Bekkay Harrach

Bekkay Harrach (born September 4, 1977 in Berkane , Morocco , † 2010 in Afghanistan ) was a German - Moroccan Islamist and a suspected member of al-Qaeda . He became known through video messages in which he uttered terror threats against Germany in 2009 under the pseudonym " Abu Talha, the German ". According to two different reports, he is said to have died in combat in Afghanistan in 2010.

Life

Harrach came to Germany in 1981 as part of a family reunification and grew up in Bonn- Tannenbusch ; since 1997 he was in possession of the German citizenship . As a teenager he frequented the König-Fahd-Akademie in Bonn , left the grammar school after the 10th grade and passed the technical diploma after two years of technical college. In 2002 he enrolled at the Koblenz University of Applied Sciences for laser technology and business mathematics, but was de-registered in 2004 . Harrach then worked in the “Casablanca” call shop in Tannenbusch. He is said to have been radicalized by Salafist preachers in a mosque and in Islamic seminars . As early as 2003, he went to the West Bank , where he was wounded in a battle by Israeli soldiers in Hebron . In 2004 he is said to have fled first to Iraq and then to Syria and was temporarily detained. Harrach is said to have frequented various mosques in Bonn, in the Al-Muhajirin mosque, the Bonn-Beuel Al-Muhssin mosque and in the Ar-Rahma mosque in Pennenfeld, Harrach was even deputy chairman of the mosque association from March 2006 to March 2007. In 2006 he also called for a demonstration against the Mohammed cartoons in Bonn by name. According to the federal prosecutor's office, Harrach in Germany was recruited for the terror network by high-ranking al-Qaida member Aleem Nasir from Germersheim, who was later sentenced to eight years in prison . According to the Federal Criminal Police Office , Harrach traveled from Germany in 2007 to a training camp in the Pakistani-Afghan border area (" terror camp "), where he made contact with the highest al-Qaida leadership.

Harrach was married to a German-Polish woman who had converted to Islam , with whom he had had a son since June 2007 and who followed him in May 2008. His wife had previously suffered a miscarriage. That child should be called Talha. After him, Harrach called himself "Abu Talha", father of Talha.

From January 2009, the federal prosecutor's office was investigating Harrach for membership in a terrorist organization . In May 2009 he was placed on the UN terror list and in October 2009 on the sanctions list of the US Treasury Department .

According to unsecured information from the secret service to the media, Harrach was allegedly killed in an air strike by a US drone in the border area with Pakistan in August 2010 . In January 2011, his death was confirmed in a communique from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IBU) alleging that Harrach was killed in a suicidal attack on the fortress of Bagram in Afghanistan.

Threatening videos

Harrach became known through five threatening videos against the Federal Republic, which he broadcast from Wasiristan under his pseudonym " Abu Talha, the German" . The first video (“The rescue package for Germany”) was published in January 2009 and, like two other Harrach videos, was authorized by the media production company “As-Sahab” to disseminate the messages of al-Qaeda. In the half-hour recording, Harrach threatened Germany with attacks because of its involvement in the NATO mission in Afghanistan . Harrach tried to prove the superiority of al-Qaeda using a curve discussion and parables with chains of glass beads and prime numbers ("Taliban and Al-Qaida are like a prime number that can only be divided by itself or by one"). Harrach's appearance in combat gear with RPG , machine gun and veiled face as well as a strangely leisurely language and impressive gestures was understood as an invitation for scoffers and satirized in satire videos.

The second video, an approximately 45-minute long speech with a still image entitled “Islam and the Financial Crisis,” appeared in February 2009. In it he criticized capitalism and interpreted the financial crisis from 2007 as a punishment from God for not observing the Koran . According to Harrach, Germany will be hit by “Allah’s punishment” if the country does not “stay away from evil and criminals”.

In September 2009, three more videos were posted on the Internet and passed on to the press by IntelCenter . In the third video ("Security - a shared fate" with the logo of Al Fajr Media), Harrach announced attacks after the 2009 Bundestag elections if this did not bring any signal for a withdrawal of German troops from Afghanistan. "If the German people decide to go to war, they have made their own judgment." Then, according to Harrach, the jihad will be carried to Germany. On behalf of Al-Qaeda, he recommended that Muslims stay away from anything that is not essential for the two weeks after the elections in Germany and keep their children close by. In this video, Harrach showed his uncovered face and “clothing that was conceivably atypical for the occasion” with a black suit and blue tie in front of a red curtain, which the taz gave to a “good high school student giving certificates”, others to a “Mafioso with a suit and Tie ”remembered. The German public reacted with incomprehension to Harrach's announcement that he wanted to spare the city of Kiel, of all places, an exception that he confirmed with the baby food oath “That's what I stand for with my name”. Harrach also thanked the federal government for the “quick help from my imprisonment in Syria” and for help “after my gunshot wound in Hebron / Palestine”.

In the fourth video, entitled "Oh Allah, I Love You, Part 1", he promoted martyrdom and extolled the benefits of holy war. In the second part of the address he recommended young Muslims in Germany to join the armed struggle.

The security authorities took Harrach's threats seriously, and security measures were tightened at airports and train stations after the last videos were published. In November 2009, a 25-year-old man from Stuttgart who had distributed the videos on the Internet was sentenced to six months in prison for aiding and abetting disturbing the public peace by threatening to commit crimes.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Security Council Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee (UN 1267) adds name of one individual to Consolidated List of individuals and entities 28 May 2009
2. ↑ Bekkay Harrach - the man who threatens Germany , Berliner Morgenpost , September 19, 2009
3. ↑ Bekkay Harrach: The Terrorist from Tannenbusch Stern October 7, 2009
4. ↑ Terror preacher in suit and tie ( memento of the original from September 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. süddeutsche.de , September 21, 2009 
5. ↑ ^{a b} This is how Bekkay Harrach from Bonn died the "martyr's death" Florian Flade, Die Welt January 18, 2011
6. ↑ Bonn and its Islamist milieu By Christian Denso, DIE ZEIT, April 30, 2009 No. 19
7. ↑ ^{a b} Terrorist investigation: German-Moroccans planning attacks for al-Qaida Der Spiegel January 24, 2009
8. ↑ ^{a b} The Network of Terror School Students By Jens Meifert, Kölnische Rundschau October 20, 2009, updated April 24, 2017
9. ^ Rolf Clement / Paul Elmar Jöris : The terrorists from next door. God's Warriors from Germany, Munich 2010. Review God's Warriors from NRW By Karsten Rudolph May 2nd, 2010
10. ↑ Muslims take a position on Islamist Harrach al-Qaeda terrorist was on the board of a mosque in Bonn in 2006. By Frank Vallender, General-Anzeiger (Bonn) on November 19, 2009
11. ↑ ^{a b} "Abu Talha, the German" threatens the Federal Republic , Focus Online , September 19, 2009
12. ↑ ^{a b} Al Qaeda Video - Federal Prosecutor's Office investigating Bekkay Harrach , Focus Online, January 22, 2009
13. ↑ WELT January 18, 2011 ( online )
14. ↑ Treasury Designates al-Qa'ida members October 15, 2009
15. ↑ Bekkay Harrach: German terrorist killed in Afghanistan? , Focus Online, September 16, 2010
16. ↑ Jihadist Abu Talha: Bonn al-Qaida fighter allegedly died in combat By Yassin Musharbash, Der Spiegel January 18, 2011
17. ↑ “New Year in Waziristan” by Abu Adam al-Almani ( Mounir Chouka ), for the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) with annual statistics (1431 AH), published January 2011
18. ^ Investigations against German Moroccans because of threatening videos , Spiegel Online , January 22, 2009
19. ^ Logbook al-Qaida: Abu Blahbla and the fun guerrilla By Yassin Musharbash, Der Spiegel February 5, 2009
20. ↑ youtube videos: Hindukush Home Shopping , Abu Talha as "fastest mouse in Mexico" , rescue package for MTV , Abu Talha in search of the prime number
21. ^ German Islamist Harrach warns of capitalism , Welt Online , February 26, 2009
22. ↑ ^{a b} Wording of the threatening video "Then it looks bitter for the German people" Der Spiegel, September 18, 2009
23. ↑ Al-Qaida threatens attacks after the federal election Yassin Musharbash, Marcel Rosenbach , Holger Stark , Spiegel Online, September 18, 2009
24. ↑ The German Al-Qaida terrorist Harrach - A dangerous man taz September 22, 2009
25. ↑ Bekkay gives the Mafioso Holger Schmidt, SWR, September 18, 2009
26. ^ Gentle threats, thanks to Berlin and Trost for Kiel Neue Zürcher Zeitung September 21, 2009
27. ↑ Bekkay Harrach's plea for the “holy war” , Welt Online, September 20, 2009
28. ^ Al-Qaida publishes new propaganda sermon in German Spiegel Online, September 25, 2009
29. ↑ Yassin Musharbash, Marcel Rosenbach, Holger Stark: Al-Qaida threatens attacks after the federal election , Spiegel Online, September 18, 2009
30. ↑ Al-Qaeda threatens Germany with a rude awakening , Zeit Online , September 18, 2009
31. ↑ Terrorist helper arrested ( Memento from November 15, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Susanne Janssen, Stuttgarter Zeitung, November 13, 2009