Anwar al-Awlaki
How Did Abdulmutallab Become a Jihadist?
This is the question that my former colleague, Jacob Amis, and I have analysed in our paper for the latest issue of Hudson’s Current Trends in Islamist Ideology. In the piece, we attempt to provide an overview of the parallel journeys to jihad of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (the so-called “underwear bomber”) and his al-Qaeda mentor, Anwar al-Awlaki.
New al-Qaeda Speech in Support of Awlaki
The Global Islamic Media Front, al-Qaeda’s official media group, has recently released a translation of a speech in support of Anwar al-Awlaki. Originally produced by al-Malahem media, which is the media wing of Yemen’s al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), its target audience is Americans and the West.
DCLG still using the wrong advisers
It has recently emerged that Mohammad Abdul Aziz, a ‘Senior Muslim Adviser’ to the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) – a department tasked with promoting community cohesion – is an honorary member of the East London Mosque (ELM), an institution that is not uncontroversial.
Full Anwar al-Awlaki al-Qaeda Interview Released by MEMRI
MEMRI have now made available a transcript of the full length version of an interview with Anwar al-Awlaki that al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) released earlier this year. Extracts were shown on al-Jazeera in February of this year.
American Jihadi Group Inspired by Awlaki
Revolution Muslim, a US-based extremist organisation, has issued death threats against Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the makers of animated sitcom ‘South Park’, after their latest episode which satirised the ongoing hysteria about depicting Mohammed. In what is yet another example of the ongoing influence Anwar al-Awlaki has on Western jihadism, the religious justification used by the group for killing Stone and Parker was taken from a 2008 Awlaki lecture ‘The Dust Will Never Settle Down’.
Obama Pops Green Smoke on Targeting Awlaki
Since 9/11, the CIA’s targeted killings list has had names like Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar on it, and has never included an American citizen. That changed recently, when President Obama authorised the inclusion of Anwar al-Awlaki to the list of targets who should be either captured or killed.
New audio message from Anwar al-Awlaki
He’s back.
The jihadist theorist with an extensive network of British supporters, Anwar al-Awlaki, is currently on the run in Yemen. Still, that hasn’t stopped him issuing a new audio message.
The ELM, Dispatches and Awlaki
The East London Mosque (ELM) continues pushing the line that it only hosted the al-Qaeda linked preacher Anwar al-Awlaki at its mosque on one occasion and that ‘there was no credible evidence at the time of the event that al-Awlaki might be an extremist’.
Did Anwar al-Awlaki really change after his arrest?
The al-Qaeda theorist Anwar al-Awlaki has an expansive network of supporters in the United Kingdom. My colleague Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens has produced an authoritative report on the matter for the Centre for Social Cohesion – a think tank that has consistently warned us about Awlaki. I won’t reproduce the report here, but would urge readers of this blog to consult it very closely.
Amnesty Official Questions Partnership with Begg
For some years, CagePrisoners (CP) has enjoyed a very useful relationship with Amnesty International. The Sunday Times has an exclusive story about one of Amnesty’s senior official raising serious concerns about the group’s ‘jihadi’ nature.
Tolerating the intolerant
“For those who thought that a global pandemic would sound the death knell for identity politics, think again”
How to prevent the next pandemic
‘I have been reporting as a science journalist for years that the world is at increasing risk of pandemics like this; that this was predicted; that we know what we need to do to prepare and we simply haven’t done it; and that more and worse pandemics are coming so we need to do that, now’
D’où parles-tu? The post-truth world
Power, illusion and the open society: how postmodernism undermines our foundational concepts