEAZU FILES APPEAL AGAINST THE APPELATE COURTS’ JUDGMENT

EZIUCHE UBANI, ABARIBE AND WABARA ALLEGEDLY BOUGHT GUNS FOR ABIA APPEAL COURT PROTESTERS

Information just reaching us from an informant has it that some aggrieved elements want to turn the peaceful atmosphere in Abia State to that of war. This is coming shortly after the Appellate court in owerri declared Dr Alex Otti the winner of the last guber elections. Read the excerpt below.

Dear Sir, My name is xxx xxx, I am one of the people paid for protesting against Dr. Alex Otti appeal court victory. I was also one of those protesting during the IPOB Biafra protest. I was brought in by Chief Eziuche Ubani for a special assignment. They called me for an assignment to help mobilize guys from Abala Ngwa, Port Harcourt and Akwaibom to cause problems in the Abia State. They have bought more than 150 guns from Abala Ngwa and the guns are in the House of Chief Eziuche Ubani. To be précised the guns are stockpiled in a covered pit near his water system septic tank. I couldn’t snap the guns for more proof because they asked that we should switch off our phones. Sir, help me give alert to the police because I do not want my state to turn to Book Haram state because of political ambition. Yes I am a member of IPOB but Nnamdi Kanu is against killing of any Igbo son or daughter and I do not support evil. Again I am also afraid of losing my life during this operation because I have children and wife. They want to use us the way they used Osisi Ka Nkwu and later abandoned him to be killed. Though Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe promised us that If Ikpeazu wins because of our protest that they will contribute 200 Million Naira for IPO Biafra but the task is very deadly because they asked us to kidnap some people in the state. This night they want to share these guns to three local governments, Obingwa/Osisioma/Ugwumagbo for their deadly missions and give out 5 Million to each local government to motivate us. Please sir, call on police, or Alex Otti or Army to go and search the House of Eziuche Ubani before 11 PM today. Please sir do not waste time, act fast, please act very fast. Do not disclose my face or identity for my own security.