A Belgian woman explains why she joined ISIS, and why she came back
When three women were arrested recently in Paris for an attempted car bombing in the heart of the city, attention turned to female jihadists and the apparently growing number of Western women who sympathize with ISIS. Laura Passoni is among at least 550 women known to have traveled to Syria and Iraq to join ISIS, […]
Illinois man sentenced for planning to join Islamic State
A suburban Chicago man accused of trying to fly overseas with his two younger siblings to join Islamic State was sentenced Friday to five years in prison in a deal with prosecutors. Mohammed Hamzah Khan, who has been in custody for more than two years, would get credit for time served and could be released […]
Deep Extremist Networks Behind ‘Lone Wolf’ Samarinda Church Attacker
Last Sunday’s “lone wolf” terror attack at a church in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, seemed like another random act of Islamic State-endorsed violence. A 32-year-old perpetrator killed a toddler and injured three others with homemade bombs at Oikumene Christian Church. Although the attack seems arbitrarily violent, it was actually premeditated. And the perpetrator is linked to […]
Accused Harford County, Md., Islamic State plotter makes free speech defense
BALTIMORE — Lawyers for a Harford County man who has been accused of providing material support to the self-declared Islamic State are asking a judge to throw the case out on free speech grounds. Federal prosecutors say Mohamed Elshinawy pledged allegiance to the terror group and received thousands of dollars from overseas to carry out […]
Three Somali-Americans Sentenced for Plotting to Join IS
A U.S. judge in Minnesota has given jail time to three Somali-Americans found guilty of conspiring to provide material support to Islamic State, but rewarded two of them with lighter sentences for cooperating with the government. The harshest sentence was given to Zacharia Abdurahman, who got 10 years in prison. Abdurahman pleaded guilty but did […]
Choudary’s Imprisonment a Step Forward, But a Small One
After decades of preaching hate on the streets of the U.K. and setting out to drive a wedge between Muslims and non-Muslims, Anjem Choudary has finally been arrested for supporting the Islamic State militant group (ISIS). Still, this symbolic victory over Islamism and hatred in the U.K. is just that—symbolic, and should not lull civil […]
Radical Cleric Anjem Choudary Guilty of Supporting ISIS
Anjem Choudary, one of the most controversial radical clerics in the U.K., has been convicted of inviting others to support the Islamic State militant group (ISIS). Choudary, 49, encouraged support for the militant group in a series of talks posted on social networking site YouTube, a court heard in London on Tuesday. He faces up […]
Pro-ISIS Video Names San Francisco, Vegas as Targets
A video in support of the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) has listed San Francisco and Las Vegas as potential targets for the group’s sympathizers, as well as celebrating the Orlando massacre. The nine-minute-long video shows San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, the city’s financial district and the Las Vegas strip. The FBI said that it […]
Florida man charged with plot to blow up local synagogue
A Florida man has been arrested and charged with trying to blow up a synagogue with a fake bomb following an FBI sting operation, AFP reported on Monday. James Gonzalo Medina, 40, was accused of intending to use a “weapon of mass destruction” at a synagogue in the city of Aventura near Miami, the Justice […]
Rescued Swedish teenager describes ‘hard life’ under ISIL in Iraq
A Swedish teenager rescued from ISIL fanatics in Iraq has said she was duped into going there by her boyfriend, describing life in the so-called caliphate as “really hard”. Kurdish special forces recovered the 16-year-old on February 17 in northern Iraq, where she was due to be handed over to the Swedish authorities. The girl […]