On December 17, 2015, in the U.S. Central District Court in Riverside, California, in U.S. Government Complaint in Case Number 5:15MJ498, the FBI investigating agent in the arrest of Enrique Marquez, charged with “conspiring to provide material support to terrorists,” stated that Tashfeen Malik pledged allegiance to ISIS on Facebook.
On page 20, paragraph 50:
— “On December 2, 2015, at approximately 8:43-8:47 a.m., an individual subsequently identified as Malik searched social media for materials related to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (“ISIL”), also referred to as the Islamic State (“IS”), or the Islamic State of Iraq and al-sham (“ISIS”), or Daesh. ISIL, formerly known as Al-Qa’ida in Iraq (“AQI”), is United States Department of State designed foreign terrorist organization and has been so since December 2004.”
Screen shot of FBI Affidavit, paragraph 50, in December 17, 2015 Complaint in U.S. District Court on Enrique Marquez
On page 21, paragraph 54:
— “That same day, on December 2, 2015, at approximately 11:14 a.m. a post on a Facebook page associated with Malik stated, “We pledge allegiance to Khalifa bu bkr al bhaghdadi al quraishi.” [AGENT NOTE: Based on my training and experience, I believe that Malik was referring to Abu Bakhr Al Baghdadi, who is the leader of ISIL].”
Screen shot of FBI Affidavit, paragraph 54, in December 17, 2015 Complaint in U.S. District Court on Enrique Marquez
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Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) finds the contentious political discourse involved in an ongoing terrorist investigation to be counter-productive, and believe a focus on facts and on the human rights issues involved should be a priority for the citizens of the world. Let us never forget that victims of terrorist attacks also have human rights too. R.E.A.L. rejects the denial about the repeated and documented cases of extremist, such as those supporting ISIS and other various extremists, who seek to threaten the human rights, dignity, security, and lives of others. In the “battle of ideas,” we must consistently challenge those extremist groups and their followers, who seek to deny our Universal Human Rights.
In Germany, a man alleged to be suspected of links to ISIS has been released, according to German news media, due to lack of sufficient evidence.
The German BILD reported a man named “Laith Al Daham Deiri” (reported by the Wall Street Journal as “registered as Leeth Abdalhmeed,” or aka “Leith Abdul Hamid”) had been detained by German police authorities on accusations from Syria that he had previously been a part of the ISIS organization. He was detained at the Unna-Massen refugee shelter near Dortmund, Germany, questioned, and then released.
The German BILD (translated into English) stated that: “Syrian anti-ISIS activists had photos of the man put on the Internet – with these photos that got to German investigators, the terrorist suspects unmasked.” “According to the Syrian anti-ISIS activists is the battle name of the suspect ‘Laith Al Daham Deiri’. He comes from the East Syrian ISIS stronghold ez Zor and was there Deir among others responsible to hand over money to ISIS-fighters.”
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) has determined that the photos were from an anti-ISIS group on Syria called “Deir ez-Zor Is Being Slaughtered Silent,” which had posted this warning on Facebook.
Anti-ISIS Group “Deir ez-Zor Is Being Slaughtered Silent” Provides Photos of Laith Al-Daham Deiri and Claims He Was Part of ISIS (Source: Facebook)
According to the Facebook posting, the reported anti-ISIS group stated (rough translation into English from Arabic) that “Laith Daham al-Dairi” official relations with the ” Daash ” in Deir ez-Zor region. That it had arrived a few days ago to Germany , which is at Camp Ona in Dotamond.” One of the photos show “Laith Al Daham Deiri” with his index finger in the air, with another man, which is the symbol extremists have been using to show solidarity with ISIS. Another photo appears to show the man with an automatic weapon of some kind. The Facebook site is owned by a group calling itself the “Navenda Ragihandine Media Center.” It reports on the efforts of Syrian Kurdish units, called Yekîneyên Parastina Gel (YPG) (Kurdish) or People’s Protection Units aka People’s Defense Units.
The Bild report (translated into English) stated that “The suspect came about a week ago with his sister and her husband (to an amputated leg who) in Unna on, had been unremarkable. Together, the family lived in a room – in the house where also the security and operational control of the DRC have their headquarters.”
The Bild report (translated into English) also stated that: “The 31-year-old had been released from police custody, said a spokesman for the Dortmund prosecutor. He denies being a member of the terrorist organization Islamic State. The authorities could not prove membership.”
The German SHZ media house reported that (translated into English): “A briefly detained refugee from Unna, suspected of terrorist links, is free again. The 31-year-old Syrian had been accused on a Arabic-language Web site to have worked for the terrorist militia IS. Thereupon he was arrested on Thursday, the same day but set free again. The truth of this assertion can not be verified, the Dortmund prosecutor said Henner Kruse on Friday. The 31-year-old has denied being a member of the IS. The authorities could not prove membership. ‘The suspicion is at best very vague,’ Kruse said. On such websites, many people would probably denounced. This is not uncommon. The Bundeskriminalamt is the page in question unknown. Well, among other things, the source of this page is to be determined. Kruse anticipates that the 31-year-old had returned to his family in a refugee camp. He had claimed to have come only 20 days ago to Germany.”
Previously, in the Wall Street Journal, journalist Mohammad Nour Alakraa and Andrea Thomas reported on a man, “registered as Leeth Abdalhmeed,” who has been detained by German police, and “suspect of links” to ISIS. “Leeth Abdalhmeed” was arrested the refugee shelter in Unna-Massen, Germany. The detained man was also reportedly known as “Leith Abdul Hamid,” referenced as a “midranking Islamic State official” who was involved in money transfer operations. Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFERL) had also begun to cover this report.
This is the second case in Europe this week; days ago a similar case was reported in Austria.
German police on Thursday arrested a Syrian refugee suspected of links to Islamic State, a German prosecutor said, highlighting the potential security risks posed by Berlin’s open-door refugee policy.
The state prosecutor in the city of Dortmund, Sonja Frodermann, said a man who had registered as Leeth Abdalhmeed and was born in 1984 had been detained at the refugee shelter in Unna-Massen on Thursday afternoon on suspicion of having links to the Sunni terror organization.
The arrest will heighten concerns among opponents of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s open-door refugee policy that Islamist terrorists might be hiding among the roughly one million refugees who entered Germany this year, half of them coming from war-torn Syria.
At least two members of the terrorist cell that killed 130 people in a series of attacks in Paris on Nov. 13 are known to have entered Europe via Greece as refugees using fake Syrian passports.
This week, Austrian police arrested two people at a Salzburg refugee shelter they suspect of being involved in the Paris attacks.
“We mustn’t regard refugees with a general suspicion. But it’s also true that concerns aren’t unfounded that some potential threats might be among refugees,” said Wolfgang Bosbach, lawmaker with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union party. “We must specifically emphasize the issue of [refugees’] valid identification to avert threats.”
For much of this year, overwhelmed German authorities stopped holding individual hearings for Syrians in a bid to speed up their asylum applications—a far cry from the exacting background checks conducted on Syrians who seek asylum in the U.S.
Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière said this month that asylum requests for Syrians would again be handled on a case-by-case basis rather than being granted by default to people who claim to be Syrian.
The German government didn’t reply to requests for comments on the arrest on Thursday.
Ms. Frodermann, the prosecutor, said German authorities were alerted by a Syrian national who had seen an article on a website connecting Mr. Abdalhmeed with Islamic State.
A Syrian opposition activist and two people contacted via the website where the report on Mr. Abdalhmeed first appeared said they knew Mr. Abdalhmeed as Leith Abdul Hamid, describing him as a midranking Islamic State official in the oil-rich province bordering Iraq since the militia became active there.
They said he ran a money-transfer operation for the terror group and was responsible for smuggling medicine and ammunition from Turkey.
They added that relatives of Mr. Abdalhmeed were also involved in Islamic State activities.
Those relatives couldn’t be contacted by the Journal.
One of the people approached by the Journal, Mohammad Alalaw, who said he was from Deir Ezzour in Syria but was now in Turkey, said Mr. Abdalhmeed was among the first Syrians who pledged loyalty to Islamic State even before the militia became the dominant force in the region.
He also said Mr. Abdalhmeed was a fighter with the Free Syrian Army until 2013, when he switched sides and pledged loyalty to the extremist group.
Ms. Frodermann said she had no information beyond what was on the website and that it remained to be seen whether the assertions were true.
Mr. Abdalhmeed arrived at the shelter in Unna-Massen on Dec. 2 and was registered first as Leeth Alrjab, said Bettina Jendrusz, deputy head of the Unna-Massen shelter, which is operated by the German Red Cross.
She said it wasn’t unusual for migrants to change their names in the course of registering with the authorities and applying for asylum, adding that Mr. Abdalhmeed had yet to give his fingerprints or undergo police checks with the local authorities.
Mr. Abdalhmeed stayed at the refugee center with four family members, Ms. Jendrusz said.
It wasn’t immediately clear which of his relatives had traveled with him to Germany. The prosecutor’s office said no other arrests were made on Thursday.
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As always, all those accused are innocent until proven guilty by a court of law.
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) stands in support of our universal human rights for all, and we stand in defiance against those, including terrorist and hate groups, which seek to attack such universal human rights, dignity, and security for all.
We cannot support human rights, if we also do not reject those who seek to rob our brothers and sisters in humanity of their lives and security, which are also our universal human rights.
In New York State, an American ISIS recruit from Rochester, Mufid A. Elfgeeh, pleaded guilty to support for the ISIS terrorist on December 17, 2015. He pleaded guilty to two counts of trying to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. He could be sentenced to up to 30 years in prison, but federal prosecutors said they will recommend 22½ years behind bars.
Mufid A. Elfgeeh was a recruit for ISIS, who pleaded guilty to providing material support to ISIS, but who (as the FBI also previously reported) had purchased multiple guns with silencers to kill American soldiers who had returned from Iraq.
The Buffalo News reports that “Elfgeeh’s admissions, part of a plea agreement approved in Rochester Federal Court, makes him the first Western New Yorker to plead guilty to a charge of recruiting for ISIS. Charged in September of last year, Elfgeeh was accused of trying to recruit three others to join the Islamic State of Syria and fight overseas. He also was charged with attempted murder for his alleged role in planning to kill former and current members of the U.S. military.”
American ISIS recruit Mufid A. Elfgeeh was arrested in June 2014, and was indicted in September 2014. He was initially charged with one count of attempted murder of current and former members of the United States military, one count of possessing firearms equipped with silencers in furtherance of a crime of violence, and two counts of receipt and possession of unregistered firearm silencers.
In September 2014, the U.S. Department of Justice reported on the indictment of Mufid Elfgeeh:
Attorney General Eric Holder, Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Carlin and U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. for the Western District of New York announced today that a federal grand jury in Rochester has returned a seven-count indictment charging Mufid A. Elfgeeh, 30, of Rochester, with three counts of attempting to provide material support and resources to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), aka the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a designated foreign terrorist organization. In addition, Elfgeeh is also charged with one count of attempted murder of current and former members of the United States military, one count of possessing firearms equipped with silencers in furtherance of a crime of violence, and two counts of receipt and possession of unregistered firearm silencers.
“We will remain aggressive in identifying and disrupting those who seek to provide support to ISIL and other terrorist groups that are bent on inflicting harm upon Americans,” said Attorney General Holder. “As this case shows, our agents and prosecutors are using all the investigative tools at our disposal to break up these plots before individuals can put their plans into action. We are focused on breaking up these activities on the front end, before supporters of ISIL can make good on plans to travel to the region or recruit sympathizers to this cause.”
The material support charges each carry a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison, the attempted murder charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, the firearms possession charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years and a maximum of life in prison, and the firearm silencer charges each carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
According to court records, Elfgeeh attempted to provide material support to ISIS in the form of personnel, namely three individuals, two of whom were cooperating with the FBI. Elfgeeh attempted to assist all three individuals in traveling to Syria to join and fight on behalf of ISIS. Elfgeeh also plotted to shoot and kill members of the United States military who had returned from Iraq. As part of the plan to kill soldiers, Elfgeeh purchased two handguns equipped with firearm silencers and ammunition from a confidential source. The handguns were made inoperable by the FBI before the confidential source gave them to Elfgeeh.
According to court documents, in 2013 and into early 2014, Elfgeeh encouraged the two confidential sources (CS-1 and CS-2) to travel overseas to engage in violent jihad. After CS-1 and CS-2 agreed to travel to Syria to join ISIS, Elfgeeh took several steps to prepare them for the trip. Elfgeeh also sent $600 to an individual in Yemen for the purpose of assisting that individual in traveling from Yemen to Syria for the purpose of joining and fighting on behalf of ISIS.
Court documents also indicate that Elfgeeh first discussed the idea of shooting United States military members in December 2013 when he told CS-2 that he was thinking about getting a gun and ammunition, putting on a bulletproof vest, and “just go[ing] around and start shooting.” In February 2014, Elfgeeh told CS-2 that he needed a handgun and silencer. Elfgeeh later gave CS-2 $1,050 in cash to purchase two handguns equipped with silencers and ammunition. On May 31, 2014, CS-2 delivered the two handguns equipped with silencers and ammunition to Elfgeeh. After Elfgeeh took possession of the items, he was arrested by members of the Rochester Joint Terrorism Task Force. Elfgeeh is currently being held in custody.
At the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, Turkish authorities have stopped ISIS supporters with 150 false passports.
AFP reports: “Turkish authorities detained two suspected Islamic State militants (IS) at Istanbul’s main international airport carrying at least 150 original European passports, an official said Thursday. Counter-terror police detained the suspects, a Syrian and a Turk, at Ataturk Airport after they flew in from a European country, finding they had stuffed the passports into pizza ovens, media reports said earlier. ‘Airport police… found at least 150 fake passports among their personal belongings,’ a Turkish government official, who asked not to be named, told AFP. The private Dogan news agency said the police seized a total of 148 European passports hidden inside ‘five mini-pizza ovens’. The suspects have been taken to the anti-terror headquarters of Istanbul police for questioning, it added. Two hidden cameras, scores of memory cards and SIM cards were also seized, it added. Dogan had said that the passports were all original.”
Swedish press and other European press has reported a series of death threats purportedly from ISIS extremists posted in Swedish areas of Sigtuna, Ronneby, and Vasteras, stating that if the residents that they will decapitate ‘non-believers’ who do not convert to ISIS’s twisted views or pay a religious tax. The threat reportedly also extended to Stockholm. The story was first reported in Sigtuna. Then additional accounts were reported in Ronneby and Vasteras, with other reports about threats in Stockholm.
Swedish SVT News first reported the threatening letters in connection to Sigtuna, stating (translated into English): “Several residents of the municipality of Sigtuna has received threatening letters in their mailboxes. In the case of “IS-piece” which says that one should convert to Islam, pay the poll tax, or be beheaded. The police are taking seriously the threats. During Thursday received a number of accommodation of Steningehöjden distributed IS-pieces in their mailboxes. According to the police, these are two plaintiffs. But SVT Stockholm News has spoken with one of the residents in the area and according to her, there are several who received such threatening letters.”
Swedish SVT News also reported: “Police are now investigating whether there is a threat against the people who received the letters. A further letter should have been found on the ground adjacent to the residential area. We take this very seriously before we know what it is about. We have connected the Security Service in order to make an assessment, said Emil Andersson, local police chief Sigtuna.” “This is a police matter. What we have done is to send out information to management executives who in turn sent out information to principals and teachers. We want to spread this so that no one should have received a letter and then walk around and be scared. You should be able to turn to someone directly, says Anna Jernberg Carlsson, press officer for the municipality of Sigtuna.”
Swedish Press Reports on Threatening Letters Purportedly from ISIS
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Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) stands in support of our universal human rights for all, and we stand in defiance against those, including terrorist and hate groups, which seek to attack such universal human rights, dignity, and security for all.
We cannot support human rights, if we also do not reject those who seek to rob our brothers and sisters in humanity of their lives and security, which are also our universal human rights.
To require a report on United States strategy to combat terrorist use of social media, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Combat Terrorist Use of Social Media Act of 2015”.
SEC. 2. REPORT ON STRATEGY TO COMBAT TERRORIST USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA.
(a) In General.—Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall transmit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on United States strategy to combat terrorists’ and terrorist organizations’ use of social media.
(b) Elements.—The report required by subsection (a) shall include the following:
(1) An evaluation of what role social media plays in radicalization in the United States and elsewhere.
(2) An analysis of how terrorists and terrorist organizations are using social media, including trends.
(3) A summary of the Federal Government’s efforts to disrupt and counter the use of social media by terrorists and terrorist organizations, an evaluation of the success of such efforts, and recommendations for improvement.
(4) An analysis of how social media is being used for counter-radicalization and counter-propaganda purposes, irrespective of whether or not such efforts are made by the Federal Government.
(5) An assessment of the value of social media posts by terrorists and terrorist organizations to law enforcement.
(6) An overview of social media training available to law enforcement and intelligence personnel that enables such personnel to understand and combat the use of social media by terrorists and terrorist organizations, as well as recommendations for improving or expanding existing training opportunities.
(c) Form.—The report required by subsection (a) should be submitted in unclassified form, and may include a classified annex in accordance with the protection of intelligence sources and methods.
SEC. 3. POLICY AND COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGY TO COUNTER TERRORISTS’ AND TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS’ USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA.
(a) In General.—Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall transmit to the appropriate congressional committees a report that contains a comprehensive strategy to counter terrorists’ and terrorist organizations’ use of social media, as committed to in the President’s 2011 “Strategic Implementation Plan for Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States”.
(b) Form.—The report required by subsection (a) should be submitted in unclassified form, and may include a classified annex in accordance with the protection of intelligence sources and methods.
SEC. 4. APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DEFINED.
In this Act, the term “appropriate congressional committees” means the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on the Armed Services, the Committee on Homeland Security, the Committee on the Judiciary, and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, the Committee on the Judiciary, and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate.
Passed the House of Representatives December 16, 2015.
The German news media Berliner Zeitung is reporting on the case of an ISIS terrorist plot to attack the Israeli Embassy in Berlin. The reports state that the ISIS plot was a plan to attack the Israeli embassy or another Israeli institution between December 2014 and July 2015. A criminal case began on December 15, 2015 in the Berlin District Court against two 21-year-old men ISIS terrorist plotters, Mohamed El-N. and Ali El-I., who are charged with “preparing a serious subversive violence.”
One of the ISIS terrorist plotters, Mohamed El-N., is a German citizen. Both men were born in Berlin. Mohamed El-N. had been working as a baker. He also told his friends that he sought to support suicide bombings and attacks on public schools, including taking hostages from schools. Reportedly, a witness on Friday, December 18, will report that he claims to have saw a bomb. While the police found guns and other weapons on the men, the authorities reported in court that traces of chemicals used to make bombs.
Berliner Zeitung reports (translated into English) that the terrorist plot was inspired initially by the ISIS attack on a Tunisia hotel in June 2015, as previously reported by R.E.A.L. and others.
According to the Berliner Zeitung (translated): “Ali El-I. had adopted a radical Islamist sentiment, he endorsed the violence of the ‘Islamic State’ (IS) and was so fascinated by the touch of a single perpetrator to a Tunisian tourist hotel in June that he saw himself as a future perpetrator, says the prosecutor. Ali El-I. was determined to use the explosives for an attack on the Israeli embassy or any other institution in the country, where he had gone out of casualties.”
“On his cell phone the police found propaganda IS. A witness, who heard both brag about their projects, went to the police. He claims he saw the bomb. This statement is based the indictment. In July and Mohamed Ali were arrested. They lived in a home for young homeless people in Gesundbrunnen.”
“An explosive device, police found in them not, but firearms, prohibited knife, a baseball bat – and Schreckschuss ammunition. There is evidence that they were handling explosives. A chemist of LKA says in court that in the clothes of the two traces of potassium perchlorate and aluminum adhered to so admit it only in pyrotechnics. Also on the tape was seized potassium perchlorate. The defendants assert, built no bomb, but to have handled only with condensed milk and some cartridges.”
“Both were born in Berlin. Mohamed is a German citizen, Ali’s nationality is unknown; he comes from a Palestinian family. While Mohamed worked in a bakery, Ali spent the time with smoking pot and playing on the Playstation. They knew each other only two months, and all about good friends, they are not comfortable. ‘I noticed he had radical ideas, wanted to convince me IS’, Mohamed says Ali. He had said that suicide bombers after her death have a smile on his face. ‘He also tells of hostage-taking in schools and that he wanted to shoot hostages in the head. But I could not take that seriously. I guess he just needs the attention of others. ‘”
During the court trial, Ali El-I.’s lawyer stated that Ali El-I.’s “involvement with the IS is characterized by a “certain ambivalence,’ and that Ali El-I. was not serious about really supporting ISIS. In court, “Ali admitted that he built an explosive device. But having taken the accusation that planned an attack against Israeli institutions and fatalities, he rejected this. The blast was supposed to go up in the forest.”
As always, R.E.A.L. views that all are legally innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) stands in support of our universal human rights for all, and we stand in defiance against those, including terrorist and hate groups, which seek to attack such universal human rights, dignity, and security for all.
We cannot support human rights, if we also do not reject those who seek to rob our brothers and sisters in humanity of their lives and security, which are also our universal human rights.
Austrian Kronen-Zeitung news reports that French ISIS terrorists are using fake Syrian passports to escape detection and move throughout Europe, going through Greece to arrive in Austria. The report states that individuals have included those linked to the November 13, 2015 ISIS terrorist attack on Paris, and that the size of the Paris ISIS terrorist cell is larger than previously believed. The report also states that security authorities are concerned that this ISIS terrorist cell has been waiting for further orders to perpetuate new extremist terrorist attacks in Europe.
Austrian Kronen-Zeitung news reports state that (translation from German to English): “Europe’s secret services had warned that now there is the confirmation: Two Paris- Terror helpers were disguised as refugees, arrested in a Salzburg Transit quarters. The two Frenchmen with Algerian or Pakistani roots were with the members of subsequent IS Stop commands via Greece entered with fake Syrian passports. The men are now in continuous interrogation by French and native intelligence experts as the ‘crown’ learned, among other controversial details.”
“A few days ago there were two other putative IS Fighters have been taken in a Salzburg Transit quarters. However, the two current arrests are even more explosive: The case is a ‘Verschlussakt’. Reportedly, the men were officially recognized as asylum seekers – equipped with forged documents – with the future IS Stop command entered via the Balkan route. Meanwhile crystallized in any case out more and more that the terrorist cell of Paris must be far greater.”
“Now prevails Security Red Alert”
“In the intelligence services now prevails Security Red Alert. It is necessary to clarify whether the two suspects may have planned around the Christmas season with another accomplice attacks in major European cities. On the part of the judiciary, there are to the highly charged case an information blackout. ‘I can not comment,’ said Robert Holzleitner, spokesman for the Salzburg public prosecutor to ‘crown’.”
“Introduced in October to Austria”
“How the ‘Crown’ yet learned were that since Tuesday in U- Detention seated ‘refugees’ tracked by information of a friendly foreign intelligence service. In the city of Mozart, the two Frenchmen waited apparently on the order to perpetrate further attacks. Now the investigators expect more information by a continuous interrogation of the men.”
France24 News in English reports this as: “The Kronen-Zeitung daily reported online that the two are French and that they entered Austria in October together with members of the terror cell who carried out the November 13 attacks in the French capital that killed 130 people. The newspaper said that they had been posing as refugees and had fake Syrian passports, having traveled up from Greece through the Balkans into Austria along with hundreds of thousands of migrants arriving in recent months.”
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Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) stands in support of our universal human rights for all, and we stand in defiance against those, including terrorist and hate groups, which seek to attack such universal human rights, dignity, and security for all.
We cannot support human rights, if we also do not reject those who seek to rob our brothers and sisters in humanity of their lives and security, which are also our universal human rights.
A U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) report addresses the growth of ISIS in Afghanistan as a challenge to the extremist Taliban, specifically as the “Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Khorasan Province (IS-KP).” R.E.A.L. has previously reported ISIS terrorist atrocities in Afghanistan. This is in the so-called “Khorasan Province,” which is actually the eastern Afghanistan province of Nangarhar on the border of Pakistan, with the capital of Jalalabad.
Nangarhar Province, with a capital of Jalalabad, on the eastern border of Afghanistan with Pakistan
The report states: “The presence of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) – Khorasan Province (IS-KP) primarily in the eastern province of Nangarhar remains a concern for the Taliban, the Afghan government, and the international community. Through attacks against a United Nations (UN) vehicle and the ANDSF in September 2015, IS-KP has demonstrated that it is operationally emergent. ”
“The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Khorasan Province has progressed from its initial exploratory phase to a point where they are openly fighting the Taliban for the establishment of a safe haven, and are becoming more operationally active. IS-KP has successfully seized pockets of terrain from the Taliban in Nangarhar Province. The group claimed an improvised explosive device (IED) attack against a UN vehicle in September 2015 and conducted its first attack against the ANDSF later that month when it attacked as many as 10 checkpoints in the same day in Achin district, Nangarhar. The group continues to recruit disaffected Taliban and formerly Taliban-aligned fighters, most notably the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which publically declared allegiance to IS-KP in August 2015. IS-KP has not yet conducted an attack against RS forces, although the group’s recruitment of experienced fighters and commanders could increase its capability to do so over at least the next year. ”
“U.S. and RS leaders will continue to monitor the potential threat of an established ISIL presence in Afghanistan. The Afghan government is particularly concerned about the rise of IS-KP, which they see as a serious looming threat in the region as part of what President Ghani has referred to as the ‘ecology of terror.’ IS-KP represents an emergent competitor to other violent extremist groups that have traditionally operated in Afghanistan; this may result in increased violence among the various extremist groups in 2016. ”
The FBI has charged a Baltimore, Maryland area man, Mohamed Yousef Elshinawy, with plotting with ISIS to commit a terrorist attack in the United States.
American ISIS: Mohamed Yousef Elshinawy of Maryland – Arrested for Supporting ISIS Terror Group (Source: WUSA9)
He was charged in U.S. District court in Baltimore with “attempting to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, obstruction of agency proceedings, and making false statements and falsifying or concealing material facts.” Details of his ISIS activity are described in the criminal complaint. He reportedly used a social media account “Egyptt in USA” (with two ts).
The FBI said Elshinawy was instructed by ISIS to “cause destruction” or to conduct a terrorist attack in the United States. He allegedly pretended to sell printers on eBay to mask payments coming from a suspected ISIS operative. Elshinawy received the payments through Western Union and PayPal, authorities said.
NBC reports Mohamad Elshinawy allegedly pledged his allegiance to ISIS and said his “soul was over there with the jihadists,” according to the FBI.
NBC reports that the FBI reported and declared a “love of jihad.”
NBC states: “An address listed in a search warrant for Elshinawy’s Edgewood home in Harford County shows he lives about two minutes from the U.S. Army’s Aberdeen Proving Ground.”
Mohamed Elshinawy, 30, of Edgewood, Maryland, was arrested on Friday, Dec. 11, 2015, on a federal criminal complaint charging him with attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a designated foreign terrorist organization; obstruction of agency proceedings; and making false statements and falsifying or concealing material facts. Elshinawy will have his initial appearance today at 2:45 p.m. EST before U.S. Magistrate Judge Beth P. Gesner of the District of Maryland in Baltimore.
The criminal complaint was announced by Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin, U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein of the District of Maryland and Special Agent in Charge Kevin Perkins of the FBI’s Baltimore Division.
“According to the allegations in the complaint, Mohamed Elshinawy received money he believed was provided by ISIL in order to conduct an attack on U.S. soil,” said Assistant Attorney General Carlin. “When confronted by the FBI, he lied in order to conceal his support for ISIL and the steps he took to provide material support to the deadly foreign terrorist organization. He will now be held accountable for these crimes. The National Security Division’s highest priority is counterterrorism and we will continue to pursue and disrupt those who seek to provide material support to ISIL.”
“This case demonstrates how terrorists exploit modern technology to inculcate sympathizers and build hidden networks, but federal agents and prosecutors are working tirelessly and using every available lawful tool to disrupt their evil schemes,” said U.S. Attorney Rosenstein. “The affidavit alleges that Mr. Elshinawy initially told the FBI that he was defrauding the terrorists, but further investigation showed that Mr. Elshinawy was supporting the terrorists and misleading the FBI.”
The affidavit filed in federal court alleges that in June 2015, the FBI became aware of an individual located in Egypt who was attempting to send money to the United States, possibly for nefarious purposes. The investigation revealed that on June 28, 2015, that individual wire transferred $1,000 to Elshinawy. The FBI interviewed Elshinawy on July 17, 2015. The affidavit alleges that Elshinawy first claimed that his mother had sent him the money, and then that the money was to purchase an iPhone for a friend. Later, he admitted that a childhood friend had contacted him a few months earlier to connect him, through social media, with an unidentified member of ISIL (referred to in the complaint as the “unidentified ISIL operative”). Elshinawy began communicating with the unidentified ISIL operative through a method of communication used by ISIL. The defendant also admitted that he understood the individual in Egypt who wire transferred the money on June 28, 2015, also to be an ISIL operative (referred to in the complaint as the “Egyptian ISIL operative”).
Elshinawy said that he had received a total of $4,000 in two payments –$1,000 through Western Union and $3,000 through PayPal – and that the ISIL operative instructed Elshinawy to use the monies for “operational purposes,” which Elshinawy understood to mean causing destruction or conducting a terrorist attack in the United States. Elshinawy stated that ISIL instructed him that if he ever came under surveillance by law enforcement, he should stop whatever activities he was doing in connection with executing an attack. Elshinawy claimed, however, that he never intended to carry out an attack and was only trying to get money from ISIL.
The affidavit further alleges that during a second interview with the FBI on July 20, 2015, Elshinawy stated emphatically that he received no other funds from ISIL other than the $4,000 he had previously disclosed. Later, however, Elshinawy said that he remembered receiving another payment of $1,200 from ISIL through PayPal, from the same unidentified ISIL operative, by order of a man in Syria. In this instance, Elshinawy explained that in order to receive the transfers from the unidentified ISIL operative, he engaged in a scheme by which he pretended to sell printers on eBay that would serve as a cover for the payments he received from ISIL.
A review of PayPal records indicates that Elshinawy allegedly concealed at least $3,500 of $7,700 that he received from ISIL operatives through his PayPal account between March and June 2015, specifically, $1,500 on March 23; $1,000 on April 16; $1,000 on May 1; $3,000 on May 14; and $1,200 on June 7. In total, Elshinawy allegedly received at least $8,700 from individuals he understood to be associated with ISIL.
According to the affidavit, Elshinawy used social media, multiple email accounts and “pay as you go” phones subscribed to him under various aliases to communicate with the individuals he understood to be associated with ISIL.
The social media communications between Elshinawy and his childhood friend were in Arabic, and many contained jihadist rhetoric found in ISIL- and other terrorist-related propaganda.
The investigation revealed that on Feb. 17, 2015, Elshinawy pledged his allegiance to ISIL and asked his childhood friend to deliver his message of loyalty. He stated that he was a soldier of the state, a common reference to ISIL, but temporarily away. Elshinawy also stated that his soul was over there with the jihadists and that every time he saw the news, he smiled. At the time of this conversation, ISIL recently had conducted a series of attacks and gained territory in Iraq. On Feb. 16, 2015, a video was publicly released showing the execution of 21 Egyptian nationals in Libya by ISIL extremists.
Also on Feb. 17, 2015, the childhood friend told Elshinawy to seek God’s help and not tell anyone his plans for a terrorist attack. Elshinawy agreed and acknowledged that it is a crime in the United States. He further declared his allegiance to committing jihad.
The investigation also revealed that on April 27, 2015, Elshinawy told his brother that he had pledged allegiance to ISIL and that he had received money from ISIL and expected to receive even more. In further communications with his brother in May 2015, Elshinawy stated his desire to die as a martyr for the Islamic State (ISIL), and in August 2015, he directed his brother to take steps to conceal their communications and any communications with the childhood friend, because Elshinawy believed his relationship with ISIL had been compromised.
Elshinawy’s sentence will be determined by the court after review of factors unique to this case, including the defendant’s prior criminal history, if any, the defendant’s role in the offense and the characteristics of the violation. The maximum sentence of imprisonment for attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization is 15 years; for obstruction of agency proceedings is eight years; and for making material false statements is eight years.
A criminal complaint is not a finding of guilt. An individual charged by complaint is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The case is being investigated by the FBI. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine Manuelian of the District of Maryland, with the assistance of Trial Attorney John Gibbs of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.
