Jihadunspun.com
| File:Jihadunspun.jpg | |
Type of site | News |
|---|---|
| Owner | Khadija Abdul Qahaar |
| Created by | jihadunspun staff |
| URL | http://www.jihadunspun.com |
JihadUnspun.com is a Canadian website, claimed by its critics to be a hate and supremacist[1] site. It was launched on April 21, 2002 and has a stated aim to present uncensored reporting of the United States' "war on terrorism" on a global scale and reporting also news from several jihad groups. Its articles are often highly critical of American foreign policy and military interventions in especially Muslim countries.
Website ownership and content
The owner and publisher of Jihad Unspun is Beverly Giesbrecht, a semi-retired Canadian publishing entrepreneur and convert to Islam, now calling herself Khadija Abdul Qahaar (also known by the pen names Bev Kennedy and Paul Morris-Read). A former Christian, she began a period of intensive research on the history of the American relationship with the Middle East after 9/11, converting to Islam as well. The news portal was named after Jihad vs. McWorld, political scientist Benjamin Barber's bestselling book on capitalism, factionalism, and world civilization. Qahaar's aim in publishing the site has been to report information from all sides, including in particular information originating in the Middle East and from the Muslim point of view not picked up by the mainstream press.
JihadUnspun.com is currently indexed by Google News as a source of reporting on the Middle East.
Giesbrecht was kidnapped in November 2008 along with her translator and driver near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, where she had gone to meet with and film the Taliban. In late February 2009, a video surfaced of her, in between two men with rifles, in which she states: “I have been in captivity for almost three months. I wake up in the dark, and I go to sleep in the dark.”[2]
In March 2009, another video surfaced which showed Beverly saying that the Taliban would behead her unless a ransom was paid. Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper so far has stated he does not plan to pay the ransom.[1]
U.S. Government view
The United States Department of State accuses Jihad Unspun of spreading "disinformation appear[ing] to originate with Islam Memo, which is a pro-al Qaeda, pro-Iraqi insurgency, Arabic-language Web site based in Saudi Arabia."[3]
Conspiracy theory
Rita Katz, director of the SITE institute, has publicly speculated that JihadUnspun is a US government website "designed to find out who visits or orders videos glorifying bin Laden." Azzam Publications also questioned the websites authenticity [2].
Libertyforum.org argue that JihadUnspun is unlikely to be a genuine pro-jihad website given the relative sophistication of the websites' content and design in comparison to other jihadi websites which only operate on a shoestring budget [3].
The Welcome Fund conducted a traceroute which failed to get packets through to the remote end system; they conclude that this is likely due to the fact the site is a front for something else [4].
JihadUnspun deny these allegations [5].
Sources
- Jihad Unspun home
- "From Ashes to Light", Khadija Abdul Qahaar on herself and Jihad Unspun.
- "The Web as al-Qaida's safety net", The Chicago Tribune, March 28, 2003
Further reading
- Jack Kelley, "Militants wire Web with links to jihad" July 10, 2002 USA Today
- A front for the CIA?
- Information Clearing House [6], "Disinformation:CIA Posing as Al-Qaeda?"
Notes
- ^ [http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070810/terror_online_070810/20070811?hub=TopStories
- ^ Radical conversions by Leonard Stern, Ottawa Citizen, February 28, 2009.
- ^ "A Trio of Disinformers: Islam Memo, Muhammad Abu Nasr, and Jihad Unspun" Usinfo.state.gov April 8, 2005