Songs of jihad to the rhythm of shots and sabers: this is how the Melilla terrorist cell captured young people

The nasheeds are songs with a long tradition in the Islamic religion, born to offer an artistic reading of the Koran.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
09 October 2022 Sunday 14:32
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Songs of jihad to the rhythm of shots and sabers: this is how the Melilla terrorist cell captured young people

The nasheeds are songs with a long tradition in the Islamic religion, born to offer an artistic reading of the Koran. These creations have been adapted — with seductive voices to the rhythm of gunshots and sharp sabers — by jihadists to attract followers. These nasheeds for terrorist purposes are the common link in all the audiovisual production machinery that had been launched by the jihadist cell that has been dismantled this week in Melilla to turn young people into "soldiers of Allah".

The alleged cell linked to the Islamic State was perfectly hierarchical. At the top, sources close to the investigation told La Vanguardia, was the imam (59 years old) of one of the Melilla mosques. He is an old acquaintance of the State Security Forces and Bodies. The other twelve detainees in the autonomous city, in neighboring Nador (Morocco) and in Granada depended on him – more directly or indirectly. While the imam was responsible for the virtual content strategy to show young people “the right path; the one of the jihad”, the rest was in charge of devising them, composing them and distributing them.

These are short videos with images of war to the rhythm of nasheeds to be posted on Facebook, Instagram or Tiktok; some perfect fishing grounds to fish the younger public; the most impressionable. The two women arrested in the operation piloted by the General Information Police Station of the National Police prepared the material using files distributed by the producers of the Islamic State. The result, a material that incited "the commission of violent actions", was viewed by tens of thousands of users, the same sources point out. Among the recipients, according to police sources, are minors.

Among the 13 detainees —11 in Spain and 2 in Morocco— there are men who have already been convicted of terrorism crimes. Despite their time in prison, those arrested again did not abandon their jihadist postulates. Sources from the Ministry of the Interior explain to this newspaper that the reintegration programs for this type of prisoner are being reviewed for improvement due to the low level of participation –it is always voluntary– that they have.

The investigation -directed by the National High Court- became more relevant when the agents detected that the cell went from the virtual plane to the physical one. The members began to hold meetings in intimate places like garages or less discreet like mosques or public parks. According to the researchers, the format of these meetings was “changing”: on some occasions the appointments were more doctrinal and on others the day had a “conviviality format” in which there were physical activities.

In both of them —with several members of the cell present— calls for jihad were made with very radical messages. Here too, nasheeds were a constant. There are meetings in which researchers have accredited the attendance of up to a hundred people. In other appointments the number was much smaller, with no more than a dozen attendees.

During the exploitation of the operation, more than 100 agents were deployed in Melilla and Granada to proceed with the arrests and searches of thirteen homes. As a result of these, "numerous" documentary and computer material was seized, as well as videographic equipment used for the production of audiovisual material. In addition, as police sources point out, "prohibited weapons" were seized, but not firearms. Legal sources assure that the group also had manuals on explosives or military training tactics.

Eight of the detainees have been sent to prison and three have been released. The seized material will now serve as evidence to try to open an oral trial against those accused of terrorism crimes in the National Court. The same court that last week dismantled the first police operation against the jihadist prison front, acquitting five prisoners accused of forming a terrorist group to recruit other inmates for lack of evidence.