WWW.JOURNAL-ONLINE.CO.UK
EDINBURGH’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER
ISSUE IV
WEDNESDAY 13 FEBUARY 2008
BOARDROOM ACTIVISM » 24 Why ethical and environmental problems can’t be solved by disinvestment
THE DYKEENIES » 27 Escaping from Cumbernauld isn’t enough: The Dykeenies want Chris McCall to make them famous
Jihadist group recruits students on Facebook
» 16 Captured in the wild »12
» Groups calling for armed jihad active on Facebook » Leader of banned organisation claims success in recruiting students » Terror suspect on trial used networking site up until time of arrest Miles Johnson miles.johnson@journal-online.co.uk
RADICAL BRITISH JIHADIST groups are actively operating and recruiting students on the social networking site Facebook and other forums, an investigation by The Journal can reveal. A private Facebook group called ‘Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama’ah’, the name of a successor organisation to the banned extremist group Al Muhajiroun, has been operating since early 2007. Members of the group include several students at British universities such as Sheffield and Manchester and one employee of the fi nancial services giant Citigroup. The Facebook group has links posted to extremist literature by the jailed radical preachers Abu Hamza al-Misri and Abu Qutada calling for the waging of armed jihad against the British and American governments. There is also literature demanding the expulsion of any Muslim who votes in elections or “provides assistance” to the ‘kuffar’, or nonbeliever. One article entitled Jihad: a Ten Part Compilation describes violent Jihad as an “individual duty” of all Muslims. The article also includes a religious ruling for young Muslims on the legitimacy of taking up “martyrdom” without informing their parents. It concludes: “No permission [from parents] is required in obligatory jihad.” The Journal has also discovered that senior members of Al Muhajir-
oun were using Facebook until their arrest. This included the activist Abu Izzadeen, 38, who was put on trial last week in London’s Kingston Crown Court along with seven other members of Al Muhajiroun. He faces charges of fi nancing terrorism and inciting terrorism overseas. Izzadeen gained national notoriety in 2006 after heckling the thenHome Secretary Dr John Reid during a speech he made to Muslim community leaders in London. The Journal has obtained correspondence, purportedly between Abu Izzadeen and Facebook, which took place after his profile was banned by the site’s administrators. In it Izzadeen urges the administrators to “reconsider your hasty and unjust decision,” going on to write “Inshallah (God willing) I can return to making use of your otherwise fantastic site”. After the appeal was rejected Izzadeen ended the correspondence by writing: “You are mad. I joined this site so my supporters could add me and show their support. I am not surprised. [You take] any opportunity to stamp the ummah under your heel. This is why we rise up.” Al Muhajiroun and its affiliate groups Al Ghurabaa and The Saved Sect were banned in the UK in 2005 under the Terrorism Act and their leader, the radical cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed, was prevented from reentering the UK. Bakri Mohammed, who now lives in Lebanon, has since Continued on page 2
IN BRIEF
AL MUHAJIROUN Described by the BBC as “one of the most extreme groups operating in the UK”, Al Muhajiroun was led from London by the radical cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed until it was disbanded in 2004. The group’s stated aims, based on an extreme and fringe interpretation of Islam, were to establish Islamic rule in the UK and to completely reject democracy and the laws of the British government. The group was initially banned by the National Union of Students from operating on British campuses in 2001 for distributing extreme literature. In the same year the Russian government requested the British authorities ban the group after it claimed it had recruited members studying at the London School of Economics to fight in the ongoing Chechen conflict. Al Muhajiroun was followed by the successor groups Al Ghurabaa and The Saviour Sect, launched by prominent members Abu Izzadeen (pictured) and Anjem Choudary. Both groups were later banned under the Terrorism Act in 2006 and later gave birth to Ahlus Sunnah wal Jammah, a group that have since been found operating on the internet. Seven members are currently on trial for charges for terror-related offences.
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