Imam Abu Adam Hesham Shashaa, a heralded imam of peace, beloved by the New York Times (much the way they too fawned over Anwar Awlaki until the truth about him was revealed), was arrested for secretly working and fighting for the Islamic State.
The Palestinian Imam Hesham Shashaa had been regarded as a kind of “secret weapon” for certain radicalization processes. A few days ago, he was arrested in Spain, where he had a villa. The Spanish authorities are charging him with support for ISIS, glorification of terrorism and the indoctrination of religious brothers into jihad.
“Now he was arrested. As several Spanish newspapers report, he is accused of spreading jihadist fighters and propagating propaganda material from the terrorist Islamic state. As reported by the Spanish Portal “Información”, he is accused of being a member of the IS. According to the Spanish Minister of the Interior, he is suspected of receiving and supporting jihadists from Iraq and Syria. He should have obtained money and documents. ” (more here)
If these “deradicalization” programs won’t deal with the motive, the inspiration for this holy war – namely Islam, how could they possibly be successful? We see Muslims in “deradicalization” programs arrested for jihad plots while in the program. Of all the absurd and deluded responses by the elites to the jihad threat, “deradicalization” ranks the most irrational. How can a program claiming to address ideological motive work without addressing the ideology? These delusional programs are based on the idea that Islam is a religion of peace, and that jihad terrorists are misunderstanding it. But this is false, so the programs are a failure. And these imams are playing us for the fools we are begging to be.
The New York Times wrote of him:
He travels to mosques and madrasas throughout Europe, as well as the Middle East and Pakistan, telling young Muslims that fighting against American troops and other forces is a violation of their religion. He condemns militant recruiters in his sermons, urges worshipers at Friday Prayer to call the police if they hear about plans for an attack and readily talks with law enforcement officials about the reasons for radicalization and the best way to combat it.
He travels to mosques and madrasas throughout Europe, as well as the Middle East and Pakistan, telling young Muslims that fighting against American troops and other forces is a violation of their religion. He condemns militant recruiters in his sermons, urges worshipers at Friday Prayer to call the police if they hear about plans for an attack and readily talks with law enforcement officials about the reasons for radicalization and the best way to combat it.
“We cannot just sit down and let other people hijack our religion,” he said in an interview.
Threats come with the territory, so now Mr. Shashaa travels with former students who act as his bodyguards.
Lots of other media joined the The New York Times chorus of praise.
This is the story of 22-year-old Peter, who a year ago was determined to move to Syria and join the jihad. And it is the story of the 45-year-old Leipzig imam Hesham Shashaa, called Abu Adam, who has been working for eight months to make Peter a peace-loving Muslim.
Poor Google translate:
He was active in Munich and Leipzig: Imam in Spain
Moraira – The Spanish national police have arrested Imam Abu Adam Hesham Shashaa in a large-scale operation in Moraira.
He looks like Osama bin Laden, but he has always distanced himself from Islamic terrorism. Possibly just a lip confession. According to the Costa news , the national police recently arrested Imam Abu Adam Hesham Shashaa in a large-scale operation in Moraira. The allegations are fierce: The Islamic scholar is accused of belonging to the terrorist Islamic state (IS), the glorification of terrorism and the indoctrination of religious brothers with Salafist and Jihadist ideas.
“Deradicalization” progams are abject failures worldwide.
Minneapolis Terror ‘Deradicalization’ Program Fails After Just Months, ‘Test Case’ Back in Jail
De-radicalization programs have been implemented elsewhere, notably in Indonesia and Saudi Arabia.
11 ex-Gitmo prisoners flee the Saudi “rehabilitation program” and join up with terrorist groups
Jaw-dropper: 25 former Gitmo detainees “return to militancy” despite Saudi rehab program!
Graduate from Saudi jihadi rehab program killed in Syrian jihad: “killed a large number of Christians before his acceptance by God”
Flight 253 jihadist wasn’t cured by Saudi anti-jihad art therapy
Former Guantanamo detainee now top al-Qaeda ideologue — “He was transferred to Saudi Arabia in 2006 where he was placed in a national rehabilitation project.”
Indonesian government admits that its jihadist rehab program is a failure
A leading international counter-terrorism expert issued a warning about the success rate of deradicalisation programs.
Professor Boaz Ganor, from the International Policy Institute for Counter Terrorism, has told a meeting in Sydney only a minority of deradicalisation cases work.
“I don’t believe in deradicalisation in general terms because once those people have been radicalised, it is practically impossible to uproot those ideas in their heads,” he said.
We need to understand how terrorist groups such as Islamic State are recruiting young men and women.” We do need to understand that, and it isn’t hard to understand, but since it involves a direct appeal to Islamic authenticity, virtually all authorities choose to ignore it and search for other explanations.
The judge did not get the memo.
“Judge Tries New Approach With Terror Defendants: Deradicalization,” By Nicole Hong, Wall Street Journal, May 8, 2016:
Program seeks to figure out why young Somali-American men became radicalized and to try to turn them from violent extremism ,”
As U.S. officials grapple with the balance between punishment and rehabilitation for American sympathizers of Islamic State, one judge is embarking on an unprecedented experiment.
U.S. District Judge Michael Davis, a senior federal judge in Minnesota, has recruited a researcher from Germany to evaluate a group of young Somali-American men who attempted to travel overseas to join Islamic State. The goal: figure out why each defendant became radicalized and propose a plan to turn each away from violent extremism.
A deradicalization program like this has never been attempted in the U.S., experts say, and other prosecutors around the country are paying attention to Minnesota as a possible model.The Minnesota case focuses on 10 men around their early 20s, several of whom bought plane tickets or fake passports but were stopped by law enforcement before they could board planes.
Six of them have pleaded guilty so far, and Judge Davis has ordered the deradicalization evaluation to help shape his sentencing decision, and identify what type of intervention each defendant needs. The evaluation is voluntary, but at least five of the guilty defendants have agreed to participate.
Three defendants are expected to go to trial Monday, while the other remaining defendant successfully made it overseas and is at large.
Judge Davis sought the help of Daniel Koehler, a researcher from Germany who earlier focused on helping young people leave the neo-Nazi movement in Germany and currently runs a German nonprofit that helps implement deradicalization programs.
Abdullahi Yusuf, who returned to jail from a halfway house after a box cutter was found under his bed. Photo: Sherburne County Sheriff
The Minnesota experiment faces several challenges. In terrorism cases, any punishment that doesn’t include a harsh prison sentence could raise concerns about public safety. And a deradicalization program must navigate the delicate boundaries of the First Amendment’s freedom of speech and religion guarantees. Critics worry it could become a government brainwashing experiment.
But Judge Davis’s undertaking is part of a growing belief among many U.S. officials that the Americans seeking to join Islamic State require a different law-enforcement solution from the past.
More than 80 people in the U.S. have been arrested on Islamic State-related charges since early 2014, and their average age is 26, much younger than previous terrorism defendants. They are overwhelmingly U.S. citizens.
Unlike the sophisticated operatives in groups like al Qaeda, these defendants usually had no prior military training and were first exposed to Islamic State’s ideology through social media.
The program in Minnesota signals a potential willingness in law enforcement to consider alternatives to lengthy incarceration with this unusual group, especially because hefty prison time could push them further toward extremism, experts say.
“Right now, we have intel, detection, investigation, arrest. There’s no in-between there,” said John Miller, the New York Police Department’s deputy commissioner for counterterrorism, in a recent speech.
“It is time to try different modes of intervention…to see how many people can we walk away from this not in handcuffs,” Mr. Miller said.
Judge Davis declined to comment for this article. He has been quoted in news reports saying the program isn’t intended for the defendants to avoid prison time, but to assess whether they are open to treatment.
Judge Davis visited Berlin in December, where Mr. Koehler shared his background and intervention philosophies with the judge over lunch.
Adnan Abdihamid Farah, who pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide support to Islamic State. Photo: Sherburne County SheriffAlthough 40 to 50 deradicalization programs exist in other countries, researchers say it is difficult to measure whether these methods are successful. Mr. Miller, for instance, pointed out that some current leaders of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula were graduates of Saudi Arabia’s deradicalization program.
Judge Davis learned firsthand about the difficulties of deradicalization last year, when he allowed one defendant in the case, 20-year-old Abdullahi Yusuf, to spend time before trial in a halfway house and undergo counseling, instead of waiting in jail. Mr. Yusuf was sent back to federal custody a few months later, after a box cutter was found under his bed.
Mr. Koehler flew to Minneapolis in mid-April and spent about two weeks interviewing Mr. Yusuf and the other defendants, as well as family members and Somali community leaders. He also conducted training for probation office staff on the elements of jihadist ideology and the deradicalization process. He hopes to present a proposal to the judge within the next three months.
The experience has raised questions among defense lawyers.
“Is [radicalization] a disease that you cure with psychotherapy or a pill? If the deradicalization is for him to moderate his religious beliefs, I can’t do that,” said Kenneth Udoibok, who represents 20-year-old Adnan Farah, one of the defendants.
Mr. Koehler said in an interview that the ultimate deradicalization program could include several components, including job training, volunteer work in the community and religious counseling.
Minnesota has been viewed as a pioneer in efforts to counter violent extremism. For years, terrorist groups like al-Shabaab, and now Islamic State, have tried to recruit foreign fighters from the large Somali-American community in Minneapolis, spurring efforts from the U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota to work more closely with the community on prevention efforts, including partnering with local non-profits to provide funding for youth programs.
Such programs around the country have often run into resistance from Muslim community members, who say they feel unfairly targeted by the government. Sadik Warfa, a Somali community leader in Minneapolis, says he hopes Judge Davis’s deradicalization program will address the broader catalysts that may have pushed the young men to espouse radical ideas, including the barriers Somali immigrants face when seeking higher-level jobs.
Deradicalization attempts elsewhere in the U.S. have been uneven. Last summer, defense lawyers for Adam Shafi, a 23-year-old from Fremont, Calif., who allegedly tried to join a terrorist group in Syria, drew up a proposal that would allow Mr. Shafi to avoid criminal prosecution and undergo counseling instead with Mr. Koehler.
But momentum for the program stopped after the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif., according to Mr. Shafi’s lawyer.
In Chicago, prosecutors might unveil more details of a proposed deradicalization program at the June 15 sentencing of Mohammed Hamzah Khan, a 20-year-old who attempted to travel overseas to Syria with his two younger siblings to join Islamic State. Officials in Chicago haven’t said what Mr. Khan’s program will entail.
