C L O S E R

The Revealer: There’s Something About Muslims

Posted on November 14th, 2006 by .
Categories: Gender, Kinship & Marriage Issues, Multiculti Issues, Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims.

The Revealer: There’s Something About Muslims
There’s Something About Muslims
09 November 2006

Can multiculturalism prevail as long as women wear the veil? Is the assimilation travail to no avail? Did I mention the veil?

By Bridget Purcell

“There must be something about the Jews; they upset me physically.”

(more…)

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NRC – Housen in de woestijn maakt Amman swingend

Posted on November 12th, 2006 by .
Categories: Young Muslims, Youth culture (as a practice).

NRC Handelsblad:  Housen in de woestijn maakt Amman swingend

In Amman drinken jonge moslims wodka in club Myth. En ze bewonderen de Nederlandse dj’s, hoort Ludette el Barkany „Prana is niet meer wat het is geweest.” Wajih Halawa probeert boven het knallende technogedreun uit te komen. „Vr o e g e r stond hier elke week een andere dj te draaien, nieuwe geluiden, nieuwe stijlen, het was altijd weer een verrassing. Met vroeger bedoelt de 28-jarige dj overigens een jaar geleden. (more…)

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Khaleej Times Online – Six terrorism suspects arrested in the Netherlands

Posted on November 7th, 2006 by .
Categories: International Terrorism, Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims.

Khaleej Times Online – Six terrorism suspects arrested in the Netherlands
Six terrorism suspects arrested in the Netherlands
(AFP)

7 November 2006

THE HAGUE – Six people have been arrested in the Netherlands on suspicion of recruiting volunteers for jihad, or Islamic holy war, prosecutors said on Tuesday after a year-long investigation.

The suspects, five men and a woman, were arrested in The Hague and Amsterdam late Monday and early Tuesday as part of a probe into an international Islamic terror network launched in November 2005, the prosecutor’s office said.

Among the suspects, who were not identified by name, are two Dutch nationals of Moroccan origin, a Turkish man, a Tunisian national, a Moroccan and a sixth with dual Dutch-Moroccan nationality, prosecution spokesman Wim de Bruin said.

The six were suspected of ‘recruiting radical Muslims for the international jihad’, a crime under recently amended Dutch laws.

Police were still investigating whether the suspects could also be charged with forming a terrorist organisation, the prosecutor’s office said.

De Bruin added that the Turkish suspect in this case had been acquitted in 2003 after going on trial on suspicion of recruiting for jihad.

At the time, recruiting for jihad was not a crime and the 12 suspects in the 2003 case were charged with the rarely used ‘aiding of the enemy’.

That charge was thrown out by the judges who said the Netherlands were not at war with Afghanistan’s Taleban regime as prosecutors argued.

In 2004 the laws changed in the Netherlands making recruitment for jihad a crime in itself, punishable by a maximum sentence of four years in prison.

The office of the national prosecutor said the current investigation began in November 2005 after police received information about three men from The Hague who had travelled to Azerbaijan to take part in jihad. They were arrested by Azerbaijani authorities in Baku and sent back to the Netherlands.

‘The three youths were suspected of being in contact with a network of extremist Muslims that was recruiting young men for the jihad,’ prosecutors said.

Investigators discovered that potential jihadists were being recruited with inflammatory speeches, pamphlets and videos focusing on the supposed duty of all Muslims to take part in holy war.

Several suspects have also tried to get fake travel documents to travel to Iraq.

The suspects were expected to appear before a judge later this week, who will then rule if they can be remanded in custody.

Prosecution spokesman De Bruin said that the six suspects were not linked to the Hofstad group, a terrorist network led by Mohammed Bouyeri who was convicted for the 2004 murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh, or the six other terrorism suspects on trial in Amsterdam who also have links to Bouyeri.

In recent years there have been several high profile acquittals in Dutch terrorism trials because judges are reluctant to convict suspects for plotting attacks without evidence that they were making clear steps towards carrying them out.

A round up of Dutch and English sources I have (in particular about the Turkish suspect Murat Ö aka Abu Jarrah aka Abu Zer aka Ibrahim the Turk and the so called Eik (Oak) case of 2002/2003):
(more…)

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The Piranha Trial: Friend or Foe?

Posted on November 6th, 2006 by .
Categories: Murder on theo Van Gogh and related issues, Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims.

Six alleged Muslim radicals with links to the murderer of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh stood on trial  (the so called Piranha trial) the last weeks accused of plotting terrorist attacks on Dutch politicians and government buildings. The main suspect is 20-year-old Samir Azzouz. He was acquitted in 2005 on terrorism charges but re-arrested in October 2005 on suspicion of planning attacks against politicians and the Dutch intelligence service headquarters. Azzouz has been linked to the so-called Hofstad Islamic extremist group led by Mohammed Bouyeri, who was sentenced in 2005 to life imprisonment for the November 2004 murder of van Gogh – an outspoken critic of (radical) Islam. Nine members of the group were convicted in the Hofstad-trial for up to 15 years for membership of a criminal and terrorist organisation. Azzouz was not been formally charged with belonging to that group, however.

Samir A. has been under surveillance of Dutch authorities since 2003 when he made a futile attempt to travel to Chechnya to join the separatist war there. He was arrested in October 2003 on suspicion of planning to manufacture a bomb but was released for lack of evidence. (He lacked the necessary ingredients for making a bomb). In June 2004 he was re-arrested after police said they found chemicals, plans of government buildings and maps which was the cause for a major terror alarm in the Netherlands. He was again acquitted after an appeals court found that his “clumsy” plans did not represent a solid threat. Prosecutors now claim they have stronger evidence that Azzouz and the other five suspects were planning an attack, including a video testament. In that testament he appears in Bin-Laden-like attire with a machine gun leaning against the wall behind him. On the video he says among other things: “We must prepare to die today. […] I say to you that between us and you there will only be the language of the sword until you leave Muslims alone.

Prosecutors today asked to sentence six youngsters to prison terms of up to 15 years for allegedly conspiring to commit a terrorist attack on Dutch politicians, possibly including Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende and former MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the creative partner of slain filmmaker Theo van Gogh. The heaviest sentence was demanded for Samir Azzouz, the group’s alleged ringleader: 15 years. They also urged to sentence 15 years of prison for Mohammed Chentouf who was considered to be a key person in the group. Lesser sentences were demanded for four other suspects (ranging from 12 years to one year) who were seen as taking a less active role as the other two. The verdict is expected Nov. 23.

Evidence against the suspects includes weapons, an alleged videotaped suicide testament, bomb-making manuals and radical Islamist propaganda. With regard to the latter, also other material (not radical) was found but that was not included in the trial. The evidence also includes a tapped telephone call between Azzouz and a convicted terrorist implying that an attack was imminent. In addition, two alleged members of the group testified against Azzouz and the others. For the prosecution this amounts to a very clear cut conclusion: this group was planning the terrorist murder of one or more politicians by means of a weapon or by detonating an explosive.

The defense lawyers (of course) think otherwise. They will give closing statements Wednesday and claim that the suspects are innocent and victims of police harassment. They claim that the two witnesses, Lahbib and Hanan Bachar, are unreliable and were themselves suspects in the case. All the suspects they claim were friends but not an organization and the prosecutors could not link much of the evidence (including the weapons) to the subjects. Azzouz stated during the trial that the video testament was just a joke, and that he would never kill somebody in the Netherlands, because in his view that is forbidden in Islam.

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Protected: Waterland – De vrouwen van Samir A.

Posted on November 5th, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims.

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“Are you Canadian first, or Muslim?”

Posted on November 4th, 2006 by .
Categories: Young Muslims.

At SAFspace:“Are you Canadian first, or Muslim?” an impression of a visit of a delegation of Dutch mayors and the police service to learn something from the way ethnic and religious communities interact with the state society.

During the discussion they asked various questions about the Muslim experience in Canada. They seemed quite taken with the young Muslims on the panel. “Dutch Muslims aren’t like you!” the mayor beside me exclaimed. “They are not educated. They are…what do you call it…they are illiterate, many of them.” They marvelled at the way young Muslims had almost seamlessly merged into the public institutions and organizations of this country. How had we accomplished so much, they wanted to know.

Come on, dear mayor, you know better then that. Many Muslims are active in all kinds of political and student organizations and the amounts of Muslim youth in higher education is getting quite impressive (although it can and should be more, yes).

Or this question:

“Let me ask you something,” one of the mayors interjected. “Do you consider yourself Canadian first, or Muslim?” Someone else answered the question, and in retrospect I’m glad I didn’t, because as I thought about it later that day, its complexity became clear to me.

Well since one is a religious affiliation and the other a national one, these two don’t have to bite, I think.

But I don’t see that as problematic because I don’t imagine why I’d be forced to choose between being a Muslim and being Canadian. Each individual, Muslim or not, has various characteristics that make up a single identity. These characteristics intersect and diverge from one another. Sometimes they even clash. Part of living is learning how to reconcile the various aspects of one’s identity. Living in a secular context, a Muslim adapts the religious discourse she uses as well as her religious practice so that they fit into the society in which she chooses to live. Similarly, in a liberal democratic society, this same Muslim expects that the institutions of the state will lay a solid foundation for the very real protection of her right to freedom of expression and religion.

So I hope this post from SAFspace will be send to all the people of that delegation; they might learn something from and ask smarter questions.

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Cursing, incitement to hatred and internal politics

Posted on November 2nd, 2006 by .
Categories: Murder on theo Van Gogh and related issues, Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims.

Several blogs have reported already about the sermon delivered by imam Fawaz Jneid of the As Soennah mosque, a Salafi mosque in The Hague. In this sermon he cursed Hirsi Ali and Van Gogh in a very brutal manner. One of the attendants was Mohammed B.; yes the guy who killed Van Gogh. According to Radio Netherlands (I suggest you read that article!):

In the recording of the sermon, Imam Fawaz calls Theo van Gogh a ‘criminal bastard’ and beseeches Allah to visit an incurable disease upon the filmmaker. He also condemns former Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali who was involved in writing the script for Submission. The imam asks Allah to make Ms Hirsi Ali go blind and give her cancer of the tongue and brain.

Two questions that immediately emerge is why do other Muslims not distance themselves from people like this imam and is this a hate speech? (more…)

1 comment.

Protected: de Volkskrant – Binnenland – Waarom Soumaya S. scheidde van Nouredine el F.

Posted on November 2nd, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: Gender, Kinship & Marriage Issues, Murder on theo Van Gogh and related issues, Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims.

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AD.nl – Nieuwe radicaal staat klaar

Posted on November 2nd, 2006 by .
Categories: Murder on theo Van Gogh and related issues, Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims.

AD.nl – Nieuwe radicaal staat klaar/
Patrick Pouw heeft gesproken met Redouane Boughabe, broer van één van de Hofstad-leden Fahmi. Het is niet de eerste keer dat deze jongen de krant haalt, het verhaal is min of meer hetzelfde hoewel Pouw er beter in is geslaagd de drijfveren van deze jongen weer te geven.

(more…)

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The Ottowa Citizen: Lessons from Holland

Posted on November 1st, 2006 by .
Categories: Multiculti Issues, Murder on theo Van Gogh and related issues, Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims, Youth culture (as a practice).

Lessons from Holland
Lessons from Holland – Dan Gardner, The Ottawa Citizen
Europe’s challenge: The murders of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh and politician Pim Fortuyn, as well as the Danish cartoon riots, have led some to declare that Western Europe is in the throes of a new clash of civilizations pitting Muslim immigrants against non-Muslims. Senior writer Dan Gardner visited Holland and Denmark recently and found that, while there are some serious problems, the situation is not as bleak as it is often depicted.
It’s also a good way to stop integration in its track. A young man whose parents came from Morocco, who was born in the Netherlands and has never lived anywhere else, will naturally feel ties to the land he knows and the land he thinks he knows through his parents. This is the story of immigrants everywhere. As time and generations pass, the links to the new country grow stronger while those to the old wither.

But if you tell this young man over and over he is Moroccan, and you tell him Moroccans are criminals and troublemakers, he may well decide you are right. He is 100-per-cent Moroccan. To hell with Holland and to hell with you.

(more…)

2 comments.

Fawaz en het 'ridiculiseren van God'

Posted on October 31st, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: Internal Debates, Murder on theo Van Gogh and related issues, Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims.

Volkskrant en Parool weet te melden dat imam Fawaz van de As Soennah moskee Hirsi Ali en Van Gogh een dodelijke ziekte heeft toegewenst. De tekst van de preek is HIER terug te vinden en HIER te beluisteren. Het gaat om een preek waarbij Fawaz aan het einde een smeekbede (du’a) doet en daarbij zegt:

(UPDATED)

(more…)

2 comments.

Fawaz en het ‘ridiculiseren van God’

Posted on October 31st, 2006 by .
Categories: Internal Debates, Murder on theo Van Gogh and related issues, Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims.

Volkskrant en Parool weet te melden dat imam Fawaz van de As Soennah moskee Hirsi Ali en Van Gogh een dodelijke ziekte heeft toegewenst. De tekst van de preek is HIER terug te vinden en HIER te beluisteren. Het gaat om een preek waarbij Fawaz aan het einde een smeekbede (du’a) doet en daarbij zegt:

(UPDATED)

(more…)

2 comments.

Call for the abandoning of the headscarf in Germany

Posted on October 31st, 2006 by .
Categories: Gender, Kinship & Marriage Issues, Young Muslims.

Call for the abandoning of the headscarf Druckseite
Call for the abandoning of the headscarf

A number of German-Turks have called on Muslim women to forego wearing the headscarf

After the Islam conference in Germany a number of prominent German-Turks have called on Muslim women in Germany who wear headscarves to rethink their position. According to one, Lale Akgün, “The headscarf is not obligatory, according to modern Islamic theology”

A number of German-Turkish politicians have called on Muslim women to do without the headscarf in Germany as a symbol of their willingness to integrate.

“The headscarf is a symbol of the oppression of women. Whoever requires of women that they cover their head and hair makes them into sexual objects “, said Ekin Deligöz, a Green Party Bundestag MP to a Sunday newspaper.

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Protected: Trouw, deVerdieping| letter-geest – Radicalisering op het schoolplein / Ervaringen van een witte moeder met een zwarte school

Posted on October 27th, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: Multiculti Issues, Young Muslims, Youth culture (as a practice).

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Protected: Trouw, deVerdieping| letter-geest – Radicalisering op het schoolplein / Ervaringen van een witte moeder met een zwarte school

Posted on October 27th, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: Multiculti Issues, Young Muslims, Youth culture (as a practice).

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de Volkskrant – Binnenland – ‘Na één woord Arabisch: straf’

Posted on October 25th, 2006 by .
Categories: International Terrorism, Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims.

de Volkskrant – Binnenland – ‘Na één woord Arabisch: straf’
‘Na één woord Arabisch: straf’

Achtergrond Van onze verslaggeefsters Janny Groen, Annieke Kranenberg

AMSTERDAM – De Hofstadveroordeelden kunnen het strenge gevangenisregime in Vught niet meer aan. Samir A. wist een brief aan de Volkskrant naar buiten te smokkelen om de wereld daarover te vertellen.

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Jamestown.org – Jihadis Provide Internet Training for Female Mujahideen

Posted on October 22nd, 2006 by .
Categories: Gender, Kinship & Marriage Issues, International Terrorism, Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims.

Jihadis Provide Internet Training for Female Mujahideen
Jihadis Provide Internet Training for Female Mujahideen

By Abdul Hameed Bakier
The use of female suicide bombers by Islamist militant groups in countries such as Iraq, Jordan, Afghanistan and Indian Kashmir has exceeded the traditional constraints that Salafi-Jihadi ideology imposes on women. Observers of jihadi cyber activities have noticed an increase in the number of websites dedicated to mujahidat (female mujahideen), linked either directly or ideologically to al-Qaeda. The physical and spiritual preparation of the mujahidat has recently spread to many jihadi websites. (more…)

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Expatica – No trace of Samir A. terror suspects on seized guns

Posted on October 16th, 2006 by .
Categories: International Terrorism, Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims.

Expatica -  No trace of Samir A. terror suspects on seized guns

13 October 2006

AMSTERDAM — In a last-minute blow to the prosecution’s case, forensics tests have failed to find any incriminating evidence on the weapons that allegedly belonged to the suspected terror network of Samir A.

One of A.’s lawyers made the claim and a spokesman for the public prosecution office (OM) confirmed the statement on Friday.

Police found the guns last month in a communal cellar of several apartment homes in The Hague.

Soumaya S. — the 23-year-old wife of one of the convicted members of the Hofstadgroep, Nouriddin el F. — was living in the apartment building.

The public prosecution suspects the guns belonged to the alleged terror network of Samir A.

A. — who has twice been acquitted on terrorism charges — will appear in court again on Monday on charges relating to the Piranha investigation. (more…)

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Expatica – Turkish youths turning to radical Islam: terror report

Posted on October 16th, 2006 by .
Categories: Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims.

Expatica -  Turkish youths turning to radical Islam: terror report

16 October 2006

AMSTERDAM — The continued radicalisation of especially young Muslims remains concerning, the national anti-terrorism co-ordination office NCTb said on Monday.

The NCTb also said it was “remarkable” that a rising number of Turkish youths were finding their way into networks of radical Muslims prepared to use violence against western society. (more…)

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Dutch converts to Islam: Lest Paradise Be Mine

Posted on October 10th, 2006 by .
Categories: Islam in the Netherlands, Young Muslims.

Some time ago the Dutch television aired the documentary ‘Dat het paradijs voor mij zal zijn‘ (Lest paradise be mine). The video is somehow picked up by Turntoislam.com and from there put on Youtube.com. Because the video gives a good picture of Dutch reverts to Islam, their choices, dilemma’s, relationship with their parents, I have put the video here as well. (It has English subtitles).

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Protected: Wereldvrouw Barbie

Posted on September 23rd, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: Internal Debates, Young Muslims, Youth culture (as a practice).

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Nederlandse Islamitische Omroep – 'Salafist' helpt NIO-reporters

Posted on September 22nd, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims.

Nederlandse Islamitische Omroep – ‘Salafist’ helpt NIO-reporters
‘Salafist’ helpt NIO-reporters

Dinsdag 19 september, direct na het interview met Marcouch, gingen de twee NIO-verslaggevers de wijk in om de sfeer te proeven en om enkele van de jongeren te spreken te krijgen. In de Mondriaanstraat kwam het tot een dreigende situatie. Een jongen van een jaar of achttien dacht dat hij stiekem gefilmd werd door de cameraman van de NIO. Alle ontkenningen ten spijt bleef hij daarvan overtuigd en eiste de beelden te zien waar hij op stond. Net toen hij, inmiddels in gezelschap van wat vrienden, besloten had dat de enige oplossing het vernielen van de NIO-camera was, kwam daar een jongeman op de fiets aangereden. Ali, eind twintig of begin dertig, ringbaardje, wijde kleren, opgerolde broekspijpen.

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Nederlandse Islamitische Omroep – ‘Salafist’ helpt NIO-reporters

Posted on September 22nd, 2006 by .
Categories: Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims.

Nederlandse Islamitische Omroep – ‘Salafist’ helpt NIO-reporters
‘Salafist’ helpt NIO-reporters

Dinsdag 19 september, direct na het interview met Marcouch, gingen de twee NIO-verslaggevers de wijk in om de sfeer te proeven en om enkele van de jongeren te spreken te krijgen. In de Mondriaanstraat kwam het tot een dreigende situatie. Een jongen van een jaar of achttien dacht dat hij stiekem gefilmd werd door de cameraman van de NIO. Alle ontkenningen ten spijt bleef hij daarvan overtuigd en eiste de beelden te zien waar hij op stond. Net toen hij, inmiddels in gezelschap van wat vrienden, besloten had dat de enige oplossing het vernielen van de NIO-camera was, kwam daar een jongeman op de fiets aangereden. Ali, eind twintig of begin dertig, ringbaardje, wijde kleren, opgerolde broekspijpen.

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De boodschap van Samir A.

Posted on September 15th, 2006 by .
Categories: International Terrorism, My Research, Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims.

Nova had gisteren dus fragmenten van de video van Samir. Ik ben op het moment aan het werken aan een publicatie over de spirituele en politieke boodschap van de Nederlanse jihadi’s (en voormalige jihadi’s). Het duurt nog wel even voordat deze gepubliceerd wordt (pas na mijn proefschrift en dat duurt ook nog wel enkele maanden). Het gaat er daarbij om om uit te gaan van wat zij zelf zeggen. Niet om alles maar klakkeloos over te nemen, maar wel om recht te doen aan het uitgangspunt dat het hier om zelfstandige individuen gaat die zelf beslissingen nemen, doelen in het leven hebben, hun eigen wensen en verlangens, politieke en spirituele behoeften. Op basis daarvan binnen de gegeven economische, juridische, sociale en politieke omstandigheden maken zij hun keuzes met betrekking tot datgene wat zij zien als de zuivere islam. (more…)

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Have a closer look…

Posted on September 14th, 2006 by .
Categories: International Terrorism, Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims.

Een kijktip voor vanavond: NOVA met fragment(en) van Samir A. videoboodschap.

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