The "black flag of jihad" as used by jihadist militants since ca. the late 1990s.

Jihadism (also jihadist movement or jihadi movement) is a controversial^[1] term to describe the renewed focus on armed jihad in radical Islamic fundamentalism. Jihadism emerges in the 1960s, with roots in the late 19th and early 20th century ideological developments of Islamic revivalism, developed into Qutbism and related ideologies during the mid 20th century. The rise of jihadism was re-enforced by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, and has been propagated in various armed conflicts throughout the 1990s and 2000s. A specifically Salafist jihadism has been diagnosed within the modern Salafi movement by Gilles Kepel in the mid 1990s.

"Jihadism" in this sense covers both Mujahideen guerilla warfare and Islamic terrorism with an international scope as it arose from the 1980s, since the 1990s substantially represented by the al-Qaeda network. Jihadism with an international, Pan-Islamist scope in this sense is also known as Global Jihadism.

Terminology[link]

Look up jihadism in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Although the adjective jihadist can be traced to the 1960s, and the abstract jihadism to ca. 1980, these terms did not see frequent use in popular media until after the 9/11 attacks of 2001. The equivalent terms of "jihadist movement" and "jihadi movement" date to the same period, entering use during the 1970s. The term "jihadism" translates or parallels Arabic jihādiyya جهادية‎. The alternative form jihadi for jihadist in English usage is a transliteration of the corresponding Arabic adjective jihādī جهادي‎.

According to Martin Kramer the term jihadism first became common in "the Indian and Pakistani media". "At present, jihadism is used to refer to the most violent persons and movements in contemporary Islam, including al-Qaeda." The term jihadism may also have been influenced by the term "jihadist-Salafism", put into "academic circulation" by "French academics".^[2]

Jihad fi sabil Allah[link]

A black flag reportedly used by Caucasian jihadists in 2002 displays the phrase al-jihad fi sabilillah above the takbir and two crossed swords.

In Islam, the phrase al-jihad fi sabil Allah is the equivalent of the western notion of bellum justum or just war.^[3] Such a "just war" or "war in the cause of God" has been propagated in modern fundamentalism beginning in the late 19th century, an ideology that arose in context of struggles against colonial powers in North Africa in the late 19th century, as in the Mahdist War in Sudan, and notably in the mid-20th century by Islamic revivalist authors such as Sayyid Qutb and Abul Ala Maududi.^[4]

Based on this, the phrase is used in modern jihadism. Thus, "Fi Sabil Allah" armbands were worn by Xinjiang War (1937) Rebels in Xinjiang when battling Soviet forces,^[5] and the phrase has been spotted on flags used by jihadists in Caucasia in the 2000s.

History[link]

Praying Muhjahideen in Kunar Province, Afghanistan (1987).

Iraqi insurgents in Ramadi displaying a makeshift flag with the shahada (2005).

When jihadism is specifically motivated by Pan-Islamism, i.e. the ultimate aim of spreading Islam worldwide under a restored Caliphate, it is often called "Global Jihadism". But jihadism can also be motivated regionally, in an attempt to establish an Islamic state in a specific homeland. Global Jihadism is usually involved with international Islamic terrorism, while regional jihadism takes the form of guerilla warfare, possibly also paired with terrorist attacks. Historical and ongoing jihadist armed conflicts include:

Early jihadist uprisings (before World War I):

• Fulani War (1804–1810)
• Mahdist War (1881–1899)
• Moro Rebellion (1899–1913)

Classical Islamism (1928–1989)

• Islamic rebellion in Xinjiang (1937)
• Insurgency in the Philippines (1969–present)
• Arakan rebellion (1978)
• Arab–Israeli conflict (Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine 1981–present, Islamic Jihad Organization 1982-1993, Hamas 1987–present)
• Soviet war in Afghanistan (1979–1989)

Modern jihadism (1990–present)

• Kashmir conflict (Lashkar-e-Taiba, 1990–present)
• Somali Civil War (1991–present)
• Bosnian war (Bosnian mujahideen, 1992–1995)
• Afghan civil war (Taliban 1994–present)
• East Turkestan irredentism (East Turkestan Islamic Movement, 1997–present)
• Chechen war and Insurgency in the North Caucasus (Arab Mujahideen in Chechnya, 1995–present)
• War in Darfur (Sudan Liberation Movement, 2003–2009)
• Iraqi insurgency (Islamic State of Iraq, 2003–present)
• Balochistan conflict (Balochistan Liberation Army, 2004–present)
• Yemeni al-Qaeda crackdown (Abyan Governorate, 2010–present)

References[link]

Literature[link]

• Abbas, Tahir (2007). Islamic Political Radicalism: A European Perspective. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0-7486-2528-4. 
• Akbarzadeh, Shahram (2010). Islam and Political Violence: Muslim Diaspora and Radicalism in the West. I B Tauris & Co Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84511-473-2. 
• Al-Rasheed, Madawi (2009). Dying for Faith: Religiously Motivated Violence in the Contemporary World. I B Tauris & Co Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84511-687-3. 
• Aslan, Reza (2010). Global Jihadism. ISBN 978-3-639-25006-0. 
• Gilles Kepel, Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam (2000, 2002, 2006).
• Brachman, Jarret (2008). Global jihadism: theory and practice. vol. 10 of Cass series on political violence, Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-415-45241-0. * The Devolution of Jihadism: From Al Qaeda to Wider Movement. Stratfor. 2010. ISBN 978-1-4537-4664-6. 
• Coolsaet, Rik (2008). Jihadi Terrorism and the Radicalisation Challenge in Europe. Ashgate. ISBN 978-0-7546-7217-3. 
• Hegghammer, Thomas (2010). Jihad in Saudi Arabia: Violence and Pan-Islamism since 1979. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-51858-1. 
• Khosrokhavar, Farhad (2009). Inside Jihadism: Understanding Jihadi Movements Worldwide. Paradigm. ISBN 978-1-59451-616-0. 
• Lahoud, Nelly (2010). The Jihadis' Path to Self-destruction. C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84904-062-4. 
• Lohlker (ed.), Rüdiger (2012). New Approaches to the Analysis of Jihadism. Vienna University Press. ISBN 978-3-89971-900-0. 

• Malik, S. K. (1986). The Quranic Concept of War. Himalayan Books. ISBN 81-7002-020-4. http://wolfpangloss.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/malik-quranic-concept-of-war.pdf. 
• Pargeter, Alison (2008). The New Frontiers of Jihad: Radical Islam in Europe. I B Tauris & Co Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84511-391-9. 
• Ranstorp, Magnus (2009). Understanding Violent Radicalisation. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-55630-9. 
• Sageman, Marc (2008). Leaderless Jihad: Terror Networks in the Twenty-first Century. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-4065-8. 
• Sahai, Shashi (2006). Jihadi Terrorism: Making of a World War. Gyan Publishing House. ISBN 978-81-212-0905-2. 
• Sanchez, James (2007). Who's Who in Al-Qaeda & Jihadi Movements in South and Southeast Asia 19,906 Key Individuals, Organizations, Incidents, and Linkages. Lulu. ISBN 978-1-4303-1473-8. 
• Vertigans, Stephen (2007). Militant Islam: A Sociology of Characteristics, Causes and Consequences. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-41246-9. 

See also[link]

• Qutbism
• Mujahideen
• Offensive jihad
• Defensive jihad
• Islamic terrorism
• Islamic fundamentalism
• Black flag of jihad
• Salafist jihadism

Anjem Choudary
Former spokesman for Islam4UK
Personal details
Born	1967 (age 44–45) Welling, London
Nationality	British
Spouse(s)	Rubana Akhtar
Residence	Ilford, London, England
Religion	Islam

Anjem Choudary (Urdu: انجم چودری; born 1967 in England) is a British former solicitor, and, before it was proscribed, spokesman for the Islamist group Islam4UK. He is married, has four children, and lives in Ilford, London.

Choudary studied medicine at the University of Southampton before switching to law. He became a solicitor, and chairman of the Society of Muslim Lawyers. He later met Omar Bakri Muhammad, and the two helped form the Islamist organisation, al-Muhajiroun. The group organised several anti-Western demonstrations, including a banned protest march in London for which Choudary was summoned to appear in court. Al-Muhajiroun was a controversial organisation, which was later disbanded following the UK government's decision to ban it. Choudary was present at the launch of its intended successor, Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah, and later helped form Al Ghurabaa, which was also banned, before he became the spokesman for Islam4UK.

Choudary is a vocal critic of the UK's involvement in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and has praised the terrorists involved in the attacks of 11 September 2001, and 7 July 2005. He believes in the implementation of Sharia Law throughout the UK, and marched in protest at the Jyllands-Posten cartoons controversy, following which he was prosecuted for organising an unlawful demonstration. He was also investigated, but not charged, for his 2006 comments regarding Pope Benedict XVI. Choudary receives little support from the mainstream UK Muslim population and has been largely criticised in the media.

Early life and education[link]

Choudary was born in 1967, the son of a Welling market trader.^[1] He enrolled as a medical student at the University of Southampton, but switched to law after failing his first-year exams. His final year as a law student (1990–1991) was at Guildford. He then moved to London and taught English as a second language, until he found work at a legal firm and completed the qualifications to become a lawyer.^[2] He became chairman of the Society of Muslim Lawyers, but was removed from the roll of solicitors (the official register of legal practitioners) in 2002.^[1]

Choudary came to public attention in 1999, when the Sunday Telegraph identified him as playing an instrumental role in the recruitment of Muslim trainees leaving Britain to fight abroad. He told the newspaper "before they go abroad to fight for organisations like the IIF, the volunteers are trained in Britain. Some of the training does involve guns and live ammunition."^{[3][nb 1]}

Al-Muhajiroun[link]

Choudary embraced Islamism, and with the Islamist militant leader Omar Bakri Muhammed, co-founded al-Muhajiroun.^[1] The two men had met at a local mosque, where Bakri was giving a tafsir.^[4] In 2002 the group were refused a permit for a rally in London, by then Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone. They ignored the ban, and held a rally on 25 August. Choudary was summonsed to Bow Street Magistrates Court on 14 January 2003, on charges which included "exhibiting a notice, advertisement or any other written or pictorial matter", "using apparatus for the amplification of sound", "making a public speech or address", and "organising an assembly".^[5] In the same year Choudary gave a talk on education at Slough, where he outlined his ideas for a parallel system of Islamic education in the UK. His speech followed a bazaar organised by al-Muhajiroun, advertised by leaflet and word of mouth. Choudary also included elements of the group's ideology in his lecture.^[6]

In 2003 or 2004 Choudary organised an Islamic-themed camping trip, at which Bakri lectured, on the 54-acre (220,000 m²) grounds of the Jameah Islamiyah School in East Sussex. The trip, which was advertised by word-of-mouth, was attended by 50 Muslim men, most of whom were members of al-Muhajiroun. Bakri later claimed the activities at the camp included lectures on Islam, football, and paintballing.^[7] In September 2006 police searched the school following allegations that it was used in the training and recruitment of terrorists. According to testimony from Al Qaeda suspects held at the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp, in 1997 and 1998 Abu Hamza and groups of around 30 of his followers held training camps at the school, which included training with AK47 rifles and handguns, and a mock rocket launcher.^[8] No arrests were made, and students and faculty were allowed to return on 23 September 2006, the first day of Ramadan.^[9]

The UK government had investigated expelling Bakri even before the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, and in July 2003 the headquarters of al-Muhajiroun, and the homes of Bakri and Choudary, were raided by the police.^[10] The following year, under new anti-terrorist legislation, the government announced that it wished to ban al-Muhajiroun from operating in the UK. In 2005 Bakri learned that he was at risk of prosecution for his support of the 7 July 2005 London bombers, and in August left the UK for Lebanon, where he claimed that he was on holiday.^[11] After leaving a television station where he said "I will not return to Britain unless I want to go there as a visitor or as a tourist", he was detained by Lebanon's general security department and held in a Beirut prison.^[12] Several days later, Bakri was excluded from returning to Britain by Home Secretary Charles Clarke, on the grounds that his presence in Britain was "not conducive to the public good." Choudary condemned the decision as "outrageous", demanded to know what Bakri had done to justify the ban, and claimed that ministers were inventing rules to ensure that Bakri could not return.^[13] In November Choudary was deported from Lebanon, along with three other followers of Bakri, and returned to the UK. Along with the three other deportees, he claimed that they were there to help Bakri set up a madrasah, and blamed the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for orchestrating their deportations.^[14]

Following his deportation, Choudary attended the launch in London of Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah, the intended successor organisation to al-Muhajiroun. Choudary said that Bakri was not on the committee of the new group, but that "we would love for the sheikh to have a role."^[15] The organisation operates mainly through an invitation-only internet forum, to which Choudary contributes under the screen name Abou Luqman. A reporter visiting the site found calls for holy war, and recordings by Osama Bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and Omar Bakri Mohammed.^[16]

Al-Muhajiroun attempted a relaunch in June 2009 at Conway Hall, in Holborn. Several speakers were invited to share a platform with Choudary, but some later claimed that they had been invited under false pretences. When the group refused to allow women into the meeting, the chairman of the society which runs the hall cancelled the event. He was heckled by many of those in the audience. Choudary took the microphone from the chairman and led chants of "sharia for UK", saying in reference to the exclusion of women: "Jews and Christians will never make peace with you until you either become like them or adopt their ways." Outside the hall, Choudary criticised British society, and predicted that Muslims would make up the majority within one or two decades. When asked why, if society was so bad, he lived here, he replied: "We come here to civilise people, get them to come out of the darkness and injustice into the beauty of Islam."^[17]

Al Ghurabaa[link]

Choudary was also a spokesman for the Muslim organisation, Al Ghurabaa. The group was proscribed in 2006 by then Home Secretary John Reid, who said: "I am determined to act against those who, while not directly involved in committing acts of terrorism, provide support for and make statements that glorify, celebrate and exalt the atrocities of terrorist groups." The group is believed to have been an off-shoot of al-Muhajiroun.^[18] Choudary reacted to the news with outrage, complaining: "The easy option when one is losing an argument is to ban the opposition voice. [...] We [al-Ghurabaa] are not a military organisation; we have only been vociferous in our views—views concerning everything from the government's foreign policy in Iraq and Afghanistan to the host of draconian laws, which they’ve introduced against us in this country."^[19]

Islam4UK[link]

In November 2008 Choudary organised a meeting of the newly-formed Islam4UK, which, according to its website, was "established by sincere Muslims as a platform to propagate the supreme Islamic ideology within the United Kingdom as a divine alternative to man-made law", and to "convince the British public about the superiority of Islam [...] thereby changing public opinion in favour of Islam in order to transfer the authority and power [...] to the Muslims in order to implement the Sharee’ah (here in Britain)".^[20] According to Ed Husain, co-founder of the counter-terrorism think-tank the Quilliam Foundation, Islam4UK is a "splinter group of al-Muhajiroun and Hizb ut-Tahrir, the originators of extremism in Britain." The meeting, advertised as a conference to "rise to defend the honour of the Muslims", was held at the Brady Arts and Community Centre in Tower Hamlets. Choudary then announced that Bakri would be speaking, via a video-conference link, although technical problems meant that his address was instead given over a telephone line. When asked by a Muslim woman how the comments of one of the event's speakers could be justified, with regards to Islam being a religion of peace, Choudary stated, "Islam is not a religion of peace...It is a religion of submission. We need to submit to the will of Allah.".^[21]

With the announcement by Islam4UK that it planned to hold a protest march through Wootton Bassett (famous for honouring dead British soldiers returning from the war in Afghanistan), Choudary said "You may see one or two coffins being returned to the UK every other day, but when you think about the people of Afghanistan its a huge number [being killed] in comparison [...] I intend to write a letter to the parents of British soldiers telling them the reality of what they died for."^[23] Choudary's open letter was published on 3 January 2010. In it, he explained his reasons for proposing the march, endorsed his religious beliefs, and claimed that UK politicians had been lying about the war. Choudary stated that the proposed march was to "engage the British publics minds on the real reasons why their soldiers are returning home in body bags and the real cost of the war."^[22] In an interview with Sky News, he stated that the location of the proposed march was chosen to effect a level of media attention which "it would not have gained anywhere else".^[24] The proposed march has been condemned by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who said that to offend the families of dead or wounded troops would be "completely inappropriate",^[25] the Minhaj-ul-Quran International UK centre in Forest Gate,^[26] and the Muslim Council of Britain, which stated that it "condemns the call by the fringe extremist group Islam4UK for their proposed march in Wootton Bassett."^[27] The planned march was cancelled by the group, on 10 January 2010.^[28]

From 14 January 2010 the organisation was proscribed under the Terrorism Act 2000, making membership illegal, and punishable by imprisonment.^[29] Choudary condemned the order. In an interview on BBC Radio^{[clarification needed]} he said "we are now being targeted as an extremist or terrorist organisation and even banned for merely expressing that. I feel this is a failure of the concept of democracy and freedom."^[30]

Views and marches[link]

Since the disbandment of al-Muhajiroun, Choudary has often praised Muslim terrorists. He referred to the 11 September terrorists as "magnificent martyrs", and in 2003 appeared to endorse terrorist attacks by British Muslims, saying that al-Muhajiroun would "encourage people to fulfil their Islamic duties and responsibilities". In 2004 he said that a terror attack on British soil was "a matter of time"; following the 7 July 2005 London bombings he refused to condemn the atrocities.^[32] In 2008 he attacked the Muslim Council of Britain (who had condemned the 11 September and 7 July terrorist attacks), accusing them of "selling their souls to the devil".^[33] in an Interview with CBN news Mr Choudary said that “You can't say that Islam is a religion of peace, Because Islam does not mean peace. Islam means submission."^[34] Following Osama Bin Laden's death, Choudary stated that "For Obama, killing an old man [Bin Laden] and his family in his home is justice...That is the justice of the Americans – occupation, murder, mayhem, imprisonment. That is the only justice that they know. We are here to say: That is injustice. Whenever you have man-made law, whenever you rule by other than what Allah has revealed, you will have injustice, you will have oppression. The biggest Satan, the biggest oppressor, the biggest criminal in the world today is Barack Obama, his henchmen, and his allies."^[35][36]

Choudary has regularly attended public marches, and following a protest march outside the Danish Embassy in London on 3 February 2006, held in response to the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy, he was a member of a panel of interviewees on the BBC news programme, Newsnight. He defended Muslims in Britain, saying that "we live in peace with the host community, we are not allowed to target people here", and claimed that the police had inspected and allowed the controversial placards used in the demonstration. Choudary was heavily criticised by his fellow panellists, who included the MP for Keighley Ann Cryer, Humera Khan, of the al-Nisa Muslim Women's Group (who accused him of demonising Islam), vice-chair of the Conservative Party Sayeeda Warsi, professor Tariq Ramadan (who claimed that Choudary's actions were designed to evoke a strong response from the media), and leader of the UK Independence Party Roger Knapman.^[37] On 15 March 2006 he was among five men arrested in connection with the demonstration, which had been organised by al Ghurabaa.^[38] He was arrested again on 4 May at Stansted Airport for an alleged breach of bail, and charged with organising the protest without notifying police. He was bailed to appear before Bow Street Magistrates Court on 11 May.^[39] On 4 July 2006 he was convicted and fined £500 with £300 court costs.^[40]

The following day, at an Al Ghurabaa press conference at the Al Badr centre in Leyton, Choudary claimed that the blame for the London bombings lay with the British government, and said that the then-Prime Minister Tony Blair had "blood on his hands". He also urged Muslims to defend themselves against perceived attacks by "whatever means they have at their disposal", and referred to the 2 June 2006 Forest Gate raid in which Mohammed Abdul Kahar was shot in the shoulder. He encouraged Muslims not to co-operate with the police under any circumstances. Local council leader Clyde Loakes criticised Choudary's comments, stating "I am sure the vast majority of Waltham Forest residents do not support these views."^[41] Several days later, on 9 June 2006, Choudary organised a demonstration outside the Forest Gate police station in London, to protest against the arrest of the Forest Gate men. About 35 men and 15 women attended the demonstration. The family of the two men said that the police raid represented "barbaric and horrific actions", but that an extremist protest would "only give another opportunity for our community to be portrayed in a negative light".^[42]

Choudary is reportedly a regular poster on "Followers of Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jama'aah Muntada", an invitation-only internet forum visited by some of Britain's more notable Muslim extremists. Using the alleged pseudonym Abou Luqman,^{[nb 3]} Choudary has voiced support for the Muslim community in Somalia, who, he claims, have been "violated" by Christian-backed Ethiopians, and has also called for other members to fight jihad.^[43]

Choudary strongly believes in the primacy of Islam over all other faiths, and the implementation of Sharia Law, in its entirety, in the UK. In 2001 he stated that his allegiance is to Islam, and not a country. He believes that, for a true Muslim, "a British passport is no more than a travel document."^[44] In October 2006 he addressed a Trinity College debate in Dublin, where as spokesman for al-Muhajiroun he spoke against the motion that "This house believes that Islamist violence can never be justified". Supporting him were Sulayman Keeler, from al-Ghurabaa, and Omar Brooks, leader of the Saviour Sect Group. Among those supporting the motion however, Islamic scholar Sheikh Al Saleh said that "Islam is the heritage of mankind", and Shaheed Satardian of the Supreme Muslim council of Ireland criticised "Muslim vigilantes" who had made attempts on his life, and fire-bombed his home in South Africa. Satardian said that his younger brother had been killed by extremists, and told Choudary "I believe violence perpetrated in the name of Islam is a terrible slur on the name of Islam."^[45] In February 2008 the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams commented that "as a matter of fact certain provisions of sharia are already recognised in our society and under our law".^[46] Choudary responded by saying that Sharia "has to be adopted wholesale", and that "it will come either by embracing Islam because it is the fastest growing religion in the country, or by an Islamic country conquering Britain or by elements embracing Islam and imposing it."^[47] In 2008 he spoke of the "flag of Sharia" flying over Downing Street by 2020, claimed that some Muslim families in east London were having "10 or 12 children each", and that hundreds were converting to Islam each day.^[33] Choudary has spoken against elements of the Christian faith. In December 2008 he posted a sermon on an Islamic website, in which he stated: "Every Muslim has a responsibility to protect his family from the misguidance of Christmas, because its observance will lead to hellfire. Protect your Paradise from being taken away – protect yourself and your family from Christmas".^[48]

In September 2006 Pope Benedict XVI gave a speech on the question of the "reasonableness" of the Christian faith, to the University of Regensburg in Germany. In the Regensburg lecture he spoke about rationality in faith, and cited comments by the 14th-century Byzantine emperor Manuel II Palaiologos, who, as the Pope put it, said "show me just what Mohamed brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." The citation attracted severe criticism from Muslims around the world, including the parliament of Pakistan which condemned the Pope for his comments, and which sought an apology from him.^[49] Following the speech, on 17 September Choudary led a protest outside Westminster Cathedral, where he told reporters "Whoever insults the message of Mohammed is going to be subject to capital punishment." The Daily Mail reported him as saying: "I am here [to] have a peaceful demonstration, but there may be people in Italy and other parts that would carry that out."^[50] The Metropolitan Police investigated his comments, but concluded that "no substantive offences" were committed during the demonstration. Shadow Home Secretary David Davis, who had called for action to be taken against Choudary, said: "It is quite disgraceful. It sends out a message to Muslim extremists that we, as a country, do not have the moral courage to stand up to them."^[51]

In July 2011, he claimed responsibility for a scheme to stick bright yellow posters on street posts to proclaim areas as "Shariah Controlled Zones." "We are going to go to all these same areas and implement our own Sharia-controlled zones," he is quoted as saying. "We want to run the area as a Sharia-controlled zone and really to put the seeds down for an Islamic Emirate in the long term."^[52]

Criticism[link]

Choudary has been largely criticised by most UK newspapers, some of whom describe him as an extremist. In January 2010 Guardian contributor Mehdi Hasan wrote: "Is Choudary an Islamic scholar whose views merit attention or consideration? No. Has he studied under leading Islamic scholars? Nope. Does he have any Islamic qualifications or credentials? None whatsoever. So what gives him the right to pontificate on Islam, British Muslims or 'the hellfire'? Or proclaim himself a 'sharia judge'?", and claimed that Choudary was "as unrepresentative of British Muslim opinion, as he is of British anti-war opinion."^[54] Conservative Party leader David Cameron said that Choudary "is one of those people who needs to be looked at seriously in terms of the legality of what he's saying because he strays, I think, extremely close to the line of encouraging hatred, extremism and violence."^[55] Salma Yaqoob, the leader of Respect – The Unity Coalition, said of Choudary: "He is a bigot whose goal in life is to provoke division. He engages in these provocations because he is deeply hostile to any coming together of Muslims and non-Muslims. For him, the fact that a majority of the British people – Muslim and non-Muslim – oppose the war in Afghanistan is not something to be celebrated, but is something to be feared."^[56] Rod Liddle, writing in The Spectator, said: "Anjem Choudray...is one of those thick-as-mince gobby little chancers who could only possibly come from Britain."^[57] Conservatives in the United States have also been critical of Choudary. Fox News host Sean Hannity called him "one sick, miserable, evil S.O.B." during a segment on his show discussing the 2011 Egyptian protests.^[58]

Choudary has received little support from the mainstream Muslim community, although in January 2010 Telegraph writer Jamie Bartlett speculated that he might have "some" support among the minority of Muslims in the UK who could be considered to hold conservative views.^[59]

Tabloid criticism of Islam4UK and Choudary since news of the proposed march first became public has, generally, been vitriolic. The Sun printed an article on 6 January which claimed that Choudary was in receipt of state benefits in the region of £25,000 and said: "British-born father-of-four Choudary is notoriously vague about whether he works or has other money coming in." It continued, "He is understood to be employed by a Muslim organisation on a shoestring wage, which allows him to claim income support and free time to spread his hatred."^[60] Choudary had first commented on the matter to the Evening Standard months earlier, stating "I don't think it's of any importance".^[61] While generally, follow-up reporting of The Sun's article was restricted to other tabloid newspapers, on 12 January Choudary was asked to clarify the matter by ITN reporter Angus Walker. Choudary replied "The money belongs to Allah and if it is given, you can take it. You don't lie and you don't cheat – that is what the prophet said. I am not doing anything illegal."^[62] Appearing on the BBC's The Daily Politics on 14 January, presenter Andrew Neil discussed with Choudary his opinions on the banning of Islam4UK, before asking him to comment on his financial status, claiming that it was "relevant to our viewers". Choudary told Neil that his finances were a personal matter, and that he was "doing something, and I don't want to discuss that with you. I'm not on Jobseeker's allowance, but at the same time I have family allowance, I have very firmly held views which I'm propagating at the same time." Responding to the media's criticism of him, Choudary said "I do believe that people have been whipped up into an anti-Islam anti-Muslim frenzy."^[63]

Personal life[link]

In 1996 Choudary married 22-year-old Rubana Akhtar, who had recently joined al-Muhajiroun, which he led at the time. She later became the group's head of women.^[64] The couple settled in Ilford and had four children.^[1]

See also[link]

• Muslims Against Crusades

References[link]

Footnotes

Notes

Bibliography

External links[link]

• "Official website of Anjem Choudary"
• Fox's favorite Muslim radical, Salon.com
• A Critical Study of the Multiple Identities and Disguises of 'al-Muhajiroun'
• "The War Within", Special Investigations Unit, CNN, 20 January 2007 – transcript of a documentary featuring an interview with Choudary
• Is Anjem Choudary a Qualified Islamic Judge of a Shariah Court in the UK?
• Fareed Zakaria interview (Choudary section starts about halfway down)
• Anjem Choudary at the Internet Movie Database

v t e Alleged militants in the War on Terror who have lived in the United Kingdom Al Ghurabaa and Al-Muhajiroun Hassan Butt Anjem Choudary Abu Izzadeen Sulayman Keeler Omar Bakri Muhammad Abu Uzair Lockerbie bombing Abdelbaset al-Megrahi 1993 World Trade Center bombing Ramzi Yousef 2001 shoe bomb plot Richard Reid Saajid Badat 7 July 2005 London bombings Hasib Hussain Mohammad Sidique Khan Germaine Lindsay Shehzad Tanweer 21 July 2005 London bombings Osman Hussain Muktar Said Ibrahim Ramzi Mohammed Yasin Hassan Omar Adel Yahya 2007 Glasgow International Airport attack Bilal Abdullah Kafeel Ahmed 22 May 2008 Exeter bombing Nicky Reilly Miscellaneous Andrew Ibrahim Abu Bakr Mansha Abu Hamza al-Masri Aabid Khan Rabah Kadre Younes Tsouli Kamel Rabat Bouralha

This article may need to be rewritten entirely to comply with Wikipedia's quality standards. You can help. The discussion page may contain suggestions. (January 2011)

Najmuddin Faraj Ahmad (Kurdish:مهلا کرێکار)
Nickname	Mullah Krekar
Born	July 7, 1956 As Sulaymaniyah, Iraq
Allegiance	Ansar al-Islam
Years of service	2001-2003
Battles/wars	Kurdistan Islamist Conflict Iraq War

Mullah Krekar (Kurdish:مهلا کرێکار), (born Najmuddin Faraj Ahmad July 7, 1956) is a Kurdish Sunni Islamist Islamic scholar^[1] who came to Norway as a refugee from northern Iraq in 1991. His wife and four children have Norwegian citizenship, but not Krekar himself. He speaks Kurdish, Arabic, Persian, Norwegian, and English.^{[citation needed]}

Krekar was the original leader of the Islamist armed group Ansar al-Islam, which was set up and commenced operations in Kurdistan while he had refugee status in Norway. Krekar claims, however, not to have had foreknowledge of the various terrorist attacks performed by the group he was leading. Since February 2003 he has an expulsion order against him, which is suspended pending Iraqi government guarantees that he will not face torture or execution. Norway is committed to international treaties which prohibit the expulsion of an individual without such a guarantee.^[2]

Authorities in the Kurdistan Regional Government have repeatedly asked for Ahmad ("Krekar") to be extradited from Norway. The death penalty remains on the books in the Kurdistan region. Most death sentences have been changed into life sentences since the Kurdistanian authorities took power in 1992, the exception being that eleven alleged members of Ansar al-Islam were hanged in the regional capital of Arbil in October 2006. He has as of 8 December 2006 been on the UN terror list,^[3] and as of 8 November 2007 been judged by the High Court of Norway as a "danger to national security".^[4]

On March 26, 2012 he was sentenced to 5 years in prison for making repeated death threats against Norwegian politicians and other persons if they pursued certain civil actions against him. He has appealed this prison sentence. The next day, March 27, 2012, he was arrested by the PST and Norwegian Police and taken into protective custody and incarceration. This occurred after certain additional statements of a threatening nature were linked to him, suggesting that others might take retaliatory actions against Norwegians if his civil prison sentence were implemented.^[5]

Views[link]

In November 2009 controversy erupted when Krekar in an interview with the Arab television channel al-Hiwar said he wanted to establish a new Islamic Caliphate, claiming that for Jihadists there is no legitimate state, with the exception of the Taliban-led Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. For the Islamic "super-state" he wanted Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaida-top Ayman al-Zawahiri or Hizb-e Islami-founder Gulbuddin Hekmatyar as leader, and other radical Islamists as leader, citing for instance Gulbuddin Hekmatyar or Ayman Al-Zawahiri as the foreign minister.^[6] As a result the Progress Party continued their call for the imprisonment of Krekar,^[7] and the Labour Party stated for the first time they would form a new task force which would examine if people officially labeled as "danger to national security" (as Krekar is) could be imprisoned.^[8] Azzam Tamimi, a supporter of Hamas, who had done the interview with Krekar, also said that he felt Krekar had been treated badly in Norway.^[9]

Krekar in Norway[link]

Proceedings against Krekar[link]

In August 2002, while Krekar was in Iraq, the Norwegian government revoked his refugee status on the grounds that he had traveled back to his homeland and spent long periods there.^[10]

Krekar was arrested in the Netherlands at Schiphol Airport near Amsterdam in September 2002, after Iran denied him entry and sent him back to Europe. He was interviewed by FBI agents (at Krekar's request, in an attempt to clear his and his group's name); no extradition request was made.^[11] He was deported to Norway in January 2003.

In February 2003 the Norwegian government ordered Krekar to be deported to Iraq, but as of July 2009 the order had not been implemented because of the security environment in Iraq, and the risk that Krekar could face the death penalty there, as Norway will not deport people in these circumstances. Krekar has unsuccessfully challenged the expulsion order in court, with the order being confirmed in September 2005. Norway's government has said that the new government to be elected in Iraq in December 2005 might permit discussion on whether Krekar's expulsion order can be implemented.^[12]

On March 21, 2003 his arrest was ordered by Økokrim, the Norwegian law enforcement agency for financial crime, to ensure he did not leave the country while accusations that he had financed terrorist attacks using Norway as a base were investigated. Court proceedings against Krekar were however dropped when it proved impossible to prove his connections with the terrorist attacks staged in Iraq by Ansar al-Islam during his leadership. His term as leader ended.

The United States government has declared Ansar al-Islam a terrorist group, but Krekar denies that it was during the time he headed it, and says he no longer does. While Krekar has not been found guilty of anything, a number of his opinions have met little sympathy; he was once recorded claiming that Osama bin Laden is the "jewel in the crown of Islam".^[13] and that he was proud of what Abu Musab al-Zarqawi "has done and that he has become a martyr".^[14]

In September 2005 the Iraqi Justice Minister Abdel Hussein Shandal said that Krekar was wanted in Iraq and should be tried there.^[15]

About the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy, he said to the Norwegian media "This is a declaration of war against of our religion, our faith, and our civilization. We Muslims are ready for this."^[16]

Krekar told the Kurdish magazine Awene that he wants to return to Iraq to fight openly against the Iraqi government and the coalition, but that he lacked travel documents from the Norwegian government. He confirmed to a Norwegian newspaper that he had been correctly quoted.^[17] The Norwegian minister of labour and migration, Bjarne Håkon Hanssen, responded that Krekar could leave at any time and that he would be given "travel documents within the day. He'll also get money for airline tickets, taxi cab, and the whole deal. If he really wants to go, that is."^[18] Krekar is still living in Norway.

On December 7, 2006, the United States Department of the Treasury designated mullah Krekar as one of five individuals providing financial support to terrorist organizations. In a statement he is accused of providing funds for Ansar al-Sunnah, an active Iraqi terror-organization descended from Ansar al-Islam. The press release states that "This designation freezes any assets the designees may have under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibits all financial and commercial transactions by any U.S. person with the designees".^[19] Mullah Krekar was later that day added to the United Nations Security Council list of individuals belonging to or associated with the Al-Qaeda organization.^[20] All member states of the United Nations are obliged to freeze assets and prevent entry or transit through their territories with regard to the individuals included on the list. Anders Romarheim, a researcher at the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies, believes that the placement of mullah Krekar on this list is a United States strategy to put pressure on Norway.^[21]

On November 8, 2007, the Supreme Court of Norway ruled that Krekar is a threat to Norway's national security, thus upholding the February 2003 decision by the government to deport him to Iraq. It is still unclear when Krekar will be deported due to Iraq's death penalty laws. Some politicians asked for Krekar to be put in jail until he is deported.^[22]

Threat against Mariwan Halabjaee[link]

In an audio file published on the Kurdish website Renesans.nu during September 2008, Krekar allegedly threatened to kill Mariwan Halabjaee, the Iraqi Kurdish author of Sex, Sharia and Women in the History of Islam, who also resided in Norway. "I swear that we will not live if you live. Either you go before us, or we go before you," said Krekar.^[23] Krekar compared Halabjaee with Salman Rushdie and Ayaan Hirsi Ali.^[24]

In February 2012, Krekar confirmed in the Oslo District Court that he had issued a twenty page fatwa against Halabjaee.^[25] The fatwa was sent to several hundred Islamic scholars around the world. While Krekar said he thought he might be able to "guarantee the safety" of Halabjaee, Krekar confirmed that his fatwa "implies" that it is "permissible" to kill Halabjaee in Oslo or anywhere else.^[26] Krekar compared Halabjaee to Theo van Gogh, the film director who was killed by an Islamist in the Netherlands in 2004.^[27]

Terrorism charges against Krekar[link]

On July 12, 2011, terrorism charges were filed against Krekar for a death threat he uttered against ex-minister Erna Solberg during a news conference in June 2010.^[28]

CIA, Pentagon, and Navy SEALs[link]

In 2003, agents for the CIA, including Cynthia Dame Logan and Gregory Asherleighs, were sent to Norway.^[29][30][31] They arrived directly after the abduction of Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr from Milan, Italy. The agents are allegedly wanted within the Schengen area of jurisdiction. A few days before their arrival, Mullah Krekar's lawyer, Brynjar Meling, asked for police protection of Krekar. The Norwegian Intelligence Service admits it had knowledge of the agents' visit to Norway, and Meling confirms he had heard rumours that Krekar was to be kidnapped and transferred to Guantanamo Bay. If the operation was not approved beforehand by Norway it would have been a violation of Norwegian law. Mullah Krekar was not kidnapped. According to an article in Newsweek, a Pentagon official proposed inserting a US Navy SEAL team to engage in a "snatch rope" operation against Krekar; however, the plan was allegedly rejected because a shooting confrontation between the SEALs and Norwegian police would have triggered a diplomatic disaster between Norway and the United States.^[32]

However, a week later the Los Angeles Times quoted a high ranking intelligence official who claimed that U.S. special forces were in fact inserted in a European country allied with the United States through NATO, in order to carry out a snatch operation under strikingly similar circumstances to the Krekar case. The revelation led to suspicion that the plan was in fact not cancelled, as the Pentagon had stated. According to the Norwegian newspaper Stavanger Aftenblad, which was the original source of the CIA agents' mission in Oslo, the U.S. special forces, most likely Navy SEALs, had been monitoring a "militant leader" over a period of time, and were in place ready to carry out the snatch. According to the Los Angeles Times, the Pentagon kept the allied country's government in the dark about the mission, which apparently failed or was aborted. ^[33]

Offered cash for leaving Norway[link]

In April 2006 businessman Tasawer "Tommy" Sharif offered Krekar NOK 500,000 (approx. US$90,000) if he left Norway, saying that Krekar was "a pest for all Muslims in Norway." Krekar rejected the offer.^[34]

Facebook group collecting donations for the assassination of Mullah Krekar[link]

In November 2007, Norwegian newspapers published the story that a Facebook group had been set up, dedicated to collecting money which would eventually go to an assassin, should one be located. The group statement started with "For the murder of Norway's enemy #1". The 28-year old man who started the group went on to publicize not only his full name, but also a bank account number where money could be deposited. The group had approximately 400 members when Krekar's lawyer deemed the threat "serious" and said he "hoped the police would investigate the people involved".^[35] The 28-year old told Norwegian media that the statement was facetious and thus should not be taken literally.

Popular Culture References[link]

In November 2007, mullah Krekar was the subject of a half hour investigative report by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's (ABC-TV) international affairs program "Foreign Correspondent". The report titled "Norwegian Jihad" was also the centrepiece of a one hour special report on Norwegian State Television.

"Norwegian Jihad" was also broadcast throughout the Asia Pacific region on ABC-TV's satellite service "Australia Network".^[36]

In July, 2009, mullah Krekar was one of the subjects of the NBC's pilot episode of the show "The Wanted",^[37] describing him as "responsible for killing hundreds of westerners".^[38]

In early 2012, the Netflix series "Lillyhammer" featured a scene in which a Norwegian police officer gets into an argument with an Arab immigrant over whether the show "24" is unfair to Arabs, and when his partner intercedes, he complains that the immigrant "is giving me the whole mullah Krekar routine over here".

Assassination attempt[link]

During the night of 24 January 2010, 3 shots were fired through one of the windows of Krekar's apartment in Oslo. The attack was investigated as an assassination attempt. Krekar's son-in-law was mildly injured by one of the bullets.^[39] Kurdish groups were cited as possible or likely perpetrators.^[40]

Decision to leave Norway[link]

In early January 2012, Krekar announced in an interview with a kurdish online newspaper Rudaw from the Kurdish Autonomous Region that he would be leaving Norway and returning to the Kurdistan region soon, saying "My return to the Kurdistan region has become a major political issue." He also predicted that, "My death will cost Norwegian society. If, for example, Erna Solberg (a Norwegian politician) throws me out of the country and I die as a result, she will suffer the same fate." ^[41]

Conviction for death threats[link]

On 26 March 2012, Krekar was sentenced to 5 years in prison for making death threats.^[42] He appealed. On 26 March 2012, Krekar was re-arrested for making threats against two Kurds and the Conservative Party leader Erna Solberg.^[43]

Bibliography[link]

• (Norwegian) (2003^[44]). Med egne ord ("In My Own Words"). Autobiography. Oslo: Aschehoug. 246 pp. ISBN 82-03-22968-9. Translated from Arabic.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Mullah Krekar

• "Al-Qaeds Resembles the Zionist Movement before the Establishment of the State of Israel" LBC TV on July 8, 2007
• "The CIA and The Militant Who Eluded It in Norway" – By Craig Whitlock (journalist), The Washington Post, December 4, 2006.
• mullah Krekar Interview (WMV) – By Jonathan Miller (reporter), Ivan O'Mahoney (producer), Insight News Television
• "Krekar contradicts his own defense" Archived 27 November 2005 at the Wayback Machine – By Inger Anne Olsen, Aftenposten, 9 January 2004
• mullah Krekar: Leader of Kurdish Ansar al-Islam – By Trevor Stanley, in Perspectives on World History and Current Events (PWHCE), 2005
• "Krekar can be expelled soon" Archived 14 June 2006 at the Wayback Machine – Aftenposten/NTB, 16 March 2006
• "Krekar threatens Norway" Archived 12 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine – Aftenposten, 06 Sep 2005
• "mullah Krekar linked to pro al-Qaida sites" Archived 9 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine – Aftenposten, 09 Oct 2007

Lars Vilks
Lars Vilks at the site of Nimis in Kullaberg
Birth name	Lars Endel Roger Vilks
Born	(1946-06-20)20 June 1946 Helsingborg, Sweden
Nationality	Swedish
Field	Conceptual art Sculpture
Works	Nimis (1980-) Arx (1991-) The Muhammad Drawings (2007)

Lars Endel Roger Vilks (born 20 June 1946) is a Swedish artist. He is best known for his drawings of Muhammed, prophet of Islam.

Personal background[link]

Vilks was born in Helsingborg, Sweden. His father is from Latvia and his mother is Swedish.^[1][2] He earned a Ph.D. in art history from Lund University in 1987, and worked at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts from 1988 to 1997. From 1997 to 2003, he was a professor in art theory at the Bergen National Academy of the Arts. As an art theorist, Vilks is a proponent of the institutional theory of art.^{[citation needed]}

Artistic career[link]

Although an academically trained art theorist, Vilks is a self-taught artist. In the 1970s, he started painting, and in 1984, he embarked on creating the idiosyncratic sculptures that have been his hallmark, starting with Nimis. At this time, in the early 1980s, postmodernism made its definite entry into the Swedish art scene, using inspiration from e.g. the French art philosopher Jean-François Lyotard. Conceptual artists took the place of the earlier modernists on the contemporary art scene. These conceptual artists did not want their art to have any aesthetic or programmatic content, but instead often focused on the artist's self. Vilks was part of this movement in Sweden, and among other things turned himself in as a piece of art to the spring saloon at Vikingsberg in Helsingborg, and turned his own car into a piece of art at the fall exhibition at Skånes konstförening.^[3]

[edit] Nimis and Arx

Nimis. Wood sculptures by Vilks at Kullaberg.

Vilks became known in 1980 as the creator of the wooden sculptures Nimis and Arx, made entirely of drift wood, which are now located in the Kullaberg nature reserve in Höganäs Municipality, Skåne. In 1996, the small area where the sculptures are located was proclaimed by Vilks as an independent country named Ladonia. Nimis was sold to Joseph Beuys as a means to circumvent the Swedish building code laws concerning unlawful building process. The sculpture of Nimis is now owned by concept artist Christo; the legal document documenting the sale is on display at the Swedish Museum of Sketches.

Critical reception and media attention[link]

Vilks has characterized his own skill in the actual crafts involved in sculpture as quite limited, and although his artistic ideas can be seen as characteristic for his generation of Swedish conceptual artists, he has remained something of an outsider in the Swedish art scene for most of his career. He and his works have typically been treated with silence by the Swedish art establishment, as they have been deemed as not interesting enough, and seen mostly as the product of simple provocation. One of the few works of Vilks to be incorporated into a collection is the concrete sculpture Omphalos, measuring 1.6 meters high and weighing one tonne, which is owned by Moderna Museet after it was first bought by fellow artist Ernst Billgren for 10 000 Swedish kronor.^[3]

Vilks' long-standing controversies with different authorities due to his activities in the nature reserve Kullaberg, where Nimis, Arx and Landonien are all located, have on the other hand received significant attention in Swedish media over the years. Media has mostly portrayed Vilks' actions as specifically designed to provoke. This media attention has turned the area into something of a tourist attraction.^[3]

In Vilks' activity as an art theorist, he also comments on his own artistic activities as if it was conducted by another person. His different works of art, Vilks as a person, his actions, actions by those authorities with whom Vilks has been in conflict, and the media attention, is brought together in a Gesamtkunstwerk in line with the postmodern conceptual art tradition in which Vilks has been active throughout his career.^[3]

Vilks has described himself as an "equal opportunity offender" in his critical depictions of religion. In addition to his depictions of Muhammad, he also once drew Jesus as a pedophile. ^[4]

Muhammad drawings controversy[link]

In 2007 Vilks was embroiled in an international controversy after he made a series of drawings depicting the Islamic prophet Muhammad as a roundabout dog. The drawings were initially intended to be shown at a local art exhibition at Tällerud just outside Karlstad in Värmland, Sweden in July 2007 but were removed from the exhibition by the organisers, citing security concerns and fear of violence from Muslims, shortly before its opening.^[5] Following the first refusal, Vilks submitted the drawings to several other art galleries in Sweden, including the distinguished Gerlesborg School of Fine Art in Bohuslän where Vilks is a frequent lecturer, but all declined to show the drawings for the same reason.

The controversy gained international attention after the Örebro-based regional newspaper Nerikes Allehanda published one of the drawings on 18 August to illustrate an editorial on self-censorship and freedom of religion.^[6] While several other leading Swedish newspapers had published the drawings at this time, this publication led to protests from Muslim organizations in Sweden as well as condemnations from several foreign governments including Iran,^[7] Pakistan,^[8] Afghanistan,^[9] Egypt,^[10] and Jordan,^[11] as well as by the inter-governmental Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), which also called for the Swedish government to take "punitive actions" against Vilks.^[12] Following this controversy, Vilks has been forced to live under police protection after having received several death threats, including a statement by the al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq which has offered up to $150,000 for his assassination.^[13][14][15]

Assassination plot[link]

On 9 March 2010, Colleen R. LaRose from the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania suburbs had her federal indictment unsealed charging her with trying to recruit Muslims to murder Vilks.^[16]

The same day, seven people were arrested in Ireland over an alleged plot to assassinate Vilks.^[17] However, to the consternation of US and Swedish authorities four of the suspects were released without charge after 3 days in custody (they could have been held for questioning for up to seven days) and before investigations into their possible involvement in any assassination plot were completed.^[18]

Violent attacks[link]

On 11 May 2010, Muslim protesters assaulted Vilks while he was giving a lecture about free speech at Uppsala University. The attacks started when a film about Islam and homosexuality that had been banned from YouTube was shown. The film in question was Iranian artist Sooreh Hera's Allah ho gaybar. Vilks' glasses were broken but he did not suffer any serious injuries, and was escorted to safety by security, while a few of the protesters were detained by police. Despite previous death threats, this was the first time violence against Vilks occurred.^[19]

A few days later, on 15 May 2010, Vilks' house in southern Sweden was attacked by arsonists.^[20] They smashed the windows and threw in bottles of gasoline.^[20] There was a small fire, but the house was not burned to the ground. Vilks was not at home at the time of the attack.^[20] Two Kosovan-Swedish brothers were arrested, and July 15 they were sentenced to two and three years, respectively, of imprisonment. ^[21]

On 24 November 2010, a video produced by the Somali Islamic organization Al-Shaabab was sent out. In the video, a Swedish speaking voice appeals to "all the Somali brothers and sisters" in Sweden, to leave that country and come to Somalia to fight for Al-Shabaab. He also announces a death threat against Lars Vilks.

On 12 December 2010, a suicide bomber in Stockholm said in a message to media and the Swedish Security Police that "Now will your children, daughters and sisters die the same way our brothers and sisters die. Our actions will speak for themselves. As long as you don't end your war against Islam and degradation against the prophet and your foolish support for the pig Vilks."

On 10 September 2011, three men were arrested on suspicion of preparing to commit terrorist crimes in Gothenburg, Sweden.^[22] Two days after the arrest, the crime classification was changed to conspiring to murder.^[23] It was revealed a few days later that Vilks was the intended target of the three men.^[24][25]

Writings[link]

• (1987) Konst och konster (in Swedish; dissertation), Malmö: Wedgepress & Cheese, ISBN 91-85752-57-6.
• (1993) Att läsa Arx (in Swedish), Nora: Nya Doxa, ISBN 91-88248-43-7.
• (1993) Arx : en bok om det outsägliga (in Swedish), Nora: Nya Doxa, ISBN 91-88248-47-X.
• (1994) Nimis och Arx (in Swedish), Nora: Nya Doxa, ISBN 91-88248-50-X.
• (1995) Konstteori : kameler går på vatten (in Swedish), Nora: Nya Doxa, ISBN 91-88248-94-1.
• (1999) Det konstnärliga uppdraget? : en historia om konsthistoria, kontextkonst och det metafysiska överskottet (in Swedish), Nora: Nya Doxa, ISBN 91-578-0331-5.
• (2002) T.O.A. : [teori om allting] (in Swedish), Malmö: Galleri 21, ISBN 91-631-2330-4.
• (2003) Myndigheterna som konstnärligt material : den långa historien om Nimis, Arx, Omfalos och Ladonien (in Swedish), Nora: Nya Doxa, ISBN 91-578-0429-X (hardback).
• (2004) Spartips : 34 tips för konstnärer, kommuner, vissa obemedlade samt underbetalda (in Swedish), Nora: Nya Doxa, ISBN 91-578-0451-6.
• (2005) Hur man blir samtidskonstnär på tre dagar : handbok med teori (in Swedish; co-author: Martin Schibli), Nora: Nya Doxa, ISBN 91-578-0459-1.

See also[link]

• Theo van Gogh
• Kurt Westergaard
• Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy

References[link]

External links[link]

• Lars Vilks' blog
• Second blog
• Ladonia
• Profile at Svenska konstnärer
• YouTube video of the May 11, 2010 incident
• Lars Vilks Mohammad drawing
• Sooreh Hera - Allah Ho Gaybar!

Osama bin Laden أسامة بن لادن
Born	Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (1957-03-10)March 10, 1957 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Died	May 2, 2011(2011-05-02) (aged 54) Abbottabad, Pakistan 34°10′9″N 73°14′33″E / 34.16917°N 73.2425°E / 34.16917; 73.2425
Resting place	Arabian Sea
Nationality	Saudi Arabian (1957–1994) None (Stateless) (1994–2011)[1]
Years active	1979–2011
Successor	Ayman Al-Zawahiri[2]
Religion	Sunni Islam (Qutbism)[3][4]
Children	show all (20) Abdallah Saad Omar Hamza Abdul Rahman Amer Osman Mohammed Fatima Iman Laden Rukhaiya Nour Ali Safiyah Aisha Kadhija Khalid Miriam Sumaiya
Military career
Allegiance	Al-Qaeda
Years of service	1988–2011
Battles/wars	Soviet war in Afghanistan War on Terror: War in Afghanistan Battle of Tora Bora War in North-West Pakistan Operation Neptune Spear

Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden ( /oʊˈsɑːmə bɪn moʊˈhɑːmɨd bɪn əˈwɑːd bɪn ˈlɑːdən/; Arabic: أسامة بن محمد بن عوض بن لادن‎, ʾUsāmah bin Muḥammad bin ʿAwaḍ bin Lādin; March 10, 1957 – May 2, 2011^a), was the founder of Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets.^[5][6][7] He was a member of the wealthy Saudi bin Laden family, and an ethnic Yemeni Kindite.^[8]

Bin Laden was on the American Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) lists of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives and Most Wanted Terrorists for his involvement in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings.^[9][10][11] From 2001 to 2011, bin Laden was a major target of the War on Terror, with a US$25 million bounty by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.^[12] On May 2, 2011, bin Laden was shot and killed inside a private residential compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, by U.S. Navy SEALs and CIA operatives in a covert operation ordered by United States President Barack Obama.^[13][14]

Early life and education[link]

Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia,^[15] a son of Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden, a billionaire construction magnate with close ties to the Saudi royal family,^[16] and Mohammed bin Laden's tenth wife, Hamida al-Attas (then called Alia Ghanem).^[17] In a 1998 interview, bin Laden gave his birth date as March 10, 1957.^[18]

Mohammed bin Laden divorced Hamida soon after Osama bin Laden was born. Mohammed recommended Hamida to Mohammed al-Attas, an associate. Al-Attas married Hamida in the late 1950s or early 1960s, and they are still together.^[19] The couple had four children, and bin Laden lived in the new household with three half-brothers and one half-sister.^[17] The bin Laden family made $5 billion in the construction industry, of which Osama later inherited around $25–30 million.^[20]

Bin Laden was raised as a devout Wahhabi Muslim.^[21] From 1968 to 1976, he attended the élite secular Al-Thager Model School.^[17][22] He studied economics and business administration^[23] at King Abdulaziz University. Some reports suggest he earned a degree in civil engineering in 1979,^[24] or a degree in public administration in 1981.^[25] One source described him as "hard working",^[26] another said he left university during his third year without completing a college degree.^[27] At university, bin Laden's main interest was religion, where he was involved in both "interpreting the Quran and jihad" and charitable work.^[28] Other interests included writing poetry;^[29] reading, with the works of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery and Charles de Gaulle said to be among his favorites; black stallions; and association football, in which he enjoyed playing at centre forward and followed English club Arsenal F.C.^[30]

Personal life[link]

In 1974, at the age of 17, bin Laden married Najwa Ghanem at Latakia, Syria;^[31] they were divorced before September 11, 2001. Bin Laden's other known wives were Khadijah Sharif (married 1983, divorced 1990s), Khairiah Sabar (married 1985), Siham Sabar (married 1987), and Amal al-Sadah (married 2000). Some sources also list a sixth wife, name unknown, whose marriage to bin Laden was annulled soon after the ceremony.^[32] Bin Laden fathered between 20 and 26 children with his wives.^[33][34] Many of bin Laden's children fled to Iran following the September 11 attacks and as of 2010^[update] Iranian authorities reportedly continue to control their movement.^[35]

Bin Laden's father Mohammed died in 1967 in an airplane crash in Saudi Arabia when his American pilot misjudged a landing.^[36] Bin Laden's eldest half-brother, Salem bin Laden, the subsequent head of the bin Laden family, was killed in 1988 near San Antonio, Texas, in the United States, when he accidentally flew a plane into power lines.^[37]

The FBI described bin Laden as an adult as tall and thin, between 6 ft 4 in and 6 ft 6 in (193–198 cm) in height and weighing about 165 pounds (75 kg). Bin Laden had an olive complexion and was left-handed, usually walking with a cane. He wore a plain white turban and he had stopped wearing the traditional Saudi male headdress.^[38] Bin Laden was described as soft-spoken and mild-mannered in demeanor.^[39]

Name[link]

There is no universally accepted standard for transliterating Arabic words and Arabic names into English;^[40] bin Laden's name is most frequently rendered "Osama bin Laden". The FBI and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), as well as other U.S. governmental agencies, have used either "Usama bin Laden" or "Usama bin Ladin". Less common renderings include "Ussamah bin Ladin" and, in the French-language media, "Oussama ben Laden". Other spellings include "Binladen" or, as used by his family in the West, "Binladin". The decapitalization of bin is based on the convention of leaving short prepositions and articles uncapitalized in surnames; however, bin means "son of" and is not, strictly speaking, a preposition or article. The spellings with o and e come from a Persian-influenced pronunciation also used in Afghanistan, where bin Laden spent many years.

Osama bin Laden's full name, Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden, means "Osama, son of Mohammed, son of Awad, son of Laden". "Mohammed" refers to bin Laden's father Mohammed bin Laden; "Awad" refers to his grandfather, Awad bin Aboud bin Laden, a Kindite Hadhrami tribesman; "Laden" refers not to bin Laden's great-grandfather, who was named Aboud, but to a more distant ancestor.

The Arabic linguistic convention would be to refer to him as "Osama" or "Osama bin Laden", not "bin Laden" alone, as "bin Laden" is a patronymic, not a surname in the Western manner. According to bin Laden's son Omar bin Laden, the family's hereditary surname is "al-Qahtani" (Arabic: القحطاني‎, āl-Qaḥṭānī), but bin Laden's father Mohammed bin Laden never officially registered the name.^[41]

Osama bin Laden had also assumed the kunyah "Abū ʿAbdāllāh" ("father of Abdallah"). His admirers have referred to him by several nicknames, including the "Prince" or "Emir" (الأمير, al-Amīr), the "Sheik" (الشيخ, aš-Šayḫ), the "Jihadist Sheik" or "Sheik al-Mujahid" (شيخ المجاهد, al-Muǧāhid Šayḫ), "Hajj" (حج, Ḥaǧǧ), and the "Director".^[42] The word ʾusāmah (أسامة) means "lion",^[43] earning him the nicknames "Lion" and "Lion Sheik".^[44]

Beliefs and ideology[link]

According to former CIA analyst Michael Scheuer, who led the CIA's hunt for Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader was motivated by a belief that U.S. foreign policy has oppressed, killed, or otherwise harmed Muslims in the Middle East,^[45] condensed in the phrase "They hate us for what we do, not who we are."

Bin Laden also said only the restoration of Sharia law would "set things right" in the Muslim world, and that alternatives such as "pan-Arabism, socialism, communism, democracy" must be opposed.^[46] This belief, in conjunction with violent jihad, has sometimes been called Qutbism after being promoted by Sayyid Qutb.^[47] Bin Laden believed that Afghanistan, under the rule of Mullah Omar's Taliban, was "the only Islamic country" in the Muslim world.^[48] Bin Laden consistently dwelt on the need for violent jihad to right what he believed were injustices against Muslims perpetrated by the United States and sometimes by other non-Muslim states,^[49] the need to eliminate the state of Israel, and the necessity of forcing the United States to withdraw from the Middle East. He also called on Americans to "reject the immoral acts of fornication, homosexuality, intoxicants, gambling, and usury", in an October 2002 letter.^[50]

Bin Laden's ideology included the idea that civilians, including women and children, are legitimate targets of jihad.^[51][52] Bin Laden was anti-Semitic, and delivered warnings against alleged Jewish conspiracies: "These Jews are masters of usury and leaders in treachery. They will leave you nothing, either in this world or the next."^[53] Shia Muslims have been listed along with "heretics, [...] America, and Israel" as the four principal "enemies of Islam" at ideology classes of bin Laden's al-Qaeda organization.^[54]

Bin Laden opposed music on religious grounds,^[55] and his attitude towards technology was mixed. He was interested in "earth-moving machinery and genetic engineering of plants" on the one hand, but rejected "chilled water" on the other.^[56]

His viewpoints and methods of achieving them had led to him being designated as a terrorist by scholars,^[57][58] journalists from The New York Times,^[59][60] the BBC,^[61] and Qatari news station Al Jazeera,^[62] analysts such as Peter Bergen,^[63] Michael Scheuer,^[64] Marc Sageman,^[65] and Bruce Hoffman^[66][67] and he was indicted on terrorism charges by law enforcement agencies in Madrid, New York City, and Tripoli.^[68]

Bin Laden's overall strategy against much larger enemies such as the Soviet Union and United States was to lure them into a long war of attrition in Muslim countries, attracting large numbers of jihadists who would never surrender. He believed this would lead to economic collapse of the enemy nation.^[69] Al-Qaeda manuals clearly outline this strategy. In a 2004 tape broadcast by al-Jazeera, bin Laden spoke of "bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy".^[70]

Militant activity[link]

Mujahideen in Afghanistan[link]

After leaving college in 1979, bin Laden went to Pakistan, joined Abdullah Azzam and used money and machinery from his own construction company to help the mujahideen resistance in the Soviet war in Afghanistan.^[71][72] He later told a journalist: "I felt outraged that an injustice had been committed against the people of Afghanistan."^[73] Under Operation Cyclone from 1979 to 1989, the United States provided financial aid and weapons to the mujahideen^[74] through Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Bin Laden met and built relations with Hamid Gul, who was a three-star general in the Pakistani army and head of the ISI agency. Although the United States provided the money and weapons, the training of militant groups was entirely done by the Pakistani Armed Forces and the ISI.

By 1984, bin Laden and Azzam established Maktab al-Khidamat, which funneled money, arms and fighters from around the Arab world into Afghanistan. Through al-Khadamat, bin Laden's inherited family fortune^[75] paid for air tickets and accommodation, paid for paperwork with Pakistani authorities and provided other such services for the jihadi fighters. Bin Laden established camps inside Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan and trained volunteers from across the Muslim world to fight against the Soviet puppet regime; the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. It was during this time that he became idolised by many Arabs.^[76]

Formation and structuring of Al-Qaeda[link]

By 1988, bin Laden had split from Maktab al-Khidamat. While Azzam acted as support for Afghan fighters, bin Laden wanted a more military role. One of the main points leading to the split and the creation of al-Qaeda was Azzam's insistence that Arab fighters be integrated among the Afghan fighting groups instead of forming a separate fighting force.^[77] Notes of a meeting of bin Laden and others on August 20, 1988, indicate al-Qaeda was a formal group by that time: "Basically an organized Islamic faction, its goal is to lift the word of God, to make his religion victorious." A list of requirements for membership itemized the following: listening ability, good manners, obedience, and making a pledge (bayat) to follow one's superiors.^[78]

According to Wright, the group's real name was not used in public pronouncements because "its existence was still a closely held secret".^[79] His research suggests that al-Qaeda was formed at an August 11, 1988, meeting between "several senior leaders" of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Abdullah Azzam, and bin Laden, where it was agreed to join bin Laden's money with the expertise of the Islamic Jihad organization and take up the jihadist cause elsewhere after the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan.^[80] Following the Soviet Union's withdrawal from Afghanistan in February 1989, Osama bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia in 1990 as a hero of jihad, who along with his Arab legion "had brought down the mighty superpower" of the Soviet Union.^[81] However, he was angry at the outbreak of internecine tribal fighting among the Afghans.^[82]

The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait under Saddam Hussein on August 2, 1990, put the Saudi kingdom and the House of Saud at risk, with Iraqi forces on the Saudi border and Saddam's appeal to pan-Arabism potentially inciting internal dissent. Bin Laden met with King Fahd, and Saudi Defense Minister Sultan, telling them not to depend on non-Muslim assistance from the United States and others, offering to help defend Saudi Arabia with his Arab legion. Bin Laden's offer was rebuffed, and the Saudi monarchy invited the deployment of U.S. forces in Saudi territory.^[83] Bin Laden publicly denounced Saudi dependence on the U.S. military, arguing the two holiest shrines of Islam, Mecca and Medina, the cities in which the Prophet Mohamed received and recited God's message, should only be defended by Muslims. Bin Laden's criticism of the Saudi monarchy led them to attempt to silence him. The U.S. 82nd Airborne Division landed in north-eastern Saudi city of Dhahran and was deployed in the desert barely 400 miles from Medina.^[82]

Meanwhile, on November 8, 1990, the FBI raided the New Jersey home of El Sayyid Nosair, an associate of al-Qaeda operative Ali Mohamed, discovering copious evidence of terrorist plots, including plans to blow up New York City skyscrapers. This marked the earliest discovery of al-Qaeda terrorist plans outside of Muslim countries.^[84] Nosair was eventually convicted in connection to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and later admitted guilt for the murder of Rabbi Meir Kahane in New York City on November 5, 1990.

Bin Laden continued to speak publicly against the Saudi government, for which the Saudis banished him. He went to live in exile in Sudan, in 1992, in a deal brokered by Ali Mohamed.^[85]

Sudan and return to Afghanistan[link]

In Sudan, bin Laden established a new base for mujahideen operations in Khartoum. He bought a house on Al-Mashtal Street in the affluent Al-Riyadh quarter and a retreat at Soba on the Blue Nile.^[86][87] During his time in Sudan, he heavily invested in the infrastructure, in agriculture and businesses. He built roads using the same bulldozers he had employed to construct mountain tracks in Afghanistan. Many of his labourers were the same fighters who had been his comrades in the war against the Soviet Union. He was generous to the poor and popular with the people.^[88][89] He continued to criticize King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, and in response, in 1994, Fahd stripped bin Laden of his Saudi citizenship and persuaded his family to cut off his $7 million a year stipend.^[90][1] By now bin Laden was being linked with Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ), which made up the core of al-Qaeda. In 1995 the EIJ attempted to assassinate Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The attempt failed, and the EIJ was expelled from Sudan.

The U.S. State Department accused Sudan of being a 'sponsor of international terrorism' and bin Laden himself of operating 'terrorist training camps in the Sudanese desert. Sudan therefore began efforts to expel bin Laden. The 9/11 Commission Report states:

In late 1995, when Bin Laden was still in Sudan, the State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) learned that Sudanese officials were discussing with the Saudi government the possibility of expelling Bin Laden. CIA paramilitary officer Billy Waugh tracked down Bin Ladin in the Sudan and prepared an operation to apprehend him, but was denied authorization.^[91] U.S. Ambassador Timothy Carney encouraged the Sudanese to pursue this course. The Saudis, however, did not want Bin Laden, giving as their reason their revocation of his citizenship. Sudan's minister of defense, Fatih Erwa, has claimed that Sudan offered to hand Bin Laden over to the United States. The Commission has found no credible evidence that this was so. Ambassador Carney had instructions only to push the Sudanese to expel Bin Laden. Ambassador Carney had no legal basis to ask for more from the Sudanese since, at the time, there was no indictment outstanding against bin Laden in any country.^[92]

The 9/11 Commission Report further states:

In February 1996, Sudanese officials began approaching officials from the United States and other governments, asking what actions of theirs might ease foreign pressure. In secret meetings with Saudi officials, Sudan offered to expel Bin Laden to Saudi Arabia and asked the Saudis to pardon him. U.S. officials became aware of these secret discussions, certainly by March. Saudi officials apparently wanted Bin Laden expelled from Sudan. They had already revoked his citizenship, however, and would not tolerate his presence in their country. Also Bin Laden may have no longer felt safe in Sudan, where he had already escaped at least one assassination attempt that he believed to have been the work of the Egyptian or Saudi regimes, and paid for by the CIA.

In May 1996, due to increasing pressure on Sudan, from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United States, bin Laden was permitted to leave for a country of his choice. He chose to return to Jalalabad, Afghanistan aboard a chartered flight, and there forged a close relationship with Mullah Mohammed Omar.^[93][94] Despite his ambitions and organizational skills, when bin Laden left Sudan, he and his organization were significantly weakened.^[95]

In August, 1996, bin Laden declared war against the United States. Despite the assurance of President George H.W. Bush to King Fahd in 1990, that all U.S. forces based in Saudi Arabia would be withdrawn once the Iraqi threat had been dealt with, by 1996 the Americans were still there, citing the continued existence of Saddam's regime (which Bush had chosen not to destroy). Bin Laden's view was that "the 'evils' of the Middle East arose from America's attempt to take over the region and from its support for Israel. Saudi Arabia had been turned into 'an American colony".^[96] The fatwā was first published in Al Quds Al Arabi, a London-based newspaper. It was entitled "Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places."^[97] Saudi Arabia is sometimes called "The Land of the Two Holy Mosques" in reference to Mecca and Medina, the two holiest places in Islam. The reference to 'occupation' in the fatwā referred to US forces based in Saudi Arabia for the purpose of controlling air space in Iraq, known as Operation Southern Watch.

In Afghanistan, bin Laden and al-Qaeda raised money from "donors from the days of the Soviet jihad", and from the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to establish more training camps for Mujahideen fighters.^[98] Bin Laden effectively took over Ariana Afghan Airlines, which ferried Islamic militants, arms, cash and opium through the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan as well as provided false identifications to members of bin Laden's terrorist network.^[99] Viktor Bout helped to run the airline, maintaining planes and loading cargo. Michael Scheuer, head of the CIA's bin Laden unit, concluded that Ariana was being used as a "terrorist taxi service".^[100]

Early attacks and aid for attacks[link]

Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir interviewing Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan in 1997

It is believed that the first bombing attack involving bin Laden was the December 29, 1992, bombing of the Gold Mihor Hotel in Aden in which two people were killed.^[101]

It was after this bombing that al-Qaeda was reported to have developed its justification for the killing of innocent people. According to a fatwa issued by Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, the killing of someone standing near the enemy is justified because any innocent bystander will find their proper reward in death, going to Jannah (Paradise) if they were good Muslims and to Jahannam (hell) if they were bad or non-believers.^[102] The fatwa was issued to al-Qaeda members but not the general public.

In the 1990s bin Laden's al-Qaeda assisted jihadis financially and sometimes militarily in Algeria, Egypt and Afghanistan. In 1992 or 1993 bin Laden sent an emissary, Qari el-Said, with $40,000 to Algeria to aid the Islamists and urge war rather than negotiation with the government. Their advice was heeded but the war that followed killed 150,000–200,000 Algerians and ended with Islamist surrender to the government.

Bin Laden funded the Luxor massacre of November 17, 1997,^{[103][104][105]} which killed 62 civilians, but outraged the Egyptian public. In mid-1997, the Northern Alliance threatened to overrun Jalalabad, causing bin Laden to abandon his Nazim Jihad compound and move his operations to Tarnak Farms in the south.^[106]

Another successful attack was carried out in the city of Mazar-e-Sharif in Afghanistan. Bin Laden helped cement his alliance with the Taliban by sending several hundreds of Afghan Arab fighters along to help the Taliban kill between five and six thousand Hazaras overrunning the city.^[107]

In February 1998, Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri co-signed a fatwa in the name of the World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders which declared the killing of North Americans and their allies an "individual duty for every Muslim" to "liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque (in Jerusalem) and the holy mosque (in Mecca) from their grip".^[108][109] At the public announcement of the fatwa bin Laden announced that North Americans are "very easy targets". He told the attending journalists, "You will see the results of this in a very short time."^[110]

Bin Laden and Al-Zawahiri organized an al-Qaeda congress on June 24, 1998.^[111]

The 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings were a series of attacks that occurred on August 7, 1998, in which hundreds of people were killed in simultaneous truck bomb explosions at the United States embassies in the major East African cities of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya. The attacks were linked to local members of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, brought Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri to the attention of the United States public for the first time, and resulted in the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation placing bin Laden on its Ten Most Wanted list.

In December 1998, the Director of Central Intelligence Counterterrorist Center reported to President Bill Clinton that al-Qaeda was preparing for attacks in the United States of America, including the training of personnel to hijack aircraft.^[112]

At the end of 2000, Richard Clarke revealed that Islamic militants headed by bin Laden had planned a triple attack on January 3, 2000 which would have included bombings in Jordan of the Radisson SAS Hotel in Amman and tourists at Mount Nebo and a site on the Jordan River, the sinking of the destroyer USS The Sullivans in Yemen, as well as an attack on a target within the United States. The plan was foiled by the arrest of the Jordanian terrorist cell, the sinking of the explosive-filled skiff intended to target the destroyer, and the arrest of Ahmed Ressam.^[113]

Yugoslav Wars[link]

A former U.S. State Department official in October 2001 described Bosnia and Herzegovina as a safe haven for terrorists, after it was asserted that militant elements of the former Sarajevo government were protecting extremists, some with ties to Osama bin Laden.^[114] In 1997, Rzeczpospolita, one of the largest Polish daily newspapers, reported that intelligence services of the Nordic-Polish SFOR Brigade suspected that a center for training terrorists from Islamic countries was located in the Bocina Donja village near Maglaj in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1992, hundreds of volunteers joined an "all-mujahedeen unit" called El Moujahed in an abandoned hillside factory, a compound with a hospital and prayer hall.

According to Middle East intelligence reports, bin Laden financed small convoys of recruits from the Arab world through his businesses in Sudan. Among them was Karim Said Atmani who was identified by authorities as the document forger for a group of Algerians accused of plotting the bombings in the United States of America.^[115] He is a former roommate of Ahmed Ressam, the man arrested at the Canadian-U.S. border in mid-December 1999 with a car full of nitroglycerin and bomb-making materials.^[116][117] He was convicted of colluding with Osama bin Laden by a French court.^[118]

A Bosnian government search of passport and residency records, conducted at the urging of the United States, revealed other former mujahideen who were linked to the same Algerian group or to other groups of suspected terrorists, and had lived in the area 60 miles (97 km) north of Sarajevo, the capital, in the past few years. Khalil al-Deek, was arrested in Jordan in late December 1999 on suspicion of involvement in a plot to blow up tourist sites; a second man with Bosnian citizenship, Hamid Aich, lived in Canada at the same time as Atmani and worked for a charity associated with Osama bin Laden. In its June 26, 1997, report on the bombing of the Al Khobar building in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, The New York Times noted that those arrested confessed to serving with Bosnian Muslims forces. Further, the captured men also admitted to ties with Osama bin Laden.^{[119][120][121]}

In 1999 it was revealed that bin Laden and his Tunisian assistant Mehrez Aodouni were granted citizenship and Bosnian passports in 1993 by the government in Sarajevo. This information was denied by the Bosnian government following the September 11 attacks, but it was later found that Aodouni was arrested in Turkey and that at that time he possessed the Bosnian passport. Following this revelation, a new explanation was given that bin Laden "did not personally collect his Bosnian passport" and that officials at the Bosnian embassy in Vienna, which issued the passport, could not have known who bin Laden was at the time.^{[119][120][121]} The Bosnian daily Oslobođenje published in 2001 that three men, believed to be linked to bin Laden, were arrested in Sarajevo in July 2001. The three, one of whom was identified as Imad El Misri, were Egyptian nationals. The paper said that two of the suspects were holding Bosnian passports.^[119]

In 1998 it was reported that bin Laden was operating his al-Qaeda network out of Albania. The Charleston Gazette quoted Fatos Klosi, the head of the Albanian intelligence service, as saying a network run by Saudi exile Osama bin Laden sent units to fight in the Serbian province of Kosovo. Confirmation of these activities came from Claude Kader, a French national who said he was a member of bin Laden's Albanian network.

By 1998 four members of Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) were arrested in Albania and extradited to Egypt.^[122]

During his trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia former Serbian President Slobodan Milošević presented FBI documents that verified bin Laden's al-Qaeda had a presence in the Balkans and aided the Kosovo Liberation Army, which was identified by the U.S. State Department as a terrorist organization shortly before the 1998 embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya. Milošević had argued that the United States aided the terrorists which culminated in its backing of the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War.^[123]

September 11, 2001 attacks[link]

"God knows it did not cross our minds to attack the Towers, but after the situation became unbearable—and we witnessed the injustice and tyranny of the American-Israeli alliance against our people in Palestine and Lebanon—I thought about it. And the events that affected me directly were that of 1982 and the events that followed—when America allowed the Israelis to invade Lebanon, helped by the U.S. Sixth Fleet. As I watched the destroyed towers in Lebanon, it occurred to me punish the unjust the same way: to destroy towers in America so it could taste some of what we are tasting and to stop killing our children and women."

— Osama bin Laden, 2004^[124]

United Airlines Flight 175 crashes into the south tower

After his denial,^{[125][126][Full citation needed]} Osama bin Laden finally claimed responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States in 2004.^{[127][128][129]} The attacks involved the hijacking of four commercial passenger aircraft,^[130] the subsequent destruction of those planes and the World Trade Center in New York City, New York, severe damage to The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia,^[131] and the deaths of 2,973 people^[132] and the nineteen hijackers.^[133] In response to the attacks, the United States launched a War on Terror to depose the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and capture al-Qaeda operatives, and several countries strengthened their anti-terrorism legislation to preclude future attacks. The CIA's Special Activities Division was given the lead in tracking down and killing or capturing bin Laden.^[134]

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has stated that classified^[135] evidence linking al-Qaeda and bin Laden to the September 11 attacks is clear and irrefutable.^[136] The UK Government reached a similar conclusion regarding al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden's culpability for the September 11 attacks, although the government report notes that the evidence presented is not necessarily sufficient for a prosecutable case.^[137]

Bin Laden initially denied involvement in the attacks. On September 16, 2001, bin Laden read a statement later broadcast by Qatar's Al Jazeera satellite channel denying responsibility for the attack.^[138]

In a videotape recovered by U.S. forces in November 2001 in Jalalabad, bin Laden was seen discussing the attack with Khaled al-Harbi in a way that indicates foreknowledge.^[139] The tape was broadcast on various news networks on December 13, 2001. The merits of this translation have been disputed. Arabist Dr. Abdel El M. Husseini stated: "This translation is very problematic. At the most important places where it is held to prove the guilt of bin Laden, it is not identical with the Arabic."^[140]

2001 video of bin Laden

In the 2004 Osama bin Laden video, bin Laden abandoned his denials without retracting past statements. In it he stated he had personally directed the nineteen hijackers.^[128][141] In the 18-minute tape, played on Al-Jazeera, four days before the American presidential election, bin Laden accused U.S. President George W. Bush of negligence on the hijacking of the planes on September 11.^[128]

According to the tapes, bin Laden claimed he was inspired to destroy the World Trade Center after watching the destruction of towers in Lebanon by Israel during the 1982 Lebanon War.^[142]

Through two other tapes aired by Al Jazeera in 2006, Osama bin Laden announced, "I am the one in charge of the nineteen brothers. [...] I was responsible for entrusting the nineteen brothers [...] with the raids" (May 23, 2006).^[143] In the tapes he was seen with Ramzi bin al-Shibh, as well as two of the 9/11 hijackers, Hamza al-Ghamdi and Wail al-Shehri, as they made preparations for the attacks (videotape broadcast September 7, 2006).^[144]

Identified motivations of the September 11 attacks include the support of Israel by the United States, presence of the U.S. military in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the U.S. enforcement of sanctions against Iraq.

Criminal charges[link]

On March 16, 1998, Libya issued the first official Interpol arrest warrant against bin Laden and three other people. They were charged for killing Silvan Becker, agent of Germany's domestic intelligence service, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, in the Terrorism Department, and his wife Vera in Libya on March 10, 1994.^[68][145] Bin Laden was still wanted by the Libyan government at the time of his death.^[146][147] Osama bin Laden was first indicted by the United States on June 8, 1998, when a grand jury indicted Osama bin Laden on charges of killing five Americans and two Indians in the November 14, 1995, truck bombing of a U.S.-operated Saudi National Guard training center in Riyadh.^[148] Bin Laden was charged with "conspiracy to attack defense utilities of the United States" and prosecutors further charged that bin Laden is the head of the terrorist organization called al-Qaeda, and that he was a major financial backer of Islamic fighters worldwide.^[148] Bin Laden denied involvement but praised the attack. On November 4, 1998, Osama bin Laden was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, on charges of Murder of U.S. Nationals Outside the United States, Conspiracy to Murder U.S. Nationals Outside the United States, and Attacks on a Federal Facility Resulting in Death^[149] for his alleged role in the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. The evidence against bin Laden included courtroom testimony by former al-Qaeda members and satellite phone records, from a phone purchased for him by al-Qaeda procurement agent Ziyad Khaleel in the United States.^[150][151] However the Taliban ruled not to extradict Bin Laden on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence published in the indictments and that non-Muslim courts lacked standing to try Muslims^[152]

Bin Laden became the 456th person listed on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, when he was added to the list on June 7, 1999, following his indictment along with others for capital crimes in the 1998 embassy attacks. Attempts at assassination and requests for the extradition of bin Laden from the Taliban of Afghanistan were met with failure prior to the bombing of Afghanistan in October 2001.^[153] In 1999, U.S. President Bill Clinton convinced the United Nations to impose sanctions against Afghanistan in an attempt to force the Taliban to extradite him.^[154]

Years later, on October 10, 2001, bin Laden appeared as well on the initial list of the top 22 FBI Most Wanted Terrorists, which was released to the public by the President of the United States George W. Bush, in direct response to the September 11 attacks, but which was again based on the indictment for the 1998 embassy attack. Bin Laden was among a group of thirteen fugitive terrorists wanted on that latter list for questioning about the 1998 embassy bombings. Bin Laden remains the only fugitive ever to be listed on both FBI fugitive lists.

Despite the multiple indictments listed above and multiple requests, the Taliban refused to extradite Osama bin Laden. They did however offer to try him before an Islamic court if evidence of Osama bin Laden's involvement in the September 11 attacks was provided. It was not until eight days after the bombing of Afghanistan began in October 2001 that the Taliban finally did offer to turn over Osama bin Laden to a third-party country for trial in return for the United States ending the bombing. This offer was rejected by President Bush stating that this was no longer negotiable, with Bush responding "there's no need to discuss innocence or guilt. We know he's guilty."^[155] In June 2006 FBI's chief of investigative publicity, Rex Tomb, saw no hard evidence connecting bin Laden to 9/11.^[156][157]

On June 15, 2011, federal prosecutors of the United States of America officially dropped all criminal charges against Osama bin Laden following his death in May.^[158]

Pursuit by the United States[link]

U.S. propaganda leaflet used in Afghanistan, with bin Laden second from the left

Clinton administration[link]

Capturing Osama bin Laden had been an objective of the United States government since the presidency of Bill Clinton.^[159] Shortly after the September 11 attacks it was revealed that President Clinton had signed a directive authorizing the CIA (and specifically their elite Special Activities Division) to apprehend bin Laden and bring him to the United States to stand trial after the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Africa; if taking bin Laden alive was deemed impossible, then deadly force was authorized.^[160] On August 20, 1998, 66 cruise missiles launched by United States Navy ships in the Arabian Sea struck bin Laden's training camps near Khost in Afghanistan, narrowly missing him by a few hours.^[161] In 1999 the CIA, together with Pakistani military intelligence, had prepared a team of approximately 60 Pakistani commandos to infiltrate Afghanistan to capture or kill bin Laden, but the plan was aborted by the 1999 Pakistani coup d'état;^[161] in 2000, foreign operatives working on behalf of the CIA had fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a convoy of vehicles in which bin Laden was traveling through the mountains of Afghanistan, hitting one of the vehicles but not the one in which bin Laden was in.^[160]

In 2000, prior to the September 11 attacks, Paul Bremer characterized the Clinton administration as "correctly focused on bin Laden", while Robert Oakley criticized their "obsession with Osama".^[113]

Bush administration[link]

Immediately after the September 11 attacks, U.S. government officials named bin Laden and the al-Qaeda organization as the prime suspects and offered a reward of $25 million for information leading to his capture or death.^[42][162] On July 13, 2007, this figure was doubled to $50 million.^[163] The Airline Pilots Association and the Air Transport Association offered an additional $2 million reward.^[164]

According to The Washington Post, the U.S. government concluded that Osama bin Laden was present during the Battle of Tora Bora, Afghanistan in late 2001, and according to civilian and military officials with first-hand knowledge, failure by the United States to commit enough U.S. ground troops to hunt him led to his escape and was the gravest failure by the United States in the war against al-Qaeda. Intelligence officials have assembled what they believe to be decisive evidence, from contemporary and subsequent interrogations and intercepted communications, that bin Laden began the Battle of Tora Bora inside the cave complex along Afghanistan's mountainous eastern border.^[165]

The Washington Post also reported that the CIA unit composed of their special operations paramilitary forces dedicated to capturing bin Laden was shut down in late 2005.^[166] Bush had previously defended this scaling back of the effort several times, saying, "I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority."^[167]

U.S. and Afghanistan forces raided the mountain caves in Tora Bora between August 14–16, 2007. The military was drawn to the area after receiving intelligence of a pre-Ramadan meeting held by al-Qaeda members. After killing dozens of al-Qaeda and Taliban members, they did not find either Osama bin Laden or Ayman al-Zawahiri.^[168]

Obama administration[link]

Members of the Obama administration track the mission that killed bin Laden

On October 7, 2008, in the second presidential debate, on foreign policy, then-presidential candidate Barack Obama pledged, "We will kill bin Laden. We will crush al-Qaeda. That has to be our biggest national security priority."^[169] Upon being elected, then President-elect Obama expressed his plans to "renew U.S. commitment to finding al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, according to his national security advisers" in an effort to ratchet up the hunt for the terrorist.^[169] President Obama rejected the Bush administration's policy on bin Laden that "conflated all terror threats from al-Qaeda to Hamas to Hezbollah," replacing it with "with a covert, laserlike focus on al-Qaeda and its spawn."^[170][171]

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said in December 2009 that officials had had no reliable information on bin Laden's whereabouts for years. One week later, General Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan said in December 2009 that al-Qaeda will not be defeated unless its leader, Osama bin Laden, is captured or killed. Testifying to the U.S. Congress, he said bin Laden had become an "iconic figure, whose survival emboldens al-Qaeda as a franchising organization across the world", and that Obama's deployment of 30,000 extra troops to Afghanistan meant that success would be possible. "I don't think that we can finally defeat al-Qaeda until he's captured or killed", McChrystal said of bin Laden. "Killing or capturing bin Laden would not spell the end of al-Qaeda, but the movement could not be eradicated while he remained at large."^[172]

In April 2011, President Obama ordered a covert operation to kill or capture bin Laden. On May 2, 2011, the White House announced that U.S. Navy SEALs had carried it out, killing him in his Abbottabad, Pakistan compound.^[173]

Activities and whereabouts after the September 11 attacks[link]

While referring to Osama bin Laden in a CNN film clip on September 17, 2001, then President George W. Bush stated, "I want justice. There is an old poster out west, as I recall, that said, 'Wanted dead or alive'.^[174] Subsequently, bin Laden retreated further from public contact to avoid capture. Numerous speculative press reports were issued about his whereabouts or even death; some placed bin Laden in different locations during overlapping time periods. None were ever definitively proven. After military offensives in Afghanistan failed to uncover his whereabouts, Pakistan was regularly identified as his suspected hiding place. Some of the conflicting reports regarding bin Laden's continued whereabouts and mistaken claims about his death follow:

• In December 11, 2005, a letter from Atiyah Abd al-Rahman to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi indicated that bin Laden and the al-Qaeda leadership were based in the Waziristan region of Pakistan at the time. In the letter, translated by the United States military's Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, "Atiyah" instructs Zarqawi to "send messengers from your end to Waziristan so that they meet with the brothers of the leadership [...] I am now on a visit to them and I am writing you this letter as I am with them..." Al-Rahman also indicates that bin Laden and al-Qaeda are "weak" and "have many of their own problems." The letter has been deemed authentic by military and counterterrorism officials, according to The Washington Post.^[175][176]
• Al-Qaeda continued to release time-sensitive and professionally verified videos demonstrating bin Laden's continued survival as recently as August 2007.^[177]
• In 2009, a research team led by Thomas W. Gillespie and John A. Agnew of UCLA used satellite-aided geographical analysis to pinpoint three compounds in Parachinar as bin Laden's likely hideouts.^[178]
• In March 2009, the New York Daily News reported that the hunt for bin Laden had centered in the Chitral District of Pakistan, including the Kalam Valley. Author, Rohan Gunaratna, stated that captured al-Qaeda leaders had confirmed that bin Laden was hiding in Chitral.^[179]
• In the first week of December 2009, a Taliban detainee in Pakistan said he had information that bin Laden was in Afghanistan in 2009. The detainee reported that in January or February (2009) he met a trusted contact who had seen bin Laden in Afghanistan about 15 to 20 days earlier. However, on December 6, 2009, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates stated that the United States had had no reliable information on the whereabouts of bin Laden in years.^[180] Pakistan's Prime Minister Gillani rejected claims that Osama bin Laden was hiding in Pakistan.^[181]
• On December 9, 2009, BBC News reported that U.S. Army General Stanley A. McChrystal, who served as Commander of the U.S. forces in Afghanistan from June 15, 2009, until June 23, 2010, emphasized the continued importance of the capture or killing of bin Laden, thus indicating that the U.S. high command believed that bin Laden was still alive.^[182]
• On February 2, 2010, Afghan president, Hamid Karzai arrived in Saudi Arabia for an official visit. The agenda included discussion of a possible Saudi role in Karzai's plan to reintegrate Taliban militants. During the visit an anonymous official of the Saudi Foreign Ministry declared that the kingdom had no intention of getting involved in peacemaking in Afghanistan unless the Taliban severed ties with extremists and expelled Osama bin Laden.^[183]
• On June 7, 2010, the Kuwaiti newspaper, Al Siyassa reported that bin Laden was hiding out in the mountainous town of Savzevar, in north eastern Iran.^[184] The Australian News,online edition published the claim on June 9.^[185] On June 9, The Australian News, online edition repeated the claim.
• On October 18, 2010, an unnamed NATO official suggested that bin Laden was "alive and well and living comfortably" in Pakistan, protected by elements of the country's intelligence services. A senior Pakistani official denied the allegations and said the accusations were designed to put pressure on the Pakistani government ahead of talks aimed at strengthening ties between Pakistan and the United States.^[186]
• On April 16, 2011, a leaked Al Jazeera report claimed that bin Laden had been captured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan.^[187]

On March 29, 2012 Pakistani newspaper Dawn acquired a report produced by Pakistani security officials, based on interrogation of his three surviving wives, that detailed his movements while living underground in Pakistan.^[188]

In a letter Bin Laden wrote in 2010 he chastised followers who had reinterpreted al-tatarrus — an Islamic doctrine meant to excuse the unintended killing of non-combatants in unusual circumstances — to justify routine massacres of Muslim civilians which had turned Muslims against the jihadi movement. Of the groups affiliated with al-Qaida, Bin Laden condemned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan for an attack on members of a hostile tribe, declaring that “the operation is not justified, as there were casualties of noncombatants.” Bin Laden wrote that the tatarrus doctrine “needs to be revisited based on the modern-day context and clear boundaries established.” He asked a subordinate to draw up a jihadist code of conduct that would constrain military operations in order to avoid civilian casualties. In Yemen, Bin Laden urged his allies to seek a “truce” that would bring the country “stability” or would at least “show the people that we are careful in keeping … the Muslims safe on the basis of peace.” In Somalia, he called attention to the extreme poverty caused by constant warfare, and he advised al-Shabab to pursue economic development. He instructed his followers around the world to focus on education and persuasion rather than “entering into confrontations” with Islamic political parties.^[189]

Whereabouts just prior to his death[link]

In April 2011, various intelligence outlets were able to pinpoint bin Laden's suspected location near Abbottabad, Pakistan. It was originally believed that bin Laden was hiding near the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas, but he was found 100 miles (160 km) away in a three-story mansion in Abbottabad at 34°10′9.51″N 73°14′32.78″E / 34.1693083°N 73.2424389°E / 34.1693083; 73.2424389.^{[190][191][192]} Bin Laden's mansion was located 0.8 miles (1.3 km) southwest of the Pakistan Military Academy, the country's "West Point".^{[193][194][195][196]} Google Earth maps show that the compound was not present in 2001, but was present on images taken in 2005.^{[original research?]}

Death[link]

Website of the Federal Bureau of Investigation listing bin Laden as deceased on the Most Wanted List on May 3, 2011

Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan on May 2, 2011, shortly after 1 am local time^[197][198] by a United States special forces military unit. The operation, code-named Operation Neptune Spear, was ordered by United States President Barack Obama and carried out in a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operation by a team of United States Navy SEALs from the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group (also known as DEVGRU or informally by its former name, SEAL Team Six) of the Joint Special Operations Command, with support from CIA operatives on the ground.^[199][200] The raid on bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan was launched from Afghanistan.^[201] After the raid, U.S. forces took bin Laden's body to Afghanistan for identification, then buried it at sea within 24 hours after his death.^[202]

Critics accused Pakistan's military and security establishment of protecting bin Laden.^[203] For example, Mosharraf Zaidi, a leading Pakistani columnist, stated, "It seems deeply improbable that bin Laden could have been where he was killed without the knowledge of some parts of the Pakistani state."^[204] Pakistan's president Asif Ali Zardari denied that his country's security forces sheltered bin Laden,^[205][206] and called any supposed support for bin Laden by the Pakistani government "baseless speculation".

It was speculated that the issue might further strain U.S. ties with Pakistan.^[207][208] Bin Laden was killed in what some suggest was his residence for five years.^[209][210] It was an expensive compound located less than a mile from Pakistan Military Academy,^{[211][212][213]} probably built for him^[214] and less than 100 kilometers' drive from the capital.