Security authorities in Germany believe that another member of a group of German Islamist insurgents in Pakistan has been killed. Officials wonder whether the deaths will be a deterrent for copycats or whether it will inspire others to sign up for jihad.

A second homegrown Islamist from Germany appears to have been killed in fighting in Pakistan, SPIEGEL has reported. Danny R., a 21-year-old from Berlin, first traveled to Pakistan via Istanbul on Sept. 2, 2009 together with another Islamist. There, he joined a group of insurgents in the porous border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan that has been a hotbed of Taliban and terrorist activity.

German security officials have obtained information suggesting that the man was killed several days ago in Waziristan. The news comes just days after word of the death of Eric Breininger, a German-born convert to Islam who had been wanted by German police on suspicion of belonging to a terrorist cell.

Danny R., who would have turned 22 on May 1, was born in Berlin but had Dutch citizenship. He renamed himself "Elias" after his conversion to Islam and belonged to a group of radical Muslims in Berlin who claimed they wanted to wage jihad, according to officials.

From Footballer to Jihadist

Danny R. had played for a while for the soccer team BFC Alemannia 1890 in the German capital before suddenly disappearing. Authorities are currently investigating whether Danny R. died at the end of April together with Breininger, who was from the western state of Saarland, and a man born in Salzgitter near Hanover named Ahmet M. According to statements made by associates of the men, four jihadists had been traveling in a car near the city of Mir Ali in Pakistan, when they were stopped and then killed during an exchange of gunfire with soldiers.

Only a few days later, Breininger's alleged memoirs were posted on the Internet. In them, he describes his conversion and his transformation into a fervent Islamist. German security officials believe the work to be authentic and are now monitoring the impact of the latest developments on the Islamist scene in Germany. Will the deaths dissuade other German converts considering making the journey to Pakistan? Or will the war reports merely serve to attract other volunteers fascinated by the stories?

In Berlin alone last September, in addition to Danny R. and his wife, two other young couples made their way to Waziristan. And in recent years, at least six militant Islamists from Germany are known to have died in the Hindu Kush mountains of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The timing of the reported arrests coincides with the capture of Taliban's second-in-command Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar in Pakistan's Karachi by Pakistani and U.S. agents this month.

Mullah Abdul Salam and Mullah Mir Mohammad, respectively the shadow governors of the northern Afghan provinces of Kunduz and Baghlan happened in Pakistan's Baluchistan province, the Afghan governor for Kunduz said.

“My information about their capture, which occurred nearly a week ago, is based on national intelligence sources,” Mohammad Omar told Reuters.

Pakistan has yet to comment about the report on the arrest of the two men, who both reported to Baradar.

Since their ouster from power by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in 2001, the Taliban have appointed shadow governors whose primary responsibility is organizing Taliban military activities.

The reported detentions come after mounting criticism by some U.S. officials who say Islamabad is not tackling Afghan Taliban based on it soil, using it as a base for carrying out attacks on Afghan and foreign troops across the border.

Washington has hailed Pakistan for the capture of Baradar, the seniormost Taliban leader to be held since the movement's ouster from power in Afghanistan more than eight years ago.

via Pakistan arrests 2 senior Afghan Taliban: official – Yahoo! News.

A human rights group is calling on Iran to free protesters detained after the disputed June 12 presidential election, calling the government’s crackdown on its critics a “human rights disaster.”

A report released Sunday by New York-based Human Rights Watch details alleged abuses by members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, Basij militia and police following widespread demonstrations in the wake of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election over opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi.

About 4,000 people have been arrested in the post-election crackdown. The government has confirmed the deaths of at least 37 people in the protests or in detention, seven of those deaths happening in December on Ashura, a major religious observance, the report said, alleging that many detainees have been beaten, tortured and in some cases, sexually abused. The group also says it believes the death toll is much higher.

“The systematic and brutal targeting of demonstrators and government critics by security forces shows that the regime’s crackdown is nothing but an attempt to silence voices of dissent,” said Joe Stork, the group’s deputy director for the Middle East. “Iran’s post-election unrest is now a full-blown human rights crisis.”

via Iran crackdown a ‘human rights disaster,’ report says – CNN.com.

The blast, apparently set off by a remote trigger, left a puzzling mix of clues about why a 50-year-old researcher with no prominent political voice, no published work with military relevance and no declared links to Iran’s nuclear program would be targeted.

State media identified the victim as Masoud Ali Mohammadi, a professor at Tehran University, which has been at the center of recent protests by student opposition supporters. Before the election, pro-reform Web sites published Ali Mohammadi’s name among a list of 240 Tehran University teachers who supported Mousavi.

via Bomb kills Iran nuclear physicist tied to Mousavi – Yahoo! News.

An Iranian cleric close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei says the country's opposition leaders are "enemies of God" who could be executed according to Islamic law.

The statement by Ayatollah Abbas Vaez Tabasi came Tuesday as opposition groups reported the arrests of more activists following Sunday's anti-government protests that left eight people dead.

At least 20 high-profile opposition figures or their associates have been detained since Sunday.

Among them are the brother-in-law of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi and the sister of Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi. Dubai TV also says its reporter in Tehran has been missing since Sunday....

via Aides to Iran’s Opposition Leaders Said to Be Arrested – NYTimes.com.

Iranian laws about the Web are purposely kept vague. Ahmed Batebi, the dissident who recently escaped Tehran after eight years in prison, told me that “The regime can arrest people and bloggers for any reason precisely because the laws are not clear.”

A journalist in the city of Yazd recently reported several cases of bloggers being shut down or involved in lawsuits due to readers’ comments. And on Nov. 14, local Iranian press reported that a new police unit was formed to fight “insults and the spreading of lies” on the Internet—another phrase which effectively bans any criticism of the regime.

It’s hard to believe in light of this Internet repression, but Iran’s president is himself a blogger. “Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s Personal Memos” is the place where he goes to vent and stay in touch with the common folk. He says he allots himself 15 minutes a week to write on his blog, but admits that at times he exceeds this limit.

via David Keyes: Ahmadinejad, the Blogger – WSJ.com.