Abstract
The threat associated with the al Muhajiroun/Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jammah movement is extensive. This chapter discusses that how those threats are conceived and offers a more realistic and grounded threat analysis. The discussion begins with analyzing three core non-governmental, yet influential documents that discuss the threat posed by the ALM/ASWJ movement and challenges their conclusions. There is significant discussion on some of the more high-profile cases and what led individuals to engage in violence. The impacts of a misguided threat analysis are also profiled as is the current policy of ‘exceptualizing’ the threat of terrorism and the impacts that has on the extremists and their extended networks. The chapter concludes after discussing the ASWJ movement against the established literature on how terrorist groups end.
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Notes
- 1.
Al Muhajiroun is used colloquially here as it continues to be the term used most often by the government, academics, media, and others.
- 2.
Channel 4 News and The Independent.
- 3.
OFCOM, OFCOM Broadcast and on Demand Bulletin, Issue 36, (London: OFCOM, 2017) 6. Available at https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0014/106232/issue-336-broadcast-on-demand-bulletin.pdf. [Accessed 09 August 2017]. Also see Warren, Jake, “The Story of the Man Mistaken as the Westminster Attacker,” Vice News, London, 23 March 2017. Available at https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/4xpmwj/the-story-of-the-man-mistaken-as-the-westminster-attacker. [Accessed 25 March 2017].
- 4.
OFCOM, OFCOM Broadcast and on Demand Bulletin, Issue 36, 9 and 12.
- 5.
Al Muhajiroun is again used colloquially here rather than the more appropriate term ASWJ.
- 6.
BBC News, “Westminster attack inquest: MI5 closed file on Khalid Masood,” BBC News, London, 26 September 2018. Available at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45657101. [Accessed 28 September 2018].
- 7.
Chris Summers and Dominic Casciani, “Fertiliser Bomb Plot: The Story,” BBC News, London, 30 April 2007. Available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6153884.stm. [Accessed 28 September 2018].
- 8.
Shawn Helton, “Manchester’s Known Wolf: Watched by MI5 with Ties to NATO-Backed Terror in Libya – What Does It All Mean?” 21st Century Wire, Kansas City, Mo., 28 May 2017. Available at https://21stcenturywire.com/2017/05/28/manchesters-known-wolf-watched-by-mi5-with-ties-to-nato-backed-terror-in-libya-what-does-it-all-mean/. [Accessed 28 September 2018].
- 9.
Martin Robinson, Chris Greenwood, Stephen Wright, Sam Greenhill, and Inderdeep Bains, “The Man MI5 Didn’t Think was Dangerous,” Mail Online, London, 06 June 2017. Available at https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4575364/London-Bridge-terrorist-visit-baby-girl.html. [Accessed 29 September 2018].
- 10.
Robert Booth, Ian Cobain, Vikram Dodd, Mathew Taylor, and Lisa O’Carroll, “London Bridge attacker named as Khuram Butt,” The Guardian, London, 5 June 2017. Available at https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/05/london-bridge-attacker-named-as-khuram-butt. [Accessed 5 June 2017].
- 11.
The video was actually shot on 18 April 2014 in Regents Park. I had nothing to do with the video but was present at the protest and accompanied the group to the park where they prayed.
- 12.
Loulla-Mae Eleftheriou-Smith, “Radical Islamist Group al-Muhajiroun Linked to Half of British Terror Attacks in Past 20 Years,” The Independent, London, 23 March 2015. Available at https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/radical-islamist-group-al-muhajiroun-linked-to-half-of-british-terror-attacks-in-past-20-years-10128492.html. [Accessed 28 September 2018].
- 13.
Helton, “Manchester’s Known Wolf.”
- 14.
What data and what criteria Kennedy used in his assessment is unknown.
- 15.
Raffaello Pantucci, Email received by author, September 2018.
- 16.
Although the proscription orders surely applied to al Muhajiroun as early as 2006, it wasn’t until 2010 that the name al Muhajiroun was formally added.
- 17.
Home Office, Proscribed Terrorist Organisations (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 2017) 6.
- 18.
TPIMs impose a variety of restrictions on individuals such as who they can and cannot associate with, whether they can access the internet, use a computer, or be on social media, where they can work or live, what mosque they can attend, and so on and typically involve relocation too as a means to remove the person from their environment.
- 19.
Anonymized interview with ACPO assigned police officer (date redacted).
- 20.
This comes from numerous interviews with police officers and others within government circles who offered their own personal opinion.
- 21.
The Centre for Social Cohesion joined the Henry Jackson Society in 2011.
- 22.
Robin Simcox, Hannah Stuart, Houriya Ahmed, and Douglas Murray, Islamist Terrorism: The British Connections, 2nd Ed (London: Henry Jackson Society, 2011) x.
- 23.
Simcox et al., Islamist Terrorism: The British Connections, xii.
- 24.
Simcox et al., Islamist Terrorism: The British Connections, 292.
- 25.
Simcox et al., Islamist Terrorism: The British Connections, 290.
- 26.
Simcox et al., Islamist Terrorism: The British Connections, 8, 9, 223–231.
- 27.
Alex Carlile, “Forward.” In Islamist Terrorism: The British Connections, 2nd Ed. Simcox, Robin, Hannah Stuart, Houriya Ahmed, and Douglas Murray (London: Henry Jackson Society, 2011), 12.
- 28.
Nick Lowles and Joe Mulhall, Gateway to Terror: Anjem Choudary and the al-Muhajiroun Network (London: Hope not Hate, 2013).
- 29.
Lowles and Mulhall, Gateway to Terror, 10.
- 30.
Lowles and Mulhall, Gateway to Terror, 21 and 59.
- 31.
Lowles and Mulhall, Gateway to Terror, 19.
- 32.
The Centre for Social Cohesion merged with the Henry Jackson Society in 2011. The author of the second report was one of the principle authors of the original CSC report.
- 33.
Hannah Stuart, Islamist Terrorism: Analysis of Offences and Attacks in the UK (1998–2015) (London: The Henry Jackson Society, 2017), 918.
- 34.
Stuart, Islamist Terrorism, 980.
- 35.
Stuart, Islamist Terrorism, 981.
- 36.
Stuart, Islamist Terrorism, 22.
- 37.
Stuart, Islamist Terrorism, 287.
- 38.
Stuart, Islamist Terrorism, 892.
- 39.
Anjem Choudary, discussion with author, 2015.
- 40.
Conversation between author and two leading ASWJ activists, 2018.
- 41.
Jytte Klausen, Eliane Tschaen Barbieri, Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, and Aaron Y. Zelin, “The YouTube Jihadists: A Social Network Analysis of Al-Muhajiroun’s Propaganda Campaign,” Perspectives on Terrorism, Vol. 6, No. 1 (2012) 36.
- 42.
Anonymized mail to author from one of the researchers involved. November 2018.
- 43.
Conversation between author and subjects 4.48 and 4.49, 2018.
- 44.
Wiktorowicz, Radical Islam Rising, 121.
- 45.
Kenney, The Islamic State in Britain, 152.
- 46.
Wiktorowicz, Radical Islam Rising, 120.
- 47.
Kenney, The Islamic State in Britain, 154.
- 48.
ALM had followers in the United States who operated under the name Muslims for Justice (MJ). MJ went on to become the Islamic Thinkers Society.
- 49.
Morton, Jesse, Interview with author, November 2017.
- 50.
Morton, interview with author, November 2017.
- 51.
Morton, interview with author, November 2017.
- 52.
Jesse Morton, “The Jihadist who Changed his Mind.” BBC Radio 4, London, 01 September 2016. Available at https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07qbstg. [Accessed 09 September 2017].
- 53.
Morton, interview with author, November 2017.
- 54.
Morton, Jesse, email received by author, October 2018.
- 55.
Morton, email received by author, October 2018.
- 56.
Morton, interview with author, November 2017.
- 57.
Morton, email received by author, October 2018.
- 58.
Morton, email received by author, October 2018.
- 59.
Morton, email received by author, October 2018.
- 60.
Salafi Islam is considered conservative by nature, but groups such as al Muhajiroun and Revolution Muslim take that to more extreme levels.
- 61.
Anonymized interview with activist, April 2014.
- 62.
Morton, interview with author, November 2017.
- 63.
Morton, interview with author, November 2017.
- 64.
Morton, interview with author, November 2017.
- 65.
Morton, interview with author, November 2017.
- 66.
Royal Courts of Justice, R-v-Bilal Zaheer Ahmad (London: Royal Courts of Justice, 2012) 4.
- 67.
Royal Courts of Justice, R-v-Bilal Zaheer Ahmad, 3.
- 68.
Royal Courts of Justice, R-v-Bilal Zaheer Ahmad, 4.
- 69.
Royal Courts of Justice. R-v-Bilal Zaheer Ahmad, 2; also, Morton, Jesse, Email received by author October 2018.
- 70.
Morton, email received by author October 2018.
- 71.
Raffaello Pantucci, We love Death and You Love Life: Britain’s Suburban Terrorists (London: Hurst, 2015) 312.
- 72.
Royal Courts of Justice, R-v-Omar Khyam, Salahuddin Amin, Jawed Akbar, Anthony Garcia, Waheed Mahmood (London: Royal Courts of Justice, 2008) 30.
- 73.
All pled guilty so there was no trial.
- 74.
Trial notes by author—Sentencing of Choudhury et al. Woolwich Crown Court. 07 February 2012.
- 75.
Trial Notes by author, 07 February 2012.
- 76.
Trial Notes by author, 07 February 2012.
- 77.
Omar Bakri Mohammed, Interview with author, 2012.
- 78.
Anonymized Interview with former activist, March 2018.
- 79.
Field Notes 16 July 2018.
- 80.
Karl-Werner Brandt, “New Social Movements as a Metapolitical Challenge: The Social and Political Impact of a New Historical Type of Protest,” Thesis Eleven No. 15 (1986).
- 81.
Brandt, “New Social Movements as a Metapolitical Challenge,” 65–66.
- 82.
Brandt, “New Social Movements as a Metapolitical Challenge,” 67. Also see Buechler, “New Social Movement Theories,” 451–452.
- 83.
Interview with leading activist, December 2012.
- 84.
Mohammed, Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jamaah, 56.
- 85.
Mohammed. Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jamaah, 61.
- 86.
Omar Bakri Mohammed, interview with author, 2012.
- 87.
Both Wiktorowicz and Kenney have similar views but cast the individuals first as religious seekers rather than identity seekers. See Wiktorowicz, Radical Islam Rising, 21–22; Kenney, The Islamic State in Britain, 73. I argue the opposite is true.
- 88.
Omar Bakri Mohammed. Interview with author, 2012.
- 89.
Royal Courts of Justice, R v Anjem Choudary and Mohammed Rahman (London: Royal Courts of Justice, 2016) 2.
- 90.
Anonymized interview with leading activist, May 2011.
- 91.
Anjem Choudary, interview with author, April 2012.
- 92.
This is another example of OBM’s hybrid ideology. In this example OBM borrowed from al Qaeda’s ideology but simultaneously placed significant restraints on when, where, and against who violence was acceptable.
- 93.
Mizanur Rahman, “Regarding the Actions of Sister Roshonara Choudary,” SalafiMedia, 16 November 2010. Available at http://salafimedia.com/qaa/item/1200-regarding-the-actions-of-sister-roshonarachoudary.html#intemCommentsAnchor. [Accessed 17 November 2011].
- 94.
Horgan, Walking Away from Terrorism, 132.
- 95.
Interview with leading activist, January 2019.
- 96.
Morton, interview with author, November 2017.
- 97.
Omar Bakri Mohammed, interview with author, 2012.
- 98.
Someone who knew Butt well spoke to him a couple of weeks before the attack and relayed that conversation to me. Butt was concerned because Butt’s wife just a baby and he wasn’t able to adequately provide for his family working part time at the gym. It is speculative, but the individual who spoke to Butt (an ex-ASWJ follower) concluded that because Butt could not provide for his wife and family in this life, he chose the transactional option that radical Islam offers; in exchange for his life, he ensured that they would be provided for in the next life.
- 99.
Tom Whitehead, “You Want War, You Got It: Terror Suspect Brusthom Ziamani’s Chilling Letter to the British Government,” The Telegraph, London, 9 February 2015. Available at https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/11400672/You-want-war-you-got-it-terror-suspect-Brustholm-Ziamanis-chilling-letter-to-the-British-government.html. [Accessed 28 October 2018].
- 100.
Whitehead, “You Want War, You Got It.”
- 101.
Anonymized interview with activist, June 2018.
- 102.
Wudu is a proscribed ritual cleansing of the body before prayer.
- 103.
Anonymized interview with activist, June 2018.
- 104.
Royal Courts of Justice, R-V-Brusthom Ziamani (London: Royal Courts of Justice, 2015) 2.
- 105.
Dominic Casciani, “Woolwich: How did Michael Adebolajo Become a Killer?” BBC News, London, 19 December 2013. Available at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25424290. [Accessed 20 December 2013].
- 106.
See Horgan, “Lessons Learned Since the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001.”
- 107.
Lizzie Dearden, “Terror Laws Should be Scrapped, says Government’s Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation.” London: The Independent, 19 August 2017. Available at https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/terror-laws-uk-offences-abolish-max-hill-interview-independent-reviewer-legislation-isis-attack-a7883836.html. [Accessed 19 August 2017].
- 108.
Sidney Tarrow, Power in Movement: Social Movements and Contentious Politics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), 6. Also see Della-Porta and Diani, Social Movements, 209.
- 109.
Dearden, “Terror Laws Should be Scrapped.”
- 110.
Glorification is defined as praise or celebration, and cognate expressions. See UK Parliament, Terrorism Act 2006, 18.
- 111.
UK Parliament, Terrorism Act 2006, 2.
- 112.
UK Parliament, Investigatory Powers Act 2016 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 2016).
- 113.
The utility of the Investigatory Powers Act remains in question as it was found to be in violation of European Union Law and must be rewritten. See Cobain, Ian. “UK Has Six Months to Rewrite Snoopers Charter, High Court Rules.” The Guardian, London, 27 April 2018. Available at https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/apr/27/snoopers-charter-investigatory-powers-act-rewrite-high-court-rules. [Accessed 23 August 2018].
- 114.
UK Parliament. Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act, 2019 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 2019).
- 115.
Dearden, “Terror laws should be scrapped.”
- 116.
P.J. Edwards, “Counter-Terrorism and Counter-Law: An Archetypal Critique,” Legal Studies, Vol. 38, No. 2 (2018) 16.
- 117.
Anonymous interview with activist, October 2011.
- 118.
Ronald D. Crelinsten, “Analysing Terrorism and Counter-terrorism: A Communication Model,” Terrorism and Political Violence Vol. 14, No. 2 (2002) 78.
- 119.
Crelinsten, “Analysing Terrorism and Counter-terrorism” 77.
- 120.
Crelinsten, “Analysing Terrorism and Counter-terrorism” 100.
- 121.
Anonymized interview with leading activist (date redacted).
- 122.
Citizen interview by author, July 2011.
- 123.
Citizen interview by author, October 2011.
- 124.
I attended eight dawah stalls but stopped because the same routine played out over and over again, making the data limited and of little importance.
- 125.
Two of the focus groups were organized through mosques and the third was done at a community center.
- 126.
Focus group respondent, October 2011.
- 127.
Focus group respondent, December 2011.
- 128.
I use al Muhajiroun here rather than the ASWJ movement because the UK government still considers them al Muhajiroun regardless of what they may (or may not) call themselves.
- 129.
Seth G. Jones and Martin C. Libiki, How Terrorist Groups End: Lessons for Countering al Qaeda (Santa Monica: Rand, 2006), xiii–xiv.
- 130.
Audrey K. Cronin, How Terrorism Ends: Understanding the Decline and Demise of Terrorist Campaigns (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009), 8.
- 131.
Steve Swann, “Islamic State Supporters Jailed After Undercover Police Action,” BBC News, London. Available at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-38933581. [Accessed 10 February 2017].
- 132.
Anjem Choudary, interview with author, February 2014.
- 133.
Jeremy Weinstein, Inside Rebellion: The Politics of Insurgent Violence (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), 205.
- 134.
Weinstein, Inside Rebellion, 206.
- 135.
Andrew Gilligan, “Hizb ut Tahrir is not a Gateway to Terrorism Claims Whitehall Report,” The Telegraph, London, 25 July 2010. Available at https://www.telegraph.co.uk/journalists/andrew-gilligan/7908262/Hizb-ut-Tahrir-is-not-a-gateway-to-terrorism-claims-Whitehall-report.html. [Accessed 20 July 2012]. Also see McCauley, Clark and Sophia Moskalenko, Friction: How Radicalization Happens to Them and Us (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), 219.
- 136.
Harvard Law Review, “Safety Valve Closed: The Removal of Non-violent Outlets for Dissent and the Onset of Abortion Violence,” Harvard Law Review Vol. 113, No. 5 (2000). Also see Harry Eckstein, “Theoretical Approaches to Explaining Collective Political Violence,” In Handbook of Political Conflict: Theory and Research (Ted Robert Gurr ed., 1980); John Drury and Steve Reicher, “Collective Action and Psychological Change: The Emergence of New Social Identities,” British Journal of Social Psychology Vol. 39, No. 4 (2000); and Robert Endleman, Deviance and Psychopathology: The sociology and psychology of outsiders (Malabar, FL: Robert Krieger Publishing, 1990).
- 137.
Examples include Gurr, T., Why Men Rebel (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1970); Pierskalla J., “Protest, Deterrence, and Escalation: The Strategic Calculus of Government Repression,” Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol. 54, No. 1 (2010); Lichbach, Mark, “Deterrence or Escalation?: The Puzzle of Aggregate Studies of Repression and Dissent,” Journal of Conflict Resolution Vol. 31, No. 2 (1987).
- 138.
Ronald D. Crelinsten, “Analysing Terrorism and Counter-terrorism: A Communication Model,” Terrorism and Political Violence Vol. 14, No. 2 (2002) 78.
- 139.
Examples include the following: Gurr, T. Why Men Rebel; Pierskalla J., “Protest, Deterrence, and Escalation: The Strategic Calculus of Government Repression.” Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol. 54, No. 1 (2010); Lichbach, Mark, “Deterrence or Escalation?: The Puzzle of Aggregate Studies of Repression and Dissent.” Journal of Conflict Resolution Vol. 31, No. 2 (1987); Bloom, M., Dying to Kill: The Allure of Suicide Terrorism (New York, Columbia University Press, 2005); Hafez, M., Suicide bombers in Iraq: The strategy and ideology of martyrdom (Washington: United States Institute of Peace Press, 2007); Hafez, M., and Hatfield, J., “Do targeted assassinations work? A multivariate analysis of Israel’s controversial tactic during the Al-Aqsa uprising.” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 29 (4); Pape, R. Dying to win: The strategic logic of suicide terrorism. New York: Random House Publishers, 2005; and Tilly, C., “Terror as Strategy and Relational Process.” International Journal of Comparative Sociology, Vol. 46, No. 1 (2005).
- 140.
Mark I. Lichbach and Ted R. Gurr, “The Conflict Process: A Formal Model,” Journal of Conflict Resolution Vol. 25, No. 1 (1981) 25.
- 141.
Lichbach and Gurr, “The Conflict Process: A Formal Model,” 24–25.
- 142.
Nilufer Gole, “Contemporary Islamist Movements and New Sources for Religious Tolerance.” Journal of Human Rights Vol. 2, No. 1 (2003) 18.
- 143.
Between 2013 and 2014, I was the investigator for England and Wales for a large multi-county deradicalization study. One of the main findings from those that do mentoring in the United Kingdom was that the better an individual understood his/her religion, the more resistant he/she was to radical messaging. See Weeks, Douglas M. (2016). “The Victimisation Experience and Radicalisation Process: Findings from England” in Lynch, O., J. Argomaniz, C. Joyce, & D. Weeks. The Victimisation Experience and the Radicalisation Process: An Understanding of the Perpetrator Victim Cycle Amongst Individuals Involved in Terrorism. Luxembourg: The European Commission.
- 144.
Lisa O’Carroll, “Convicted Terrorists Jailed for Two Years,” The Guardian, 08 January 2016. Available at https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jan/08/convicted-terrorists-omar-brooks-simon-keeler-jailed-travel-ban. [Accessed 08 January 2016].
- 145.
Jeanine de Roy van Zuijdewijn and Edwin Bakker, Returning Western foreign fighters: The case of Afghanistan, Bosnia and Somalia (The Hague: The International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, 2014), 10.
- 146.
Anonymized interview with intervention provider, 2019.
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Weeks, D. (2020). Understanding and Managing the Threat. In: Al Muhajiroun. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35840-2_8
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