Han var svenske terroristens andlige ledare

Att svenskmarockanen Mohamed Moumou deltog i al-Qaidas träningsläger i afghanistanska Khalden, drev en extremt sekteristisk lägenhetsmoské i Brandbergen med tydliga terrorismkopplingar samt slutade sina dagar som andreman för al-Qaida i Irak är väl känt. Men aldrig har jag läst något om den religiösa fostran han genomgick.

Bloggen All Eyes On Jihadism har skrivit ett utförligt porträtt av Abu Abdullah al Muhajir som ledde den religiösa skolningen i Khalden.

Ett utdrag:

"Very little is known about his early background. We know that he emigrated from Egypt to fight against the Red Army troops in Afghanistan in the 1980′s. According to al Zawahiri, he « graduated from the Islamic University in Islamabad » where he apparently got a master degree in Shari’ah. Contrary to many other Arab mujahidin at that time, he seems to have remained in Pakistan after the Soviet withrawal, until security concerns related to the Egyptian embassy bombing (caveat: not sure about that) in Islamabad (November 1995) prompted him to settle in Afghanistan during the course of 1996. 

There, he established himself as a major figure of the Khaldan camp in Khost by becoming its Shari’ah official (mas’ul shara’i). As such, he oversaw lessons focusing on shar’ih matters. The theological sessions he hold for his students dealt with governance issues and beliefs of « the enemies of the religion » among other things. This cycle of sessions was said to be of significant importance within the training process. 

The Institute for the Faith Brigades (ma’had kata’ib al iman) was created under his leadership, a project he had longed for quite some time. According to a former student, the Institute, annexed to the Khaldan camp, consisted of a large room where the seekers of knowledge were sleeping, a small adjoining room for the Shaykh and his library and another rooms in which he helds his lectures on doctrinal issues (al Wala’ wal Bara’, jihad issues, sects, etc). The seven series of lectures I mentioned above are part of what he taught in the Institute he once ran. Its establishing was for two purposes: to solidify the doctrinal foundations of the mujahdin so that they can act upon before undertaking jihadi actions (meaning Shar’iah-compliant operations); to create groups of various nationalities so they would fight the apostate regimes in their respective countries (there were also plans aiming at the wealth of Western countries). 

As a leading jihadi scholar, the Egyptian taught his Islamic lessons to many seekers of knowledge from various parts of the world. They were of course Arabs: most of the students of his Institute were from the Maghreb. Among them was Talha al Maghribi, who arrived in Afghanistan during the 1996 summer after having fled Sweden where he had supported the Algerian jihad. He would later be known as Abu Qaswarah al Maghribi, the amir of the north for the Islamic State of Iraq."

Något om detta framkom i den martyrbiografi över Moumou som publicerades i vintras.

Svensk inför rätta i USA

En fascinerande historia utspelar sig i USA. Där ska en avhoppad ledare för al-Shabaab vittna mot en misstänkt tidigare kollega. För svenskt vidkommande är historien extra intressant, då den åtalade kommer från Sverige. Enligt åklagaren har den misstänkte ett förflutet i al-Qaidas träningsläger i Afghanistan – åtalet gäller dock att mannen försökt ansluta sig till al-Shabaab.

New York Times:

The former commander, who is referred to in the filing only as CW-2, is assisting the government in the prosecution of Mohamed Ibrahim Ahmed, who is accused of being a Shabab conspirator. His case in Federal District Court in Manhattan has been full of intrigue and has caused a legal battle over government interrogation tactics. 

The former Shabab commander would appear to be able to offer an insider’s view of the group and of Mr. Ahmed, an Eritrean scheduled for trial in July, the government’s filing suggests. 

[...]

The former commander, prosecutors wrote, will testify that he encountered Mr. Ahmed in Somali in 2009 and that Mr. Ahmed traveled with him and his group of fighters in a convoy near the Somali coast. 

During a stop, Mr. Ahmed told the commander that he had European citizenship (he had lived in Sweden) and had come to Somalia to fight, which the commander understood to mean engage in jihad, prosecutors said. 

Mr. Ahmed made his way to Nigeria, where he was taken into custody and interrogated by the Nigerian authorities, who suspected him of being a Qaeda agent, a Nigerian investigative report shows. 

While in Nigerian custody, he was also questioned by United States officials for intelligence purposes, without being advised of his Miranda rights. Then, in sessions that began about a week later, he was read his rights, waived them, and was interrogated by F.B.I. agents, the government has said. 

Prosecutors have said they plan to introduce Mr. Ahmed’s statements to the Nigerians, as well as his statements to the F.B.I. agents. Mr. Ahmed’s lawyers have asked a judge to suppress the statements, on the grounds that they were the product of coercion and that the two-step interrogation strategy prevented him from making a knowing and voluntary waiver of his right against self-incrimination. 

The judge, P. Kevin Castel, has not yet ruled on the defense motion.
Mr. Ahmed has been charged with providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization; an indictment says he trained with Al Shabab in Somalia and contributed money to the group. 

An F.B.I. account of statements by Mr. Ahmed shows that when he was living in Sweden, Swedish and British authorities tried to recruit him as an informant, approaches he appears to have rejected. 

“These people are trying to use him and turn him against what he believes in,” the F.B.I. account says. “Ahmed stated that it’s better to die as a man than a dog, and explained that this meant that it’s better not to be forced into doing anything you do not believe in.” 

In the recent court filing, prosecutors said that they also planned to call another cooperating witness against Mr. Ahmed, who is identified as CW-1. The witness is expected to testify that he was present with Mr. Ahmed in the 1990s at a Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan, prosecutors wrote. 

Though the government’s filing does not identify CW-2, the former Shabab commander, the description of him resembles that of Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame, a Somali captured last year by the United States military in the Gulf region and questioned for intelligence purposes aboard a naval vessel for about two months. 

Själva åtalet finns att läsa hos Investigative Project.

Påstådd svensk medborgare gripen i Kenya

Kenyansk press rapporterar att vad som påstås vara en svensk medborgare har gripits, misstänkt för att ha försökt ansluta sig till al-Shabaab.

The Standard:

A Swedish national has been arrested in Nairobi in the crackdown on increasing number of foreigners flocking to Kenya to join Somalia’s islamist group Al-Shabaab. 

Anti-terror police arrested Magd Najjar in Eastleigh after they learnt he was here illegally and was eager to join or had joined the militant group. 

Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe later said Najjar was an accomplice of the wanted German terror suspect Ahmed Khaled Mueller and they had a similar mission in the country.

“He has been charged with being illegally in the country and we intend to ask the courts to fine him before he is deported,” said Kiraithe. 

The suspect’s traveling documents showed he entered Kenya on February 23, 2011 after he was granted a visa that was to run from January 31 2011 to April 30, 2011. 

And after his visa expired he reportedly never laboured to renew it as per the law. He was scheduled to appear in Nairobi court on Monday. 

Anti-terror police who are handling his case said they are investigating to know if he had been to Somalia and back using the porous borders. 

“He cannot account some of his time here and there are fears he may have gone to Somalia and came back to recruit more foreigners,” said a senior officer who asked not to be named.
Kiraithe said they are still-hunting down Mueller insisting he is in the country using alias names Andreas Martin Muller and Abu Nusaibah. 

Svenska myndigheter är förtegna.

Uppdatering:

Mannen var från Schweiz.

Hizb ut-Tahrir på marsch i Rinkeby

Upproren i den så kallade arabiska våren ger välorganiserade islamistiska rörelser morgonluft – även här i Sverige. Fredagen den 11 maj klockan 14 hålls en demonstration på Rinkeby Torg "mot den syriska regimen". Arrangör är Muslimska Multinationella Föreningen (MMF).

MMF är dock, som visats i en bloggpost i mars, inte vilka regimkritiker som helst. MMF är en frontorganisation för antidemokratiska Hizb ut-Tahrir. Intresset för en revolution i Syrien härrör ur drömmen att Damaskus åter ska kunna bli huvudstad för kalifatet. Men det säger man förstås inte på affischen.

För mer information: läs bloggposten 'De styr Hizb ut-Tahrir i Sverige'.

Uppdatering 15/5:

En film från demonstrationen har lagts upp på Youtube (av användaren 1953Amin/Abu Daud).



Notera plakattexten bakom talarna: 'NEJ till sekulärt samhälle, JA till återupprättandet av det islamiska khalifatet'.

Somalierna på Rinkeby Torg, finklädda för fredagsbönen, ser måttligt imponerade ut av den glesa demonstrationen.

På en annan film får man se hur 'Abu Khalil' (Facebook?) några dagar tidigare gör reklam för demonstrationen. Han försöker tala inne på moskén, men blir utslängd och fortsätter på gatan ute vid Rinkeby Torg.



Ytterligare en annan film visar den eldfängde arabiskspråkige retorikern 'Abu Islam' när han tar till orda – av allt att döma helt utan att tillfrågats av moskén och utan stöd av moskébesökarna – på Husby Moské.

Tre svenskar påstås strida för al-Qaida i Jemen

En källa inom en jemenitisk klan i den sydliga provinsen Abyan uppger att tre svenska medborgare nyligen anslutit sig till Ansar al-Sharia i Jemen, det vill säga till den lokala avdelningen av al-Qaida.

Bikya Masr:

"SANA’A: A tribal source in Yemen southern province of Abyan said that 3 Swedish national joined lately Ansar al-Sharia fighters to fight along with them against Yemeni authorities. 

The source reported that the three Swedish entered legally to Yemen as tourists, and then they joined the militants in fighting the Yemeni government. 

They arrived in Abyan province on Monday and they are now in al-Motheleth district of Jaar city, where fierce clashes took place between Yemeni government troops backed by tribesmen and al-Qaeda militants."

Uppdatering 3/5:

Aftonbladet följer upp. Den stora kinesiska nyhetsbyrån Xinhua har en artikel som ser ut som en bekräftelse men som antagligen är en rewrite på BM.