“In his comments, he also said the overwhelming majority of Muslims in Ireland do not support such radical ideologies as IS and stressed that the rise of Islamophobia should have no place in society.”
How does he know that the overwhelming majority of Muslims in Ireland do not support such radical ideologies? He doesn’t. He just hopes it is true, and assumes it is true, because contemplating the alternative is too terrifying for him.
He also “stressed that the rise of Islamophobia should have no place in society.”
Did he distinguish between “Islamophobia” as referring to vigilante attacks on innocent Muslims, which are never justified, and “Islamophobia” as honest analysis of how Islamic jihadis use the texts and teachings of Islam to justify violence and make recruits among peaceful Muslims? He did not, and so his warning is likely to inhibit the latter, rather than the former.
“Irish man jailed for providing funding for so-called Islamic State,” by Damien Tiernan, RTE, July 5, 2018 (thanks to Anne):
An Irish man has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison for providing funding for the so-called Islamic State.
26-year-old Hasan Bal, formerly living at an address at O’Connell Street in Waterford, was sentenced at Waterford Circuit Court this afternoon.
Bal had pleaded guilty to two separate terrorist-related offences when he was arraigned on the charges at a previous sitting before Judge Eugene O’Kelly.
Bal first pleaded guilty to unlawfully transferring €400 by means of an An Post/Western Union to Stevo Maksimovic in the city of Brako in Bosnia Herzegovinia on 2 October 2015.
The court heard he did this intending or knowing that the money would be used in whole or in part for the benefit of the terrorist group, also known as Daesh….
The court heard evidence from Superintendent Anthony Pettit that through another Islamic State member based in Syria, Abu Issa Amriki, contact was made between the journalist and a person the court was told was a ‘brother who was a fundraiser in the UK’.
This was Hasan Bal, who was operating out of Waterford and using a false online name….
The court heard that Bal had made an attempt in April 2015 to travel to Syria to be part of IS there but was turned back at Istanbul airport in Turkey….
Supt Pettit said that the people Bal had been in contact with were medium to high level members of IS.
Bal was born in Britain to a Turkish father and a mother of Irish descent. He came to Ireland in 2005 and his parents separated. The court heard how he became radicalised out of guilt that he was not living a strict Muslim life and his anger at what was happening in Syria.
His defence said Bal was extremely sorry for what he had done; that he was very remorseful; that he regretted what he had done; that he has now been deradicalised and was asking the judge for mercy.
The court heard that there is no Jihadi group in Waterford and the Muslim community in the city had no idea what was going on….
Judge O’Kelly said Bal had secured the confidence of significant members of IS but he said there were a number of mitigating factors, including his guilty plea, lack of prior convictions and his commitment to changing his ways.
Judge O’Kelly gave Bal, a father-of-one, a four-and-a-half year sentence but suspended the final two years and the sentence was backdated to April 2017 when he was first taken into custody.
In sentencing, Judge O’Kelly said that people are well aware of the escalation of acts of terror around the world and that a few hundred euros in the hands of a ruthless and dedicated terrorist could be used to deadly effect.
He said he was taking into account aggravating and mitigating factors in relation to the sentence.
In his comments, he also said the overwhelming majority of Muslims in Ireland do not support such radical ideologies as IS and stressed that the rise of Islamophobia should have no place in society….
The judge also made it a condition of suspending part of the sentence that Bal engage in deradicalisation counselling by experts in the field….