Al-Qaeda has released a message from slain leader Osama bin Laden praising the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia and urging Muslims to take advantage of a “rare historic opportunity” to rise up, US monitors said.
The message posted on jihadist forums on Wednesday by al-Qaeda’s media arm, As-Sahab, addresses Muslims on the revolutions sweeping the Middle East and North Africa, SITE Intelligence said.
Speaking from beyond the grave, bin Laden recommends setting up a council to offer revolutionary advice and decide the best timing to spread revolt across the Muslim world.
“A delay may cause the opportunity to be lost, and carrying it out before the right time will increase the number of casualties,” bin Laden says, according to SITE’s translation of the 12-minute, 37-second audio message. “I think that the winds of change will blow over the entire Muslim world, with permission from Allah.”
SITE said an earlier statement by al-Qaeda indicated that bin Laden made an audio recording a week before he was killed by US special forces, addressing the revolutions and offering advice and guidance.
In the message released on Wednesday, bin Laden referred to the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia, but made no mention of those in Libya, Syria or Yemen.
“There is a serious crossroads before you, and a great and rare historic opportunity to rise with the Ummah [Muslim community] and to free yourselves from servitude to the desires of the rulers, manmade law and Western dominance,” he said in the recording, which was posted as a video with a photograph of the al-Qaeda leader. “It is a great sin and immense ignorance to waste this opportunity that was awaited by the Ummah for long decades. So, take advantage of it and destroy the idols, and establish justice and faith.”
Bin Laden accused the region’s rulers of setting themselves up like idols and using the media and religious institutions to maintain their grip on power.
“So, what are you waiting for? Save yourselves and your children, because the opportunity is here,” he said.
Bin Laden also warned against negotiations and compromise.
“So, to these free revolutionaries in all the countries: Hold fast to your initiative and beware of negotiations, because there is no middle road between the people of truth and the people of falsehood. There is no way,” he said.
School bullies in Singapore are to face caning under new guidelines, but the education minister on Tuesday said it would be meted out only as a last resort with strict safeguards. Human rights groups regularly criticize Singapore for the use of corporal punishment, which remains part of the school and criminal justice systems, but authorities have defended it as a deterrent to crime and serious misconduct. Caning was discussed in the parliament after legislators asked how it would be used in relation to bullying in schools. The debate followed stricter guidelines on serious student misconduct, including bullying, unveiled by the Singaporean Ministry of
‘GROSS NEGLIGENCE?’ Despite a spleen typically being significantly smaller than a liver, the surgeon said he believed Bryan’s spleen was ‘double the size of what is normal’ A Florida surgeon who is facing criminal charges after allegedly removing a patient’s liver instead of his spleen has said he is “forever traumatized” by that person’s death. In a deposition from November last year that was recently obtained by NBC, 44-year-old Thomas Shaknovsky described the death of 70-year-old William Bryan as an “incredibly unfortunate event that I regret deeply.” Bryan died after the botched surgery; and last month, a grand jury in Tallahassee indicted Shaknovsky on a charge of manslaughter. “I’m forever traumatized by it and hurt by it,” Shaknovsky added, also saying that wrong-site surgeries can happen “during
A MESSAGE: Japan’s participation in the Balikatan drills is a clear deterrence signal to China not to attack Taiwan while the US is busy in the Middle East, an analyst said The Japan Self-Defense Forces yesterday fired a Type 88 anti-ship missile during a joint maritime exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces, hitting a decommissioned Philippine Navy ship in waters facing the disputed South China Sea, in drills that underscore Tokyo’s rising willingness to project military power on China’s doorstep. The drill took place as Manila and Tokyo began talks on a potential defense equipment transfer, made possible by Japan’s decision to scrap restrictions on military exports. The discussions include the possible early transfer of Abukuma-class destroyers and TC-90 aircraft to the Philippines, Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. Philippine Secretary of
A South Korean judge who last week more than doubled former South Korean first lady Kim Keon-hee’s prison sentence was found dead yesterday, police said. Shin Jong-o was found unconscious at about 1am at the Seoul High Court building, an investigator at the Seocho District Police Station in Seoul said. Shin was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead, he said. “There is no sign of foul play in the death,” the investigator added. Local media reported that Shin had left a suicide note, but the investigator said there was none. On Tuesday last week, Shin presided over 53-year-old Kim’s appeal trial, finding her guilty
RSS