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Ahmad Musa Jibril

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For other people with similar names, see Ahmed Jibril and Ahmed Moussa (disambiguation).

Ahmad Musa Jibril (alt. Jebril,[1] born 1972), also known as Abu Khaled, is a Palestinian-American Islamic radical preacher,[2][3] cleric,[4] sheikh,[5][6] and imam.[7] In 2004 he was convicted on 42 charges including fraud.[1][5] Ideologically influenced by the Sahwa movement, which combines the Islamist revolutionary ideology of Sayyid Qutb mixed with Saudi Wahabbism,[8] he promotes Salafist militant Islamism, and has extensively preached about the Syrian Civil War in highly emotive pro-Sunni terms.[9] While not known to be affiliated directly to any particular group,[9] it has been claimed that he has been an inspirational source for many English speaking pro-Sunni jihadist fighters in Syria, in both al-Nusra and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant,[9] and elsewhere.[2][10][11][12]

Early life and education

Born in Dearborn, Michigan in 1972, as a child Jibril lived for some time in Medina, Saudi Arabia where his father was enrolled in the Islamic University of Madinah. Jibril then returned to the U.S. to complete his high school education, which he completed in 1989. He later returned to Medina to study at the Islamic University of Madinah, receiving a degree in sharia.[13] He subsequently received from a law school in Michigan[which?] a JD and LLM.[9][1]

In the mid to late 1990s, Jibril created the website AlSalafyoon.com which contained videos of Islamic preachers described by US prosecutors as "a library of fanatically anti-American sermons"[14][15] in which he "encouraged his students to spread Islam by the sword, to wage a holy war [and] to hate and kill non-Muslims".[16][17] The website ceased operations following his arrest and incarceration in 2003 to 2004.[18][7][17][12]

The day after a November 13, 1995 bomb attack that killed six people, including four Americans, in Riyadh, Jibril, using a phone line subscribed under the alias Thomas Saad, sent a fax to CNN saying that its purpose was to "kick the Jews and Christians out of the Arabian Peninsula" as commanded by Muhammad. It closed, "There will be a series of bombings that will follow no matter how many lives of ours are taken or how many bodies are in prison. This is the precise reason why we chose the building we chose." However, the government found no evidence that Jibril was connected to the actual bombing beyond sending a fax, and did not prosecute him, though it later made reference to the fax in a 2005 supplemental sentencing memorandum for the 2003-5 criminal trial.[19][9][14]

Conviction and imprisonment

In 2004, Jibril and his father were together tried in Detroit for a total of 42 criminal charges, of the crimes; conspiracy, bank fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, failure to file income tax returns and felon-in-possession of firearms and ammunition.[9] Jibril was convicted and sentenced for these crimes, to six and one half years in a high-security prison, and was subsequently imprisoned at Terre Haute Federal Correctional Complex, from where he was released sometime during 2012.[20] Jibril's Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator number was 31943–039.[9]

Just prior to his sentencing, the prosecution provided a memorandum to refute the Jibrils' claims which were aimed at lowering the punishment. In it, they documented how at one point the postman had realized that he was delivering mail addressed to more than 80 different aliases, and how investigators had discovered at his sister's house voter registration cards under alias known to be employed by Jibril. Jibril supported himself and his family members by "systematically destroying... rental properties for the insurance proceeds, and bullying and threatening tenants in the process."[19]

Recent influence

Within days following his 2012 release from prison, he began posting his views online, producing YouTube videos and operating on social media.[21][22] He is reportedly on the FBI's watch list.[4] In June 2014 he had his Internet access restricted for a probation violation.[23] These restrictions expired in March 2015.[24][25] Between June 2014 and June 2017, Jibril is not known to have accessed his primary Facebook account.[26]

Scholars at King's College London describe him as a non-conventional proselytiser, who "does not openly incite his followers to violence" and "adopts the role of a cheerleader: supporting the principles of armed opposition to Assad, often in highly emotive terms, while employing extremely charged religious or sectarian idioms. The general demeanour of his posturing towards the West is confrontational and distrusting, fuelling the perception of a Western conspiracy against both Islam and Muslims."[9]

A survey conducted by The International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence indicated that approximately 60% of 150 foreign fighters in the Syrian Civil War followed Jibril on their Twitter accounts. His Twitter account has more than 33,000 followers and his Facebook account had over 145,000 likes.[9][27][21]

Jibril was reported to be an influence for terrorists in the United States as early as fall 2014, in which there was a sharia-inspired beheading at an Oklahoma meatpacking plant,[12] and indictment on charges of attempted murder and trying to fund ISIS of Yemeni immigrant pizza-shop manager Mufid Elfgeeh.[28] Elfgeeh later earned 22 years in prison for his troubles, which included efforts to recruit jihadists on Twitter, WhatsApp and on 23 distinct Facebook accounts.[29]

In May 2016, the Australian Attorney-General disclosed as part of a terrorist conspiracy trial that a "self-styled Facebook preacher" used that medium to spread an "order to hate all non-Muslims", and that on his FB page were interspersed video calls to jihad by Ahmad Musa Jibril.[10][30]

The Attorney-General for India listed in August 2016 Jibril as one of 14 individual disseminators of ISIS propaganda in the trial of Mohammad Farhan. It was written in the charge sheet that:[11]

Farhan created ... his Facebook account ... in August 2014, primarily to follow IS-related posts, images, videos and online lectures of ... and Ahmad Jibril, who supported and justified the terrorist activities of IS through Quran and Hadees [sic; read Hadith]... ... Farhan, under the influence of these Islamic preachers and having been impressed by the lectures of above speakers, became a supporter and follower of ISIS from September 2014.

One of the June 2017 London attackers was said to have been radicalised by Jibril's YouTube videos.[31][2]

YouTube policy and criticism

After conducting a review in June 2017 following the London Bridge massacre, YouTube refused to remove Jibril's videos, which had been viewed more than 1.5 million times as of that date, as they did not violate YouTube's guidelines on the advocacy of violence.[6][32][16] YouTube has stated that most of Jibril's videos are religious sermons[32] on varied subjects such as interpretation of the Quran, Islamic behavior, fasting, and western medicine.[16]

YouTube's response has faced criticism and calls for more robust action.[33][34] Conservative columnist Michelle Malkin said "One of the many maddening takeaways from the London Bridge jihad attack is this: If you post videos on YouTube radicalizing Muslim viewers to kill innocent people, YouTube will leave you alone. But if you post[35] a video on YouTube honoring innocent people murdered by barbaric jihadists, your video will get banned." and that "The enlightened peace-and-love progressives of Silicon Valley don't just have egg on their faces. They have blood on their hands."[36]

Advertisers on YouTube have objected to having their ads alongside alleged hate videos, including Jibril.[37]

On 18 June 2017, responding to criticism, YouTube announced a new policy under which extremist videos, such as Jibril's, while not removed from the site would be difficult to find, with warning labels, and without user endorsements, comments, nor advertising.[38][39]

References

  1. ^ a b c Detroit's Islamist 'Cheerleader' Manages to Keep Quiet About His Money Archived 2017-11-07 at the Wayback Machine, Vice News, 6 April 2015
  2. ^ a b c LONDON ATTACKER FOLLOWED ISIS RECRUITER AND RADICAL U.S. PREACHER AHMAD MUSA JIBRIL, Newsweek, 5 June 2017
  3. ^ Cellan-Jones, Rory (7 June 2017). "Something must be done...but what?". BBC News. Archived from the original on 7 June 2017. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
  4. ^ a b Feds keep eye on radical Islamic cleric, CBS News, February 2015
  5. ^ a b London terror suspect was influenced by Dearborn cleric, says friend Archived 2017-06-10 at the Wayback Machine, Detroit Free Press, 5 June 2017
  6. ^ a b YouTube: Videos of controversial Dearborn cleric don't violate our guidelines Archived 2017-06-11 at the Wayback Machine, Detroit Free Press, 7 June 2017
  7. ^ a b Maryland imam’s advocacy of ISIS lands him at center of terrorism probe Archived 2017-05-12 at the Wayback Machine, Washington Post, October 2016
  8. ^ Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens, Salafism in America: History, Evolution, Radicalization, October 2018, p. 99. Report for the George Washington University Program on Extremism. Link.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Joseph A. Carter; Shiraz Maher; Peter R. Neumann (2014). "#Greenbirds: measuring importance and influence in Syrian foreign fighter networks" (PDF). The International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 May 2017. Retrieved 5 June 2017. This reference cites the supplemental sentencing report, but incorrectly identifies the Riyadh bombing as the Khobar Towers bombing.
  10. ^ a b Farhad Said, 24, arrested over alleged terrorism plot, encouraged 'hatred for the kuffar' Archived 2016-07-31 at the Wayback Machine, 27 May 2016
  11. ^ a b NIA chargesheet refers to 14 globally known Islamic preachers Archived 2017-05-16 at the Wayback Machine, India Times, August 2016
  12. ^ a b c ISIS Supporters In America: The Jihadis Next Door? Archived 2016-06-03 at the Wayback Machine, Vocativ, October 2014
  13. ^ Expanding the Wahhabi mission: Saudi Arabia, the Islamic University of Medina and the transnational religious economy, Farquhar, Michael (2013), PhD thesis, The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), pages 253-254
  14. ^ a b Reports: Dearborn cleric radicalized London attacker Archived 2017-06-06 at the Wayback Machine, The Detroit News, 5 June 2017
  15. ^ "U.S. preacher who inspires Syrian rebels faces Internet monitoring", 9 Jun 2014
  16. ^ a b c YouTube, Twitter and Facebook reject claims they don't do enough to fight terrorism online, Mic, June 2017
  17. ^ a b Facebook removes page of preacher using social media to back jihadists Archived 2017-06-06 at the Wayback Machine, Guardian, April 2014
  18. ^ Security Informatics and Terrorism: Patrolling the Web:Social and Technical Problems of Detecting and Controlling Terrorists' Use of the World Wide ... D: Information and Communication Security, by Cecilia S. Gal and Bracha Shapira, March 2008, ISBN 978-1586038489, page 30
  19. ^ a b "US v Jebril - Criminal docket 03-80810 - Government's supplemental sentencing memorandum" (PDF). 27 April 2005. Archived from the original on 29 October 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  20. ^ B. Dalbey - Article Archived 2017-07-08 at the Wayback Machine Dearborn Patch 22 August 2014 Accessed 6 June 2017 (added to pre-existing content)
  21. ^ a b Revealed: the radical clerics using social media to back British jihadists in Syria Archived 2017-03-09 at the Wayback Machine, Guardian, April 2014
  22. ^ The warning signs straight-A student was on road to Syrian Isis stronghold Archived 2017-02-15 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, Mar 2015
  23. ^ U.S. preacher who inspires Syrian rebels faces Internet monitoring Archived 2016-12-31 at the Wayback Machine, Reuters, June 2014
  24. ^ Cleric popular with ISIS ordered to testify on finances Archived 2016-03-13 at the Wayback Machine, Detroit News, March 2015
  25. ^ U.S. online ban of militant Muslim preacher ends Archived 2016-06-16 at the Wayback Machine, Reuters, April 2015
  26. ^ counterextremism.com: Ahmad Musa Jibril, accessed 5 June 2017
  27. ^ U.S. cleric inspiring jihadists in Syria? Archived 2017-06-21 at the Wayback Machine, CBS News, April 2014
  28. ^ nytimes.com: "NY man charged with trying to support ISIS", 16 Sep 2014
  29. ^ usatoday.com: "Timeline: How Mufid Elfgeeh was arrested for links to ISIS", 17 Dec 2015
  30. ^ University prayer room spruiks Islamist links to YouTube preachers, The Australian, April 2016
  31. ^ The Sunday Telegraph: "London terrorist had twice been referred to police over his extremist views", 4 June 2017
  32. ^ a b Something must be done...but what? Archived 2017-12-07 at the Wayback Machine, Rory Cellan-Jones, BBC, June 2017
  33. ^ Online Terrorist Propaganda Still a Challenge for Tech Companies Archived 2017-06-06 at the Wayback Machine, FOX Business, 5 June 2017
  34. ^ Tech giants are under fire for facilitating terrorism Archived 2017-06-30 at the Wayback Machine, Economist, 8 June 2017
  35. ^ Rosen, Jeffrey (30 November 2008). "Google's Gatekeepers". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 12 November 2017. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
  36. ^ YouTube Banned Me, But Not the Hate Imams Archived 2017-06-07 at the Wayback Machine, TownHall (syndicated column), Michelle Malkin, June 2017
  37. ^ YouTube Hate Videos Haunt Advertisers on Google Archived 2017-07-02 at the Wayback Machine, Bloomberg, March 2017
  38. ^ YouTube Sets New Policies to Curb Extremist Videos Archived 2017-06-20 at the Wayback Machine, New York Times, 18 June 2017
  39. ^ Extremist videos on YouTube will now carry warnings Archived 2017-06-20 at the Wayback Machine, USA Today, 19 June 2017
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