Paris Attacker's Syrian Passport 'Was Fake,' Human Rights Watch Says

[Turborama]

Last edited Sun Nov 15, 2015, 11:05 AM - Edit history (1)

Source: Huffington Post

A human rights campaigner has appealed to Europe not to "shut the door" on the hundreds of thousands migrants and refugees trying to flee war and violence, after one of the terrorists who attacked Paris was reported to have used the same route.

=snip=

Mr Bouckaert, HRW's Emergencies Director, wrote that the passport was not genuine and that Europe should not "shut the door" on refugees in response.

"It appears that the Syrian passport found next to the body of one of the attackers in Paris is a fake passport," he wrote.

"Such fake Syrian passports are widely available in Turkey, and are often bought by non-Syrians trying to get to EU because Syrians get preferential treatment on the journey."

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/11/15/paris-attackers-syrian-paassport_n_8567716.html?1447591809

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Objectively speaking, the unprecedented, bloody terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday night were not related to the European refugee crisis that has rumbled on for many months. Certainly the attacks could not have been caused by France’s acceptance of refugees because France, unlike Germany and Sweden, has not been accepting large numbers of refugees. Nor is it credible to believe that recently arrived refugees from the Syrian war were primarily responsible for organizing a complex series of attacks. People who climbed mountains or crossed the Mediterranean on rafts did not arrive in France and transform themselves immediately into armed terrorist killers.

The actual killers knew Paris very well. At least one has already been identified as a French national, known to the police. Others drove a Belgian rental car. I don’t care how all of the other killers entered the country: This operation wasn’t planned by refugees. They picked targets—bars, a theater, the national stadium—in integrated neighborhoods, places that were frequented by young Parisians of all backgrounds.

The human brain is not rational, however, and within minutes of the news breaking—before the identity of any of the murderers was known—many, many people began making the link between the two issues. Not all of them were Europeans: Ben Carson helpfully declared that the United States, in the wake of Paris, must now close its borders to Middle Eastern refugees. But of course European writers, tweeters, citizens, and politicians also made the same statement in large numbers.

It is important to separate these issues again. But before doing so, it is important to understand why, to so many people, they seem to be linked.

More: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2015/11/the_paris_attacks_have_nothing_to_do_with_refugees_this_operation_was_planned.html

[6chars]

1. they should find and arrest the passport forger

[EL34x4]

9. The fake passports are coming out of Syria

When government offices fall to the opposition, so do the computer printers and booklets used to make passports. There have been several accounts of non-Syrian passports being abandoned at border crossings.

[Elmergantry]

2. And he knows this how?

And found out so quickly? Why wasn't it noticed when he came in?

and if it is true, only gives on more reason to not accept any refugees: they cant vet who is a real refugee and who is not. I understand no system is perfect; but its one thing to have an illegal entry by someone meaning no harm, quite another when the entrant wants to commit mass murder.

[Fred Sanders]

3. Why so sad it was not a real Syrian passport? Only the RW wants to attack the refugees because of

the now proven planted passport....why would anyone want to assist the terrorists with their plan to smear the millions of Syria refugees fleeing ISIS, not a one who has done any major crime I know of.

This is a pro-immigrant and pro-refugee site - I hope - maybe you want to spread your anti-refugee theme elsewhere?

[7962]

5. The govt hasnt said it was fake. The other stadium attacker was from Egypt.

This guy merely SAYING the Syrian one was fake doesnt make it so. Maybe it was. Regardless, the killer wasnt a French citizen.
I'll wait for word from an actual reliable source, not someone with an agenda

[Laurian]

7. I read last night that the Egytian passport belonged to a victim....

So much confusion. It will take time to know what really happened and where the terrorists were from.

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. The Egyptian passport belongs to a victim in critical condition

The Egyptian passport that was found in Stade de France belongs to the only Egyptian victim in Paris Attacks, Waleed Abdel Razik.

He is now at a hospital in Paris in critical condition, according to the victim’s friend.

Abdel Razik travelled to Paris with his brother Wael, who has cancer, so that Wael can undergo surgery.

His friend Mohamed Gaber told Daily news Egypt that they had just rented a flat in Bois de Boulogne in Paris. “His brother Wael travelled to Paris because he has cancer and he wanted to undergo a surgery in France. He took his mother and his younger brother Waleed,” said Gaber. “Waleed adores football, so he went to watch the game between France and Germany.”

http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2015/11/15/egyptian-passport-found-in-paris-belongs-to-victim/

The claim that the Syrian passport was fake seems to come from Greece:

The official said another one of the assailants had a Syrian passport, a document that Greek officials have said he used to enter Europe in October on the Aegean island of Leros along with a record flood of refugees fleeing the war-torn Middle East. Sky News later quoted a Greek official as saying the passport was fake, although the attacker probably did use it to pass through Leros.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/french-police-detain-7-for-questioning-in-paris-siegethe-latest-from-paris/2015/11/15/7600c208-8b38-11e5-bd91-d385b244482f_story.html

[7962]

15. Either way, he wasnt a Frenchman.

So the so-called "activist" hasnt proven anything to back up his positions

[muriel_volestrangler]

20. You're the person who called him an activist

so I suggest you edit your posts so that you don't have to use 'so-called' about a word you introduced yourself.

If you, personally, are really that against the refugees, I suppose you'd read this as "hasnt proven anything to back up his positions". Bouckaert never claimed that it was a Frenchman who had the passport, so your comment seems a non sequitur. Here's what he said:

The answer is to put in place a coherent EU asylum policy that provides those fleeing war and repression with safe and legal alternatives to get that asylum, without having to risk their lives. Replacing the chaos with coherent policies would address both the responsibility to give asylum to those in need, and the security concerns raised by chaotic and uncontrolled flows.

https://www.facebook.com/peter.bouckaert/posts/10153052969552024

[7962]

29. His group advocates a very liberal policy concerning refugees

I see no need to edit my post; he IS an activist. They have been against any effort to slow or stop the masses of people flowing into Europe, many of whom arent really "escaping" any war or terror at all.
Regardless of WHERE the attackers came from, they ALL have the same ideology in common.

[muriel_volestrangler]

32. And you seem to have a problem with 'very liberal'

which has got you using the perjorative 'so-called' because you applied it to him.

"many of whom arent really "escaping" any war or terror at all. "

Oh fuck, I seem to have wandered into the comments section of the Daily Mail by mistake. Good bye.

[branford]

35. Not every member of the Democratic Party is "very liberal" on immigration policies,

or even "very liberal" on anything else, nor do they have to hold such views. This might upset you, but welcome to the big tent.

Further, it is undisputed that many of the migrants are not actually "refugees" as defined by the relevant treaties and laws, but rather economic migrants without broad protections and subject to deportation, to say nothing of criminals and terrorists who may infiltrate with both genuine refugees and other migrants, apparently including one of he Paris terrorists.

If you believe that anyone who doesn't agree with your "very liberal" views on immigration or the EU migrant crisis are little more than Daily Mail conservatives, you are in for a very rude awakening.

[muriel_volestrangler]

39. Yes, I already noticed your lack of liberalness in this thread

It has been a rude awakening to find so many people saying 'fuck the refugees' on DU.

[branford]

40. Contrary to your limited perspective,

the migrant crisis is not a binary choice between "fuck the refugees" and "very liberal," i.e., virtually open door, immigration policies.

First, as you have not disputed, many of the migrants are not actually refugees. Economic migrants and others are not legally entitled to refugee protections.

I'm also easily capable of simultaneously sympathizing with plight of genuine refugees and acknowledging the unfortunate reality that "very liberal" migrant policies do indeed result in increased risk to innocents in host countries, as the dead and injured in Paris appear to attest, and have demonstrable cultural and financial costs.

You seem to have inured yourself to these legitimate concerns with a bubble of self-righteous "liberalness." Nevertheless, much of the public in Europe and elsewhere are willing and capable of approaching the crisis with the intelligence and nuance it deserves, including a great many people who generally support liberal policies, including loyal Democrats on DU.

[7962]

41. Maybe you should read the stats of who is coming from where,

before you hop up onto your intellectual high horse.
Here's some stats from that flaming den of right wing madness, the BBC.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34131911

You'll see that a lot of people are coming from countries other than Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan that are not war zones. Not the majority, but still a significant number.
And when "very liberal" means let anyone come who wants to, yeah, I have a problem with that. We all should. It destabilizes the economy and strains the social systems of whatever country it happens to.
You'll see as the next year goes by.

[alcibiades_mystery]

30. In other words, he was infiltrated into Europe with the refugees

That the passport was a fake is beside the point. He was in Turkey, and moved through Leros and subsequently Serbia, posing as a Syrian refugee. What does it matter that the passport was fake? It's not important that those being infiltrated into Europe are "authentic" Syrians. It's important that they're being infiltrated into Europe through the refugee process.

[muriel_volestrangler]

33. It mattered to the DUer I was replying to (nt)

[7962]

42. Yes, that is pretty much what I was alluding to. But you said it better. nt

[AllyCat]

6. So we should force the vast majority of non-violent immigrants to stay in the hell they are

Escaping? Show some mercy.

[NonMetro]

10. People in France and other parts of Europe are living in fear today because

Of this assault claimed by ISIS which has, in the past, said they would export half a million of their jihadists to Europe, using the refugees as cover. Now, it was a boastful number, and likely no more than a small number have actually been exported. But if you were living in Europe, how would you view these refugees? Do you fault France for closing their border, and Poland for refusing to take anymore refugees?

[AllyCat]

11. Knee-jerk reaction made in fear.

We need intelligence, not violence.

[branford]

38. The are over 130 dead and innumerable injured in France today,

and one of the people responsible apparently infiltrated the EU claiming to be a Syrian war refugee.

It appears that the security concerns of a great many Europeans and others are entirely valid.

How many innocent Europeans have to die or suffer terrible injuries before they are allowed to discuss migrant policy or object to veritable open borders policies such as advocated by Merkel?

[AllyCat]

45. I don't know. Donald Trump might have the answers to your questions.

[branford]

49. Accusing people who don't agree with you of essentially being Republicans

does not solve the obvious problems with very liberal migrant policies, no matter how much you may wish it otherwise, and such accusations are just intellectually lazy.

You didn't address the obvious issue of the very real risks that must be incurred by a populace when their migrant policies amount to little more than "show mercy," as is very tragically evident by all the dead and injured in France. It's entirely unsurprising that people in a democracy might be more cautious and nuanced when their safety (and culture and finances) are at risk,

As is amply demonstrated by the discussion on DU in this thread and elsewhere, even on a very liberal and explicitly Democratic forum, a great many do not agree with your perspective, nor do they (or I) care about the opinions of Donald Trump.

[Snow Leopard]

46. Iran

Should so some mercy. They are Syria's ally, why aren't they taking the refugees? Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, etc, etc

[AllyCat]

48. House of Saud funds ISIS.

Why would SA take them?

[Snow Leopard]

50. because they are presumably refugees

and not ISIS

[7962]

4. So the French govt has released the passport for exam by an activist?

I doubt it. Its certainly possible that this guy had a fake passport, but people like Bouckaert are always quick to make statements about things they know nothing about. He just doesnt like the likely result if this person turns out to be one of those allowed in

[Comrade Grumpy]

12. Yes, we should be very suspicious of human rights activists.

They have an agenda.

Protecting human rights.

[7962]

16. I know, they NEVER make shit up, do they?

Regardless of whether the passport was fake or not, he still wasnt a frenchman.
And now they've closed the door.
A point often missed is that a LOT of these people arent coming from Syria or Iraq anyway, they're just coming because they can

[branford]

17. HRW certainly has an agenda.

They advocate a very liberal asylum policy, including little differentiation between economic migrants and legally-recognized refugees, among other immigration-related policies.

Public opinion in many European countries has recently taken a decidedly different view due to cultural, religious, financial, and security concerns, including otherwise very liberal asylum countries such as Sweden. Many non-left political figures and parties have asserted that liberal asylum policies risk permitting terrorists and other criminals into their countries, and even if a tiny percentage of the migrants are dangerous, it's not worth the risk of innocent life.

Unsurprising, the Paris terrorist attack and Syrian passport, real or forged, reinforces these ideas and could turn an already very dubious public into a populace downright hostile to liberal immigration and asylum policies. HRW believes they need to immediately do some political damage control before they totally lose control of the message.

So, yes, HRW has an agenda, and it's reasonable to be skeptical of their claims. Notably, HRW has no special access to the passport in question, nor particular expertise or access to pertinent intelligence.

Refusing to acknowledge that hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of migrants from areas hostile to the West, even if the vast, vast majority are indeed peaceful refugees, no less the direct threats of infiltration from ISIS, could present a security risk to host countries, and that the Paris attack may indeed be such an example, is to deny reality.

What you blithely call "protecting human rights" requires a large assumption of serious risk. It's an issue that's certainly subject to debate in democratic countries, and HRW is a politically astute international organization that has no compunction about using the media to achieve their own priorities, even if they might coincide with majorities of the people in the countries who are being asked to take in the migrants.

[PatSeg]

13. That dawned on me when

I first heard it. How sad for the many refugees who are fleeing violence.

[jamzrockz]

14. Lets just imagine this was a real Syrian passport

This still doesn't justify the west attacking the Syrian state. Compare these 2 people with the number of western terrorists with passports from France, England, US etc coming to Syria to slaughter Syrian people. Jihad John is British, Desno dog is German etc etc. These high profile terrorists have come from EU and western countries and nobody would accept it if Syria started bombing those countries because terrorists that attacked them had passports from those countries.

It sucks but your dead aren't anymore special than the Syrians and Iraqis who have been dying in the thousands at the hand of western passport holding terrorists.

[totodeinhere]

18. I think it is way too early to draw any definitive conclusions about what happened.

But it's naive to assume that ISIS will not try to use the flood of refugees coming into Europe to try to smuggle in would be terrorists. And some of the refugees due to no fault of their own have no documents. We do need to get more information first before proceeding IMO. And whatever measures are taken or not taken undoubtedly some innocents will be made to suffer.

[former9thward]

19. Made up.

Human Rights Watch has not seen the passport. Made up story.

[muriel_volestrangler]

21. Try reading the whole thread before firing off kneejerk responses (nt)

[former9thward]

24. I read the OP and read the link.

Not a particle of evidence the passport was fake. Just a claim by someone who has not seen it. Are all Syrian passports now fake because it is possible to fake a passport? A Made Up story.

[muriel_volestrangler]

28. And that's why you should have read the thread, which has a Greek official saying it was fake

in #8. Perhaps the person was following the news - if you are, you may have seen the same thing from an American official too, yesterday:

However, a U.S. intelligence official told CBS News the Syrian passport might be fake. The official said the passport did not contain the correct numbers for a legitimate Syrian passport and the picture did not match the name.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/paris-attacks-teams-extremists-france-prosecutor/

So, no, not "A Made Up story". Just a comment from someone following the news more closely than you.

[former9thward]

34. "seems to come from Greece"

Your words. An unnamed Greek "official". Now a unnamed "U.S. intelligent official" says it "might be fake". Wow, all really authoritative. I think I follow the news a lot more closely than you. I mean the actual news, not the fake stories and rumors.

[muriel_volestrangler]

37. So you are qualified to dismiss news reports as fake, but government officials

aren't qualified to call passports fake?

Gotcha. You are the best person in the world to decide on anything. It must have just slipped you mind that US officials were callign the passport fake yesterday, because you assure me you follow the news closely, before dismissing it as fake.

What a fucking waste of time it is talking to you.

[Imajika]

22. I seriously doubt it matters whether the passport was fake or not...

It still appears that one of the terrorist was a refugee, even if the passport he carried was a fake.

You once again have terrorist attacks committed by Muslims in Europe. You also have far too many 2nd, 3rd, etc, generations of Muslims living in Europe that seem to reject the very concept of European secular social democracies within which they live. It is this latter point that has Europeans most worried about. Muslims just don't seem to be integrating very well - and political Islam is popular within their ranks.

Within 10-20 years my guess is most of Europe will end all Muslim immigration - maybe sooner. They won't single out Muslims of course, but they will single out the countries Muslims come from.

This won't be the last attack either, so if they continue move that timetable up a few years.

[Fred Sanders]

25. Way to smear an entire religion with the actions of the few....the KKK is Christian...is there a

as "logical" as yours connection to all Christians being terrorists and so should be removed from America?

[Imajika]

27. Yes because all those KKK terrorist attacks have an entire continent quaking in fear...

...oh right, that isn't happening.

You realize I was not suggesting that Europe block Muslim migration, only pointing out what is very likely coming if we see more political Islamic terror.

Europeans already don't feel like Muslims are integrating well. You can see right wing parties gaining ground or even winning on this issue alone.

You can wear blinders if you'd like, but I am pointing out what is happening and the end game if these sorts of Muslim extremist attacks continue.

[7962]

43. Well said. Its there to see.

But you'll be blasted and called names for pointing out what SHOULD be common sense to anyone watching all this unfold.
Its amazing how many times the Klan is brought up. The same Klan that draws 10 times as many opponents as supporters when they have a "march"!!

[Imajika]

44. LOL, the clan is a total joke...

As you said, if the KKK shows up there are usually 10 times the opponents shouting them down.

There are probably some Aryan nation gangs in remote areas that are particularly nasty, but for the most part they are unwilling or incapable of actually launching anything close to a terrorist attack.

[goldent]

36. I've been hearing a lot more about the KKK recently,

but only as a counterpoint to ISIS.

[Snow Leopard]

47. Oh the irony

N/t

[alcibiades_mystery]

31. Correct. The important point is that he was infiltrated with the refugees

Whether the passport is authentic or not is beside the point.

[hollowdweller]

23. On CNN it says

One of three bombers who detonated themselves at the Stade de France late Friday arrived on the Greek island of Leros on October 3 among numerous Syrian refugees, Amanpour reported, citing an unnamed French senator who was briefed by the Ministry of the Interior.

The man declared himself to be Syrian, said his name was Ahmad al Mohammad and was, under new procedures set up to help refugees, issued a new emergency passport or similar document.

From Leros, he traveled to Macedonia, Serbia and then Croatia, Amanpour reported.

The fingerprints from the bomber at the Stade de France match those taken when the man was issued his emergency travel document on Leros.

To me that sounds more like the passport was issued in Greece and they took his fingerprints here.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/15/world/paris-attacks/index.html

[branford]

26. If true, I would not want to be Angela Merkel right now.

If one of the terrorists was indeed an asylum claimant within the last few months, regardless of the authenticity of the passport, it will be devastating to any EU politician seeking liberal asylum or migrant policies.