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Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

Madrid’s largest mosque was jihad recruitment center led by ex-Gitmo prisoner

Dec 12, 2014 2:17 pm By Robert Spencer

Lahcen IkassrienA mosque? What? A center of peaceful worship in accord with the peaceful Qur’an of the Religion of Peace? How could this be? Why didn’t the vast majority of peaceful Muslims rise up and throw out these misunderstanders of Islam who were busy twisting and hijacking their peaceful religion?

“Madrid mosque was used to recruit combatants for Syria and Iraq,” by Fernando J. Pérez, El Pais, December 12, 2014 (thanks to Fjordman):

Madrid’s largest mosque was functioning as a Jihadist recruitment center led by a former Guantánamo prisoner, it has emerged.

Lahcen Ikassrien, 47, a Moroccan national who was arrested in Afghanistan in 2001 and released after nearly four years in Guantánamo, was using the cafeteria at the Mezquita de la M-30 (named after the adjacent ring road) to recruit and indoctrinate new combatants for the fronts in Iraq and Syria, according to a High Court investigation.

Ikassrien is one of several people who were arrested in June in a raid against an international network that recruited jihadists for the terrorist organization Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which has links to Al Qaeda.

Suspects’ relatives have confirmed that the men became more radical in their beliefs

Investigating judge Pablo Ruz this week prosecuted 15 members of that ring.

Suspects’ relatives have confirmed that the men became more radical in their beliefs after contacting with Salafist activists at the Madrid mosque.

The group called itself the Al-Andalus Brigade after the medieval name for Muslim-controlled parts of Spain and Portugal.

Hicham Chentouf, who joined ISIS in the fall of 2013, began visiting the mosque – whose formal name is the Cultural Islamic Center of Madrid – in 2010. After a year seeing Ikassrien’s people, Hicham grew a beard and embraced the strictest form of Islam. He was appointed imam of the mosque in Yunquera de Henares (Guadalajara), and in 2014 he began publishing pictures of himself brandishing AK-47 rifles on Facebook.

Another member, Ismail Afalah, left his job and joined ISIS in Syria after spending a year with the ring members at the Madrid mosque. His parents thought he was away on vacation….

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Filed Under: Featured, Islamic State (aka ISIS, ISIL, Daesh), mosques, Spain Tagged With: Al-Andalus Brigade, Lahcen Ikassrien, Mezquita de la M-30


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Comments

  1. Champ says

    Dec 12, 2014 at 2:25 pm

    Ex Gitmo prisoner? Shocka!

    • Champ says

      Dec 12, 2014 at 2:52 pm

      Surely, now, they will throw away the key!

      …or am I sounding too fair for our madcap world?

      • Huck Folder says

        Dec 12, 2014 at 11:55 pm

        “The terror network allegedly headed up by ex-Guantanamo Bay prisoner Lahcen Ikassrien…”

        Hmmm. So how’s that closing Gitmo meme playing these days?
        I suppose sinislam leftards will say he was a pure, innocent, mo choir boy when he entered Gitmo, and was radicalized there?

        “Ikassrien was believed to have ties to Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, a mastermind of the Madrid bombing.” [Nice!]

        As a citizen of Morocco, he adds fuel to Geert Wilders concern about that country’s citizens being overly represented in crime statistics and jail membership.

        I see he’s a poster boy for Damnesty International – one more nail in their pro-socialist, anti-western coffin. They, and Human Rights Watch can vanish, along with all the islamist and islamophile water-carriers and dhimmicrat enablers.

        I hope that Spanish judge follows all the leads back to that perp’s entry to Spain, travel and identity document providers, border guards, financiers…

        Funny how Spain and Italy seem to be able to do stuff with their systems which the UK and US can’t.

        Photo:
        “Lahcen Ikassrien, with Jose Luis Galan, lawyer, and Esteban Beltran, director of AI Spain.”

        http://www.wsj.com/articles/eight-suspected-jihadists-arrested-by-spanish-police-1402903932

        “A number of former Guantanamo inmates have risen to prominence in jihadist groups, especially in recent years. By January, about 29% of 614 detainees released from the prison in Cuba [that’s 178] had returned to violence, according to the Director of National Intelligence.”

        “In Spain, Mr. Ikassrien has been a prominent voice for the closure of the Guantanamo camp, giving numerous interviews with local media and taking part in human-rights events organized by Amnesty International, according to Fernando Reinares, an expert in terrorism at Spain’s Elcano Royal Institute, a think tank.”

        So, he wasn’t exactly off the radar? Hiding in plain sight?

        “This detention comes to show that the idea many had, that the jihadists in Syria and elsewhere are a new generation that has no connection with the previous 9/11 generation, is completely false,” Mr. Reinares said. “What we see in fact, is that many of that older generation are now in leading positions all over the jihadist movement.”

        So much for reforming them!

        “Mr. Reinares said early reports about Mr. Ikassrien’s alleged network show common patterns among jihadists in Western Europe. He said that as with networks in France and Belgium, they typically target unemployed, first-generation immigrants from Muslim-majority countries. But they also have an increasing number of local Muslims, raised in Europe by immigrant parents, willing to join jihadist groups active especially in Syria, Iraq, Mali and Libya.

        Several dozen Islamist operatives have been arrested in Spain over the past two years, many of whom were recruited online.”

        And it still has to get worse, much much worse, before our stupid governments abrogate islam.

        Hmmm, abrogate islam = AI. Anyone want to start a group with that name, and take those initials away from the ‘amnesty international’ sinislam BASTARDS?

        • Angemon says

          Dec 13, 2014 at 6:26 am

          Huck Folder posted:

          “Hmmm. So how’s that closing Gitmo meme playing these days?”

          I’m guessing about the same as the “bring home our troops” meme. The Obama administration realized that the Bush administration did somethings out of necessity and as such the OA has no choice but to keep them going while trying to make it seem as they’re not going back on their promises. From what I know of him, Obama would sooner deploy troops in sneakers and sandals rather than admitting he was wrong and they in fact need “boots on the ground” – at least if he really was interested in fighting the islamic state.

      • quotha raven says

        Dec 13, 2014 at 12:04 pm

        I believe instead the plan is to turn the keys over to the prisoners and let them all go free…non?

        • quotha rave says

          Dec 13, 2014 at 12:30 pm

          One wonders what those five head honchos released from Gitmo in exchange for the celebrated Bo Bergdahl are getting up to….

      • quotha raven says

        Dec 13, 2014 at 12:40 pm

        Champ – Kinda makes one wonder what those five big shot jihadis O released from Gitmo in exchange for the illustrious and celebrated Bo Bergdahl (sarc off), are up to these days, doesn’t it?

        • Champ says

          Dec 13, 2014 at 2:48 pm

          LOL! …yeah this is just a *wild* guess, Quotha Raven, but I bet they’re up to NO GOOD 😉

          Take care, my friend!

    • noellsq says

      Dec 13, 2014 at 1:13 pm

      you are kidding are you not

      • Champ says

        Dec 13, 2014 at 2:46 pm

        I am being sarcastic since it isn’t shocking at all …

  2. Angemon says

    Dec 12, 2014 at 2:43 pm

    Madrid’s largest mosque was functioning as a Jihadist recruitment center led by a former Guantánamo prisoner, it has emerged.

    You can take the terrorists out of gitmo but you can’t take the terrorism out of the terrorist.

    The group called itself the Al-Andalus Brigade after the medieval name for Muslim-controlled parts of Spain and Portugal.

    The name “al-andalous” means something along the lines of “land of the vandals” – why is it that the allegedly wise and cultured muslims have kept a name based on something factually false for over 1000 years? Unless it refers to the reign of terror non-muslims endured in muslim-ruled spain.

    • mortimer says

      Dec 12, 2014 at 2:57 pm

      They are planning to re-institute their terror in Spain big time.

      • Ha Meshuga says

        Dec 13, 2014 at 12:43 pm

        I hope youre wrong, I fear you are not…I live in Spain….There is however a growing awareness and in turn a resistance to these scum…..

        • noellsq says

          Dec 13, 2014 at 1:16 pm

          Scum wins out always, westerners are too civilized to battle these animals. Politicians believe in multi-culture but it works with everybody except Muslims they will not assimilate but want you to change or die

  3. mortimer says

    Dec 12, 2014 at 2:51 pm

    The smug smile (as he is led away handcuffed) says it all: I betrayed you and I’m glad.

    These dangerous jihadists are everywhere in the West now thanks to our willfully blind politicians who do not see the connection between the violent commandments in the Koran and Islamic terrorism. Islamic immigration to Western countries should be brought to zero until it we discover a way to remove the jihad threat.

    • Ernie says

      Dec 13, 2014 at 5:08 am

      Hi Mortimer , ofcourse , you are right . But that smug smile .. makes me think of somebody shitting his pants and enjoying this in some orgastic way .

  4. St. Croix says

    Dec 12, 2014 at 2:54 pm

    “His parents thought he was away on vacation.”

    Only his brain.

  5. thomas pellow says

    Dec 12, 2014 at 3:46 pm

    Supplementary.

    “Madrid mosque was jihadi recruitment hub”

    http://www.thelocal.es/20141212/madrid-mosque-was-jihadi-recruitment-centre?

  6. Dave J says

    Dec 12, 2014 at 3:49 pm

    Any and every mosque found to have been used as a jihadist recruitment center needs to be subjected to a controlled demolition.

    • Ernie says

      Dec 13, 2014 at 1:58 am

      Hello Dave , yes , you’re right . And since any and every mosque IS a jihadist recruitment centre ……. . Yes Yes Yes !

      • gungadin says

        Dec 13, 2014 at 10:28 am

        Here in the states, it seems that EVERYWHERE I turn there’s another mosque popping up…..they’re like cockroaches; if you see one you know there’s more somewhere else in your area…….We should deal with the mosques the same way we deal with roaches…..gnore them they will only multiply.

  7. thomas pellow says

    Dec 12, 2014 at 4:39 pm

    From Spanish report on 2004 Madrid train massacres:-

    “It was in mosques, worship sites, countryside gatherings and private residences where most of the members of the Madrid bombing network adopted extremist views.”

    Report:

    “JIHADIST RADICALIZATION AND THE 2004 MADRID BOMBING NETWORK”

    https://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/jihadist-radicalization-and-the-2004-madrid-bombing-network

  8. Frans Groenendijk says

    Dec 12, 2014 at 4:47 pm

    The expression ‘doing prison-dawah’ gets a different meaning, when Guantanamo is involved.

  9. Don McKellar says

    Dec 12, 2014 at 4:51 pm

    From the largest mosque in Madrid to the smallest mosque in Madrid, from the largest mosque in America to the smallest mosque in America, in the UK, Canada, Germany, Sweden, France… ALL OF THEM are jihad recruitment centres! Because that’s the nature of Islam!

    And by a former Guantánamo prisoner? What a shocker!

    • TH says

      Dec 12, 2014 at 6:22 pm

      If the Spanish government and ther rest of Western governments had any sense, which they dodn’t have, they would simply close down all the mosques for promoting terrorism.

      • Betty says

        Dec 13, 2014 at 1:37 pm

        TH the only problem with that look at the thousands of muslim feelings that would be hurt. what a shame. but boy that is one great idea love it.

  10. zebo says

    Dec 12, 2014 at 5:28 pm

    It is obvious that those guys(just like mohammed and allah) were never tought by Affleck and Biden how Islam really is.

  11. No Fear says

    Dec 12, 2014 at 5:56 pm

    Government officals who approve development applications for new mosques should be formally told that any mosque has a chance of being involved with illegal activity. Having been informed of that they should then be told that if they approve a development application for a mosque which then goes on to have illegal activity then they will be personally sued.

    Government officials should be FORCED to enforce the LAW. It is not OK for them to approve premises for criminal activities. If they knowingly do that then they should be sued.

    • gungadin says

      Dec 13, 2014 at 10:32 am

      What chance do honest citizens have against the likes of Holder or in the case of NYC, the commie lover mayor of New York in a law suit being processed?

      • quotha raven says

        Dec 13, 2014 at 12:49 pm

        Um…slim to none? Well, okay. None. None at all.

    • dumbledoresarmy says

      Dec 14, 2014 at 5:34 am

      Yes.

      Whenever news stories like this come up, make sure you copy the original link and the complete text of the original news report (before it vanishes off whatever newspaper site it is on). Save both onto the hard disk of your computer. I keep such stories in a file entitled “mosques behaving badly”, which should probably be renamed “mosques doing what mosques do”.

      Then, whenever concerned citizens in your country are battling a mosque-building proposal, you can send them some ammo – real life actual factual reports of what goes on in mosques. Not just one mosque, but a lot of mosques.

      Every town or shire councillor or other political person involved in the town planning / approvals side when a mosque proposal comes up, needs to be sent this story…and all the other stories like it.

  12. gp says

    Dec 12, 2014 at 6:17 pm

    Madrid’s largest mosque was jihad recruitment center led by ex-Gitmo prisoner-

    Why would anyone be surprised by this, mosques have always been recruiting and outreach centers for terrorist organizations. Just think Trojan Horses filled with Manchurian Candidates, all just waiting for the signal to strike- then you’ll have the idea..

  13. sidney penny says

    Dec 12, 2014 at 8:59 pm

    “Madrid’s largest mosque was functioning as a Jihadist recruitment center led by a former Guantánamo prisoner, it has emerged”

    Yes largest.

    So,so lots and lots of Muslims

    So,Robert was right:

    “Why didn’t the vast majority of peaceful Muslims rise up and throw out these misunderstanders of Islam who were busy twisting and hijacking their peaceful religion?”

  14. Champ says

    Dec 12, 2014 at 11:33 pm

    Doesn’t that make Obama an accomplice?

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Hmm, good question …

  15. Salah says

    Dec 13, 2014 at 1:01 am

    “A mosque? What? A center of peaceful worship…”

    Not “worship”…”War Shop”!!!
    A mosque is a peaceful war shop.

  16. Michael Copeland says

    Dec 13, 2014 at 5:10 am

    “Out of the mosques wars should proceed.”
    Ayatollah Khomeini.

  17. reyol says

    Dec 13, 2014 at 6:23 am

    To bad for Spain. Their ancestors went through a lot of trouble to get rid of the Muslims the first time – A LOT of TROUBLE! If anyone has the right to be adamant about not letting Muslims into their country, it would be Spain.

  18. duh_swami says

    Dec 13, 2014 at 7:10 am

    Mosques are multiple purpose buildings, They are used for worship, learning, weapons storage, jihad training, hideout for the wanted, sharia courts and execution chambers and forts.
    Did the authorities bull doze the fort? Mosques building is how Islam spreads. ‘if you build it they will come’…Stop mosque build and doze the rest if they are teaching hate or not. If they are not teaching jihad now, they will in the future.

  19. thomas pellow says

    Dec 13, 2014 at 3:45 pm

    “Mosques Are the Battleground of the War between Islam and the West”

    (2013.)

    http://www.raymondibrahim.com/islam/mosques-are-the-battleground-of-the-war-between-islam-and-the-west/

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