Jihadi's Father Regrets Co-Operating With Police

Written By Unknown on Kamis, 11 Desember 2014 | 15.00

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By Adele Robinson, Midlands Correspondent

The father of a British jihadi jailed for nearly 13 years after travelling to Syria says parents with children who do the same will be "too scared to tell police".

Mohammed Nahin Ahmed's father spoke to Sky News exclusively on the condition that neither his name nor face were shown.

His son was sentenced alongside his friend Yusuf Sarwar at Woolwich Crown Court last week for terrorism offences.

Childhood friends Sarwar and Ahmed, both 22, were given 12 years eight months in prison each, plus another five years on licence.

Ahmed's father says his family co-operated with the police and helped persuade the pair to return home to Handsworth in Birmingham.

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Gallery: Terror Pair Left Trail On Computer

Two British men who travelled to Syria to fight alongside rebels have pleaded guilty to terrorism offences. All photos from West Midlands Police.

Mohammed Nahin Ahmed and Yusuf Zubair Sarwar spent eight months in Syria last year after contacting Islamist extremists from the UK. This email was sent to Ahmed by a Danish extremist.

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Nahin and Sarwar leaving the Heathrow Premier Inn for the airport terminal.

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"We told the police, we went to them for help but we didn't get any. We surrendered them for justice but the police didn't help at all.

"If anyone's children go to Syria now, no one will tell the police because they will be too scared to tell them this.

"My son lives in jail so what did I gain from going to the police? People go to the police for justice and help. No, I wouldn't go again."

Ahmed and Sarwar admitted engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorism acts in July.

They became the first Britons to be convicted in the UK of Syria-related terrorism offences.

Upon sentencing the judge said it made no difference that their offences were abroad and described them as "fundamentalists committed to violent extremism".

Ahmed's father, however, says his son made a mistake and returned to the UK because he feared for his life.

"No, he is normal. His life was normal. He prayed just the way we do. I think maybe it was the internet that brought those kinds of thoughts to him, the internet brainwashes people these days.

"But going to war without telling us was wrong. Going to war is wrong."

Both families have said they will appeal against what they see as excessive and unfair sentences.

Ahmed's father said a similar case a week before saw two brothers from East London jailed for less than half of his son's sentence.

Mohommod Nawaz and Hamza Nawaz were given four-and-a-half years and three-and-a-half years respectively.

They had admitted conspiracy to attend a terrorism training camp in Syria.

Ahmed's father said he had communicated with his son in prison recently, who had expected a five or six-year jail term.

"I have spoken to him over the phone. He is feeling very bad. He knew that he will be sentenced, but he didn't think it would be this long. If he had known he wouldn't have come back from Syria."

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Written By Unknown on Selasa, 09 Desember 2014 | 14.59

British businessman Shrien Dewani is expected to leave South Africa today after he was cleared by a judge of plotting to murder his wife.

The case against the 34-year-old was dismissed by Judge Jeanette Traverso, who ruled that prosecution arguments fell "far below" the level needed for a conviction.

Mr Dewani, of Westbury-on-Trym, had denied any involvement in the murder of his 28-year-old wife Anni.

He said she was killed during a botched carjacking during their Cape Town honeymoon in November 2010.

The dismissal of the case led to angry scenes outside court as Mrs Dewani's family criticised the South African justice system.

In a statement read outside the court, the Hindocha family said: "The knowledge of not knowing is going to haunt us for the rest of our lives."

Mrs Dewani's sister Ami Denborg told Sky's Alex Crawford: "The justice system has failed us."

The family say they will review the case with their lawyers to see if they can file a lawsuit against Mr Dewani in the UK.

Mr Dewani is now free to return to Britain. He breathed a sigh of relief as the judge dismissed the case against him.

Members of Mr Dewani's family wept and embraced as he quickly left the dock.

Mrs Dewani's family bowed their heads as shouting was heard from the public gallery.

Three men - Zola Tongo, Mziwamadoda Qwabe and gunman Xolile Mngeni - have already been convicted over Mrs Dewani's murder.

Qwabe is currently serving a 25-year sentence. Mngeni was serving life for firing the shot that killed Mrs Dewani, but died from a brain tumour in October.

The murder took place when the Dewanis' chauffeur-driven tour of a township was hijacked.

Prosecutors claimed Dewani, who is bisexual, wanted to leave the relationship and arranged the carjacking during the couple's honeymoon.

But Dewani's defence team said the case against him was weak.

Giving her ruling on the application to dismiss the case, Judge Traverso said the evidence from the men was "so improbable, with so many mistakes, lies and inconsistencies you cannot see where the lies ended and the truth begins".

She added that the only reason not to grant the application would be in the hope that Mr Dewani would implicate himself during his testimony.

14.59 | 0 komentar | Read More

Spotlight On Homosexuality In Asian Community

By Ashish Joshi, Sky News Correspondent

The Shrien Dewani case has put a spotlight on a subject Britain's Asian community has struggled to address.

Homosexuality is one of the last taboos.

The subject is rarely talked about and coming out is extremely difficult in most cases, and impossible in others.

In extreme cases gay Asian men and women face violence, or even death.

'H' comes from a wealthy, middle class family from a big town in Pakistan.

While he was still at college he was outed by a member of his extended family.

The reaction was predictably violent. 'H' was given a choice: exorcism or death.

"They take a stick and they burn it on your hands and parts of your body," he said.

"And you scream. And they think the demons are leaving your body. That happened to me several times."

'H' lied to live. He said the painful exorcisms had "cured" him, but his lover refused to renounce his homosexuality.

He was beaten to death by his own father. 'H' heard the screams for help.

Seeking refuge in Britain, 'H' thought attitudes here would be different.

But instead the same prejudices that exist in the subcontinent have been transferred to successive generations born and raised in this country.

Jasvir Ginday, a bank worker from Walsall, is serving a life sentence for murdering his wife, Varkha Rani.

The two were married in a lavish arranged marriage in Punjab, India. It was a marriage that Ginday had himself helped to arrange.

But on her arrival in this country Varkha Rani discovered her husband was gay.

Detective Superintendent Sab Johal investigated the murder and soon discovered Gindal was active on Birmingham's gay scene and did little to hide his sexuality.

"We know for a fact that his friends knew he was visiting the gay quarter," he said.

"He came here with his friends. So he was more than happy to be a gay man here, but yet he still played the part of somebody that was prepared to get married.

"He went to India and duped a young girl to come over here. That makes his crime even more malicious."

Some Asian parents force their gay sons and daughters into marriages in the mistaken belief that heterosexual sex will "cure" them.

Detective Sergeant Trudi Runham is one of West Midlands Police's most experienced officers dealing with the issue.

Her Team Sentinel unit has rescued gay men from forced marriages. She says the number of cases is increasing.

"Nationally 20% of referrals for forced marriages are men. And we know that some of those are gay men," she said.

But there are some signs of change.

Yatin Mistry is from an orthodox Hindu family. Telling his parents he was gay was the most difficult thing he has ever had to do.

"My dad's initial reaction was 'look son, I'm not happy. But I love you, you're still my son'.

"What's going to be difficult is how society is going to react and how your mum will react.

"My mum cried. She blamed herself, saying 'what have I done? I must have done something wrong'. The whole coming out process took over a year."

But now the IT analyst is planning to marry his boyfriend. And he has his parents' blessing.

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Sexual Abuse A 'National Health Epidemic'

Written By Unknown on Senin, 08 Desember 2014 | 14.59

By Tom Parmenter, Sky News Correspondent

There could be more than 11 million survivors of sexual abuse in the UK, a Government adviser has told Sky News.

Experts say they are now dealing with a "national health epidemic", while there has been a huge surge in people looking for support since the Jimmy Savile scandal.

Some are related to recent high-profile cases, but sexual abusers are more likely to be people who are already known to the victim.

Founder of the Lantern Project on Merseyside, Graham Wilmer, told Sky News: "There are potentially about 11.7 million victims out there at the moment who have not disclosed, and many of those people will start to come forward in very significant numbers."

Mr Wilmer, who was recently appointed to the Government's Independent Panel Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, explained that the figures are based on accepted statistics that suggest one in six boys under the age of 16 have been sexually abused - for girls the figure is one in four.

"You are dealing with a massive, massive problem. From what we have seen, if you don't provide the right level of support and intervention to support people when they come forward you see very significant health problems, mental health and physical health, which have a direct cost to us as a society.

"We look upon child abuse and its impact now as a national health epidemic."

There are around 130 similar groups offering support around the country that sit under the umbrella organisation The Survivors Trust - but access to services is still patchy in some parts of the UK.

Psychotherapist Brian Mynott, a survivor himself, runs the Real Dawn group in West Yorkshire and says there is a desperate need for more people to be properly trained to offer professional help.

He told Sky News: "It is a million miles from being enough.

"There is only one of me when there should be about a dozen of me in the Wakefield area alone, and that is not me validating myself that is what is missing.

"I have absolutely no shame in recording to anybody that I have been a victim but to get to that point is a journey that cannot be covered by volunteers alone."

He added: "It is very sad that when people phone me up I can't refer them on somewhere and is very sad when people can't get my services because I am booked up and these are people that need help now."

Mr Mynott is now also working with Leeds Trinity University to ensure students are aware of the growing demand for his services.

The Home Office, the Department of Health and the NHS have all committed to continue improving services for abuse survivors.

Mr Wilmer said investing in the support system is more important than the precise number of victims.

"All of the forces of law, and the forces of support work that are available are all gearing towards saying this number is a big number, whether it is 11.5 million or 11.1 actually isn't really relevant," he said.

"The fact is that it is a massive number and because it is a massive problem we are now focusing on it and we are going to do something about it."

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Judge To Decide Whether To Drop Dewani Case

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A judge in South Africa is set to decide whether to drop the case against Shrien Dewani, who is accused of plotting to murder his wife Anni on their honeymoon in 2010.

Judge Jeanette Traverso will rule on whether the prosecution has presented enough evidence to implicate the 34-year-old of involvement in his wife's death.

Three men have been convicted over their roles in the killing, which prosecutors say was organised and paid for by Dewani to get out of the marriage.

The prosecution alleges that Dewani plotted with cab driver Zola Tongo, Mziwamadoda Qwabe and gunman Xolile Mngeni to kill Anni.

Dewani has denied charges of murder, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, robbery with aggravating circumstances, kidnapping, and defeating the ends of justice.

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Gallery: Key Players In The Dewani Trial

Anni Dewani was murdered during her honeymoon in Cape Town in 2010

Her husband Shrien Dewani is on trial accused of organising her murder

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Xolile Mngeni was jailed for life after he was convicted of being the man who fired the shot that killed Anni Dewani. He died of cancer behind bars in October

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Zola Tongo (C) was jailed for 18 years for the killing after entering a plea bargain. He was driving the taxi carrying the couple when Dewani says they were hijacked

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Mziwamadoda Qwabe (R) was convicted of kidnapping, robbery, murder and illegal possession of a firearm in August 2012 and was sentenced to 25 years

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Should Judge Traverso dismiss the case, Dewani is expected to be granted permission to return to the UK as a free man.

He has been held at the Valkenberg Hospital in Cape Town since he was extradited in April.

The trial was expected to last until the end of this week, however problems caused by legal wrangling, witness availability and sickness have delayed the case.

Last week Anni Dewani's family begged her husband to "tell the world what happened the night she died".

Speaking at a press conference, Anni's brother Anish Hindocha implored Dewani to take the witness stand and tell his story for the first time.

In a statement, he said: "It would be a terrible development in what has been a four-year wait if we and the people of South Africa are not afforded the full story.

"If they are not given the full facts, and by that I mean Shrien Dewani telling the court his version, then Anni's death will remain on the conscience of South Africa forever."

:: Watch live coverage of the judge's ruling live on Sky News from 8am on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 132 and Freesat channel 202.

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Written By Unknown on Minggu, 07 Desember 2014 | 15.00

The Archbishop of Canterbury says he was left more shocked at the plight of poor families in the UK being forced to rely on food banks than the suffering in African refugee camps.

Hunger "stalks large parts of the country" while the scale of waste was "astonishing", said the Most Rev Justin Welby.

His made his comments ahead of the publication on Monday of a parliamentary report he has backed that sets out a series of proposals aimed at preventing people going hungry, and urges swift action by the Government and food industry.

In an article in The Mail on Sunday Archbishop Welby said, although less "serious", the situation of a family having to turn to food bank in the UK had shocked him more than terrible suffering in Africa because it was so unexpected.

He wrote: "In one corner of a refugee camp in the Democratic Republic of Congo was a large marquee.

"Inside were children, all ill. They had been separated from family, friends, those who looked after them.

"Perhaps, mostly having disabilities, they had been abandoned in the panic of the militia attack that drove them from their homes. Now they were hungry.

"It was deeply shocking but, tragically, expected.

"A few weeks later in England, I was talking to some people - a mum, dad and one child - in a food bank.

"They were ashamed to be there. The dad talked miserably.

"He said they had each been skipping a day's meals once a week in order to have more for the child, but then they needed new tyres for the car so they could get to work at night, and just could not make ends meet.

"So they had to come to a food bank. They were treated with respect, love even, by the volunteers from local churches. But they were hungry, and ashamed to be hungry.

" I found their plight more shocking. It was less serious, but it was here.

"And they weren't careless with what they had - they were just up against it. It shocked me that being up against it at the wrong time brought them to this stage. There are many like them. But we can do something about it."

The sharp increase in the number of food banks across the country in recent years has proved politically divisive.

Earlier this year, ministers were accused of "taking food from the mouths of children" after blocking millions of pounds of European funding agreed for British food banks.

Cash to help people suffering extreme poverty across the EU was backed in a vote at the European Parliament but the Government said food aid was better decided nationally rather than by Brussels.

Archbishop Welby has called for changes to allow food companies to pass on goods they could no longer sell.

Under the current system it costs retailers to give away surplus food to the the hungry.

He added: "At least some of the food being sent to the incinerator should be used as a force for good to help (the poor) out of the rut in which they find themselves.

"We need to make it easier for food companies to give edible surplus food to charities and still encourage them to send inedible food for energy production.

"The big names in the food business know they have a moral obligation to they communities they work in.

"We need to make sure that the financial incentives in their industry don't act against their moral instincts."

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Exclusive: Haines' Widow Brands IS Cowards

By Katie Stallard, in Sisak, Croatia

The widow of murdered aid worker David Haines has told Sky News the militants who killed her husband are cowards.

Speaking at their home in Sisak, Croatia, in her first television interview, Dragana Haines said: "They consider themselves brave, but that's not bravery.

"It's a cowardly act to behead someone who has his hands tied behind his back, who is kneeling.

"You are a coward if you are going to behead someone who is helpless. You're not even a human being.

"You must be a monster to do something like that."

Mr Haines grew up in Scotland and served as an aircraft engineer in the RAF, but he found his calling in humanitarian work.

He met Dragana, his second wife, in post-war Yugoslavia.

He was working for a German reconstruction charity, and she was a translator for the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

They married in 2010 and settled in Croatia, where their daughter, Athea, was born.

In March 2013, he was kidnapped while working for a French aid agency in Syria.

"Every day was a challenge," Mrs Haines said.

"Waking up in the morning and thinking OK should I be hopeful? Will it be a day when they will call me, or he will call me and say 'OK I'm free, I'm coming back'?

"Or will it be a day when they will call me and say something bad has happened?"

In June, Islamic State released a video showing Mr Haines, and warning he would be next to be killed.

"I saw him in the video," Mrs Haines said through tears.

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Gallery: Profile: David Haines

David Haines was born in Holderness, East Yorkshire in 1970. He was raised in Scotland, where his parents still live

He studied at Perth Academy. After school he worked for Royal Mail before becoming an RAF engineer

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