The Islamist Struggle Behind Tunisia's Suicide Bombings

The Battle for Bizerte: The ongoing struggle between Tunisia's ultra-conservative Islamists and democratic Government

Germany: Hooligans Declare War on Islamic Radicals

GATESTONE INSTITUTE: Hooligans from rival football clubs have temporarily set aside their mutual hatred for each other in order to unite against a common enemy: radical Salafists who are bringing Islamic Sharia law to Germany.

After police predicted that more than 10,000 hooligans would show up at an anti-Salafist rally in Berlin, authorities cancelled the event. Similar rallies planned for Frankfurt, Hamburg and Hannover have also been banned.

Vogel, a former professional boxer who often depicts himself as the embodiment invincible Islam, is now portraying himself as a helpless and fearful victim of the football hooligans

A group of nearly 5,000 football hooligans from across Germany gathered in the western city of Cologne on October 26 to protest the spread of radical Islam in the country.

The watershed march was organized by a new initiative called "Hooligans against Salafists," better known by its German abbreviation, HoGeSa, short for Hooligans gegen Salafisten.

HoGeSa is a burgeoning alliance between hooligans from rival football clubs who have temporarily set aside their mutual hatred for each other in order to unite against a common enemy: radical Salafists who want to replace Germany's democratic order with Islamic Sharia law. » | Soeren Kern | Monday, November 10, 2014

Germany Warns Security Situation 'Critical' due to Radical Islam

REUTERS.COM: (Reuters) - Radical Islam poses a critical security threat to Germany, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere warned on Tuesday, saying the number of people capable of staging attacks in the country stood at an all-time high.

Besides the risk posed by German jihadists returning from Syria, there was also the danger of violent clashes on German streets as rival extremist groups turn on each other - mirroring the conflicts of the Middle East, he told a security conference.

De Maiziere said security forces believed the greatest danger came from radicals striking out alone, as happened in Canada last week, when two soldiers were killed in attacks that police said were carried out by recent converts to Islam.

"The situation is critical. The number of threatening individuals has never been as high as now," he said. "We represent freedom, and are therefore an object of hate."

The domestic intelligence agency (BfV) has warned that ultra-conservative Salafism was becoming increasing popular -- boosting the number of potential recruits for Islamic State. » | Alexandra Hudson and Sabine Siebold | Berlin | Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Salafists Want to Destroy the Sphinx and Pyramids (2012)

Egypt Salafists Warn against Trying to Wipe Out Islamism

REUTERS UK: While security forces round up the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's second largest religious party has warned the state against trying to wipe out political Islam entirely during its toughest crackdown in decades.

The Nour Party, a Salafist group that backed the military's removal of President Mohamed Mursi last month, is now also feeling the heat, its leader Younes Makhyoun told Reuters.

Members of his pacifist party - which follows an austere interpretation of Islam - have been beaten, harassed and turned over to the police in recent days, simply because they wear beards as a sign of their religious observance, he said.

With at least 900 people killed in a week, Makhyoun cautioned against an arbitrary campaign targeting Islamists, saying this would drive some underground. "This will be a dangerous path and make many disavow the tools of democracy, and perhaps resort to other methods," he said in an interview.

Political Islam could not be "uprooted", he added. "If anyone is thinking about excluding it, that is of the utmost stupidity."

The Brotherhood's main rival, the Nour Party turned strongly against the much older Islamist group earlier this year, joining liberals who accused Mursi of staging a power grab. » | Tom Perry | Cairo | Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Daring to Believe - Tunisia

How Tunisia is Turning Into a Salafist Battleground
THE ATLANTIC: An interview with a professor who was attacked for standing up for secularism.

After a trial lasting more than a year, on May 2 Habib Kazdaghli, dean of the faculty of letters, arts, and humanities at the University of Manouba, outside Tunis, was acquitted of charges that he slapped a veiled female student. He had faced a five-year jail term. Instead, the court found guilty the two women who had invaded Kazdaghli's office and thrown his books and papers on the floor. The women claimed to be protesting their suspension from the university for refusing to remove their full-face coverings, known as niqabs, during class lectures and exams.

The court sentenced the women to suspended four-month and two-month jail sentences for damaging property and interfering with a public servant carrying out his duties. Their lawyer said the women would appeal, and Tunisia's minister of higher education -- overruling Kazdaghli and setting him up for another round of conflict -- announced that veiled students would be allowed to take their final exams.

The Kazdaghli affair, a cause célèbre with more than 230,000 Google results, is part of a larger struggle for power in post-revolutionary Tunisia. After the uprising that toppled dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011 -- sparking the onset of the Arab Spring -- the University of Manouba became a battleground between fundamentalist Muslims intent on turning Tunisia into an Islamic state and secular forces trying to maintain the country's existing constitutional rights and legal system.

Closed for almost two months in the spring of 2012, the University was rocked by strikes and pitched battles between progressive students and the ultra-conservative Sunni Muslims known as salafists. The lobby in Kazdaghli's building was turned into a prayer room. Protesters camped in front of his door for a month. "This was meant to intimidate me, but also to catch me in a kind of trap," says Kazdaghli. "You are not supposed to walk through a room where someone is praying." So every time he entered or left his office, Kazdaghli was demonstrating his lack of faith. » | Thomas A. Bass | Thursday, June 20, 2013

German Secret Service Worried About Growing Salafism

DAWN.COM: BERLIN: German intelligence voiced concern on Tuesday over the growing number of ultra-conservative Islamic Salafists in the country, some of whom are swelling jihadist ranks abroad, while warning of an increasingly violent German extreme right.

“Salafism is a particularly rapidly growing and extremely worrying group within the extremist movement,” Hans-Georg Maassen, head of domestic intelligence, told a news conference as he presented his agency's 2012 annual report.

Radical Islamists in Germany numbered 42,550 in 2012, according to surveillance services, and the number of Salafists, who espouse an austere form of Sunni Islam, within the movement grew to 4,500 from 3,800 in a year, he said.

Maassen added that while not all Salafists are jihadists, it was clear that those who departed Germany for Syria or Egypt were there for that purpose.

“One can say that Salafism is an essential step towards jihadism or for people ready to conduct terrorist attacks,” Maassen said.

He also stressed that the number of extremist Islamists in Germany did not signify there were “42,500 potential terrorists” in the country.

Still, some 1,000 people including some Salafists are considered dangerous and 130 are seen as a particular threat and are monitored around-the-clock.

The intelligence report also showed that Egypt had replaced the Waziristan region of Pakistan as the main centre for the training of jihadists.

Syria is also a favoured destination. “We counted more than 60 people who left Germany to fight in Syria,” Maassen said. » | AFP | Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Muslims Clash On London Streets
THE COMMENTATOR: Anjem Choudary and his fellow protestors can be seen fighting with what was reported as other Muslim groups on London's Edgware Road

Protestors marching alongside Anjem Choudary, the famed Islamist extremist, clashed with others in London's Edgware Road earlier today.

A video filmed by CoelusMedia begins with Choudary addressing the camera discussing the incarceration of an unnamed individual. The original video upload was entitled, "Muslims fight Muslims on the streets of London during a Syrian demonstration on the Edgware Road".

Choudary, who is famous for leading the now proscribed "Islam4UK" group as well as several other splinter organisations, led a march today from Regents Park Mosque which was due to end at the Syrian Embassy. Protestors marched with hard-line Salafist placards and flags, many of which read, "Support Jund Al Sham". » | The Commentator | Friday, May 10, 2013

Egyptian Cleric Abu Islam: Egypt's Authority Should Be Divided among Islamist Groups; Flag of Islam Will Soon Fly over White House | Al-Kahera Wal-Nas TV (Egypt) - March 18, 2013

Salafists Destroy Major Sufi Shrine
LIBYA HERALD: The Al-Andlusi mausoleum in Tajura area, one of the major Sufi shrines in Libya, was destroyed early this morning, Thursday, in a bomb attack that is being blamed on Salafists.

An eye-witness, who was at work nearby, told the Libya Herald that he heard three “very loud” explosions around 4 am. He said that he did not see any one near the shrine at the time of the bombing.

The shrine, on a prominent knoll on the Beach Road some 15 kilometres east of Tripoli, is protected under the law as a national monument. » | Farah Waleed | Thursday, March 28, 2013

The Path to Radicalization: Following a German Salafist to Egypt

SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: A year ago, a SPIEGEL editor met a Salafist in Hannover. Following several meetings in Germany, he traveled with him to his new home in Egypt. But he could not have anticipated the danger he would encounter there.

It's still dark in Alexandria, and I can hear the Salafist breathing in the dark. He is tiptoeing across the room.

The man approaching my bed picked me up from the airport yesterday. His name is Dennis Rathkamp, and he is a 24-year-old auto mechanic who used to play guitar in his church confirmation class. He moved to Egypt a few weeks ago to learn how to become a good Muslim.

On this morning, my body is lying between Rathkamp and Mecca. He drops to his knees and lowers his forehead to the floor. It's 6:30 a.m., time for early prayers. I hear Rathkamp moving his lips silently. He promised me he would try to be quiet while praying.

I am lying in this bed in a stranger's apartment because I am searching for an answer to the question of what drives the Salafists, a group of people who are feared in Germany. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Germany's domestic intelligence agency, estimates that 60 German Salafists emigrated to Egypt last year. Many chose the city of Alexandria as their new home, and they now live in the Mandara neighborhood in the north of the city.

Rathkamp says that he moved to Alexandria because he wants to learn the language of his prophet -- and because he could no longer endure the discrimination in Germany.

I met him when he was handing out Korans in the northern German city of Hannover last spring. I asked him if he would take me to his mosque, because I wanted to learn more about Islam. I accompanied him to Friday prayers many times after that. We drank tea together and had long conversations. Afterwards, he would drive me to the train station and give me pamphlets explaining women's role in Islam to take home to my girlfriend. » | Takis Würger | Friday, March 15, 2013

Former BBC Security Guard Who Converted to Islam Admits Terror Plot to Attack Wootton Bassett and 'MI5 or MI6 Heads'

MAIL ONLINE: Richard Dart, Imran Mahmood, and Jahangir Alom, plead guilty at Old Bailey / Admit preparing for terrorism or assisting another in terrorism, between July 2010 and July 2012 / Trio travelled to Pakistan for terror training and helped others do the same / Conversations reveal targets were Wootton Bassett and secret services

A former BBC security guard today admitted playing a part in a two-year terror plot, which included a possible attack on Wootton Bassett, the small town in Wiltshire used for military funerals.

White Muslim convert Richard Dart, 29, also planned to wipe out members of the security services including 'MI5 or MI6 heads' after receiving training at Pakistani terror camps.

Dart, who calls himself Salahuddin Al Britani, and co-conspirators Imran Mahmood, 21, and Jahangir Alom, 26, have all pleaded guilty to preparing for acts of terrorism during a brief hearing at the Old Bailey.

The charges said they travelled to Pakistan for terror training, travelled abroad to commit acts of terrorism and provided information about travel to Pakistan, terrorism training and operational security while there.

Detectives had recovered computer conversations between Dart and Mahmood identifying one target as Wootton Bassett, whose streets are always lined with mourners when Britain's war-dead are flown back into the UK.

One conversation between the pair went as follows: 'Yes, yes Wootton Bassett, if not that then all combatants if it comes down to it, it is that or even to just deal with a few MI5, MI6 heads.'

Dart, the son of teachers from Dorset, had appeared in a BBC Three documentary made by his stepbrother after he converted to Islam by radical cleric Anjem Choudary. Read on and comment » | Sam Adams and Martin Robinson | Friday, March 15, 2013

Related »

Salafi and Secular Intellectuals Exchange Insults and Nearly Come to Blows on Egyptian TV | Al-Kahera Wal-Nas TV (Egypt) - March 5-6, 2013

Tunisia: Salafist Street Patrols Worry Locals
ALL AFRICA: Tunis — The phenomenon of Salafist security details patrolling cities and neighbourhoods has many citizens wondering whether Ansar al-Sharia is trying to take over law and order in Tunisia.

Bands of baton-wielding salafists have mounted security patrols in Tunisian cities in recent weeks, leaving many citizens to question what is behind the phenomenon.

Salafists say they are patrolling neighbourhoods in the name of safeguarding citizens and their property, amid increased instability in Tunisia that followed the February 6th slaying of opposition leader Chokri Belaid.

Since his assassination, Salafist security patrols became more prevalent in Tunis and other cities. The patrols, which each number dozens of members, move about on foot or on motorcycles, or in cars flying black flags.

An online call by Ansar al-Sharia mobilised salafists to fan out and patrol the streets as unofficial security details. The radical salafist group posted the call on Facebook for its supporters to protect citizens and property in the aftermath of Belaid's killing. » | Monia Ghanmi | Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Violent Tide of Salafism Threatens the Arab Spring
THE OBSERVER: A series of repressive dictatorships have been brought down in north Africa, but the ensuing struggles for power have left a vacuum that has allowed the rise of an extremist movement that is gathering both force and supporters

Late last year, largely unnoticed in the west, Tunisia's president, Moncef Marzouki, gave an interview to Chatham House's The World Today. Commenting on a recent attack by Salafists – ultra-conservative Sunnis – on the US embassy in Tunis, he remarked in an unguarded moment: "We didn't realise how dangerous and violent these Salafists could be … They are a tiny minority within a tiny minority. They don't represent society or the state. They cannot be a real danger to society or government, but they can be very harmful to the image of the government."

It appears that Marzouki was wrong. Following the assassination of opposition leader Chokri Belaid last Wednesday – which plunged the country into its biggest crisis since the 2011 Jasmine Revolution – the destabilising threat of violent Islamist extremists has emerged as a pressing and dangerous issue.

Violent Salafists are one of two groups under suspicion for Belaid's murder. The other is the shadowy, so-called neighbourhood protection group known as the Leagues of the Protection of the Revolution, a small contingent that claims to be against remnants of the old regime, but which is accused of using thugs to stir clashes at opposition rallies and trade union gatherings. » | Peter Beaumont and Patrick Kingsley | Sunday, February 10, 2013

Angela Merkel Receives 'Assassination Threat' from German Islamists

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES: German officials probing video

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has received a death threat from Islamic extremists who warn that Europe's nations will experience a 'European Summer' similar to the Middle East's 'Arab Spring', according to German newspapers.

A video has been released by a German Islamist calling himself Abu Azzam, in which he vows to take down Germany and Merkel, according to the daily Die Welt.

"Looking back on an Arab Spring, we look forward to a European summer. Osama, waiting for us, we have tasted blood. We want to see Obama and Merkel dead!," says the video message.

Citing the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center, the Islamists threaten similar attacks on German soil.

"You will bleed, your heads will roll (...) Oh Allah, give the German people what it deserves! Know that we get free advertising through you," said the radical Islamist in the video.

He also said that their "troops" are already in position in Germany, to carry out the threatened acts of terrorism. » | Vasudevan Sridharan | Sunday, February 03, 2013

THE VOICE OF RUSSIA: Obama, Merkel under Islamist death threat: An Islamist website has posted a video threat to kill Barak Obama and blow up Angela Merkel, together with the Berlin building of the German Bundestag. » | Vesti.ru | Sunday, February 03, 2013

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Sitting Down for Coffee with Salafists

DEUTSCHE WELLE: Germany's domestic security agency has warned of a self-radicalizing Salafist scene, with the Rhineland considered one of its strongholds. DW's Naomi Conrad takes a look inside the Salafist scene in the city of Bonn.

Young men in baggy track suits linger around a gas station in Bonn. Rain drizzles. This is the meeting point for my interview with two Salafist preachers. A minute past 5 o'clock in the evening, a lone man arrives to pick me up.

"Yeah, we're radical," the man smiles. After a dramatic pause, the clean shaven 20-year-old adds: "radically on time." His smile turns into a grin. He does not shake my hand. "You have to understand," the man says. In western countries, not shaking someone's hand is considered an affront. But this man's strict interpretation of the Koran forbids him from offering me - a woman - his hand to shake.

The man explains that he will film the conversation with the preacher. "It's safer for you, and it's safer for us. But you probably don't want to be on camera at all, right?" The two preachers, who would like very much to be on camera, sit in a small café across from the gas station. We walk over. Turkish music plays from a loudspeaker. The older one, Ibrahim Abu Nagie, stirs his coffee while the younger of the two, Abu Dujana, plays with his white iPhone.

They offer me a friendly greeting and wave a waitress over: "Sister, another coffee, please." » | Naomi Conrad / slk | DW.DE | Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Tourism on Trial - Egypt

Salafists Take Responsibility for Gaza Rockets
THE JERUSALEM POST: Gaza groups opposed to Hamas admit firing rockets at Israel, while Salafists from Sinai are aiding Hamas's military wing.

Gaza-based Salafist-Jihadists with ties to al-Qaida have claimed responsibility for perpetrating several of the recent rocket attacks against Israel, according to statements published by several jihadist groups in the past days.

The Gaza-based jihadi group Jaish al-Ummah published two statements on jihadist forums on Monday claiming responsibility for a series of attacks against Israel. » | Joanna Paraszczuk | Tuesday, November 20, 2012