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Revision as of 22:02, 31 January 2014 by 142.196.59.214 (talk)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)In November 2009 CNN published an interview about the organization and a video of Revolution Muslim protest activities from their website, which showed Younes Abdullah Mohammed saying, that U.S. troops were "legitimate targets – until America changes its nature in the international arena." He said that Osama bin Laden was a role model. CNN aired the previously scheduled program the evening after the Fort Hood shootings; no connection has been made between the Revolution Muslim statements and the shooting. Nidal Malik Hasan, the US Army psychiatrist charged in the shootings, was not a follower of the website.
Threats
Revolution Muslim wrote threats on its website against Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the creators of the TV cartoon series, South Park, because one of their episodes depicted the Prophet Muhammad in a way they described as insulting. Zachary Adam Chesser, under his user name of Abu Talhah al-Amrikee, wrote the threat and had been active in posting other inflammatory material on the website. The Revolution Muslim website threatened the two men with violent retaliation and listed the addresses of both Comedy Central's New York office and Stone and Parker's production office in Los Angeles.
The 20-year-old Chesser had a history over nearly two years of publicizing terrorist propaganda under his Arab user name on websites and blogs, and promoting violence against non-Muslims. A resident of Fairfax County, Virginia, he may have converted to Islam (The Fairfax Times and the Washington Post have published differing accounts). Friends and acquaintances said that in 2009, he became more extremist, adopting increasingly conservative views and traditional Islamic dress, and promoting them for others.
On July 21, 2010 Chesser was arrested on federal terrorism charges. Earlier that month he had been barred from boarding a flight to Uganda; he intended to fly on to Somalia and join foreign "freedom fighters" with Al-Shabab. After the terrorist group claimed responsibility for bombing a World Cup semi-final in Uganda, Chesser called the FBI and said he wanted to report information on the group. He pleaded guilty to all charges in October 2010 and in February 2011 was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Yousef Al-Khattab used Revolution Muslim to post a series of threats against the Jewish community, going so far as to post lists of individuals and organizations, addresses, and suggested ways to harm them. Al-Khattab pleaded guilty to using the web to threaten the Jewish community in October, 2013.
Times Square car bomb
On May 1, 2010, a failed car bomb attempt was discovered by the New York City Police Department near the eastern corner of 1 Astor Plaza, the headquarters of Comedy Central parent company Viacom. The New York Daily News reported that police were looking into a possible link between the attempted bombing and the threats against Comedy Central. It turned out to be an unrelated event by Faisal Shahzad, a naturalized American citizen with ties to the Pakistani Taliban. Shahzad was arrested, pleaded guilty to ten counts, and was sentenced to life in prison.
Revolution Muslim denied any involvement with the incident. Jesse Curtis Morton, aka Younes Abdullah Mohammed, the co-founder who still ran the group's website at the time, was in Times Square speaking out against President Barack Obama. But he said of the failed car bomb, "What do you think, I commanded somebody to blow up a building in the middle of Times Square? It had nothing to do with the 'South Park' controversy. It was not an attack targeting Viacom."
Hacking and closure
In June 2010, Revolution Muslim's website was hacked and redirected to an image of the Prophet Muhammed The United States shut down the Revolution Muslim website in late 2010 due to its threats of violence made against British MPs; it posted the addresses of the MPs.
Chesser had been arrested in July 2010 and pleaded guilty to all federal charges, receiving a sentence of 25 years in prison. Mohammed (Morton) was arrested in 2011, convicted and sentenced in 2012 to more than ten years in prison.
Former members
Prior to the closure of its website, most of the original members left the group from late 2009 to early 2010. Some have publicly denounced the organization, and Abdullah as-Sayf Jones has apologized for statements made as a member of RM.
Yousef Al Khattab (Joseph Cohen), a founder, left the organization in December 2009 and went to Morocco. From there he published statements critical of it and its leaders. He said it had become a haven for what he described as "Muslim misfits". Hours after he pleaded guilty, he also posted a message on his Facebook page renouncing his former views as "disgusting" and not representative of Islam, and asking forgiveness for them.
Abdullah as-Sayf Jones (David Scott Jones), is another former leader who has left and denounced the organization. Jones left for religious reasons, saying he had become observant of Sh'ia Islam. He realized that Islam was not all about hate. He later explained in a collection of online posts that he was concerned with the direction of RM and did not want to be part of it. Today he actively speaks against organizations such as Revolution Muslim and works with Muslim youth to keep them from being attracted to extremist groups.
He had a series of online debates with Jesse Curtis Morton, aka Younes Abdullah Muhammad, who fled from New York to Morocco in November 2010. Morton was arrested in Morocco in 2011 and tried in federal district court in Alexandria, Virginia, for soliciting murder through the Revolution Muslim website, as he was part of the threats against the South Park creators and published addresses related to them. He pleaded guilty to three charges.
References
- ^ "Peaceful preaching inside, violent message outside a New York mosque". CNN. November 5, 2009.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
adlwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - Dave Itzkoff (April 21, 2010). "Muslim Group Says It Is Warning, Not Threatening, 'South Park' Creators". New York Times.
- "Security Brief: Radical Islamic Web site takes on 'South Park' – This Just In – CNN.com Blogs". News.blogs.cnn.com. Retrieved April 24, 2010.
- "South Park" Threatener Arrested", The Smoking Gun (2010-07-21). Retrieved on 2010-12-12.
- "Zac Chesser Timeline", Washington Post, 2010, accessed 13 January 2013
- "NYC-based Muslim Extremist Group Seeks to Incite Violence against Jews". Anti-Defamation League. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Anti-Defamation Leaguewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - Gendar, Alison; Parascandola, Rocco; Kennedy, Helen (May 2, 2010). "Police eyeing link to South Park in Times Square car bomb". New York Daily News. Retrieved May 2, 2010.
- Allen, Nick; Rayner, Gordon (May 2, 2010). "Times Square car bomb: police investigate South Park link". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved May 2, 2010.
- Berger, Joseph (May 2, 2010). "Pakistani Taliban Behind Times Sq. Plot, Holder Says". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 11, 2010. Retrieved May 9, 2010.
{{cite news}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - Hutchinson, Bill (May 2, 2010). "Islamic group that warned creators of 'South Park' denies involvement in Times Square bomb plot". New York Daily News. Retrieved May 3, 2010.
- Linkins, Jason (23 April 2010). "Revolution Muslim, Website Of Group That Threatened Comedy Central, Is Hacked". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 29 March 2011.
- ^ "Backgrounder: Revolution Muslim| Yousef al-Khattab", Anti-Defamation League, 10 June 2010, accessed 10 January 2013
- "New York man guilty of South Park murder threat", ABC News, 9 February 2012, accessed 10 January 2013
