The jihadis of Antwerp North

"They were found guilty of historical revisionism, minimising the Holocaust and inciting to racial hatred, in particular against Jews."

Source: Islam in Europe

"Belgian weekly Knack is coming out with a series of articles about radical Islam in Antwerp. The first article is titled "The Jihadis of Antwerp-North" (De jihadi's van Antwerpen-Noord).

A few days after this article appeared, the Belgian federal police moved to act against a suspected local terrorist cell. Abdessatar Dahmane's widow (the imam marrying them is mentioned in the article) was arrested this week. See Belgium: Al-Qaeda cell apprehended and Belgium: "Mother of al-Qaeda in Europe" saved by Belgian secret service."

Excerpts of Antwerp: The Jihadis of Antwerp North (2) translated by Esther

"International Brothers

Whoever went on a weekend to the Ardennes was written down in the notebook of Jemal Fellous, whose brothers Achmed and Nordine were also active at Rissala [a non-profit organization]. The Fellous family had already gotten in trouble with the law several times and were already sentenced for illegal trade and possession of weapons. In the notebooks which were found in Oma mosque you can see who of Jamaat Tabligh's members attended training in recent years outside Antwerp.

Countless weekends in sites both local and abroad are reported there, but also surprisingly many trip of forty days to Pakistan, the aspiration of every radical Muslim who grows up in the West.

The weekends begin mostly with a lecture at the Tulpstraat. The youth mostly don't know then yet where they are going. Often it's mosques in the Netherlands or the suburbs of Paris. But just as well the trip can lead to Liège or Brussels. For tourism there is no time. The youth stay the whole weekend inside the mosque. At night they sleep on the ground in the house of prayer, by the example of the prophet Muhammad. During the day they can expand their network through contact with like-minded people. The rest of the time is spent by praying and listening to the message of the local imam. The discourse is invariably anti-Western, for strengthening their own faith community and against any form of integration.

Two weeks ago the men of Jamaat Tabligh left Tulpstraat to Anderlecht, for a weekend in the mosque where the Centre Islamique Belge is set up. They got lessons from the followers of the famous French imam of Syrian origin, Bassam Ayachi. Ayachi, beter known as "Sheik Bassam" has been one of the most important radical preachers in Brussels for years. Two years ago his son Abdel Rahman Ayachi and webmaster Raphaël Gendron were sentenced to 10 months in prison, half deferred. Additionally both had to pay a fine of 15,000 euro each and 2,5000 euro to the Center for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism that had lodged a complaint. They were found guilty of historical revisionism, minimising the Holocaust and inciting to racial hatred, in particular against Jews. Meanwhile it isn't going well for the sheik too. He was arrested on November 11th in the Italian port city of Bari. He must answer for being an accomplice to illegal immigration. Five non-EU citizens were found in a hidden compartment of his camper, he had wanted to bring them from the Middle East through Greece into Western Europe. Bassam is known by the French security services as the man who conducted the marriage of Tunisian Abdessatar Dahmane in Brussels, the fake journalist who together with a companion murdered Afghan rebel leader Ahmed Shah Massoud on the eve of September 11."

Read the whole piece here and
Antwerp: The Jihadis of Antwerp North (1)