Islamic State’s English-language magazines, 2014-2017

Ingram, Haroro. “Islamic State’s English-language magazines, 2014-2017: Trends & Implications for CT-CVE Strategic Communications.” The International Centre for Counter-Terrorism – The Hague 8, no. 15 (2018) One for the reading list. I look at some of these issues in my next book. "This paper provides a quick reference guide to IS’s English-language magazines released between June 2014 and September 2017 examining key themes and propaganda strategies deployed across three issues of Islamic State News, four issues of Islamic State Report, fifteen issues of Dabiq and thirteen issues of Rumiyah"

Parsons Green: Alleged bomber 'trained by IS in Iraq'

BBC News, Parsons Green: Alleged bomber 'trained by IS in Iraq' "Asked in the Home Office interview whether he had had any training from the Islamic State group Mr Hassan allegedly said: "They trained us on how to kill. It was all religious based"."

Met Police interview

CTC, A View from the CT Foxhole: Neil Basu, Senior National Coordinator for Counterterrorism Policing in the United Kingdom Long interview.

Morocco: “The women scholars here are even more important than men.”

Dina Temple-Raston, The Female Quran Experts Fighting Radical Islam in Morocco "The morchidat program leverages a woman’s familial and social influence to combat radical Islam at the level of the sidewalks—and at individual mosques. “We’ve found over the years that if we have women organize something at the mosque, 450 people show up. If the men are put in charge, they’re lucky if 25 guys make the effort,” El-Azaar said."

Finsbury Park attack - trial

Daily Mail, CCTV 'captures the moment Finsbury Park murderer ploughed his rental van into a crowd of Muslim worshippers leaving one man dead after asking for directions to the nearest mosque', 23 Jan 2018 Comprehensive coverage of this case, showing the roles of social media and internet content. Also see Wales Online, Cardiff man accused of carrying out Finsbury Park attack told pub-goers 'I’m going to kill all Muslims', court hears, 23 Jan 2018

A New American Leader Rises in ISIS

Atlantic, A New American Leader Rises in ISIS "A two-year investigation identifies one of the very few Americans in the Islamic State’s upper ranks—and sheds light on the dynamics of radicalization."

Massachusetts - radicalisation case

Everett Independent, Everett Man Sentenced for Supporting ISIS and Conspiring to Behead U.S. Citizens, 10 Jan 2018 "Beginning in at least February 2015, Wright [David Daoud Wright] began discussing ISIS’ call to kill non-believers in the United States with his uncle, Usaamah Abdullah Rahim, and co-defendant Nicholas Alexander Rovinski. Specifically, Wright created a “martyrdom” operation cell in Massachusetts. In April 2015, he created a Twitter page for the “Lions of America” and published a document entitled, Internal Conquest, on the internet in which Wright called on the “Lions of Allah” to kill Americans. Wright also plotted with Rahim and Rovinski to behead U.S. citizens at the direction of ISIS, and identified a New York woman as the first beheading target."

Significance of online materials in radicalisation

Dominic Casciani, BBC News, Derby terror plot: The online Casanova and his lover, 8 Jan 2018 This is a significant case, in relation to the significance of online materials in the radicalisation processes. "A couple who met online have been convicted of preparing for terrorism in a plot that could have attacked Derby or poisoned supermarket food."

'An incredible transformation': how rehab, not prison, worked for a US Isis convert

Guardian, 'An incredible transformation': how rehab, not prison, worked for a US Isis convert

IS-related investigation in Minnesota

Star Tribune, Father, hacker and jujitsu instructor among Minnesotans under investigation for ISIS ties Interesting in its discussion on ongoing investigations, which have an online element.

The couple who put IS at heart of marriage

Dominic Casciani, BBC News, The couple who put IS at heart of marriage, 26 Oct 2017 "Three members of the same family have been convicted for being part of what could have been a major terror attack on the streets of Birmingham. Prosecutors say that at the centre of the plot foiled earlier this year were a husband-and-wife team who put the self-styled Islamic State's cause at the centre of their marriage." Online elements in this case.

Isis supporter jailed for planning to bomb Birmingham train lines

Guardian, Isis supporter jailed for planning to bomb Birmingham train lines, 9 Oct 2017 "Jurors at Birmingham crown court heard that Hussain became radicalised while viewing hundreds of Isis images and videos of the war in Syria."

British Muslim convert was radicalised by ISIS videos online

Daily Mail, British Muslim convert was radicalised by ISIS videos online "Jurors were told Watson's encrypted chats with undercover agents 'reveal the extent of his hatred for Western society and his avowed intent to take part in terrorist activity'.


"On his phone, police found books including 'The Path to the Land of Battle' by an Al Qaeda figure, '39 Ways to Participate and Serve in Jihad', and copies of the IS magazine Dabiq."

Letters from a Jihadi

Joanne Slater & Colin Freeze, Globe & Mail, Letters from a Jihadi: inside the mind of a Canadian accused of joining al-Qaeda "What drove three students at the University of Manitoba to travel to Pakistan to join al-Qaeda? Newly-released correspondence reveals their state of mind in their own words, including a nine page handwritten letter home."

New and Noted: 'Women, Gender and Daesh Radicalisation: A Milieu Approach'

Elizabeth Pearson & Emily Winterbotham, Women, Gender and Daesh Radicalisation: A Milieu Approach, RUSI Journal, 1-13, 28 Jul 2017 "In this article, Elizabeth Pearson and Emily Winterbotham explore the role of gender in radicalisation to Daesh (also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, ISIS). They discuss possible factors in female radicalisation, and how radicalisation differs between men and women. They find that the gender of the recruit affects the enabling factors, mechanisms and locations relating to radicalisation. The article challenges assertions that the recruitment of young men and women to Daesh follows identical patterns, as well as the narrative of women as innately peaceful, or as actors coerced into joining Daesh, revealing the importance of female empowerment in the group’s appeal."

IS India

Ronald Meinardus, Qantara, No Traction "In the international statistics documenting terror attacks inspired or orchestrated by the IS terror militia, India is nowhere to be found. And this despite the fact that owing to its demography and socio-economic conditions, the country with its 180 million Muslims should be fertile ground for foreign-controlled Islamist terrorism." Profile of IS in India

Who are Britain’s jihadists?

BBC News, Who are Britain’s jihadists? "Approximately 850 people from the UK have travelled to support or fight for jihadist groups in Syria and Iraq, say the British authorities."

May and regulation

CNN, Theresa May: Internet must be regulated to prevent terrorism  I agree with the comments of Peter Neumann here: " Peter Neumann, a professor who studies political violence and radicalization at King's College in London, said that blaming social media is "politically convenient but intellectually lazy.""

Vinas Case

CNN, American al Qaeda recruit to be released from prison Also see: "he American al Qaeda recruit who once pitched terrorist leaders on plans to bomb the Long Island Railroad and a WalMart store was sentenced Thursday to time served plus 90 days in prison during a New York federal court appearance."

Jihadists Using Matchmaking Sites to Find Partners

VOA News, Jihadists Using Matchmaking Sites to Find Partners "Observers say that the jihadists’ use of the dating site may suggest it is becoming harder for IS members to find people to marry. The number of mainly young Western and North African women traveling to Syria to marry fighters appears to have gone down, they say."