ONLINE RADICALISATION A CASE STUDY BY Raheem Kassam and Rupert Sutton JANUARY 2012
CASE STUDY: LONDON SOUTH BANK UNIVERSITY ISLAMIC SOCIETY This case study into the London South Bank University (LSBU) Islamic Society (Isoc) offers recent, disturbing evidence of how university societies are using social media to disseminate extremist material to thousands of online subscribers. While the Internet and university campuses have both been raised in the government PREVENT strategy as areas in which people are at risk of radicalisation 1, the use of Facebook by university societies to disseminate extremist material is an area which has yet to receive serious attention. Student Rights social network monitoring programme is focused on highlighting the way in which this allows individuals and groups at universities to promote and spread extremist material. Student Rights has revealed some uncomfortable results concerning London South Bank University s (LSBU) Islamic Society (ISoc), a society directly affiliated with the national Federation of Student Islamic Societies 2. LSBU Islamic Society and Anwar Al-Awlaki On nine occasions since November 2011, the LSBU ISoc has used its Facebook account 3 to share lectures by the late radical American cleric Anwar Al-Awlaki. According to the security services, Awlaki cemented his position as one of the leading English-speaking jihadi ideologues 4 before his death in a US drone strike last year; was notorious for his involvement with a number of terrorist plots and for his charismatic online persona. For a more detailed profile of Anwar Al-Awlaki, see Appendix 1. 1 UK Home Office, Prevent Strategy. July 2011 2 http://london.fosis.org.uk/isocs/isocs- in- london [Accessed 05/01/2012] 3 Facebook https://www.facebook.com/lsbuisoc (Accessed 13/01/2012) 4 Daily Telegraph, Anwar Al- Awlaki: MI5 Warns of the Al- Qaeda Preacher Targeting Britain, 11 th June 2010 (Accessed 13/01/2012)
Dissemination of Awlaki material The LSBU ISoc Facebook account shared links to Al-Awlaki s online videos on January 3 rd and 10 th of 2012; six times between December 9 th and 15 th ; and once on November 13 th 2011. These videos mostly focus on religious history and promote the Islamist worldview of an Islamic caliphate (Khilafah) while speaking disparagingly of unbelievers (kuffar). 5 The following links are the videos shared by LSBU Islamic Society: The following links are the videos shared by LSBU Islamic Society: 1. Relation between Umar and Abu Bakr (Shared January 10 th ) 5 2. Seeking 1. Relation Knowledge between From Umar Scholars, and Abu Using Bakr Common (Shared January Sense 10 and th ) 6 Being Productive - Anwar Al-Awlaki 2. Seeking (Shared Knowledge January From 3 rd and Scholars, November Using Common 13 th ) 6 Sense and Being 3. The Family Productive of Imran - Anwar (Shared Al-Awlaki December (Shared 15January th ) 7 3 rd and November 13 th ) 7 4. The 3. Family The Family of Imran of Imran 2 (Shared (Shared December 15 15 th th )) 8 5. The 4. Family The Family of Imran of Imran 3 (Shared 2 (Shared December December 15 th 15 ) th 9 ) 9 6. Fatima 5. The (RA) Family The Daughter of Imran 3 of (Shared the Greatest December Man 15that ) 10 Ever Lived (Shared December 11 th ) 10 7. Abu 6. Bakr Fatima (ra) s (RA) Uniqueness The Daughter (Shared of the December Greatest Man 11 that th ) 11 Ever Lived (Shared 8. How the Ummah Went December 11 th ) 11 Wrong by Anwar Awlaki (Shared December 9 th ) 12 7. Abu Bakr (ra) s Uniqueness (Shared December 11 th ) 12 8. How the Ummah Went Wrong by Anwar Awlaki (Shared December 9 th ) 13 Due to the nature of Facebook, it is likely to have been the administrators of the account who either posted or allowed these materials to exist on their profile. The account is updated regularly, sometimes twice or three times a day and therefore it can be assumed that these are not simply an oversight or something that has occurred due to neglect in moderation. Rather, this activity can be interpreted as a targeted effort to share these videos by a senior member of the ISoc. Many of the videos were simply posted to Facebook for sharing amongst the 3039 subscribers while some came with endorsements or comments. On the video 5 YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctgonhxbzg8 (Accessed 17/01/2012) 6 YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aetnusnsy4&feature=related (Accessed 13/01/2012) 7 YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhyrfie09le&feature=related (Accessed 13/01/2012) 8 www.kalamullah.com http://kalamullah.com/anwar%20al- Awlaki/The%20Lives%20of%20the%20Prophets/19%20- %20The%20Family%20Of%20Imran.mp3 (Accessed 13/01/2012 9 www.kalamullah.com http://kalamullah.com/anwar%20al- Awlaki/The%20Lives%20of%20the%20Prophets/20%20- %20The%20Family%20Of%20Imran%202.mp3 (Accessed 13/01/2012 10 www.kalamullah.com http://kalamullah.com/anwar%20al- Awlaki/The%20Lives%20of%20the%20Prophets/21%20- %20The%20Family%20Of%20Imran%203.mp3 (Accessed 13/01/2012 11 YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=josutgnbulq (Accessed 13/01/2012) 12 YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctgonhxbzg8 (Accessed 13/01/2012) 13 YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbuq6hcds5a&feature=related (Accessed 13/01/2012)
Relations between Umar and Abu Bakr posted on January 10 th, the comment so many lessons was left alongside it. 14 In another case the ISoc shared links to more material on request from an individual, providing parts one and three after a user asked direct me to part 1 please...jzk. 15 While these videos are not as inflammatory as Awlaki s later work, the LSBU ISoc is clearly endorsing Awlaki as an authority on religious and even political matters. LSBU ISoc is also prompting subscribers towards incendiary material by Awlaki and others by posting links from www.kalamullah.com, a website which contains many more inflammatory lectures such as Stop Police Terror and It s a War Against Islam. 16 Roshonara Choudhry, the Kings College London student who attempted to assassinate Stephen Timms MP in 2010 said of Awlaki in her police interview, as you watch videos...a whole other list of related videos comes up and I was just looking through those and I came across it [more extreme Al Awlaki videos which led to her downloading all of his material]. 17 LSBU ISoc s Facebook presence, like most Facebook profiles, is interactive and therefore is subject to user feedback and discussion. When one user posted a video of Awlaki s views, the post received eight likes. A post by a user attempting to challenge Awlaki s prominence on the account, entitled, Shaykh Ubayd al-jaabiree Warns Against Anwar Al-Awlaki received zero likes. 18 Following the attempted bombing of cargo aircraft by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula there was an attempt by the US and UK to force YouTube to remove videos involving Al-Awlaki as they violated laws on hate speech. 19 Despite this, these videos can still be found relatively simply both on YouTube and various other websites. Other Material As well as the promotion of Al-Awlaki s ideology, the LSBU ISoc has also posted videos of speakers who have in the past expressed homophobic and anti-semitic views, have defended terrorist organisations and have supported violent jihad. These have included videos of: 14 Facebook https://www.facebook.com/lsbuisoc?sk=wall (Accessed 13/01/2012) 15 Facebook https://www.facebook.com/lsbuisoc?sk=wall (Accessed 13.01.2012) 16 http://kalamullah.com/anwar- alawlaki.html (Accessed 13/01/2012) 17 The Guardian, Roshonara Choudhry: Police Interview Extracts, 3 rd November 2010 (Accessed 17/01/2012) 18 Facebook https://www.facebook.com/lsbuisoc?sk=wall (Accessed 13/01/2012) 19 BBC News, YouTube Takes Down Terror Cleric Al- Awlaki Videos, 4 th November 2010 (Accessed 13/01/2012)
Zahir Mahmood Founder of the As-Suffa Institute who has stated, Hamas are not terrorists 20 and said of homosexuals Now, if you don t like these people, you are a homophobe. You suffer from homophobia. A person who suffers from any phobia is a sick person so in their eyes it s not them who are sick but you. 21 Aidh Al-Qarni Saudi cleric who has referred to Jews as the brothers of apes and pigs and laments, we are incapable of taking action, of being useful, of harming the Jews. 22 Al-Qarni has also declared his support for violent jihad and terrorism. In a speech given in December 2004 he stated I praise the Jihad, the sacrifice and the resistance against the occupiers in Iraq. He then continued, saying that the Jihad in Fallujah is a source of pride referring to the battle for the Iraqi city that had finished days before and had claimed the lives of over 100 coalition soldiers and hundreds of civilians. Speeches of this nature have previously led to convictions of Al-Muhaijroun extremists in the United Kingdom for inciting terrorist offences abroad. 23 Al-Qarni has also said that people must be prepared to pay the cost of such actions, saying that we must sacrifice people like Abdul Aziz Al- Rantisi, [and] Ahmed Yassin, the Hamas leaders killed by the Israeli Defence Forces in earlier that year. He then said that houses and young men must be sacrificed, throats must be slit and skulls must be shattered. This is the path to victory. 24 20 YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4jw5ytb1lo (Accessed 13/01/2012) 21 YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs6hzs- SqTI (Accessed 13/01/2012) 22 YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wreeu- fjzqk (Accessed 13/01/2012) 23 Former Al- Muhajiroun members found guilty of inciting terrorism, 18/04/2008 24 Ibid. (Accessed 13/01/2012) All quotes between footnote 39 and 40 from same source.
Events Alongside their Facebook presence, the society also organises events on campus. On January 6 th they hosted an event alongside the Roadside2Islam group which featured Murtaza Khan as its guest speaker. 25 Khan has been criticised for his extreme views in the past and was recorded in 2007 in an undercover documentary by Channel 4 asking for how long do we have to see our mothers, sisters and daughters having to uncover themselves before these filthy non-muslim doctors? 26 He has also stated that we have become Jews in our clothing, Jews in our eating, Jews in everything that we do, and the other half is Christian in everything we do. Muslims are following one of these accursed nations. And people are still not waking up to understand the fact that these people are enemies towards us. 27 As well as Murtaza Kahn, Zahir Mahmood has also spoken at an event at the university in the past; a video of his speech being posted on the Facebook profile on November 30 th, though it appears the event took place sometime in 2010. 28 Conclusions and Recommendations Some of the material and the events promoted on this page is very similar to that found on many other ISoc pages. In 2010, The government funded Quilliam Foundation released a case study into the ISoc that operated at City University 29. It was found that the ISoc was planning to show Awlaki videos, as well as links being posted online for the usage of City University ISoc members. This behaviour correlated with a rise in campus tensions and extremist behaviour such as Muslim women being ordered off campus by 4pm by the head of the ISoc. 30 Al-Awlaki s reputation as an individual who provided the ideological justification for numerous lone wolf terrorists and the fact that these videos are actively promoted by the LSBU ISoc rather than by individuals indicates a harrowing trend. These videos can - and in the case of Roshonara Choudhry - have led to individuals investigating further; condoning, encouraging and engaging in violent extremism. The danger that this presents is clear. 25 http://www.studentrights.org.uk/2012/01/reality- murtaza- khan/ (Accessed 13/01/2012) 26 Stuart, H & Thorne, J, Radical Islam on UK Campuses: A Comprehensive List of Extremist Speakers at UK Universities, (The Centre for Social Cohesion 2010) pg 10 27 Stuart, H & Thorne, J, Radical Islam on UK Campuses: A Comprehensive List of Extremist Speakers at UK Universities, (The Centre for Social Cohesion 2010) pg 10 28 Facebook https://www.facebook.com/lsbuisoc?sk=wall (Accessed 13/01/2012) 29 Radicalisation on British University Campuses: A case study. (The Quilliam Foundation, 2010), pgs 2, 11-12, 16-18, 23, 25, 31, 34 30 Ibid pg 19
Student Rights recommendations: That the University identify the source of these videos and begin disciplinary proceedings against the individuals involved; That students be encouraged to report material such as this. While the example of an individual attempting to refute Al-Awlaki with a shared video is extremely encouraging, he/she should have also attempted to involve the University; That university staff receive some form of specialist training to help them identify these problems if students do choose to contact them. That the University and Student Union review their policy on individuals being invited onto campus and that London South Bank University establish contact with independent experts to help take decisions about extremist speakers both on and off campus; APPENDIX 1 - ANWAR AL-AWLAKI PROFILE An American citizen of Yemeni descent, Al-Awlaki has been described by analysts as appealing to the new Facebook Generation of young Western Muslims. 31 Re-locating from the US to London after 9/11 he stayed in the UK until 2004 when he returned to Yemen 32. During this time he addressed the Federation of Student Islamic Societies (FOSIS) Annual Conference on 18 th June 2003 33 and in the same year was advertised as a speaker for a series of talks organised by the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) in conjunction with University of London ISOCs. 34 Following his return to Yemen he began to lecture students but was arrested in August 2006 by the Yemeni authorities on charges of plotting to kidnap a US official. 35 After his release in December 2007 his involvement with terrorist networks deepened 31 Meleagrou- Hitchens, A, As American as Apple Pie: How Anwar Al- Awlaki Became the Face of Western Jihad, (ICSR 2011) pg 7 32 Clarke, M & Soria, V, Terrorism: The New Wave, (RUSI Journal, Vol. 155, No. 4, 2010) pg 26 33 Stuart, H & Thorne, J, Radical Islam on UK Campuses: A Comprehensive List of Extremist Speakers at UK Universities, (The Centre for Social Cohesion 2010) pg 29 34 Ibid., pg 25 35 Meleagrou- Hitchens, A, As American as Apple Pie: How Anwar Al- Awlaki Became the Face of Western Jihad, (ICSR 2011) pg 29
and by 2009 the US Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, said that he was now playing a key role in setting the strategic direction 36 for Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Between this time and his death in September 2011 he is believed to have provided advice and ideological support for a number of lone wolf terrorists, including extensive email contact with Major Nidal Hassan who shot 13 US soldiers at Fort Hood in 2009 37. Following the attack, a post on his blog stated that Nidal Hassan is a hero and that no scholar with a grain of Islamic knowledge can deny the clear cut proofs that Muslims today have the right rather the duty to fight against American tyranny. 38 In May 2010 King s College London Student Roshonara Choudhry attempted to kill Stephen Timms MP in the first Al-Qaeda inspired political assassination attempt in the UK. During police interviews Choudhry said that her decision to attack the MP had been influenced by Al-Awlaki s videos in her decision to attack the MP. 39 According to terrorism experts, she was clearly driven by belief in the ideology offered by Al Qaeda and its theoretician Anwar al-awlaki. 40 The failed 2009 Detroit airliner suicide bomber was also influenced by Al- Awlaki. It has been suggested that Al-Awlaki came into contact with Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab 41 in Yemen between 2004 and 2006 and that when Abdulmutallab returned to Yemen he made contact with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and trained in their camps. 42 Other plots which have involved Al-Awlaki include a plot to explode bombs on cargo aircraft in October 2010 43 and an attempted car bombing in Times Square in New York in 2010. 44 Some of Awlaki s statements include these from his famous work 44 Ways to Support Jihad : In times like these, when Muslim lands are occupied by the kuffar, when the jails of tyrants are full of Muslim POWs, when the rule of the law of Allah is absent from this world and when Islam is being attacked in order to uproot it, Jihad becomes obligatory on every Muslim. 45 Our culture of martyrdom needs to be revived because the enemy of Allah fears nothing more than our love of death. 46 36 Meleagrou- Hitchens, A, As American as Apple Pie: How Anwar Al- Awlaki Became the Face of Western Jihad, (ICSR 2011) pg 30-31 37 MacEoin, D, Anwar Al- Awlaki: I Pray that Allah Destroys America (The Middle East Quarterly, Vol. 17, No. 2, 2010) pp 13-19 38 Barclay, J, Challenging the Influence of Anwar Al- Awlaki, (ICSR 2010) pg 3 39 Pantucci, R, A Typology of Lone Wolves: Preliminary Analysis of Lone Islamist Terrorists, (ICSR 2011) pg 19 40 Ibid. 41 Ibid., pg 31 42 Meleagrou- Hitchens, A, As American as Apple Pie: How Anwar Al- Awlaki Became the Face of Western Jihad, (ICSR 2011) pg 29 43 The Guardian, Yemen Bomb- scare Mastermind Lived in London, 29 th October 2010 (Accessed 13/01/2012) 44 Khalil, L, The Next Base? Concerns about Somalia and Yemen, (Australian Strategic Policy Institute 2011) pg 5 45 Al- Awlaki, A, 44 Ways to Support Jihad pg 1 at www.nefafoundation.org/miscellaneous/featureddocs/nefaawlaki44wayssupportjihad.pdf (Accessed 13.01.2012) 46 Ibid., pg 2
The danger of the Western media stems from the fact that it puts on the cloak of truth and objectivity when in reality it is no more than the mouthpiece of the devil. 47 Encouraging others to participate in Jihad was an act of worship we were specifically asked to do. 48 Some ways in which the brothers and sisters could be internet mujahideen is by contributing in one or more of the following ways. Establishing discussion forums that offer a free, uncensored medium for posting information relating to Jihad. Establishing email lists to share information with interested brothers and sisters. Posting or emailing Jihad literature and news. Setting up websites to cover specific areas of Jihad, such as: mujahideen news, Muslim POWs, and Jihad literature. 49 Our children need to be raised up with the love of Jihad and the mujahideen...their role models should be the heroes of today s Jihad. 50 47 Ibid., pg 6 48 Ibid., pg 7 49 Ibid., pg 12 50 Ibid.