A Kosovo court has sentenced five ethnic Albanians to jail terms for plans to prepare an Islamic State video.
A Pristina court sentenced them Monday from four to 13 years in prison.
The verdict said the five, who were arrested last year, aimed at "frightening the population, destabilizing and destroying fundamental political, constitutional, economic and social state structures ... by preparing terrorist penal acts."
A Kosovo court sent five people to prison for terms ranging from four to 13 years on terrorism charges for planning to pledge loyalty to ISIS and post a video of the event on the internet.
"Their aim was to read the oath of the terrorist organization Islamic State (ISIS) and publish it on the Internet to show the presence of ISIS in Kosovo," a judge said while reading the verdict in a Pristina court.
Kosovo is tiny, smaller than Connecticut, home to 1.8 million people, over 90 percent of whom are ethnically Albanian, and over 95 percent are Muslim. European in location and feel, the Islam is hard to spot, apart from the five calls to prayer punctuating the day. There are a few hijabs around, but far fewer than in London or New York, and when I pointed one out to my host she gently told me that the old woman was not Muslim but Roma, of which there are many. Knowledge of Islam is perfunctory; secularity a matter of pride.
Several media report on the latest Kosovo Security Barometer - a program published by the Pristina-based Kosovar Centre for Security Studies – titled “The citizens’ views against violent extremism and radicalization in Kosovo”. The main findings of the study are as follows:
Kosovo’s Interior Minister, Skender Hyseni, during the Assembly session today said that within the period of one year, since the law that prohibits participation in foreign wars entered into force, the prosecution filed 33 criminal charges against persons who participated in foreign wars. “The law was very effective because there has been 10 months now that no one from Kosovo traveled to participate in foreign wars. Excluding two attempts in November which were prevented by the Kosovo Police,” Hyseni said.
Pristina Insight has published the following opinion piece written by Shpend Kursani, who is a PhD researcher in the Department of Social and Political Sciences at the European University Institute, where he researches post-1945 cases of contested states. He is also an external senior research fellow at the Kosovar Center for Security Studies where he conducted an in-depth research on jihadi militancy in Albanian speaking areas of the Balkans.
Kosovo’s Prime Minister, Isa Mustafa, during the Interfaith Dialogue conference in Pristina on Wednesday, said that Kosovo is very important in the fight against ISIS. “Kosovo has taken legal action against individuals and extremist groups,” Mustafa said, adding that not only the police and judiciary, but everyone must be engaged to stop extremism. Mustafa also talked about the role of women in society. "I think the role of women in society is important for the promotion of social progress. We are working to strengthen women’s position in society,” he said.
By New York Times Editorial Board
Saudi Arabia has frustrated American policy makers for years. Ostensibly a critical ally, sheltered from its enemies by American arms and aid, the kingdom has spent untold millions promoting Wahhabism, the radical form of Sunni Islam that inspired the 9/11 hijackers and that now inflames the Islamic State.
Security mechanisms in Kosovo say that Kosovo is not currently at risk from possible terrorist attacks. Daut Hoxha, Kosovo Police (KP) spokesperson, told Radio Free Europe that KP has undertaken the necessary measures to prevent such occurrences. However, according to him, radicalism, extremism and organized criminal groups pose a potential threat to Kosovo society. “Concrete measures were taken in the arrest of certain persons or destruction of cells that allegedly had links with such organizations.
Every Friday, just yards from a statue of Bill Clinton with arm aloft in a cheery wave, hundreds of young bearded men make a show of kneeling to pray on the sidewalk outside an improvised mosque in a former furniture store.