“They do shout it on the streets”: “SPIEGEL Interview with the King of Bahrain ‘Arab Spring? That’s the Business of Other Countries,’” Spiegel Online, February 13, 2012, http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/spiegel-interview-with-the-king-of-bahrain-arab-spring-that-s-the-business-of-other-countries-a-814915.html. Interview conducted by Alexander Smoltczyk and Souad Mekhennet.
the government had made “mistakes”: “Interview with Bahrain’s Prime Minster: The Opposition ‘Are Terrorizing the Rest of This Country,’” Spiegel Online, April 27, 2012, http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/interview-bahraini-prime-minister-prince-khalifa-bin-salman-al-khalifa-a-830045.html. Interview conducted by Souad Mekhennet in Bahrain.
“accusing Martin Luther King of being a racist”: Kelly McEvers, “Iraq’s Chalabi Advises Protesters Abroad,” NPR, April 11, 2011, http://www.npr.org/2011/04/11/135324059/iraqs-chalabi-advises-protesters-abroad.
“No, I will not stand against the victims’ reaction”: “Interview with Bahraini Opposition Activist: Regime Using Formula One Race to ‘Trick the World,’” Spiegel Online, April 20, 2012, http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/interview-with-bahraini-human-rights-activist-zainab-al-khawaja-a-828407.html. Interview conducted by Souad Mekhennet.
“another story ran that drew the family’s ire: Frank Gardner, “Bahrain Activist Khawaja to Continue Hunger Strike,” BBC News, May 1, 2012, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-17908449.
“Mekhennet fails to question any of Rajab’s official policy statements”: Samia Errazzouki and Maryam al-Khawaja, “Beware of the Middle East’s Fake Feminists,” Foreign Policy, October 22, 2013, http://foreignpolicy.com/2013/10/22/beware-of-the-middle-easts-fake-feminists/.
12: BOYS FOR THE CALIPHATE
“We have a big catastrophe”: Michael Birnbaum and Souad Mekhennet, “As Son Heads to Syrian Front, Family in Germany Plots Kidnapping to Bring Him Back,” Washington Post, November 11, 2013.
Pero’s family was devastated: Ibid.
While some German Salafists: Marwan Abou Tamm et al., “Kontinuierlicher Wandel. Organisation und Anwerbungspraxis der salafistischen Bewegung,” HSFK-Report Nr. 2, 2016, http://www.hsfk.de/fileadmin/HSFK/hsfk_publikationen/report_022016.pdf.
he always called for donations: J?rg Diehl et al., “Glaubenskrieger: Taxi in den Dschihad,” Der Spiegel 43 (2013): 36–39.
I’d profiled him several years earlier: Souad Mekhennet, “Munich Imam Strives to Dilute the Elixir of Radical Islam for Some Young People,” New York Times, May 17, 2010.
13: BRIDES FOR THE CALIPHATE
Hezbollah bombed the French paratrooper barracks: Richard Ernsberger Jr., “1983 Beirut Barracks Bombing: ‘The BLT Building Is Gone!’” HistoryNet, October 27, 2016, http://www.historynet.com/1983-beirut-bombing-the-blt-building-is-gone.htm.
they have often been the scene of antigovernment protests: Katrin Sold, “Ein unvollendeter Aufarbeitungsprozess: Der Algerienkrieg im kollektiven Ged?chtnis Frankreichs,” Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, January 21, 2013, http://www.bpb.de/internationales/europa/frankreich/152531/algerienkrieg; Simone Gnade, “Problemgebiet Banlieue: Konflikte und Ausgrenzung in franz?sischen Vorst?dten,” Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, January 21, 2013, http://www.bpb.de/internationales/europa/frankreich/152511/problemgebiet-banlieue; ABC News, “Paris Attacks: A History of Terror Attacks in Modern France,” November 14, 2015, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-14/history-of-terror-attacks-in-modern-france/6940960; John R. Bowen. “Three Reasons France Became a Target for Jihad,” Time, January 8, 2015.
“It was the best times in my life”: Souad Mekhennet, “Divining the Future in Morocco,” New York Times, May 10, 2011.
“under an Islamic leader in a truly Islamic land”: Ibid.
“Maybe we could go to the Rafidain Center”: “Rafidain” is Mesopotamia/Iraq, i.e., “land of the two rivers.” Elaine Sciolino and Souad Mekhennet, “Al Qaeda Warrior Uses Internet to Rally Women,” New York Times, May 28, 2008.
Malika was one of nearly two dozen defendants: Ibid.
an eight-year prison term: “El-Aroud Loses Appeal against Eight-Year ‘Jihad’ Sentence,” Agence France-Presse, December 1, 2010.
She was sent to a group home: Michael Birnbaum and Souad Mekhennet, “Hayat Boumeddiene, Wife of Paris Attacker, Becomes France’s Most-Wanted Woman,” Washington Post, February 2, 2015.
she and Coulibaly were married in a religious ceremony: Michael Birnbaum and Souad Mekhennet, “The Woman on the Run,” Washington Post, February 3, 2015.
“My father stood in for me”: Fran?ois Labrouillère and Aurélie Raya, “Le destin monstrueux d’un couple ordinaire,” Paris Match, January 30, 2015, http://www.parismatch.com/Actu/Societe/Hayat-Boumeddiene-et-Amedy-Coulibaly-Le-destin-monstrueux-d-un-couple-ordinaire-700346.
a pilgrimage to Mecca: Ibid.
“evil done to innocents in occupied lands”: Ibid.
That’s how I found Meryam: Faiola and Mekhennet, “Battle with the Islamic State.”
In 2008, several Danish papers: “Prophet Mohammed Cartoons Controversy: Timeline,” Telegraph, May 4, 2015, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11341599/Prophet-Muhammad-cartoons-controversy-timeline.html.
For an earlier book, Die Kinder des Dschidad: Souad Mekhennet, Claudia Sautter, and Michael Hanfeld, Die Kinder des Dschihad: Die neue Generation des islamistischen Terrors in Europa (Munich: Piper, 2008).
14: THE SEARCH FOR AN ISLAMIST BEATLE, OR FINDING JIHADI JOHN
a prison on a mountain fifteen miles east of the Syrian city of Raqqa: James Harkin, “The Fight to Save James Foley,” Daily Telegraph, October 31, 2015.
he founded Special Emergency Response and Assistance (SERA): “SERA is focused on the distribution of aid materials to populations with an acute and immediate need. We administer aid in the form of food and cooking materials, medical supplies, and clothing.” Nick Schwellenbach, “An Army Ranger Helps Syrian Refugees,” Time, January 8, 2013.
he’d developed a deep interest in Islam: Adam Goldman, “Islamic State Beheads Aid Worker from United States,” Washington Post, November 17, 2014.
It ended with a shot of Kassig’s severed head: SITE Intelligence Group, “IS Beheads Peter Kassig, Challenges U.S. to Send Ground Troops,” November 16, 2014, https://news.siteintelgroup.com/Jihadist-News/is-beheads-peter-kassig-challenges-u-s-to-send-ground-troops.html.
He’s a lawyer who has worked on cases involving detainees: Ben Hayes and Asim Qureshi, “‘We Are Completely Independent’: The Home Office, Breakthrough Media and the PREVENT Counter Narrative Industry,” CAGE Advocacy UK, 2016, p. 3, http://cage.ngo/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/CAGE_WACI.pdf.
“under constant pressure and scrutiny”: Kevin Rawlinson, “Charities Sever Ties with Pressure Group Cage over Mohammed Emwazi Links,” Guardian, March 6, 2015.