The Karakaria in Algeria

alarabiya.net, The Karakaria in Algeria: Religious group or ‘foreign conspiracy’? " While the group itself is not new, its emergence in Algeria is. It all started when Musa Belghith, a young Algerian man from the coastal city of Mostaganem, announced on social media that he joined the Karakaria after seeing “the light” and being taught “divine secrets” by his sheikh, in reference to Mohamed Fawzi al-Karkari, the current leader of the group and who resides in the town of Temsamane in Morocco."

'Terrorists Exploit Social Networks'

Magharebia, Imrane Binoual, eurasiareview.com, Terrorists Exploit Social Networks "Videos, audio recordings, messages and speeches from terrorist organisations blanket YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and blogs. Maghreb extremists have embraced the virtual arena, using online networks to attract recruits and spread propaganda."

Algerian blogger faces jail for inciting protests

alarabiya.net, Algerian blogger faces jail for inciting protests, 14 Jun 2012 "[Tareq] Memari, who could face up to three years in jail if found guilty, had posted a video on You Tube right before the recent parliamentary elections. In the video, Memari addressed Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and complained of the rising rates of unemployment amongst the youth. He told the president that he is boycotting the elections and called upon Algerian youth to do the youths.

"Memari then got out his voting card and burnt it in front of the camera ─ an act which drove the prosecutor general to ask for his arrest."

Ahlam Mosteghanemi

alarabiya.net, Algerian author preaches to women on Facebook, 5 Sep 2010 "Algerian novelist Ahlam Mosteghanemi launched on her Facebook page a series of religious sermons addressed to women and focusing on ways of choosing a good husband."

For more info, see Facebook: Ahlam Mosteghanemi and mosteghanemi.com

Algeria and the net

Ennahar Online, Internet and terrorist propaganda, 2 Aug, 2010 "Internet is a double-edged sword and the role of parents is to know how to deal with their children so that they do not become victims of predators in the network."

Algeria censorship

Helmi Noman, ONI, Algeria joins the Internet censors club, 2 Jan 10 "Algeria joins an increasingly expanding list of government Internet censors in the Middle East and North Africa. ONI's in-country tests conducted January 1, 2010 verified that access to the the Web site of the Algerian political movement Rachad (www.rachad.org) has been banned in Algeria. Access to the movement's Internet TV channel (tv.rachad.org) and discussion forum (forum.rachad.org) were also found to be inaccessible."

Algeria censorship plan

Brian Whitaker, al-bab.com, Algeria to censor internet, 20 Dec 09 "Algeria is planning to introduce a centralised system for filtering (i.e. censoring) the internet. It is also proposing stiff penalties for anyone who circumvents the government's filtering, according to the Magharebia news website."

AQIM CERN

BBC News, 'Al-Qaeda-link' Cern worker held, 9 Oct 09

"The 32-year-old man of Algerian descent was one of two brothers detained in the south-east town of Vienne on Thursday.

"Police believe they had been in contact over the internet with people linked to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and had been planning attacks in France."

Algerian Internet survey

StartUpArabia, WebDialn@ Study Of Algerian Internet Users Results, 26 Sep 09 "A new study entitled WebDialn@ (meaning ‘our web’ in the Arab Algerian accent) by Med&Com and Ideatic that polled about 6,000 Algerian internet users on ADSL, mobile internet, online advertising and e-commerce, estimates that 4.5 million people (12.8% of the Algerian population) use the internet, and that they heavily rely on it for news, research and activities such as social networking."

For more information see:

WebDialn@™ Etude sur les Usages et Perceptions des Internautes du Web Algérien

"L’étude WebDialn@™ a été lancée le 22 Juin 2009 sous forme d’un sondage en ligne publié sur neuf (09) sites web populaires algériens (sites de presse, sites professionnels, sites NTIC, sites pour jeunes,…) et envoyé également à une base de données de plus de sept milles (7000) adresses mails."

A press release relating to the report is available as a pdf. This contains charts and other interesting data (in French).

Berberus

startuparabia.com, Berberus, The Semantic Maghreb Blog Aggregator, 2 Oct 08

Details: Berberus "Berberus is a new blog aggregator that was recently launched to cover blogs from the Maghreb region. The name is an obvious reference to the region and its roots. The site also says it references the existence of a form of berberism (free man) in every blogger who aspires to express themselves freely."

It's a useful resource: et'll be even more effective when they have RSS functioning.

Algeria

elkhabar.com, A new anti cyber-criminality bill to be examined by the Government "The Government is to examine an anti cyber-criminality bill before the end of the year, the general manager of state owned internet provider Eepad told El Khabar. Nouar Harzallah said the bill is to be set for examination during the upcoming weeks. It aims to set clear definitions to different informatics and internet crimes."

AQIM+YouTube

redorbit.com, Algerian Paper Says Armed Islamists Use YouTube to Spread Messages, 2 Jun 08 "In the YouTube and Daily Motion video mediums on the Internet network, the terrorist groups, particularly the Salafi Group for Call and Combat [GSPC; the group now known as Al-Qa'idah in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb, or AQLIM], have found a space to conduct their subversive propaganda following the closure of several of their sites and forums."

Text of report by Yassine Mohellebi published by Algerian newspaper La Tribune website on 2 June [(via 2008 BBC Monitoring Media.]

aQIM

washingtontimes.com, Tunisia warned about al Qaeda's 'spectacular' hits, 29 Apr 08 "In various messages, some on the Internet, al Qaeda has warned of the "approaching punishment" for Tunisian President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, "whose regime obeys orders of the West and combats the Islamic veil." Tunisia has banned women's head scarves in public buildings, considering them to be a political statement."

Bank of Israel Hacked

Globes online, Fischer incensed at website security breakdown, 30 Apr 08 "Radical Islamic hackers using an Algerian server broke into the Bank of Israel's website for the public on the night of last Thursday-Friday. The website only came back on line on Monday. However, the hackers launched a new attack immediately afterwards, forcing the website back off the air for a few minutes. Although operating, the Bank of Israel's website is now less user-friendly than before."

ABC News, Al Qaeda claims Algiers attacks, 12 Dec 07 "The Islamist internet site published photographs of the two suicide bombers carrying assault rifles against the backdrop of a green flag of Islam."

bloomberg.com, Al-Qaeda Group Says It Carried Out Algeria Bombings (Update3), 12 Dec 07 "Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which has killed more than 100 people in bombings across Algeria this year, said two of its "martyrs" used vehicles containing more than 800 kilograms of explosives, the U.S.-based group SITE, which monitors extremist Web sites, said by e-mail. The group, a spin-off of Islamic militias that fought the secular government in a civil war that lasted from 1992 to 1999, wants to turn North Africa into an Islamic state."

ech-chorouk.com, Security forces declare electronic war on Al-Qaeda in Algeria, 16 Oct 07 "Algerian security forces pay careful attention to Internet websites used by the so-called Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (formerly the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat) especially after the adoption of suicide bombs strategy."

echoroukonline.com, Algeria: army fights off 50 terrorists in Tizi Ouzou, 14 Oct 07 "A total of 300 cell phones chips were found with a terrorist who was among three ones killed by army forces in Tizi Ouzou on Monday, said the same source."

Guardian, Al-Qaida in Iraq leader believed dead, 1 May 07 "The al-Qaida in Iraq leader, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, has been killed in a fight between insurgents north of Baghdad, the interior ministry claimed today."

somalinet.com, Algeria: Al Qaeda confirms death militant slain, denies he was head, 28 Apr 07, "Al Qaeda's North African wing said on Friday that one of its militants was killed by the Algerian army, but denied he was a group leader, according to a Web posting
"Yes, brother Moussaab was martyred ... (but) he was not the number 2 in the organization, or number 3, 10 or even 20," Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb said in a statement posted on the Internet."

Echorouk Online, Terrorism: Police keeps watch on cybercafes, 29 Apr 07, "It’s worth recalling that a terrorist network was dismantled in El-Oued (southern Algeria) of which a member was a cybercafe owner. Four young people’s parents said their sons used to frequent this cybercafe and disappeared after few weeks. Security services confirm that these young people have joined 'al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb'. They seized computers of this cybercafé and found in the memory bank that the young people contacted other Algerians to join Iraqi resistance."

BBC News, Fertiliser bomb trial: Bugged talk, 30 Apr 07 leads to extensive coverage on the trial, including various net references, and surveillance footage. Also see BBC News, Questions over 'plot mastermind', 1 May 07

The last post: AKI, Egypt: Courageous Blogger Bows Out, 30 Apr 07, "The Egyptian Sand Monkey - one of the country's most popular and straight talking blogs - has closed down his site. In a farewell message, the blogger explained "that there has been too much heat around me lately," adding he feared for his anonymity with "State Security agents lurking around my street and asking questions about me." He went on to say that his bowing out was also due to changes in the Egyptian blogosphere, "too much media attention, too much hype," and the need for a period of reflection." So, farewell Egyptian Sand Monkey. Great blog, whilst it lasted.

Gulf Daily News, 'Fight Israel with bombs', 30 Apr 07, "An Al Qaeda leader called on the Hamas group to fight Israel with "bombs and fire" in an Internet video posted yesterday, days after militants launched rockets into southern Israel breaking a ceasefire.

""Where is revenge, where are the bombs, where is the fire?" Abu Yahya Al Libi asked members of the military wing of Hamas in a video posted on a website used by the Islamist groups."

Reuters, Iran to filter "immoral" mobile messages, Apr 28, 2007, "Iran's Telecommunications Ministry will start filtering "immoral" video and audio messages sent via mobile phones, state television reported on Saturday.

"The Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, a body set up after Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, has instructed the ministry to buy the equipment needed to prevent any misuse of Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), it said." Seems like a difficult job, and I'm not sure what technology or criteria they might apply ...

kansascity.com, Keeping ex-detainees away from terror: A Saudi program offers counseling, financial aid and other incentives to change militants’ minds, 29 Apr 07 "Saudi officials said the goal is to stop the proliferation of radical ideology that they said is bred in prisons and on the Internet. The ideology has flourished at Guantanamo and is evident among the returning detainees — even those who were moderates before they were imprisoned, officials said."

NDTV, Power, politics, terror and the cyberworld, 26 Apr 07 Overview.


This one amused me at the weekend: The Guardian, Islamic street preachers, 28 Apr 07 Riazat Butt explores the consequences of The Taqwacores novel, written by Michael Muhammad Knight. Butt's newspaper article also contained URLs, which seemed to have fallen off the online edition, but here's one or two to get you started: The Kominas' MySpace page; Vote Hezbollah's My Space page. As a Clash/Pistols/Banshees (etc.) fan from first-time around, this is certainly interesting listening (however it is labelled). Brian Whitaker also wrote a piece on this, entitled Punk Muslims. I hope to get hold of Knight's book in due course, and add to this listing of bands. In terms of this blog, it is particularly relevant how the bands are using the web to promote themselves (just like everyone else - CDs are dead).

Chicago Tribune/Seattle Times, Internet abuzz over shooter's mysterious markings, 18 Apr 07

Monday Morning (Lebanon), Algeria Shock after suicide bombs, 16 Apr 07 "The statement on an Islamist website often used by the Al-Qaeda network said the car bombings killed at least 53 people."