Beyond fast-tracking changes to terrorism suppression laws, there are still other areas of law and policy in New Zealand we need to urgently review.

Legislative change was already underway as part of an omnibus bill on terrorism. Following Friday's attack, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will push parliament to pass those changes to terrorism suppression laws by no later than the end of this month, enabling stronger action against people who are considered a terrorist threat.

The perpetrator of Friday's terrorist attack at an Auckland supermarket was under 24-hour surveillance and had recently been in prison for other terrorism-related offences. But as the judge noted, he could not be detained because the planning of a terror attack is not an offence under current laws.

The public has already made submissions on the new rules, and Ardern said a select committee is now considering changes that could prevent a similar attack.

While this will be very useful in the future, it is unclear how much value it would have had in yesterday's attack.

Apart from the fact that law would have had to exist before the attacker's original convictions — it could not be retrospective — the elements of the crime (intent and ability to carry out the threat) would still have to be proven.

Two key legal areas needing action

There are two other areas of law and policy that should be reviewed now. The possession or threat of violence with knives in public places is unlawful in New Zealand, but we may now need to consider rules around their sale and accessibility.

Another set of laws needing to be re-examined relate to how a Sri Lankan national who was a known high-level security risk-managed to reside in New Zealand. As a principle, any non-citizen who represents a threat to national security should be deported.

This includes refugees. If compelling reasons of national security can be shown in a court of law with all appropriate safeguards, they too should be expelled. In exceptional circumstances, even if someone is a citizen of New Zealand but has citizenship elsewhere, and they act against the interests of the country, there are options to expel them.

This may be the biggest gap in our defences, this time. But when the review is done, we must have zero tolerance for extremists, of any flavour, who represent a serious threat to national security.

The threat of ISIS

The attack was classified as an act of terrorism because it was done with the purpose of advancing an ideological, political, or religious cause that intended to cause terror in the country or force the government to change its position.

The fact it was ISIS-inspired is significant.

The world has watched the influence of ISIS in Afghanistan. It had taken seven years to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria, and at the height of that conflict, there were an estimated 30 to 40 extremists under watch in New Zealand.

Those figures were vague, and we can assume they were lower during the years ISIS lost influence and the war on terror faded from view. As ISIS efforts in the Middle East collapsed, New Zealand's concern turned more to those attempting to return from the war zones.

The focus was primarily on New Zealand ISIS operatives overseas, but the influence in New Zealand was not invisible.

In 2016, a man was prosecuted for possession of objectionable material after he walked into the US embassy in Auckland, wearing an ISIS shirt, and asked if the embassy was "bomb proof".

In another instance, a man with prior convictions for intimidating behaviour, threatening to kill, and assault with a weapon, was found guilty of possessing 62 items of objectionable material and making and distributing material from Islamic State, which the government had classified as a terrorist organisation. He was sentenced to three years and nine months in jail.

Lessons learnt from past attacks

The laws around terrorism tend to evolve quickly after, not before, major attacks. For New Zealand, this meant our current foundation law, the Terrorism Suppression Act 2002 followed the attacks in the United States on September 11 2001.

This law has been amended multiple times over the following years, as the nature of the threat, and the need to better confront it, changed. Our most recent changes followed when terrorism hit New Zealand on March 15 2019.

The Christchurch mosque attacks were not fuelled by religious extremism but right-wing extremism. Other mass shootings around the same time period may have been narrowly avoided.

The government responded with a Royal Commission, legal change prohibiting firearms used in the attack and initiatives such as the Christchurch Call.

Agencies at the forefront of counter-terrorism reviewed their settings, splitting their counter-terrorism effort between violent extremism motivated by white identity and that motivated by religious faith.

As a result, New Zealand was better prepared for a terror attack. At the time of the Christchurch mosque attacks, the terrorism threat level was deemed low.

Yesterday, it was at medium, meaning an attack was "feasible and could well occur". That proved to be right. New Zealand authorities were better prepared than last time, but gaps still allowed the attack to succeed. There is much more work to be done. Such incidents must not be allowed to repeat.

• Alexander Gillespie is Professor of Law, University of Waikato
• First published in The Conversation. Republished with permission.

He said he was only learning about his religion, and he was put in jail because he is a Muslim and his religion is not liked.

The Auckland man, who has name suppression, has denied three charges of possessing objectionable publications, possessing a knife without lawful authority and failing to comply with a search. Read more

The chalice was rescued from a Syrian Catholic church in the town of Qaraqosh on the Nineveh plain in Iraq. It was brought to the Malaga diocese by the papal charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) to be displayed during Masses offered for persecuted Christians.

"This chalice was used by the jihadists for target practice," explained Ana María Aldea, an ACN delegate in Malaga. "What they did not imagine is that it would be re-consecrated and taken to many parts of the world to hold Mass in its presence."

"With this, we want to make visible a reality that we sometimes see on television but we are not really aware of what we are seeing." Read more

To the kitchen, where he was preparing kebab with eggplants or demonstrating how to cut onions just so or washing dishes.

To the chapel, where he was picking away wax collecting on candle holders.

To the classrooms, where he was nodding his head as nuns from India attempted to recite the Mass in Arabic that he has spent months teaching them.

To the door, which he was always leaning out of, calling to someone in the street.

There was nothing too small, or nothing small enough, to occupy Father Jacques, for he believed that God was captured best in simplicity.

The woman called by name.

The prayer in the chapel, where only two of us had gathered beneath the rising Iraqi sunlight.

The coffee filled exactly to the correct level.

We are in the upstairs classroom, where he is seated at the head of a table, reciting the Mass in the Chaldean rite from a prayer book, carefully pronouncing the words in Arabic and Aramaic, waiting as the nuns recite them in return. He pauses, flustered.

The translation from Arabic to English that they have been consulting is not accurate.

The word hanan has been translated as "to pity."

"No," he says. "It should not be that the Lord has pity on us. The meaning is closer to tendresse. Tenderness."

"This is important," he insists. "The Lord doesn't have pity on us from a distance. He is close to us, in his tenderness."

This is not the way I expected to begin the story of a Syrian priest kidnapped by ISIS during Syria's civil war, tortured and held in prison for five months before escaping and forgiving his captors.

What do onions mean in the scale of such a story? I had travelled to Iraq to hear more about how this man had survived, a Catholic priest rescued by his Muslim friend.

He would tell me that story, too. But in the meantime, he wanted me to learn about chopping onions.

I first met Father Jacques in 2004, when I was a student in Syria. I often visited the monastery of Mar Musa, where he was a member of al-Khalil, a monastic community of monks and nuns dedicated to dialogue with Islam. Continue reading

On April 21, Easter Sunday, suicide bombers reportedly supported by ISIS attacked three churches and three luxury hotels in Sri Lanka. As a result, 263 people were kill and another 600 were wounded. Among the dead and wounded were many Sri Lankan Christians who were attacked while celebrating Easter in their churches.

In an open letter, the Bishops' Conference of Sri Lanka said, "Although various efforts of recovery by the government are appreciable, we wish to repeat that what is most important is to do justice by bringing those responsible before the law rapidly." Read more

If they don't, they risk the community taking justice into its own hands, warns Cardinal Malcom Ranjith of Colombo.

"I want to state that we may not be able to keep people under control in the absence of a stronger security programme," Ranjith says.

"We can't forever give them false promises and keep them calm."

He urged the government to "implement a proper programme in order that the people don't take the law into their own hands".

In his opinion, Ranjith says the government is "placing responsibility on others" when it comes to investigating what happened on Easter Sunday.

He says the government is creating a commission to conduct an investigation formed by "pensioners" and retired officials instead of applying the law and guaranteeing the safety of the Christian community.

Ranjith says he hasn't seen government taking the necessary steps to guarantee the safety of students, decreeing that schools should remain closed for the time being.

"Instead, I see a lot of bouncing of responsibilities around," he says.

"The result is that the country and the population continue to suffer. If the current regime doesn't have the adequate structures to fight terrorism, it will be impossible to contain the masses in the future."

Rather than wasting time "mulling over the past," Ranjith thinks the government should assume the responsibility of putting political differences aside in the search of a solution to the question of national security, hence freeing the country "from this pitiful state".

To achieve this, all political parties should put their political differences aside he says.

In addition to failing to meet its responsibilities, Ranjith says there's no "co-ordination" in the security operation. In this respect he posed questions, such as "who offered support to the terrorists" and who gave them access to the explosives.

In the time since the attacks the Church has been doing what it can to bring relief to those affected.

Besides visiting all the families and expressing condolences and solidarity, the Church is collecting information on those killed and wounded, and on the damages caused by the six bombs that exploded in three churches and three hotels to plan a "response programme."

Source

• Crux Now
• Image: America Magazine

The Bethel Memorial Methodist Church, which was targeted in the attack, was on high alert as Christian places of worship are often targeted by Islamist extremists over the Christmas season.

Over 400 people were attending a service at the time of the attack.

Nine people died and over 57 others were injured, according to reports. Children were among the victims.

Police say the death toll could have been much higher if the two gunmen responsible for the attack had forced their way into the sanctuary.

A spokesman said the Police exchanged fire with the attackers and shot one dead outside the church.

The other blew himself up inside the church.

Both attackers were carrying weapons.

Reuters news agency says Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Christians are a minority in Pakistan. Of the country's 200-million people, only 2 million are Christian.

They have been targeted in several attacks by Islamic radicals in recent years.

Eighty-five people were killed in twin suicide bombings in a church in Peshawar in 2013 and suicide attacks on two churches in the city of Lahore in 2015 left 15 people dead.

Source

• Mirror
• RT
• Reuters
• euronews
• independent
• Image: My Republica

A pro-ISIS propaganda channel has made a poster depicting a car attack.

The poster - reading "Christmas blood" - shows a masked jihadi driving a BMW at high speed towards St Peter's Basilica.

An assault rifle and a rucksack can be seen on the seat next to the driver.

ISIS has made frequent threats against Pope Francis and the Vatican.

Big events, including Christmas, are times the terror group has made threats in the past.

In August, they released a movie published by the Al-Hayat Media Centre.

It shows several jihadists destroying church statues saying: "Remember this, unbelievers, we will be in Rome."

In December last year, 12 people were killed when an ISIS terrorist killed a lorry driver.

He then drove the truck into the Christmas market in Berlin.

The latest threat emerged on Tuesday.

The Daily Mail newspaper says "Such posters do not typically warn of a direct threat, but act as a call to action for lone wolf attackers who may be waiting to strike".

Militants who have been driven out of their strongholds in Iraq and Syria may be implicated in the Christmas threat.

US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis has said the military will continue to fight ISIS "as long as they want to fight".

Source

• The Daily Mail
• The Daily Star
• Mirror
• Express
• Image: Daily Mirror

The women's ordeal started last week when ISIS fighters entered the church-run sanctuary in Kirkuk where the women were living.

Kirkuk is about 60 kilometres to the south of Mosul.

Speaking through an interpreter, the women said it was about 4am when they heard gunfire and explosions outside.

Hearing people in the building, the women, who had already wrapped themselves in blankets to protect themselves from stray bullets, hid and prayed the rosary.

The fighters then came into the room the women were hiding in, using it as a refuge to eat, pray and hide from Iraqi Army forces.

They also used the beds to care for two of their fighters who were wounded.

"Father, help us," one of them texted Father Roni Momika, a young priest in Erbil who ministers to displaced Christians.

"Are you in contact with the army?"

"Pray to the Virgin Mary. She will protect you" he replied.

I was speaking with them all the time," Momika says.

He says there was "a strong girl" who told him "Father, I will continue speaking with you and tell you all our news and what ISIS is saying."

Momika and the young women say their survival is a miracle as ISIS didn't see them.

Afterwards, one of the girls told Momika "when ISIS entered our room, they didn't see us [and] we feel that the Virgin Mary closed their eyes from seeing us."

Source

• CNN
• Catholic News Agency
• Image: Holy Mass images

Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin says he has seen two videos from ISIS over the past few days. One threatens Italy with a Barcelona-like terrorist attack. The other is more personal and directly threatens the Pope's life.

"Obviously, one cannot help but worry, above all for the senseless hatred that it is," Parolin says.

As far as the Vatican is concerned, he says it hasn't added more measures to its already high security.

Security is managed by the Gendarmerie Corps of Vatican City State and the Swiss Guard.

The Swiss Guard is a small force maintained by the Holy See. It is responsible for the Pope's safety and the security of the Apostolic Palace.

It is perhaps "only a matter of time" before Rome is hit by a Barcelona-style attack but security forces are ready in case the Vatican is targeted, the head the Swiss Guard says.

The Gendarmerie Corps is the police and security force of Vatican City and the "extraterritorial properties of the Holy See Security".

Security has been stepped up at religious sites throughout Italy, including at the Vatican, since last year, when a truck driven by a suspected Islamist militant killed 86 people in the French city of Nice.

Source

• Reuters
• Time
• The Independent

The prelate says even though Mosul has been destroyed, for Syriac-Catholic Christians in Iraq its "liberation is ... a cause for great joy because the bulk my diocese is comprised by Mosul and Qaraqosh and environs."

Mouche says people can return to the surrounding Nineveh Plains, although the damage to Mosul means it will be uninhabitable for the immediate future.

"A good number of families have already arrived [on the Plains]. Some have found work or started restaurants, shops and businesses. It takes a lot of courage to start from scratch again," he says.

The challenges Christians returning to their homes on the Nineveh Plains face involve:

• rebuilding or repairing about 13,000 houses
• settling security concerns in the villages
• a Kurdish-Iraqi independence election scheduled for 25 September 2017
• massive infrastructure concerns (water, electricity, roads, schools and clinics)
• internally displaced people in Erbil continuing to need food aid and help paying the rent until they return to their homes on the Nineveh Plains.

Of the 600 or so families that have resettled on the Nineveh Plains, some say they may move back into Mosul once the city is cleared of the devastation that began when ISIS took over the city in 2014.

While changing attitudes is difficult, Mouche says all people must understand war is not a solution and they must learn to live in peace together.

"We are all sick of war. Wars have been fought in Iraq off and on since 1958. We have to learn how to live in peace," he says.

Source

• Zenit
• Catholic Culture
• Image:Al Jazeera
  

The two men who killed him claimed allegiance to ISIS.

"We certainly come with many emotions," Hamel said on Tuesday, the day before her brother's anniversary mass at his parish church of Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, where he was murdered.

"But it is necessary for the memory of my brother and to explain why he left this world in such a tragic way.

"We must not forget that this priest died and that a few minutes before he prayed for peace for the whole world, for peace among peoples."

Hamel says it's "still a bit complicated" for his family to think of Fr Hamel's beatification."

She says her brother was "simple, peaceful and shy," never looked for compliments or rewards "... if not with a ‘thank you' or a smile, and knowing that he had done good to one person or another was enough for him to feel good."

Hamel says her brother's death has left them "with the vivid pain that never leaves us," and a huge responsibility.

"After he passed away, the next day, we saw the strong message that went to all the faithful in the world and that this message will reverberate to believers and non-believers of all nationalities and cultures.

"We can say that Jacques, after this tragedy, became a brother to all," she added.

Hamel has made it her life's work to bring forth the message exemplified by her brother. She often meets with Muslim communities in France in search of "an encounter, and in order to share a better understanding."

Source

• Crux
• Crux
• Catholic Herald
• Image: NewsDaily247

The crucifix and images of Our Lady and Christ were destroyed while consecrated hosts were thrown on the floor. Read more

About 1,000 residents are said to remain trapped in the besieged city. Fighting continues around them between the Philippine Army and Islamist rebels.

Escape stories are emerging. "Some of the stories that stuck were Muslims helping protect Christian workers by letting them borrow a hijab," a relief worker says.

Others report that people have swum across the river and lake to safety to escape the attacks.

An alliance of faith-based, service organizations, human rights and people's organizations is providing relief and medical services to victims and evacuees.

They are also documenting human-rights violations brought about by the declaration of martial law.

So far, negotiations for a ceasefire have not been effective.

This is leaving residents remaining in the city in a dangerous situation. If they go out they may be killed in crossfire. If they stay in hiding they may die of starvation.

One family has texted for help. They say they have started to eat the blankets because they're so hungry.

Source

• Newsweek
• BusinessMirror
• Image: SunStar

A video posted by the gunmen showed armed men throwing down and stomping on the images of Jesus, the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph and tearing up posters of Pope Francis and Pope Benedict XVI.

ISIS (also known as Maute) gunmen began their attack on the city two weeks ago.

They are said to have stocked weapons and food in mosques, basements and tunnels to prepare for a siege.

A Catholic bishop, a Muslim cleric and the governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) denounced the attack on St. Mary's Cathedral.

Bishop Edwin de la Peña said burning the cathedral and smashing images of the crucified Jesus, the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph, showed the extremists are "trampling on the Catholic faith."

"That is blasphemy. It's unacceptable. It's obvious that their actions are really out of this world. It's demonic," he said.

ARMM urged people not to allow the incident to cause division between Muslims and Christians in the region.

The ISIS-inspired fighters include hundreds of foreign extremists, many in their teens, from Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Saudi Arabia, Chechnya and Morocco.

The battle for Marawi has raised concerns Islamic State is building a southeast Asian base on the island of Mindanao at the southern end of the Philippines.

Source

• Mirror
• Inquirer.net
• Breitbart

Rocks hurled through the windows terrified the worshippers, who included women and children.

Imam Ahmad Noonan said "The rocks came smashing through the windows and could have seriously injured one of my members.

"We have had attacks in the past, but I feel this is a deliberate attack.

"We can tell that this is a deliberate attack based on the tragic events in London and Manchester."

Noonan was referring to the ISIS-backed attacks that killed and injured dozens at the Ariana Grande concert and on London Bridge recently.

He has appealed to the Irish public not to attack other mosques in retaliation for these attacks.

In a joint statement, leaders of five Christian churches in Galway - Catholic, Church of Ireland, Methodist, Presbyterian and Quaker condemned the incident, saying it was malicious and unprovoked.

This is particularly so, they said, because the violence was perpetrated during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and during Mosque prayers.

"These factors "make such loutish, criminal behaviour particularly outrageous," they said.

The church leaders offered their wholehearted support to the Imam and their "Muslim brothers and sisters throughout Ireland".

Source

• The Irish Times
• RTE
• Image: The Irish Times

ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack which "riddled the bus" with machine gun fire.

Twenty eight people including children died in the attack. Another 22 were injured. At least one of the victims was visiting Egypt from the UK.

Pope Francis offered his prayers for the victims and their grieving families. He condemned the attack as "barbaric" and urged Egypt to join in reconciliation with the victims.

In his message to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Francis said he was "deeply saddened to learn of the barbaric attack in central Egypt and of the tragic loss of life and injury caused by this senseless act of hatred."

This is a "new crime added to the criminal record of a murderers' gang," Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group said.

It called for a "strong and frank stance in the face of terrorism that takes religion as a cover."

Hezbollah added that these acts of terrorism should be fought so the "world does not go toward a precipice to which those criminals want to take it".

This was the latest attack on Copts after Islamic State jihadists bombed three churches in December and April, killing dozens of Christians.

Source

• News24
• BBC News
• Image: Time Magazine

Islamist rebels have been occupying the town for several days.

Most of the dead were shot in the head. Some had their hands tied behind their backs. Read more

Further atrocities are emerging as news reports filter out of the region.

The militants have raised the black ISIS flag in the town.

Exactly where the priest and others were when they were kidnapped is not clear.

One report from Bishop Edwin dela Peña said the terrorists broke into the priest's house inside the Cathedral's compound.

Another, from Philippines Bishops' Conference president Archbishop Socrates Villegas, said the hostages were in St. Mary's Cathedral when a Maute fighting group forced its way in and kidnapped them.

"They have threatened to kill the hostages if the government forces unleashed against them are not recalled," the archbishop added.

The attack on Tuesday follows government forces raiding a militant leader's hideout. Isnilon Hapiloa is a commander of the Abu Sayyaf militant group that has pledged allegiance to ISIS.

Hapiloa is on Washington's list of most-wanted terrorists with a US$5m reward for information leading to his capture.

President Rodrigo Duterte has declared a state of martial law in the south of the Philippines.

"We are in a state of emergency," Duterte said on Wednesday.

"I have a serious problem in Mindanao and the Isis footprints are everywhere."

Thirteen extremists have died in fighting since martial law was declared.

Fears are growing that the Philippines, which is the largest Catholic state in Asia, could join the countries grappling with the spread ISIS.

Source

• ABS CBN News
• The Guardian
• Express
• Image: Yahoo

Twenty-two people, including an eight year-old girl, died in the attack Islamic State is taking responsibility for. Another 59 were wounded.

Francis has sent a telegram to the victims of the "senseless act of violence", commending rescue personnel and promising prayers for the injured and those who died.

He also asked God's blessing of peace, healing and strength for Britain and particularly on the parents of the many young victims.

The Anglican Bishop of Salisbury, the Chair of the Muslim Association of Salisbury, and the Muslim Association of Salisbury were among those who reviled the attack.

"We utterly condemn this evil act which is intended to cause an increase in fear, hatred and division in our country and its communities," their press statement begins.

Others offering support and prayers include British Prime Minister Theresa May, who said the attack was one of the worst terrorist incidents Britain has ever experienced.

Because this incident targeted Britain's youngest citizens, it was particularly cold and calculating, she said.

She has raised the UK's terror threat level to "critical" as a result of the attack.

A minute's silence was held for the victims as thousands of people gathered at a vigil in Manchester's Albert Square on Wednesday.

Source

• Catholic Herald
• Catholic Sun
• National Catholic Register
• Radio NZ
• Zenit
• Image: Billboard