US Shuts Down Islamist Site Threatening World Leaders
Jeremy Reynalds - 11/29/2005
A statement distributed by the Global Islamic Media Front and formerly located on an radical Islamic American hosted Internet site, contained a death threat against a number of world leaders. The site has now been suspended.

The statement (at www.alfirdaws.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&t=9116) threatens, according to the Society for Internet Research (www.internet-haganah.us/harchives/005294.html), Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Australian Prime Minister John Howard, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and U.S. President George W. Bush.

Contacted by e-mail, the Internet Haganah's Aaron Weisburd said the posting promised kidnaping to be followed by decapitation. Weisburd said according to the statement the plan is in place, including the proposed location for Berlusconi's slaughter.



The Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF) is known as the voice of al Qaeda on the Internet.

According to the Society for Internet Research (SOFIR) the statement was published on the al-Firdaws forum by "ialam al-islami," who has in the past been a prolific contributor to GIMF forums and sites.

The ominous statement is attributed to "Rakan ben Willyamz," an apparently collective name for native European converts to Islam roaming the continent, preparing to strike.

While there have been questions about the credibility of the statement, including the poor quality of the Arabic, as opposed to the first statement from the imaginary Rakan ben Willyamz (www.sofir.org/sarchives/005248.php), SOFIR said the threat shouldn't be dismissed.

"Arguments in support of the statement (if not the threat) being credible, include the fact that it was distributed by the Global Islamic Media Front. That this ‘Rakan' is a different and less-literate individual doesn't necessarily make the statement non-credible. Since when are terrorists great examples of human intelligence? Certainly there is no disputing that the countries in question are all in al-Qaida's sights ... Increasingly the global jihad is waged by ignorant thugs, and their statements are likely to reflect that."

The ben Willyamz name came to light earlier this year. The Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper (AAWSAT) reported (http://aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=2577) in Aug. that ben Willyamz (or bin Williams), was being touted as someone who would "wreck havoc worldwide."

Al Qaeda's strategy "will depend on surprise such as when near simultaneous attacks were carried out in Morocco and Turkey. Al Qaeda's aim was to target the border between Europe and the Muslim world, east and west, so let this serve as a lesson to the entire west; we have arrived at your borders and no one will be able to stop us," AAWSAT reported that GIMF said on the Internet.

AAWSAT also reported that the British tabloid the Sun indicated al Qaeda was recruiting English men, and referred to six English-language web sites affiliated with al Qaeda that had published material encouraging Europeans to sign up for military training.

Earlier this year, AAWSAT reported al Qaeda warned on the al Firdaws forum, "Do not rejoice, Blair, as you will not be able to follow or halt the movements or stop al Qaeda's new soldiers Rakan bin Williams ... Al Qaeda's new soldiers were born in Europe of European and Christian parents. They studied in your schools. They prayed in your churches, and attended Sunday mass. They drank alcohol, ate pork and oppressed Muslims, but al Qaeda has embraced them, so they have converted to Islam in secret and absorbed the philosophy of al Qaeda and swore to take up arms after their brothers. They are currently roaming the streets of Europe and the United States, planning and observing in preparation for upcoming attacks."

At the time of writing, the Al-Firdaws forum was hosted by the Kentucky- based IX Webhosting. Informed of the contents of the forum reported in this story, a company employee acknowledged that the site was hosted by IX and promised an investigation. Within about an hour, this notice was on the (former) Al Firdaws forum, "Account for domain alfirdaws.org has been suspended."

The content of the Al Firdaws forum violated IX's terms of service (www.ixwebhosting.com/index.php/home.dspPage/page/info.dspTOS). A portion of the company's terms of service reads, "If inappropriate activity is detected, all accounts of the subscriber in question will be deactivated until our investigation is complete. Prior notification to the subscriber is not assured. In extreme cases, law enforcement will be contacted regarding the activity."

The Al Firdaws site was registered to Marwan Alansary of the Al Firdaws Company in Amman, Jordan.