Now On Twitter: Online Jihadis Disseminate Segment They Claim Was Deleted By U.S. From Latest AQAP Video; Segment Announces Rewards For Assassination Of ‘The Jewish’ U.S. Ambassador To Yemen, U.S. Soldiers In Yemen
The following report is a complimentary offering from the MEMRI Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For subscription information, click here.
On Twitter, jihad supporters are currently disseminating what they are calling a segment deleted by the U.S. from the most recent video released by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
The segment that is being disseminated, an audio file, includes AQAP’s announcement of a reward of 3,000 grams of gold to anyone who assassinates “the Jewish” U.S. Ambassador to Yemen Gerald M. Feierstein, as well as a reward of five million Yemeni riyals (about $23,000) to anyone who kills a U.S. soldier in Yemen.
The announcement follows a statement in the video by AQAP deputy emir Saeed Al-Shihri, in which he praises a fatwa issued in January 2010 by a number of Yemeni scholars that makes jihad mandatory if Yemen is invaded by foreign forces; this fatwa was led by radical Yemeni cleric Sheikh Abd Al-Majid Al-Zindani. Al-Shihri called on Muslims to implement this fatwa.
Links to the audio first appeared around 2:50 pm Eastern Time in the U.S., in a tweet by “Abdallah Bin Mohammad” who uses the handle @ABDLLH_Bn_M7mmd. The tweet reads: “Exclusive: an audio segment of Al-Qaeda’s announcement which was removed by the Americans.”
The link spread quickly via Twitter among jihad supporters, using the hashtag “Jai’zat Al-Qaeda,” meaning “Al-Qaeda’s reward.”
Earlier today, Muwahhid Shamikh, who uses the handle @mwahid_ak47, which is a new Twitter account, posted snapshots of the segment from the video in a series of tweets, asking jihad supporters to disseminate it widely.
Following the announcement in the video, the voice of Osama bin Laden is heard calling on Mujahedeen not to consult anyone in killing Americans and to go ahead with Allah’s blessing while remembering the rewards Allah has waiting for martyrs.
In the past couple of months, jihadis are increasingly relying on Twitter and Facebook to disseminate messages, due to the intermittent shutdowns of major jihadi forums.
© 1998-2013, The Middle East Media Research Institute All Rights Reserved
The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) explores the Middle East and South Asia through their media. MEMRI bridges the language gap between the West and the Middle East and South Asia, providing timely translations of Arabic, Farsi, Urdu-Pashtu and Dari media, as well as original analysis of political, ideological, intellectual, social, cultural, and religious trends.