C L O S E R

Court delivers guilty verdict over Madrid train bombings | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

Posted on November 1st, 2007 by martijn.
Categories: International Terrorism.

Court delivers guilty verdict over Madrid train bombings | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

Paul Hamilos in Madrid, Mark Tran and agencies
Wednesday October 31, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

Spanish judge today found 21 people guilty – but acquitted seven – of the Madrid train bombings that killed more than 190 people in one of Europe’s worst terrorist atrocities in recent years.

To the consternation of some survivors and relatives of the victims, one of the accused masterminds, Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed, known as “Mohamed the Egyptian”, was acquitted along with six others. He is in prison in Milan, Italy, after being convicted of belonging to an international terrorist group.

A representative from a victims’ association said he was unhappy that some of the accused were still walking free.

“It seems to us that only a few of them got a lot of years in prison. There aren’t many heavy sentences considering how many people were affected,” Eutiquio Gutierrez, whose 39-year-old daughter died in the bombings, told Reuters.

Three of the eight main suspects – Emilio Trashorras, a Spaniard, and Jamal Zougam and Othman el-Gnaoui, both Moroccans – received sentences of nearly 40,000 years each. Under Spanish law, however, they can only serve a maximum of 40 years.

Four other lead defendants – Youssef Belhadj, Hassan el Haski, Abdulmajid Bouchar and Rafa Zouhier – were acquitted of murder but convicted of lesser charges including belonging to a terrorist group or trafficking in weapons. Fourteen other people were found guilty of lesser charges such as belonging to a terrorist group. (more…)

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Leidenuniv / Bob de Graaff – Terrorisme als kunst

Posted on October 23rd, 2007 by .
Categories: International Terrorism.

Nieuwsbrief 070904 – Terrorisme als kunst
Terrorisme als kunst

Prof.dr. Bob de Graaff

Voor fijnbesnaarde zielen die kunst mooi vinden en terrorisme ziek, is het misschien een schokkende boodschap, maar er is een relatie tussen terrorisme en kunst, zo betoogt prof.dr. Bob de Graaf, hoogleraar terrorisme en contraterrorisme. Met een analyse van die – dialectische – relatie opende hij vanmiddag om 16.45 uur het studiejaar van de Campus Den Haag.

Zelfexpressie
In Nederland is er opmerkelijk weinig aandacht voor de overeenkomsten en wederzijdse invloeden tussen gewelddadig radicalisme en kunst, zo constateert hij. Zowel wetenschappers als politici en beleidsmakers proberen voornamelijk economische en sociale root causes te vinden en te beïnvloeden. Dat moet natuurlijk ook, meent De Graaff, maar daarnaast zouden ze meer oog moeten hebben voor de behoefte van – meestal goedopgeleide – jongeren aan zelfexpressie, aan hun ‘fifteen minutes of fame’. Meer oog ook voor de culturele manifestaties in de maatschappij, betere antennes voor ‘what’s in the air’.

(more…)

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BBC NEWS | Europe | Belgian Iraq terror trial begins

Posted on October 15th, 2007 by .
Categories: International Terrorism, ISIM Research II, Religious and Political Radicalization.

BBC NEWS | Europe | Belgian Iraq terror trial begins

Degauque is thought to have been Iraq’s first female European bomber
The trial has begun in Brussels of six men accused of being part of an Islamic militant group that recruited a Belgian woman for a suicide bombing in Iraq.

Muriel Degauque, a 38-year-old convert to Islam from Charleroi, blew herself up near a US patrol on 9 November 2005. No-one else was killed by the blast.

Officials say it was the first suicide attack by a European woman in Iraq.

The six men, most of them Belgians of North African descent, are also charged with forgery and selling stolen goods.

The trial is taking place amid fears that militant groups are using Belgium as a base for launching attacks in other countries.

In February 2006, a Belgian court found three men guilty of being leaders of a Belgian cell of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, which was linked to the March 2004 train bombings in Madrid and the attacks in Casablanca in May 2003. (more…)

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BBC NEWS | Europe | Belgian Iraq terror trial begins

Posted on October 15th, 2007 by martijn.
Categories: International Terrorism, ISIM Research II, Religious and Political Radicalization.

BBC NEWS | Europe | Belgian Iraq terror trial begins

Degauque is thought to have been Iraq’s first female European bomber
The trial has begun in Brussels of six men accused of being part of an Islamic militant group that recruited a Belgian woman for a suicide bombing in Iraq.

Muriel Degauque, a 38-year-old convert to Islam from Charleroi, blew herself up near a US patrol on 9 November 2005. No-one else was killed by the blast.

Officials say it was the first suicide attack by a European woman in Iraq.

The six men, most of them Belgians of North African descent, are also charged with forgery and selling stolen goods.

The trial is taking place amid fears that militant groups are using Belgium as a base for launching attacks in other countries.

In February 2006, a Belgian court found three men guilty of being leaders of a Belgian cell of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, which was linked to the March 2004 train bombings in Madrid and the attacks in Casablanca in May 2003. (more…)

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NRC / Bob de Graaff – De AIVD werpt zijn netten te ver uit

Posted on October 15th, 2007 by .
Categories: International Terrorism, ISIM/RU Research, Murder on theo Van Gogh and related issues, Religious and Political Radicalization, Religious Movements, Young Muslims.

Vorige week kwam de AIVD met het rapport ‘Radicale dawa in verandering, de opkomst van islamitisch neoradicalisme in Nederland‘ Het laat de opkomst zien van zogenaamd neo-radicalisme optreedt waarbij er een scheiding der geesten is opgetreden tussen de jihad en radicaal salafisme, met steeds minder buitenlandse beïnvloeding en steeds pragmatischer optreden. Ik vraag me af of het echt nieuw is; het lijkt er vooral op dat degene die de gewelddadige jihad steunden aan terrein hebben verloren en dat de anderen zijn doorgegaan waar ze al mee bezig waren; het opbouwen van een professionele sociale beweging. Een beweging dus die zich tegen geweld (in Europa althans) keert en waarbij een gedeelte een actieve bemoeienis met de Nederlandse samenleving voorstaat. Dat mag men op punten onwenselijk vinden, maar de vraag is of de AIVD zich daarmee moet bemoeien. De AIVD beschouwt sommige elementen van de salafistische doctrines als strijdig met de democratische rechtstaat en potentieel (op termijn) ontwrichtend voor de rechtstaat. Dat heeft deels te maken met de definitie van radicalisering dat in de ogen van de AIVD eigenlijk de antithese is van alles wat met democratie te maken heeft. Radicalisering is daarmee per definitie een gevaar volgens die opvatting, maar de vraag is wel of dat terecht is.

Bob de Graaff, hoogleraar terrorisme en contraterrorisme aan de Campus Den Haag van de Universiteit Leiden, schreef vorige week in een reactie op het rapport dat gepubliceerd is in NRC van vrijdag 12 oktober. Een reactie waar ik me goed in kan vinden. (more…)

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Protected: AD.nl – Binnenland – Terrorist is druk met de interne strijd

Posted on September 24th, 2007 by martijn.
Categories: International Terrorism.

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MEMRI: Saudi Cleric Salman Al-Odeh Slams Brother Osama bin Laden, Warns Him Hell Be Responsible for Deaths of Millions, Reminds Him He Must Face Allah

Posted on September 19th, 2007 by .
Categories: Internal Debates, International Terrorism.

MEMRI: Saudi Cleric Salman Al-Odeh Slams Brother Osama bin Laden, Warns Him Hell Be Responsible for Deaths of Millions, Reminds Him He Must Face Allah

The following are excerpts from a religious show featuring Saudi cleric Salman Al-Odeh, which aired on MBC TV on September 14, 2007.

“How Much Blood Has Been Shed, And How Many… Have Been Killed… In The Name Of Al-Qaeda?”

Salman Al-Odeh: “I say to my brother Osama [bin Laden]: How much blood has been shed, and how many innocent people, children, elderly, and women have been killed, displaced, or banished in the name of Al-Qaeda? Would you be pleased to meet Allah while you bear responsibility for hundreds or even millions of people?”

[…]

“The Prophet Muhammad said that anyone who killed even a bird unjustly would meet Allah on Judgment Day, and the bird would say to Allah: Ask so-and-do why he killed me unjustly. This religion protects the sanctity of the blood of even birds and animals. The Prophet Muhammad said about a prophet who burned an anthill: Just because one ant bit you, you burned an entire colony of ants that were praising Allah? This is all the more true when it comes to human beings.”

[…]

“My brother Osama bin Laden, the image of Islam is not at its best today. People all over the world say that Islam kills anyone who is not of this religion, and that Salafism kills any Muslim who does not believe in it – whereas the Prophet Muhammad refrained from killing even the hypocrites, about whom Allah said they would dwell in the lowest level of hell. The Prophet Muhammad said that the reason was so that people would not say that Muhammad kills his friends.”

“Is The Difference Not Clear Between One Who Kills And One Who Gives Life?”

“My brother Osama, what happened on 9/11 was the killing of several thousands, maybe less than 3,000, who died aboard the planes and in those towers, whereas there are unknown preachers, through whom Allah has guided hundreds of thousands of people, who have been enlightened by the light of Islam, and whose hearts have been filled with the love of Allah. Is the difference not clear between one who kills and one who gives life?”

[…]

“My brother Osama, the annihilation of an entire people, like what is happening in Afghanistan, through destruction and through hunger… This people has lost its entire infrastructure… Or the destruction of another people, like what is happening in Iraq… There are more than three million refugees in Jordan and Syria alone, apart from those who went to other countries in the East or West. The specter of civil war, which hovers over Afghanistan and Iraq, is not something about which Muslims are happy. The Prophet Muhammad heard about a man called Harb “war” and changed his name, because he loathed war. Our God said: Fighting is ordained for you, even though you hate it. This is a hateful thing to which people resort only when it is necessary, and when there is no other choice.

“Are [You] Determined to Come to Power, Even If it is Over the Bodies of Thousands and Hundreds of Thousands[?]”

“Who benefits from the attempts to change countries like Morocco, Algeria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, or any other country into countries governed by fear, where people feel unsafe? Should coming to power be the goal? Is it the solution? Are [you] determined to come to power, even if it is over the bodies of thousands and hundreds of thousands of policemen, soldiers, ordinary Muslims, or innocent people who are sometimes killed – and then you say that they will be resurrected according to their intentions. Indeed they will, but the question is how we shall be resurrected, and how we shall appear when we meet our God, when so much blood has been shed under our patronage, whether we like it or not.”

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Counterterrorism Blog: Operation Niche: The Conviction of Mohammed Atif Siddique

Posted on September 19th, 2007 by .
Categories: International Terrorism, Religious and Political Radicalization, Religious Movements.

Counterterrorism Blog: Operation Niche: The Conviction of Mohammed Atif Siddique

In fact, the material collected by Siddique was a virtual encyclopedia of terrorist knowledge acquired over time by Al-Qaida and its associates. It was also a remarkable who’s-who lineup of some of the most high profile figures in the “homegrown terrorism” market hailing from Al-Qaida’s military leadership. Though Western academics have tended to focus on the much-vaunted role of Abu Musab al-Suri (a.k.a. Mustafa Setmariam Nasar) in this respect, actual case studies are consistently demonstrating that the teachings of other competing strategists have been far more influential in Al-Qaida circles, arguably none more so than those published by the late Saudi Al-Qaida commander Shaykh Youssef al-Ayyiri. Known to his supporters as “the Swift Sword,” al-Ayyiri (a.k.a. “Al-Battar”) reportedly first joined the Arab mujahideen fighting in Afghanistan at age 18.

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Protected: de Volkskrant – Binnenland – Hof veroordeelt Samir A. tot vier jaar cel

Posted on September 17th, 2007 by martijn.
Categories: International Terrorism, ISIM/RU Research, Murder on theo Van Gogh and related issues, Young Muslims.

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San Jose Mercury News – Jumping ahead of Al-Qaida on video

Posted on September 14th, 2007 by .
Categories: Blogosphere, International Terrorism.

San Jose Mercury News – Jumping ahead of Al-Qaida on video

By Joby Warrick
Washington Post
Article Launched: 09/12/2007 01:31:41 AM PDT

WASHINGTON – Early Tuesday morning, a South Carolina Web designer who works at home managed to scoop Al-Qaida by publicly unveiling its new video, a feat she has accomplished numerous times since 2002. Within hours, cable news stations were broadcasting images of Osama bin Laden commemorating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and crediting the 50-year-old woman, who uses the pseudonym Laura Mansfield.

(more…)

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Bin Laden Extracts

Posted on September 8th, 2007 by .
Categories: International Terrorism.

Natuurlijk duikt iedereen op dit moment op de video tape met Bin Laden ondanks het feit dat er ook nog wel wat twijfels zijn over de echtheid en geloofwaardigheid ervan (zie post hieronder). Als één van de eerste was daar natuurlijk Geenstijl. Die daarmee vooral aantoont hoe oppervlakkig en irrelevant ze eigenlijk zijn. Het zal wel zo gegaan zijn: ‘moeten we hier iets mee?’ ‘Ja tuurlijk’ ‘Maar moeten we zelf iets bedenken?’ ‘Dat hebben we nog nooit gedaan’ ‘hey ik heb hier wat’ ‘erop gooien dan maar zonder toelichting en zonder bron’ ‘Klaar! Wat zijn we weer goed he?’

En dus staat daar zonder bronvermelding een heel beroerde vertaling (via Aqoul die heel duidelijk het wel goed gelezen hebben) van de video door MSNBC. Maar je kunt ook de extracts op Al Jazeera lezen:

Al Jazeera English – News – Extracts From The Bin Laden Tape
(more…)

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Al Jazeera English Bin Laden Video

Posted on September 8th, 2007 by .
Categories: International Terrorism.

Al Jazeera English – News – Bin Laden Threatens Iraq Escalation

Osama bin Laden has used his first videotape message in nearly three years to threaten to escalate the violence in Iraq and attack the US government.

The video, which was released just days before the sixth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks, urges Americans to turn to Islam if they want the Iraq war to end.

Bin Laden derides George Bush, saying events in Iraq have spun “out of control” and the US president “is like the one who ploughs and sows the sea: he harvests nothing but failure”. (more…)

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Protected: Trouw, hetNieuws| europa – Duitsland verijdelt aanslagen

Posted on September 7th, 2007 by martijn.
Categories: International Terrorism, Religious and Political Radicalization.

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Protected: Trouw, hetNieuws| europa – Duitsland verijdelt aanslagen

Posted on September 7th, 2007 by martijn.
Categories: International Terrorism, Religious and Political Radicalization.

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Salafistische activisten

Posted on September 5th, 2007 by .
Categories: International Terrorism, ISIM/RU Research, My Research, Religious and Political Radicalization, Religious Movements, Young Muslims.

Volgens minister Ter Horst zijn naar schatting tussen de 20.000 en 30.000 mensen mogelijk te beïnvloeden door de ideeën van het salafi bewegingen, ultraorthodoxe sociale bewegingen die geinspireerd zijn door salafistische tradities in de islam. Er zijn ongeveer 2500 “potentiële activisten”.  Ze weigerde echter, ondanks aandringen van enkele volksvertegenwoordigers, te zeggen hoeveel salafistische predikers er zijn. Dat is volgens de bewindsvrouw operationele informatie, die ze niet in het openbaar wil delen.

Met activisme dienen we niet direct te denken aan geweld. Onder activisme kunnen ook zendingsactiviteiten en bekeringsactiviteiten worden verstaan evenals een maatschappij-kritische houding ten opzichte van de samenleving en de nationale en internationale politiek.

In de afgelopen twintig jaar zijn in vele steden in de islamitische wereld en het Westen kantoren gevestigd die  vaak met Saoedisch geld – het salafisme propageren. Salafisten hebben een omstreden reputatie door hun trikte houding jegens niet-moslims en andere moslims, en door politiek en soms geweldadig activisme. Tegelijkertijd lijken sommige groepen radicalisering van jongeren te voorkomen: zij sterken jongeren zodat ze hun problemen van discriminatie en uitsluiting het hoofd kunnen bieden. De bewegingen dienen dan ook zeker niet op één hoop gegooid worden.

In het kader van het ISIM /RU onderzoek naar salafisme, wordt eind september de conferentie ‘Salafisme als Transnationale beweging’ georganiseerd. Toonaangevende wetenschappers komen daarvoor naar Nederland: Bernard Haykel van Princeton University (VS) zal zich richten op het salafisme in Jemen; Madawi Rasheed, King’s College (VK) op Saoedi Arabië; Khaled Hroub, Cambridge University Arab Media
Project (VK) op Hamas; en Reuven Paz op salafisme op het internet. Samen met 16 collega’s zullen ze ingaan op randende vragen als: wat houdt salafisme in? Wat zijn de overeenkomsten en verschillen tussen de puristische, de politieke en de jihadi stromingen binnen het islamisme? Waarop richt zich de strijd met gematigde en
traditionele islamitische stromingen? Behalve op ideologische aspecten, zal de conferentie zich ook afvragen hoe het universele karakter van salafisme zich verhoudt tot zijn lokale versies; en hoe salafisten lokale moslimbevolkingen mobiliseren.

Deze conferentie is semi-publiek. De aftrap vindt plaats op 27 september door middel van een publiek debat. Informatie daarover volgt nog.

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New Islamist websites seek to recruit women (Magharebia.com)

Posted on September 3rd, 2007 by .
Categories: International Terrorism, Religious and Political Radicalization.

New Islamist websites seek to recruit women (Magharebia.com)
30/08/2007

Despite efforts to monitor and counter internet sites designed to recruit and train terrorists, sites continue to appear on the web, including those targeting female jihadists.

By Jamel Arfaoui for Magharebia in Tunis – 30/08/2007

In a study published in Tunisia’s Le Temps last week, religious scholar Dr. Iqbal Gharbi said the number of websites devoted to female Jihad has increased, along with their forms and amount of content.

Gharbi, professor of religious anthropology at the Zitouna Institute, identified four general functions the sites aim to achieve: distance learning, dissemination of the Salafist call, mobilisation and terrorism on the Internet.

Gharbi, who has been tracking 20 websites directed towards Muslim women, said, “Islamists have accelerated the use of the Internet, which is the symbol of Western technology, and more precisely of US technology, which they continuously criticize. However, the pragmatic approach which allowed for the use of this Western means has proved its validity and has had a lot of benefits.” According to Gharbi, one of the most important benefits to Islamist groups is that they no longer require geographical space for their activities, using the Internet instead for training and co-ordination. (more…)

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Protected: de Volkskrant – Binnenland – OM eist 6 jaar tegen Samir A. in oude zaak

Posted on September 3rd, 2007 by martijn.
Categories: International Terrorism, Murder on theo Van Gogh and related issues, Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims.

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Protected: Amnesty International Nederland – Wordt Vervolgd – Interview Nooitgedagt, advocaat Hofstadgroep

Posted on September 3rd, 2007 by martijn.
Categories: International Terrorism, Multiculti Issues, Murder on theo Van Gogh and related issues, Religious and Political Radicalization.

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The Times/John Gray: A trail of terror stretching 200 years – What links Robespierre and the Haymarket bombers?

Posted on September 3rd, 2007 by .
Categories: International Terrorism.

The Times: A trail of terror stretching 200 years – What links Robespierre and the Haymarket bombers?
John Gray (His book Black Mass: Apocalyptic Religion and the Death of Utopia is published by Penguin on July 5)

At a time when Islamist terrorism seems to have returned to the centre of London, it is easy to forget that during the 20th century terror was used on a vast scale by secular regimes. Today suicide attacks are automatically linked with a belief in martyrdom followed by paradise in the afterlife. Yet suicide bombing of the kind we now confront is a terrorist technique that was developed by people with no such beliefs. Though they claim to reject all things modern and Western, Islamist terrorists are continuing a modern Western tradition of using systematic violence to transform society. The roots of contemporary terrorism are in radical Western ideology – especially Leninism – far more than religion.

(more…)

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The day I met the ‘respondent’ Kafeel Ahmed « Islam, Muslims, and an Anthropologist

Posted on August 4th, 2007 by .
Categories: Blogosphere, International Terrorism, Religious and Political Radicalization, Research International, Young Muslims.

Kafeel Ahmed, an Indian-born aerospace engineer, who the British authorities say drove a burning Jeep Cherokee into a terminal at Glasgow Airport in a botched terrorism attack died Thursday night in a hospital in Scotland, the police said.

The man, 28, sustained severe burns over 90 percent of his body and had remained in critical condition since the failed attack on June 30. The Jeep was loaded with gasoline and burst into flames as it hit the airline terminal.

On Dr. Marranci’s blog a very interesting, personal and sensitive entry about Kafeel Ahmed who was a ‘respondent’ of him in one of researches. A must read:

The day I met the ‘respondent’ Kafeel Ahmed « Islam, Muslims, and an Anthropologist

I still remember his jokes about me being Italian, and the references to the film ‘The Padrino’. Kafeel, the Kafeel who I knew from 2001 to 2003, when I left Belfast, was a very welcoming person, very reserved and shy. Yet when you came to know him better, you discovered his intellectual side, his strong belief in Islam as justice and God’s love. He was a very calm, quite ‘westernised’ Muslim, ever ready to laugh at jokes. Interested in sport, particularly cricket, we spent time speaking at my preferred coffee shop in Botanic Avenue about Muslim identity, the experience of living in Northern Ireland as a Muslim, the tension between India and Pakistan, and the Palestinian Intifada.

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Protected: de Volkskrant – Binnenland – Hofstadleden doorgezaagd over islam

Posted on July 30th, 2007 by martijn.
Categories: International Terrorism, Murder on theo Van Gogh and related issues, My Research, Religious and Political Radicalization, Religious Movements, Young Muslims.

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Violence won’t work: how author of ‘jihadists’ bible’ stirred up a storm | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

Posted on July 30th, 2007 by .
Categories: Internal Debates, International Terrorism, My Research, Religious and Political Radicalization, Religious Movements.

Violence won’t work: how author of ‘jihadists’ bible’ stirred up a storm | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

Violence won’t work: how author of ‘jihadists’ bible’ stirred up a storm

Revisionist message from prison cell shakes al-Qaida colleagues

Ian Black Cairo
Friday July 27, 2007
The Guardian

In a prison cell south of Cairo a repentant Egyptian terrorist leader is putting the finishing touches to a remarkable recantation that undermines the Muslim theological basis for violent jihad and is set to generate furious controversy among former comrades still fighting with al-Qaida.

Sayid Imam al-Sharif, 57, was the founder and first emir (commander) of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad organisation, whose supporters assassinated President Anwar Sadat in 1981 and later teamed up with Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan in the war against the Soviet occupation.

Sharif, a surgeon who is still known by his underground name of “Dr Fadl”, is famous as the author of the Salafi jihadists’ “bible” – Foundations of Preparation for Holy War. He worked with Ayman al-Zawahiri, another Egyptian doctor and now Bin Laden’s deputy, before being kidnapped in Yemen after 9/11, interrogated by the CIA and extradited to Egypt where has been serving a life sentence since 2004.

Sharif recently gave an electrifying foretaste of his conversion by condemning killings on the basis of nationality and colour of skin and the targeting of women and children, citing the Qur’anic injunction: “Fight in the cause of God those who fight you, but do not transgress the limits; for God loveth not transgressors.” Armed operations were wrong, counterproductive and must cease, he declared sternly.
(more…)

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Violence won't work: how author of 'jihadists' bible' stirred up a storm | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

Posted on July 30th, 2007 by martijn.
Categories: Internal Debates, International Terrorism, My Research, Religious and Political Radicalization, Religious Movements.

Violence won’t work: how author of ‘jihadists’ bible’ stirred up a storm | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

Violence won’t work: how author of ‘jihadists’ bible’ stirred up a storm

Revisionist message from prison cell shakes al-Qaida colleagues

Ian Black Cairo
Friday July 27, 2007
The Guardian

In a prison cell south of Cairo a repentant Egyptian terrorist leader is putting the finishing touches to a remarkable recantation that undermines the Muslim theological basis for violent jihad and is set to generate furious controversy among former comrades still fighting with al-Qaida.

Sayid Imam al-Sharif, 57, was the founder and first emir (commander) of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad organisation, whose supporters assassinated President Anwar Sadat in 1981 and later teamed up with Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan in the war against the Soviet occupation.

Sharif, a surgeon who is still known by his underground name of “Dr Fadl”, is famous as the author of the Salafi jihadists’ “bible” – Foundations of Preparation for Holy War. He worked with Ayman al-Zawahiri, another Egyptian doctor and now Bin Laden’s deputy, before being kidnapped in Yemen after 9/11, interrogated by the CIA and extradited to Egypt where has been serving a life sentence since 2004.

Sharif recently gave an electrifying foretaste of his conversion by condemning killings on the basis of nationality and colour of skin and the targeting of women and children, citing the Qur’anic injunction: “Fight in the cause of God those who fight you, but do not transgress the limits; for God loveth not transgressors.” Armed operations were wrong, counterproductive and must cease, he declared sternly.
(more…)

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On Suicide Bombing, by Talal Asad

Posted on July 23rd, 2007 by .
Categories: Important Publications, International Terrorism.

A new book has been published: On Suicide Bombing, by Talal Asad.

An excerpt: (more…)

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Losing My Jihadism – washingtonpost.com

Posted on July 23rd, 2007 by .
Categories: Internal Debates, International Terrorism, Religious and Political Radicalization.

Losing My Jihadism – washingtonpost.com

I felt as though I was hearing this verse for the first time. God is light, it says, the universe is illuminated by His light. I felt the verse was speaking directly to me, sending me a message. This God of light, I thought, how could He be against any human? The God of light would not be happy to see people suffer, even if they had sinned and made mistakes along the way.

I had found my Islam. And I believe that others can find it, too.

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