World
Man charged with ‘terrorism’ for bomb at Indigenous protest in Australia
The charge marks the first instance of an individual being prosecuted for this specific offence in Western Australia.
Australian authorities have declared an attempted bombing at an Indigenous rights rally in Perth last month “an act of terror”, charging a 31-year-old man with one of the most serious offences in the Commonwealth Criminal Code.
The Western Australia Joint Counter Terrorism Team (JCTT) said in a press statement on Thursday that the man removed a “home-made improvised explosive device” from his bag and threw it into a crowd at a rally in Perth’s Central Business District on January 26.
list of 3 itemsend of listRecommended Stories
The device failed to detonate, and no casualties were reported among the several thousand people who attended the rally, held in support of First Nations people. The event was part of a series of nationwide “Invasion Day” protests organised to advocate for Indigenous rights and to protest against the historical dispossession of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
If found guilty, the man could face life imprisonment under the country’s law.
The police said the man will remain in custody until his next court appearance, set for February 17 at the Perth Magistrates Court.
Western Australia Premier Roger Cook, speaking at a news conference on Thursday, urged people to condemn such incidents.
“This charge … alleges the attack on Aboriginal people and other peaceful protesters was motivated by hateful, racist ideology,” he said. “This is the first time this charge has been laid in Western Australia.”
‘An attack on all Australians’
On Tuesday, Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy condemned the incident, characterising the attempted bombing as an assault on Australian social cohesion.
“The Albanese Government condemns this sickening and abhorrent incident,” she said in a Senate statement, Indigenous News Australia reported. “An attack on First Nations Australians is an attack on all Australians. First Nations Australians, like all Australians, must be able to gather peacefully without fearing for our safety. There is no place for hate, intimidation or racism of any form in Australia.”
The JCTT said in its statement that to secure a “terrorism” conviction under the criminal code, authorities must prove three specific legal components.
First, the action must cause or threaten serious consequences, such as harm to human life, damage to property, or a significant risk to public safety. Second, the act must be motivated by the intention to advance a political, religious, or ideological cause. Finally, the action must be intended to coerce a government or intimidate the public, or a specific section of the population.
The targeting of the rally occurred as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continue to face recorded inequalities in healthcare, education, and imprisonment rates, as well as a history of being targeted by racially motivated crimes in Australia.
In December 2022, Australian authorities were forced to confront what experts described as “deeply entrenched” racism following the alleged murder of 15-year-old Indigenous boy Cassius Turvey.
Cassius, a member of the Noongar Nation in Western Australia, was walking home from school with friends when he was subjected to an unprovoked assault with a metal pole. The incident, termed by police as a “vicious attack“, resulted in injuries that led to his death 10 days later.
World
Video: Toronto Police Officers Charged in Drug and Corruption Investigation
new video loaded: Toronto Police Officers Charged in Drug and Corruption Investigation
transcript
transcript
Toronto Police Officers Charged in Drug and Corruption Investigation
Eight Toronto police officers were charged in an investigation, which began after a prison manager was targeted by three hit men. The investigation unraveled a crime network and and revealed a connection to the police officers who have been accused of participating in organized criminal activity and drug trafficking.
-
“The allegations of criminal corruption include bribery, obstruction of justice, drug trafficking, theft of personal property, breach of trust, and the unauthorized access and distribution of confidential information. Our belief is that member was doing his job effectively, was ethical and had complete integrity in his position, and that those actions, his commitment to integrity in his position, was what spawned the criminal actions against him. We are alleging that some police officers who were collecting personal and private information unlawfully and distributing it to members of organized crime, which ultimately resulted in serious harm in our communities.” “This is a painful and unsettling moment. Organized crime is corrosive. That it infected our service is unacceptable.” “The investigators involved held a mirror to the face of the criminal justice system, and to our policing institution to uncover the truth.”
By Meg Felling
February 5, 2026
World
Britain drags feet on IRGC terror designation as Iran-linked center allegedly sells extremist merchandise
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government is facing intense criticism over its failure to swiftly outlaw Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The development comes as a London-based Islamic center has been accused of selling merchandise supporting terrorism.
Potkin Azarmehr, a British-Iranian expert on Iran who has written extensively on Iran’s influence operations in the United Kingdom, told Fox News Digital the “Islamic Centre of England is a regime outpost.
“The head of the center is directly appointed by Iran’s supreme leader. The letter of the appointment is publicly read during the inauguration ceremony. There is not a shred of doubt that the center is used to peddle the influence of Iran’s political Islam. It is also used to recruit disgruntled British individuals who are sent to Iran for training.”
The Daily Telegraph reported in late January that U.K. authorities were investigating the Islamic Centre of England for allegedly selling Hezbollah phone cases and pro-Iranian regime key rings. Britain has sanctioned the Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist movement, Hezbollah.
TRUMP’S IRAN THREATS FACE ‘OBAMA RED LINE’ TEST AS WHITE HOUSE PIVOTS TO DIPLOMACY
A Google Maps photo showing the Islamic Centre of England in London. (Google Maps)
The pro-Hezbollah and pro–Islamic Republic goods were reportedly sold at a bazaar Dec. 14, 2025, according to the paper. One key ring displayed the words, “With the kindness of God, Seyyed Ali [Khamenei] is our leader.” The Islamic Republic of Iran’s supreme leader, Khamenei, would order the murder of thousands of Iranian demonstrators just weeks later.
The bazaar also allegedly had stickers of late IRGC global terrorist Qassem Soleimani, who was responsible for the murders of over 600 military personnel, according to the Trump administration. President Trump ordered a drone strike in January 2020 that killed Soleimani in Iraq.
Emma Schubart, a research fellow at Britain’s Henry Jackson Society, told Fox News Digital, “The Islamic Centre of England is not an isolated religious institution; it is part of a wider ecosystem of Iranian state-linked influence operating openly in the U.K., and at the center of that ecosystem sits the IRGC.
“The U.K. Government is dragging its feet over designating the IRGC. By delaying action, ministers are allowing hostile Iranian networks to continue operating under the cover of civil society and religious life. This is a dangerous blind spot in Britain’s national security.”
The Islamic Centre of England is a registered charity. When asked about reports of the Islamic Center’s role in selling pro-terrorist merchandise, a spokesperson for the U.K.’s Charity Commission told Fox News Digital, “As part of our ongoing statutory inquiry into (the) Islamic Centre of England, we have raised concerns with the trustees about material sold by third parties at a recent event hosted at the charity’s premises. We take very seriously any alleged links between a charity and extremism or terrorism. Such links are abhorrent and corrosive to the trust on which the charitable sector depends.”
A British Union flag flies from a souvenir stall near the Houses of Parliament in London Oct. 27, 2025. (Jason Alden/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Azarmehr, however, countered, “The U.K. Charity Commission, the regulatory body, has been ‘investigating’ the center for five years with no decisions and no updates other than appointing an interim director, but the center carries on business as usual.
“The only tangible result is that every time you make a complaint to the charity about the center, they reply by saying that because they are investigating the center, they cannot comment.
IRAN REGIME OPENED FIRE WITH LIVE AMMUNITION ON PROTESTERS, DOCTOR SAYS: ‘SHOOT-TO-KILL’
“The first head of the center, Ayatollah Mohsen Araki, is now a member of Iran’s powerful Assembly of Experts and a key figure in propagating Iran’s soft power abroad. Araki’s family have U.K. citizenship. The previous U.K. government, in which Alicia Kearns was part of its administration, even paid the center in excess of £100,000 in COVID-19 furlough.”
In this photo released Jan. 6, 2020, by the official website of the Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, fourth from left, leads a prayer over the coffins of Gen. Qassem Soleimani and his comrades who were killed in Iraq in a U.S. drone strike at the Tehran University campus, in Tehran, Iran. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)
Kearns, who is the shadow minister for home affairs for the opposition Conservative party, is now demanding that the Islamic Center be shuttered.
“These latest revelations of terrorist tat being sold by the Islamic Centre of England are yet more evidence of why the center must be closed and those responsible for propagating terrorist propaganda face the law,” she told the Telegraph.
“The figures being idealized are responsible for the cold-blooded murder of tens of thousands of young Iranian protesters, adding to the many regional and international crimes of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM BOOTS IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER FROM DAVOS SUMMIT AMID DEADLY CRACKDOWN ON PROTESTERS
A spokesperson for the Islamic Centre of England told Fox News Digital, “The trustees take all concerns about the center very seriously. We are currently reviewing matters pertaining to the Dec. 14 event and, in light of this, are unable to comment further at this time.”
The EU announced last week that it has classified the IRGC a terrorist entity. The U.S., Canada and Australia have previously designated the IRGC a foreign terrorist organization. The IRGC played a key role in the massacre of Iranian demonstrators last month.
Iranians gather while blocking a street during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 9, 2026. (MAHSA/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
The proliferation of pro-Iran activism unfolded last weekend in London. Nigel Farage, leader of the Reform Party in the United Kingdom, posted on X, “When people in Britain are chanting support for the thuggish regime in Iran, we are in serious trouble as a nation.”
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Video footage embedded in Farage’s post and other clips on social media shows a mix of pro-Palestinian and pro-Iran regime messaging at the protests.
Multiple Fox News Digital inquiries to the British prime minister’s office went unanswered.
World
Council of Europe chief calls for political and financial backing of Ukraine Special Tribunal
The head of Europe’s leading human rights organisation, the Council of Europe, told Euronews that European countries need to provide the budgetary resources and political will to ensure accountability for Russian war crimes committed in Ukraine.
-
Indiana4 days ago13-year-old rider dies following incident at northwest Indiana BMX park
-
Massachusetts5 days agoTV star fisherman, crew all presumed dead after boat sinks off Massachusetts coast
-
Tennessee6 days agoUPDATE: Ohio woman charged in shooting death of West TN deputy
-
Movie Reviews1 week agoVikram Prabhu’s Sirai Telugu Dubbed OTT Movie Review and Rating
-
Indiana3 days ago13-year-old boy dies in BMX accident, officials, Steel Wheels BMX says
-
Politics1 week agoVirginia Democrats seek dozens of new tax hikes, including on dog walking and dry cleaning
-
Austin, TX6 days ago
TEA is on board with almost all of Austin ISD’s turnaround plans
-
Texas5 days agoLive results: Texas state Senate runoff