C L O S E R

Societal Impact Award 2008

Posted on October 20th, 2008 by martijn.
Categories: Gouda Issues, Multiculti Issues, My Research, Religious and Political Radicalization, Some personal considerations.

Tijdens de dies van de Vrije Universiteit was er niet alleen een uitstekende, boeiende rede van André Lucas, hoogleraar Financiële markten en instellingen aan de faculteit der Economische Wetenschappen en Bedrijfskunde over de ‘Crisis op de financiële  markten’ en een eredoctoraat voor voormalig minister van financiën Gerrit Zalm, maar ook de uitreiking van de Societal Impact Awards 2008. De Senior Societal Impact Award is bedoeld voor een uitstekende onderzoeker van de VU, die zich al jaren bijzonder verdienstelijk maakt met het verrichten van research met een grote maatschappelijke impact. De genomineerden waren:

• Prof.dr. Hans van den Heuvel, emeritus-hoogleraar in de beleidswetenschap,honorary fellow onderzoeksgroep Integriteit van BestuurFaculteit Sociale Wetenschappen
• Prof.dr. Martijn B. Katan,Akademiehoogleraar van de KNAW en hoogleraar voedingsleer, faculteit Aard- en Levenswetenschappen
• Prof. dr. C.J.L.M. Meijer, hoogleraar klinische pathologie en afdelingshoofd van de afdeling pathologie,VU medisch centrum

Deze prijs ging uiteindelijk naar prof. dr. Martijn B. Katan; van deze plaats van harte gefeliciteerd.

De Junior Societal Impact Award wordt overhandigd aan een uitmuntende
promovendus van de VU, die in het afgelopen jaar een proefschrift heeft
geschreven met een grote maatschappelijke impact. Hiervoor was ik genomineerd voor mijn proefschrift Zoeken naar een ‘zuivere’ islam: Geloofsbeleving en identiteitsvorming van jonge Marokkaans-Nederlandse moslims, samen met:

• Eric Koomen,Faculteit der Economische Wetenschappen en Bedrijfskunde, afdeling Ruimtelijke Economie, Titel dissertatie: Spatial analysis in support of physical planning. Het proefschrift is wetenschappelijk absoluut hoogstaand, 10 van de 12 artikelen in het werk zijn inmiddels in topbladen gepubliceerd en het ontkracht diverse mythes in de ruimtelijke ordening en levert een bijdrage aan  het debat over de toekomstige inrichting van Nederland (korte weergave juryoordeel).
• Amika Singh, VU medisch centrum – EMGO Instituut,Titel dissertatie: Effectiveness of a school-based weight gain prevention programme: DoiT. Het DoiT programma laat veelbelovende effecten zien zowel op gedrag als op indicatoren van lichaamssamenstelling. Er is contact met de GGD Amsterdam en de Nederlandse Hartstichting over toekomstige implementatie en het programma heeft een forse impact op de kwaliteit van leven en de kosten van de gezondheidszorg (korte weergave juryoordeel).

Uiteindelijk, na de lovende woorden voor ons alledrie, bleek de Societal Impact Award Junior 2008 naar mij te gaan. Vanaf deze plaats mijn grote dank aan mijn collega’s van de VU en de jury voor het gestelde vertrouwen en de waardering. Tijdens de reis naar huis zat ik in de trein waar twee mensen mij aanspraken op mijn prijs. Zij hadden beiden de bijeenkomst bijgewoond; één student die ook in mijn huidige Salafisme onderzoek een rol speelt en een ‘oudere heer’. Met beiden raakte ik dus in gesprek en heb dit gesprek verwerkt in het dankwoord dat ik uitsprak bij aanvaarding van de prijs. Het samengevoegde stuk kunt u hier lezen:
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Protected: Veroordelingen Piranha-zaak

Posted on October 2nd, 2008 by martijn.
Categories: International Terrorism, ISIM/RU Research, Murder on theo Van Gogh and related issues, Religious and Political Radicalization.

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Protected: AD.nl – Moskee: toenemend radicalisme

Posted on September 26th, 2008 by martijn.
Categories: ISIM/RU Research, Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims.

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Protected: PAROOL: Misdaad – Soumaya voelt zich 'mentaal verkracht'

Posted on September 20th, 2008 by martijn.
Categories: International Terrorism, Murder on theo Van Gogh and related issues, Religious and Political Radicalization.

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Protected: PAROOL: Misdaad – Soumaya voelt zich ‘mentaal verkracht’

Posted on September 20th, 2008 by martijn.
Categories: International Terrorism, Murder on theo Van Gogh and related issues, Religious and Political Radicalization.

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Zoeken naar Soumaya – de Volkskrant

Posted on September 20th, 2008 by martijn.
Categories: International Terrorism, Murder on theo Van Gogh and related issues, Religious and Political Radicalization.

Zoeken naar Soumaya – Buitenland – de Volkskrant

Door Janny Groen en Annieke Kranenberg

Soumaya S. is een van de verdachten die voor de rechtbank verschijnen in de zogeheten Piranhazaak, die vandaag begint. Voordat ze vorig jaar werd opgepakt, was Soumaya wekenlang zoek. De veiligheidsdienst AIVD zocht toenadering tot haar familie en speelde bij de opsporing een dubieuze rol. Een reconstructie. Door Janny Groen en Annieke Kranenberg die een onthutsend inkijkje geven in het wespennest van de terreurbestrijding.

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Plooij legde onjuiste verklaring af in proces Samir A. – de Volkskrant

Posted on September 9th, 2008 by martijn.
Categories: Murder on theo Van Gogh and related issues, Religious and Political Radicalization.

Plooij legde onjuiste verklaring af in proces Samir A. – Binnenland – de Volkskrant
Van onze verslaggeefsters Janny Groen en Annieke Kranenberg

Officier van Justitie Koos Plooij heeft dinsdag voor het Haags gerechtshof toegegeven dat hij als getuige in het hoger beroep van het Piranhaproces tegen Samir A. en vier medeverdachten een verklaring heeft afgelegd die niet strookt met de werkelijke gang van zaken.

‘Een vergissing’, noemde Plooij deze misstap. Hij zei ook dat de suggestie dat hij opzettelijk een valse verklaring heeft afgelegd, hem zeer heeft geraakt. Het is eerder zo, zei hij keer op keer, dat hij nauwelijks concrete herinneringen had aan wat zich heeft afgespeeld.

Op verzoek van het Openbaar Ministerie werd Plooij voor de tweede keer opgeroepen als getuige. Advocaat-generaal Derk Kuipers wilde opheldering over wat Victor Koppe, een van de advocaten van Piranha-verdachten Samir A. en Nouredine el F., eerder had aangeduid als een ‘evident onjuiste en mogelijk zelfs leugenachtige’ verklaring van de officier.

Plooij had op 19 augustus gezegd dat hij wist dat het OM in 2005 enkele passages heeft geschrapt uit een verklaring van de zus van terreurverdachte Soumaya S., die ook in het Piranhaproces terecht staat.

Het ging om opmerkingen waarin de zus meldde dat haar familie contact had met de AIVD. Volgens Plooij werd de verklaring gekuist om de familie te beschermen, de verdediging meent dat vooral ontlastende delen zijn geknipt.

De zus van S. werd destijds als verdachte gehoord. Die zaak werd geseponeerd. Plooij zei op 19 augustus dat hij er altijd van uit is gegaan dat haar verklaring nooit in andere zaken zou worden gebruikt. Maar op 5 juli 2005 heeft hij de gekuiste versie zelf ingebracht, zo blijkt uit een raadkamerdossier over de hechtenis van Sumaya S. en Nouradine el F. waarop Plooij’s handtekening staat.

Dinsdag zei hij, na de beschuldiging van mogelijke meineed, in zijn agenda te hebben gekeken. ‘Ik heb begrepen dat ik inderdaad op 5 juli raadkamer heb gedaan, maar ik heb daar geen concrete herinningen aan.’ En over de gekuiste verklaring in het raadkamerdossier: ‘Als ze erbij hebben gezeten, zal ik er een blik op hebben geworpen.’

Het OM heeft in hoger beroep straffen van 8 tot 15 jaar celstraf geeist, wegens het voorbereiden van terroristische aanslagen. Het hof doet op 2 oktober uitspraak.

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Protected: nu.nl/algemeen | 'Geen eerlijk proces Samir A.'

Posted on September 6th, 2008 by martijn.
Categories: Murder on theo Van Gogh and related issues, Religious and Political Radicalization.

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Protected: nu.nl/algemeen | ‘Geen eerlijk proces Samir A.’

Posted on September 6th, 2008 by martijn.
Categories: Murder on theo Van Gogh and related issues, Religious and Political Radicalization.

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Tot 15 jaar geëist tegen Samir A. en medeverdachten – de Volkskrant

Posted on September 1st, 2008 by martijn.
Categories: International Terrorism, ISIM/RU Research, Murder on theo Van Gogh and related issues, Religious and Political Radicalization.

Tot 15 jaar geëist tegen Samir A. en medeverdachten – Binnenland – de Volkskrant
Tot 15 jaar geëist tegen Samir A. en medeverdachten

Van onze verslaggeefsters Janny Groen, Annieke Kranenberg
gepubliceerd op 01 september 2008 18:38, bijgewerkt op 1 september 2008 21:09

AMSTERDAM – Het Openbaar Ministerie heeft in hoger beroep in de Piranhazaak tegen Samir A. en vier medeverdachten straffen geëist tot vijftien jaar cel. Anders dan de Rotterdamse rechtbank acht het OM bewezen dat de Piranhaverdachten deel uitmaken van een terroristische organisatie die bezig was aanslagen voor te bereiden op Nederlandse politici en het AIVD-gebouw.
Volgens het OM werd de kern van de organisatie gevormd door Samir A., Nouredine el F. en Mohammed C. Tegen de laatste twee werden straffen van vijftien jaar cel geëist. De eis tegen Samir A. viel iets lager uit, dertien jaar, omdat hij eerder al onherroepelijk was veroordeeld tot vier jaar cel voor soortgelijke feiten. Die straf wilde het OM meewegen in de eis. El F. werd eerder dit jaar in hoger beroep in de Hofstadzaak vrijgesproken.

Beïnvloeden
Soumaya S. en Mohammed H. behoorden volgens de advocaten-generaal weliswaar niet tot de kern van de groep, maar hadden zich dermate laten beïnvloeden door de radicale jihadistische ideologie van met name El F. dat ze ook als actieve leden van de terreurorganisatie kunnen worden beschouwd. Tegen S., die door de rechtbank was veroordeeld tot drie jaar cel, werd tien jaar geëist. H., die eerder was vrijgesproken, moet volgens het OM tot acht jaar worden veroordeeld.

De groep had wapens in haar bezit en alle leden hebben die vervoerd, aangeraakt of tenminste gezien, aldus het OM. H. werd verweten dat hij zich niet had gedistantieerd van de groep, terwijl hij wist dat de leden geweld wilden plegen.

Gestuctureerd contact
In het vonnis van 1 december 2006 oordeelde de Rotterdamse rechtbank dat de Piranhaverdachten onderling onvoldoende gestructureerd contact onderhielden om te kunnen spreken van een organisatie. De advocaten-generaal D. Kuipers en R. Terpstra stelden echter dat de Piranhaorganisatie ‘een voortzetting is van de Hofstadgroep’. De verdachten werkten dus al voor het Piranha-onderzoek in meer en mindere mate samen. Het OM rekent de groep extra zwaar aan dat zij met hun radicale activiteiten zijn doorgegaan na de moord in november 2004 op Theo van Gogh. En na de grimmige arrestatie op 10 november 2004 van ‘twee granaatwerpende Hofstadleden’. ‘Ze wisten dus welk een enorme impact deze gebeurtenissen hadden op de Nederlandse samenleving’.

De beslissing over een onderzoek naar de eventuele meineed van officier van justitie Koos Plooij, die in de Piranhazaak is gehoord als getuige, werd gisteren door het Haagse hof opgeschort. De verdediging van Samir A. wilde Plooij nogmaals oproepen om tegenstrijdigheden in zijn verklaring en dossierstukken op zitting te kunnen ophelderen. Vanwege de ‘verstrekkende gevolgen’ van dit verzoek, vroeg het hof meer bedenktijd. Mogelijk komt het hof op dit punt terug met een tussenvonnis.

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Marc Sageman on the battle for young Muslims' hearts and minds and the future of the leaderless jihad – Full Comment

Posted on July 8th, 2008 by martijn.
Categories: Important Publications, International Terrorism, Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims.

Marc Sageman on the battle for young Muslims’ hearts and minds and the future of the leaderless jihad – Full Comment

There has been talk of an al-Qaeda resurgence, but the truth is that most of the hard core members of the first and second waves have been killed or captured. The survival of the social movement they inspired relies on the continued inflow of new members. But this movement is vulnerable to whatever may diminish its appeal among young people. Its allure thrives only at the abstract fantasy level. The few times its aspirations have been translated into reality — the Taliban in Afghanistan, parts of Algeria during its civil war and, more recently, in Iraq’s Anbar province — were particularly repulsive to most Muslims.

What’s more, a leaderless social movement is permanently at the mercy of its participants. As each generation attempts to define itself in contrast to its predecessor, what appeals to the present generation of young would-be radicals may not appeal to the next. At present, the major source of appeal is the anger and moral outrage provoked by the invasion of Iraq. But as the Western footprint there fades so will the appeal of fighting it.

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Marc Sageman on the battle for young Muslims’ hearts and minds and the future of the leaderless jihad – Full Comment

Posted on July 8th, 2008 by martijn.
Categories: Important Publications, International Terrorism, Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims.

Marc Sageman on the battle for young Muslims’ hearts and minds and the future of the leaderless jihad – Full Comment

There has been talk of an al-Qaeda resurgence, but the truth is that most of the hard core members of the first and second waves have been killed or captured. The survival of the social movement they inspired relies on the continued inflow of new members. But this movement is vulnerable to whatever may diminish its appeal among young people. Its allure thrives only at the abstract fantasy level. The few times its aspirations have been translated into reality — the Taliban in Afghanistan, parts of Algeria during its civil war and, more recently, in Iraq’s Anbar province — were particularly repulsive to most Muslims.

What’s more, a leaderless social movement is permanently at the mercy of its participants. As each generation attempts to define itself in contrast to its predecessor, what appeals to the present generation of young would-be radicals may not appeal to the next. At present, the major source of appeal is the anger and moral outrage provoked by the invasion of Iraq. But as the Western footprint there fades so will the appeal of fighting it.

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BBC NEWS | UK | Abu Qatada released from prison

Posted on June 18th, 2008 by martijn.
Categories: International Terrorism, Religious and Political Radicalization.

BBC NEWS | UK | Abu Qatada released from prison
Abu Qatada released from prison

Qatada must wear an electronic tag and must not attend a mosque

The radical Islamist preacher Abu Qatada has been released from jail.

Abu Qatada, 47, was freed from Long Lartin Prison, in Worcestershire, at about 2020 BST after winning his fight against deportation from Britain.

A senior judge earlier signed papers authorising the release of Abu Qatada, previously described as Osama Bin Laden’s right-hand man in Europe.

The Palestinian-Jordanian preacher will be subjected to a 22-hour home curfew and tight restrictions on his liberty.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has said she is “disappointed” with the decision to release him, and says the government will appeal.

Abu Qatada was once described by a judge as a “truly dangerous individual at the centre of al Qaeda’s activities in the UK”.

Last month the Court of Appeal blocked his deportation to Jordan, where Abu Qatada has been convicted in his absence of involvement in terror attacks.

Appeal Court judges feared evidence gained from torture could be used against Abu Qatada in a future trial.

Restrictions

Mr Justice Mitting of the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) granted Abu Qatada bail on Tuesday with strict conditions.

He must wear an electronic tag and must not attend a mosque or lead prayers or religious instruction.

The government’s priority is to protect public safety and national security and we will take all steps necessary to do so
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith

Abu Qatada must also stay in his west London home for at least 22 hours a day, and cannot attend any kind of meeting. He is also forbidden from using mobile phones, computers or the internet.

Police have special permission to enter and search his home while Abu Qatada is banned from having guests other than family and solicitors.

Among the people he is banned from meeting in London is al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Others include bin Laden’s deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri and Rachid Ramda, who has been convicted in France of masterminding a series of bombings in 1995.

Also named is hate preacher Abu Hamza.

Public safety

Ms Smith said she was disappointed that Abu Qatada had been granted bail, even though the conditions were strict.

She added: “I am appealing to the House of Lords to reverse the decision that it is not safe to deport Qatada and the other Jordanian cases.

“The government’s priority is to protect public safety and national security and we will take all steps necessary to do so.”

Abu Qatada became one of the UK’s most wanted men in December 2001 when he went on the run, on the eve of government moves to introduce anti-terror laws allowing suspects to be detained without charge or trial.

In October 2002 the authorities tracked him down to a council house in south London and took him to Belmarsh Prison.

He was eventually freed on bail in March 2005, but was made the subject of a control order to limit his movements.

In August that year he was taken back into custody pending the extradition to Jordan.

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BBC NEWS | UK | Abu Qatada released from prison

Posted on June 18th, 2008 by martijn.
Categories: International Terrorism, Religious and Political Radicalization.

BBC NEWS | UK | Abu Qatada released from prison
Abu Qatada released from prison

Qatada must wear an electronic tag and must not attend a mosque

The radical Islamist preacher Abu Qatada has been released from jail.

Abu Qatada, 47, was freed from Long Lartin Prison, in Worcestershire, at about 2020 BST after winning his fight against deportation from Britain.

A senior judge earlier signed papers authorising the release of Abu Qatada, previously described as Osama Bin Laden’s right-hand man in Europe.

The Palestinian-Jordanian preacher will be subjected to a 22-hour home curfew and tight restrictions on his liberty.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has said she is “disappointed” with the decision to release him, and says the government will appeal.

Abu Qatada was once described by a judge as a “truly dangerous individual at the centre of al Qaeda’s activities in the UK”.

Last month the Court of Appeal blocked his deportation to Jordan, where Abu Qatada has been convicted in his absence of involvement in terror attacks.

Appeal Court judges feared evidence gained from torture could be used against Abu Qatada in a future trial.

Restrictions

Mr Justice Mitting of the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) granted Abu Qatada bail on Tuesday with strict conditions.

He must wear an electronic tag and must not attend a mosque or lead prayers or religious instruction.

The government’s priority is to protect public safety and national security and we will take all steps necessary to do so
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith

Abu Qatada must also stay in his west London home for at least 22 hours a day, and cannot attend any kind of meeting. He is also forbidden from using mobile phones, computers or the internet.

Police have special permission to enter and search his home while Abu Qatada is banned from having guests other than family and solicitors.

Among the people he is banned from meeting in London is al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Others include bin Laden’s deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri and Rachid Ramda, who has been convicted in France of masterminding a series of bombings in 1995.

Also named is hate preacher Abu Hamza.

Public safety

Ms Smith said she was disappointed that Abu Qatada had been granted bail, even though the conditions were strict.

She added: “I am appealing to the House of Lords to reverse the decision that it is not safe to deport Qatada and the other Jordanian cases.

“The government’s priority is to protect public safety and national security and we will take all steps necessary to do so.”

Abu Qatada became one of the UK’s most wanted men in December 2001 when he went on the run, on the eve of government moves to introduce anti-terror laws allowing suspects to be detained without charge or trial.

In October 2002 the authorities tracked him down to a council house in south London and took him to Belmarsh Prison.

He was eventually freed on bail in March 2005, but was made the subject of a control order to limit his movements.

In August that year he was taken back into custody pending the extradition to Jordan.

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Protected: De Telegraaf – Moslimbroeders rukken op

Posted on June 5th, 2008 by martijn.
Categories: ISIM/RU Research, Religious and Political Radicalization, Religious Movements.

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Malika El Aroud – Oum Obeyda

Posted on May 27th, 2008 by martijn.
Categories: Blogosphere, Gender, Kinship & Marriage Issues, ISIM/RU Research, Murder on theo Van Gogh and related issues, Religious and Political Radicalization, Religious Movements.

Belgian woman wages war for Al Qaeda on the Web – International Herald Tribune

Belgian woman wages war for Al Qaeda on the Web
Belgian’s online jihad reflects rise of female extremists

By Elaine Sciolino and Souad Mekhennet
Tuesday, May 27, 2008

BRUSSELS: On the street, Malika El Aroud is anonymous in an Islamic black veil covering all but her eyes.

In her living room, El Aroud, a 48-year-old Belgian, wears the ordinary look of middle age: a plain black T-shirt and pants and curly brown hair. The only adornment is a pair of powder-blue slippers monogrammed in gold with the letters SEXY.

But it is on the Internet that El Aroud has distinguished herself. Writing in French under the name Oum Obeyda, she has transformed herself into one of the most prominent Internet jihadists in Europe.

She calls herself a female holy warrior for Al Qaeda. She insists that she does not disseminate instructions on bomb-making and has no intention of taking up arms herself. Rather, she browbeats Muslim men to go and fight, and rallies women to join the cause.

“It’s not my role to set off bombs – that’s ridiculous,” she said in a rare interview. “I have a weapon. It’s to write. It’s to speak out. That’s my jihad. You can do many things with words. Writing is also a bomb.”

El Aroud has not only made a name for herself among devotees of radical forums where she broadcasts her message of hatred toward the West. She also is well known to intelligence officials throughout Europe as simply “Malika” – an Islamist who is at the forefront of the movement by women to take a larger role in the male-dominated global jihad.

The authorities have noted an increase in suicide bombings carried out by women – the American military reports that 18 women have conducted suicide missions in Iraq so far this year, compared with 8 all of last year – but they say there is also a less violent yet potentially more insidious army of women organizers, proselytizers, teachers, translators and fund-raisers, who either join their husbands in the fight or step into the breach as men are jailed or killed.

“Women are coming of age in jihad and are entering a world once reserved for men,” said Claude Moniquet, president of the Brussels-based European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center. “Malika is a role model, an icon who is bold enough to use her own name. She plays a very important strategic role as a source of inspiration. She’s very clever – and extremely dangerous.”

El Aroud began her rise to prominence because of a man in her life. Two days before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, her husband carried out a bombing in Afghanistan that killed the anti-Taliban warlord Ahmed Shah Massoud at the behest of Osama bin Laden. Her husband was killed, and she took to the Internet as the widow of a martyr.

She remarried, and she and her new husband were convicted in Switzerland for operating pro-Qaeda Web sites. Now, according to the Belgian authorities, she is a suspect in what the authorities say they believe is a plot to carry out an attack in Belgium.

“Vietnam is nothing compared to what awaits you in our lands,” she wrote to a supposed Western audience in March about wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. “Ask your mothers, your wives to order your coffins.” To her followers she added: “Victory is appearing on the horizon, my brothers and sisters. Let’s intensify our prayers.”

Her prolific writing and presence in chat rooms, coupled with her background, makes her a magnet for praise and sympathy. “Sister Oum Obeyda is virtuous among the virtuous; her life is dedicated to the good on this earth,” a man named Juba wrote late last year.

The rise of women comes against a backdrop of discrimination that has permeated radical Islam. Mohamed Atta, the Sept. 11 hijacker, wrote in his will that “women must not be present at my funeral or go to my grave at any later date.” Last month, Ayman al-Zawahri, Al Qaeda’s second in command, said in an online question-and-answer session that women could not join Al Qaeda.

In response, a woman wrote on a password-protected radical Web site that “the answer that we heard was not what we had hoped,” according to the SITE monitoring group, adding, “I swear to God I will never leave the path and will not give up this course.”

The changing role of women in the movement is particularly apparent in Western countries, where Muslim women have been educated to demand their rights and Muslim men are more accustomed to treating them as equals.

El Aroud reflects that trend. “Normally in Islam the men are stronger than the women, but I prove that it is important to fear God – and no one else,” she said. “It is important that I am a woman. There are men who don’t want to speak out because they are afraid of getting into trouble. Even when I get into trouble, I speak out.”

After all, she said, she knows the rules. “I write in a legal way,” she said. “I know what I’m doing. I’m Belgian. I know the system.”

That system has often been lenient for her. She was detained last December with 13 others in a suspected plot to free a convicted terrorist from prison and to mount an attack in Brussels. But Belgian law required that they be released within 24 hours because no charges were brought and searches failed to turn up weapons, explosives or incriminating documents.

Now, even as El Aroud remains under constant surveillance, she is back home rallying militants on her Web site – and collecting more than $1,100 a month in government unemployment benefits.

“Her jihad is not to lead an operation but to inspire other people to wage jihad,” said Glenn Audenaert, the director of Belgium’s federal police force. “She enjoys the protection that Belgium offers. At the same time, she is a potential threat.”

Born in Morocco, raised from a young age in Belgium, El Aroud did not seem destined for the jihad.

Growing up, she rebelled against her Muslim upbringing, she wrote in a memoir. Her first marriage, at 18, was unhappy and brief; she later bore a daughter out of wedlock.

She was unable to read Arabic, but her discovery of the Koran in French led her to embrace a strict version of Islam and eventually to marry Abdessatar Dahmane, a Tunisian loyal to Osama bin Laden.

Eager to be a battlefield warrior, she hoped to fight alongside her husband in Chechnya. But the Chechens “wanted experienced men, super-well trained,” she said. “They wanted women even less.” In 2001, she followed her husband to Afghanistan. As he trained at a Qaeda camp, she was installed in a camp for foreign women in Jalalabad.

For her, the Taliban were a model Islamic government; reports of their mistreatment of women were untrue. “Women didn’t have problems under the Taliban,” she insisted. “They had security.”

Her only rebellion was against the burka, the restrictive garment the Taliban forced on women, which she called “a plastic bag.” As a foreigner, she was allowed to wear a long black veil instead.

After her husband’s mission, El Aroud was briefly detained by Massoud’s followers. Frightened, she was put in contact with the Belgian authorities, who arranged for her safe passage home.

“We got her out and thought she’d cooperate with us,” said one senior Belgian intelligence official. “We were deceived.”

Judge Jean-Louis Bruguière, who was France’s senior counterterrorism magistrate at the time, said he interviewed El Aroud because investigators suspected that she had shipped electronic equipment to her husband that was used in the killing. “She is very radical, very sly and very dangerous,” he said.

El Aroud was tried with 22 others in Belgium for complicity in the Massoud murder. A grieving widow in a black veil, she persuaded the court that she had been doing humanitarian work and knew nothing of her husband’s plans. She was acquitted for lack of evidence.

Her husband’s death, though, propelled her into a new life. “The widow of a martyr is very important for Muslims,” she said.

She used her enhanced status to meet her new “brothers and sisters” on the Web. One of them was Moez Garsalloui, a Tunisian several years her junior who had political refugee status in Switzerland. They married and moved to a small Swiss village. There, they ran several pro-Qaeda Web sites and Internet forums that were monitored by Swiss authorities as part of the country’s first Internet-related criminal case.

After the police raided their home and arrested them at dawn in April 2005, El Aroud described extensively what she called their abuse.

“See what this country that calls us neutral made us suffer,” she wrote, claiming that the Swiss police beat and blindfolded her husband and manhandled her while she was sleeping unveiled.

Convicted last June of promoting violence and supporting a criminal organization, she received a six-month suspended sentence; Garsalloui, who was convicted of more serious charges, was released after 23 days.

Despite El Aroud’s prominence, it is once again her husband whom authorities view as a bigger threat. They suspect he was recruiting for the feared Christmastime attacks last December and that he has connections to terror groups operating in the tribal areas of Pakistan.

The authorities say that they lost track of him after he was released from jail last year in Switzerland. “He is on a trip,” El Aroud says cryptically when asked about her husband’s whereabouts. “On a trip.”

Meanwhile, her stature has risen with her claims of victimization by the Swiss. The Web site Voice of the Oppressed described her as “our female holy warrior of the 21st century.”

El Aroud’s latest tangle with the law hints at a deeper involvement of women in terror activities. When she was detained last December in the suspected plot to free Nizar Trabelsi, a convicted terrorist and a one-time professional soccer player, El Aroud was one of three women taken in for questioning.

Although the identities of those detained were not released, the Belgian authorities and others familiar with the case said that among those detained were Trabelsi’s wife and Fatima Aberkan, a friend of El Aroud and a 47-year-old mother of seven.

“Malika is a source of inspiration for women because she is telling women to stop sleeping and open their eyes,” Aberkan said.

El Aroud operates from her three-room apartment above a clothing shop in a working-class Brussels neighborhood where she spends her time communicating with supporters on her main forum, Minbar-SOS.

Although she insists she is not breaking the law, she knows the police are watching. And if the authorities find way to put her in prison, she said: “That would be great. They would make me a living martyr.”

Basil Katz contributed reporting from Paris.

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Protected: nrc.nl – Binnenland – Baard én kaalkop willen gezelligheid

Posted on May 22nd, 2008 by martijn.
Categories: Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims, Youth culture (as a practice).

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Protected: De Standaard Online – ‘Planners aanslag België’ opgepakt in Marokko

Posted on May 20th, 2008 by martijn.
Categories: International Terrorism, Religious and Political Radicalization.

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Protected: De Standaard Online – 'Planners aanslag België' opgepakt in Marokko

Posted on May 20th, 2008 by martijn.
Categories: International Terrorism, Religious and Political Radicalization.

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Jihadi studies Thomas Hegghammer TLS

Posted on April 4th, 2008 by martijn.
Categories: International Terrorism, Religious and Political Radicalization.

Jihadi studies Thomas Hegghammer TLS

More than six years after 9/11, the study of jihadism is still in its infancy. Why has it taken so long to develop? One reason, of course, is that we started almost from scratch. Another factor is that it takes time for primary sources to emerge. But the most important reason is no doubt that the emotional outrage at al-Qaeda’s violence has prevented us from seeing clearly. Societies touched by terrorism are always the least well placed to understand their enemies. It is only when we see the jihadists not as agents of evil or as religious fanatics, but as humans, that we stand a chance of understanding them.

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Jordan releases Abu Mohammad al-Maqdisi | Reuters

Posted on March 14th, 2008 by martijn.
Categories: ISIM/RU Research, Religious and Political Radicalization, Religious Movements.

Jordan releases leading al Qaeda mentor | Reuters
Jordan releases leading al Qaeda mentor
Wed Mar 12, 2008 8:34am EDT

AMMAN (Reuters) – Jordanian authorities on Wednesday released Jordanian Sheikh Abu Mohammad al-Maqdisi, a leading al-Qaeda mentor, after several years imprisonment without trial, security sources said.They said Maqdisi, who was regarded as the spiritual mentor of slain al Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, had been in solitary confinement since he was rearrested in July 2005 following his acquittal at a trial of al Qaeda sympathizers.

“He was released,” said one security source without elaborating on the circumstances of the release of Maqdisi.

The militant Jihadi shared a cell block with Zarqawi for four years between 1995 and 1999. Both were freed in an amnesty. Zarqawi later went to Afghanistan then Iraq.

U.S. intelligence officials say Maqdisi is a major Jihadi mentor who wields more influence over Islamist ideology than leading militants such as Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri.

A study by a private think tank of the U.S. military academy West Point in 2006 described Maqdisi, a self-taught religious intellectual, as the most influential living Islamist mentor. (Writing by Suleiman al-Khalidi; Editing by Ibon Villelabeitia)

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Jordan releases Abu Mohammad al-Maqdisi | Reuters

Posted on March 14th, 2008 by martijn.
Categories: ISIM/RU Research, Religious and Political Radicalization, Religious Movements.

Jordan releases leading al Qaeda mentor | Reuters
Jordan releases leading al Qaeda mentor
Wed Mar 12, 2008 8:34am EDT

AMMAN (Reuters) – Jordanian authorities on Wednesday released Jordanian Sheikh Abu Mohammad al-Maqdisi, a leading al-Qaeda mentor, after several years imprisonment without trial, security sources said.They said Maqdisi, who was regarded as the spiritual mentor of slain al Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, had been in solitary confinement since he was rearrested in July 2005 following his acquittal at a trial of al Qaeda sympathizers.

“He was released,” said one security source without elaborating on the circumstances of the release of Maqdisi.

The militant Jihadi shared a cell block with Zarqawi for four years between 1995 and 1999. Both were freed in an amnesty. Zarqawi later went to Afghanistan then Iraq.

U.S. intelligence officials say Maqdisi is a major Jihadi mentor who wields more influence over Islamist ideology than leading militants such as Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri.

A study by a private think tank of the U.S. military academy West Point in 2006 described Maqdisi, a self-taught religious intellectual, as the most influential living Islamist mentor. (Writing by Suleiman al-Khalidi; Editing by Ibon Villelabeitia)

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The ‘Lyrical Terrorist’ is among those who may benefit – Times Online

Posted on February 17th, 2008 by .
Categories: International Terrorism, Religious and Political Radicalization.

The ‘Lyrical Terrorist’ is among those who may benefit – Times Online

Sean O’Neill

Samina Malik, the self-styled “Lyrical Terrorist” who wrote poetry about beheading Western hostages, could be one of the first beneficiaries of yesterday’s Court of Appeal judgments.

Malik, 23, became the first woman to be convicted under terrorism legislation since the beginning of the War on Terror in 2001, not so much for the violent poetry that she wrote but the extremist Islamist literature, including the Mujahidin Poisons Handbook and a sniper rifle manual, on her computer.

She was convicted at the Old Bailey under Section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000. Peter Clarke, head of Scotland Yard’s Counter-Terrorism Command, welcomed her conviction and said: “Merely possessing this material is a serious criminal offence.”

The Appeal Court ruled yesterday, however, that merely possessing such literature was not an offence.

Matthew Parris, the Times columnist, was one of the first to air concerns about Malik’s conviction, asking whether she had been found guilty of a “thought crime”. Muhammad Abdul Bari, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, agreed. He told The Times young Muslims were being criminalised for having “silly thoughts”.

Malik, who was given a suspended jail sentence, is likely to appeal soon.

The rulings also have serious implications for a number of cases under investigation or awaiting trial. There are at least six suspects awaiting trial under Sections 57 and 58 of the 2000 Act and defence lawyers in each case will be studying the judgment to see if the cases against their clients can be challenged.

Chris Huhne, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, criticised the Terrorism Act 2000 as “another example of how the Government’s kneejerk drafting of new terrorist offences can lead to confusion from prosecutors and the waste of taxpayers’ money”.

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How a son’s handwritten note led to a rethink of terror law – Times Online

Posted on February 17th, 2008 by .
Categories: International Terrorism, Religious and Political Radicalization.

How a son’s handwritten note led to a rethink of terror law – Times Online

Sean O’Neill, Crime & Security Editor

Irfan Raja ran away from his family home in Ilford, East London, in February 2006, leaving behind a note that terrified his mother and father. In neat handwriting he told his parents that they would meet again in Paradise and urged them to “rejoice at the decision of their son”.

His parents had noted his religious strictness and feared that he planned to fight jihad overseas. He had gone no farther than Bradford, however, where he met four university students whom he had been in contact with over the internet.

Three days after he left home Mr Raja, 17, called his family and was persuaded to return. He was arrested by the anti-terrorist unit of Scotland Yard. Detectives also arrested the men they described as his co-conspirators — Aitzaz Zafar and Awaab Iqbal, from Rochdale, Usman Malik, from Wolverhampton, and Akbar Butt, from Southall, West London. (more…)

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Guides lauded jihad, 9/11 hijackers | The Australian

Posted on February 17th, 2008 by .
Categories: International Terrorism, Religious and Political Radicalization.

Guides lauded jihad, 9/11 hijackers | The Australian

Stephen Lunn and Richard Kerbaj | February 15, 2008CHILDREN should be raised to embrace violent jihad and Muslim wives should not discourage their husbands from becoming martyrs in the name of Allah, according to documents seized from an alleged Melbourne terror cell and cited in court yesterday.

(more…)

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