Additional information on the Millatu Ibrahim group

June 15

 

Millatu Ibrahim defines itself as Takfiri, a radical interpret of Islam. Basic information retrieved from blog-pages describe the Millatu Ibrahim group call Muslims to witness Allah in front of the public with the “Shuhahda” and distance themselves from any other unbeliever “Kufr” in order to be on the “safe side” of Islam.

 

Denis Cuspert (36) alias Deso Dogg alias Abu Talha Al-Almani started is public activity as a “Gangster Rapper”. His songs are about violence and crime among youth in German cities. He was born and raised in Berlin by his German mother as his father, who was from Ghana left the family when Cuspert was a baby. Cuspert had a difficult childhood: he was often in conflict with his stepfather, a former American Army soldier and strict disciplinarian. He was sent to a home for difficult children and returned after five years. He experienced racism at school and begun to participate at demonstrations against the Persian Gulf War in 1991 and the Iraq war in 2003. Having joined Turkish and Arab youth gangs in Berlin, he committed crimes for which he was sentenced to prison.

 

Cuspert became a known figure in the socially problematic areas of Berlin. His “nasheeds” (Islamic vocal songs) praising Al Qaeda’s late leader, Osama bin Laden (“Your name flows in our blood”), or the Taliban leader Mullah Omar have made him a high ranked rapper in the Jihadi scene. In 2011, he was prosecuted for possessing illegal weapons and ordered to pay a fine.

 

Recently, Cuspert has left Berlin for Bonn, calling the city a “lost case”. Little is known about Cuspert’s real motivation to move. Commentators speculate that the reason is the increasing authorities’ pressure after the release of his hate, violence-praising “nasheeds” in May 2012.

 

Cuspert is believed to have inspired the self-radicalized Arid Uka, who shot two American airmen at the Frankfurt airport in March 2011. His “nasheeds” would “incite violence and unrest through inflammatory videos and fiery speeches that praise terrorists and attack the West”.

 

Mohamed Mahmoud (27), also known as Abu Usama al-Gharib, was born in Vienna, Austria. His father was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and asked for political asylum in Austria. Mahmoud joined an Al Qaeda training camp in Iraq in 2003 and founded the youth organization “Islamic youth in Austria”.

 

After moving to Berlin, he was sentenced to four years prison for hate speech and activities in terrorist and criminal organizations. Already during his time in prison, Mahmoud was in contact with Cuspert. They became closer after that Mahmoud was released in September 2011. In the same period, Mahmoud moved from Berlin to Solingen and became the dominant Imam of the local “Millatu Ibrahim mosque”.  Mahmoud and Cuspert have been regarded as “online pioneers” of the German Jihadi scene, providing Islamists with an entertaining and heterogeneous platform to interact on.

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