U.S. mosques increase security after New Zealand attack

March 17, 2019  01H:42  GMT/ZULU

by Tamara Kachelmeier and Biodun Iginla, BBC News and Reuters Security reporters, New York

NEW YORK - Mosques around the United States increased security measures for Friday prayers after a gunman shot dead 49 people and wounded more than 40 at two New Zealand mosques.

Police in New York and other cities said they were stepping up patrols at mosques and other places of worship as a precaution, although there was no sign of any specific threat.

Nihad Awad, head of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said at a Washington news conference that he urged Muslims who would be praying at the more than 3,000 mosques in the United States to “not abandon your mosques.”

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For years, American Muslims have become used to police patrols, active shooter drills and private security officers guarding mosques for Friday prayers. Security is often ramped up after mass shootings, some of which have taken place at houses of worship, including churches, a synagogue and a gurudwara.

CAIR, the largest Muslim rights group in the United States, said Muslims and other minority groups had faced a surge in bigotry since Donald Trump won the 2016 U.S. presidential election. A CAIR statement blamed this in part on what it described as “Islamophobic, white supremacist and racist Trump administration policies and appointments.”

The accused gunman’s manifesto posted online praised Trump as “a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose.” The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

“Today, the terrorist has quoted the most powerful person in the world, President Trump,” CAIR’s Awad said at the news conference. “And I would like to address Mr. Trump: Mr. Trump, your words matter. Your policies matter. They impact the lives of innocent people at home and globally.”

Trump extended condolences for “the horrible massacre” in what the White House called a “vicious act of hate”.

Police in New Zealand said three people were in custody, including one man in his late 20s who had been charged with murder for the attack in Christchurch.

Police have not identified any of the suspects. The gunman broadcast his attack live on social media.

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CAIR urged worshippers in the United States and abroad to take “stepped-up security precautions.”

“There’s no such thing as a foolproof plan in a situation like this,” Khalid Siddiq, an official at Atlanta’s Al-Farooq mosque, said. “We just rely and trust in God.”

Reality Winner sentenced for leaking top secret U.S. report

August 27, 2018  03H:43  GMT/UTC/ZULU TIME

by Judith Stein and Biodun Iginla, BBC News and Reuters Security reporters, Augusta, Georgia

A federal judge sentenced former U.S. intelligence contractor Reality Winner on Thursday to more than five years in prison after she admitted leaking to a media outlet a top secret report on Russian interference in U.S. elections, her attorney said.

Winner, 26, who has already spent nearly two years in jail, pleaded guilty in June to passing the National Security Agency report to The Intercept in 2016. She will receive credit for the time she spent in pre-trial confinement, said one of her attorneys, Titus Nichols.

During a hearing in Winner’s hometown of Augusta, Georgia, Judge James Hall approved her lawyers’ request for a 63-month sentence followed by three years of supervised release, Nichols said. It was the longest sentence ever given to someone for illegally disclosing government information, according to Nichols.

“The sentence and accompanying plea agreement both reflect that Reality recognizes that actions have consequences, and that she has learned from her mistake and is prepared to accept the consequences of her actions,” Winner’s attorneys said in a statement.

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Judge Hall also agreed to let Winner be transferred to a federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas, where she could receive medical services and be closer to her family.

Federal prosecutors said her sentence of more than five years was appropriate because Winner betrayed the trust of her colleagues and her country.

“Make no mistake: THIS WAS NOT A VICTIMLESS CRIME,” U.S. Attorney Bobby Christine said in a statement. “Winner’s purposeful violation put our nation’s security at risk... She was the quintessential example of an insider threat.”

Winner had been working with Pluribus International Corp, a company that provides analytical services for U.S. defense and intelligence agencies.

The NSA document she gave the news outlet contained technical details on what it said were Russian attempts to hack election officials in the United States and a voting-machine company before the November 2016 presidential election, two U.S. officials with knowledge of the case have said.

Winner admitted to intentionally printing a copy of the intelligence report in her office and mailing it to the news outlet. She was indicted on a single federal count of willful retention and transmission of national defense information, a felony under the Espionage and Censorship Act that carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, court documents showed.

Betsy Reed, editor in chief of The Intercept, said in a statement that Winner should be honored, and that her sentencing and other prosecutions of whistleblowers were attacks on freedom of speech and of the press.

“Instead of being recognized as a conscience-driven whistleblower whose disclosure helped protect U.S. elections, Winner was prosecuted with vicious resolve by the Justice Department under the Espionage Act,” Reed said.

A federal judge had ordered that Winner be held without bond after prosecutors said she posed a flight risk and public danger, citing what they called “disturbing” comments in her notebook.

In one section Winner wrote: “I want to burn the White House down,” according to prosecutors, who said investigators also found the names of three Islamic extremists known to federal authorities listed in her notebook.

FILE PHOTO: Combination photo showing Reality Winner, the U.S. intelligence contractor charged with leaking classified National Security Agency material, is seen in these undated booking photos in Lincolnton, Georgia, U.S., received June 8, 2017. Lincoln County, Georgia, Sheriff's Office/Handout via