Denis Cuspert

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Denis Mamadou Gerhard Cuspert [ ˌdɛnɪsˈkʊspɐt ] (born October 18, 1975 in West Berlin ; † probably January 17, 2018 near Khara'ij , Syria ) was a German Salafist and former gangsta rapper with the stage name Deso Dogg . From 2010 he appeared as the Islamist preacher and singer of Anāšīd , initially under the name Abou Maleeq , later as Abu Talha al-Almani . He then appeared as a jihadist Salafist who joined the jihadists in Syria in 2013 and in 2014 swore the oath of allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist organization , Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi . According to the Berlin Office for the Protection of the Constitution , he was a war criminal and leading German-speaking propagandist for IS.

He was considered one of the main characters of the Al Hayat Media Center , the media organization of the terrorist militia Islamic State, which published the beheading video of US journalist James Foley in August 2014 .

Because of his calls for armed jihad, Cuspert was considered an extremist and was an observation and investigative subject of German security authorities. In 2012, the Berlin public prosecutor's office investigated Cuspert on suspicion of sedition . Several of his songs were indexed as harmful to young people in Germany. After a nationwide raid against Islamist extremists abroad, Cuspert released a video in September 2012 in which he made threats against the German state.

An arrest warrant was issued against the volatile Cuspert in June 2012 on the basis of the urgent suspicion that he had committed a particularly serious breach of the peace in Bonn in May 2012 . The Federal Criminal Police Office and the Foreign Office have warned of cuspert. Cuspert was added to the terror lists of the United Nations and the United States in February 2015 .

The alleged death of Cuspert has been reported several times, see Multiple Death Reports . According to the BND President from March 2018, the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) has “credible evidence that suggests that he is dead”. According to Nordkurier , the Federal Criminal Police Office announced in September 2019 that Cuspert "almost certainly died". Cuspert is said to have been killed in Syria on January 17, 2018.

Youth and music career

Cuspert, whose father is Ghanaian and mother German, was born in the Berlin district of Kreuzberg and grew up in Charlottenburg , Moabit and Schöneberg . His father was deported before Cuspert was born. His stepfather, with whom there were frequent conflicts, was a member of the US Army .

In his youth, Cuspert was involved in criminal milieus and was a member of a gang. According to the Bild newspaper, he is said to have been involved in a knife fight. Cuspert made a small career as a gangsta rapper; he called himself Darkness D, later Deso. In 2002 he joined a record label with a friend, but the hoped-for breakthrough did not materialize. Until mid-2004 he was arrested several times for various offenses, for example for violating the Narcotics Act . A suspended suspended sentence brought him to the Tegel correctional facility for a long time .

In 2002 he started recording music with the Berlin rapper Charnell under the name Deso Dogg . At the time he was in open prison . After a rule violation, Cuspert's open execution was revoked and he was back in the prison all day. After his release from prison, Montana Beats and Dean Dawson of Streetlife Entertainment became its producers. He was able to take part in the DMX tour in 2005. After a mental breakdown and a psychiatric stay , he was replaced on the tour by D-Flame . In an interview he explained: “In my situation at the time, nobody knew whether I would be back in jail the next day or whether I would be dead in the corner. If I wanted to achieve something, I had to change my life. ”In 2006 Deso Dogg got a second chance at Streetlife Entertainment and took part in the 2006 DMX tour.

Deso Dogg no longer worked with his former label Streetlife from June 2007 ; he said he wanted to have full artistic freedom over his music. In September 2007 he announced a double album entitled All Eyes on Me . He also announced that he wanted to quit German rap after this project because the music had not brought him the desired success. He feels disappointed and betrayed by many people in the German rap scene. The album All eyes on me was finally released in November 2009.

In 2007, 2008 and 2009 he appeared at the Myfest in Berlin Kreuzberg.

He also appeared in an episode of the RTL II documentary soap Der Bluff in August 2008 , which was about shaping a student into a gangsta rapper. In 2010, his song Welcome to my world could be heard in the ARD film Civil Courage .

Salafist activism

Germany

At the beginning of 2010, according to the Berlin Office for the Protection of the Constitution , Cuspert had contact with the Al-Nur Mosque . In February 2010 a video was made showing Cuspert with the Salafist preacher Pierre Vogel .

In November 2010, Cuspert announced that he wanted to end his music career and from now on appear as an Islamic preacher under the name Abou Maleeq . In April 2011, the Berlin public prosecutor brought charges of illegal gun possession . Cuspert demonstrated loading a Glock 26 on a video on YouTube . During house searches 16 cartridges of caliber 9 mm and .22 were found. He was sentenced on August 18, 2011 to a fine of 1,800 euros.

In an interview in November 2010 he said that he hoped for the victory of Islamist mujahideen in Afghanistan , Iraq , Chechnya and Somalia and described Berlin as “another Kuffar metropolis”. Later he became musically active again, first under the name Abou Maleeq and then as Abu Talha al Almani and published German-language Naschid via the Internet. In a naschid recorded in June 2011, he praises Osama bin Laden .

On 24 January 2012, established Berlin public prosecutor against "radical Islamists Denis C., aka Abu Maleeq 'because of sedition ". The background was videos showing how Cuspert glorified Osama bin Laden among others in Naschids on the Internet and called for a holy war. On January 31, 2012, Cuspert was reported to have moved from Berlin to Bonn around the turn of the year 2011/2012. At the same time, his Egyptian-Austrian comrade Mohamed Mahmoud is said to have moved from Berlin to Solingen . The two changes of residence are considered an act of concentration of the German-speaking Salafist scene in North Rhine-Westphalia.

In March 2012, the Berlin public prosecutor's office investigated Cuspert on suspicion of sedition . In March 2012, the Federal Testing Office for Media Harmful to Young People (BPjM) put three jihad songs by Cuspert on the index for the first time. The Islamist airport terrorist Arid Uka identified himself as an admirer of Cuspert in January 2011.

When the Federal Ministry of the Interior struck the police against various centers and apartments of violent Salafism in Germany on June 14, 2012, a self-made explosive vest was found by the police in Berlin during a search of an Islamist apartment . According to a report from the world , the vest was discovered on May 15 and apparently made by Cuspert.

Middle east

In June 2012, Cuspert escaped observation by the German security authorities and escaped to Egypt, where members of the banned Millatu Ibrahim had also evaded. Another threatening video from Cuspert was sent to ZDF in September 2012, in which he threatens jihad in Germany and further attacks.

In February 2013, security circles assumed that Cuspert wanted to fight in the Syrian civil war on the al-Nusra front and die as a martyr.

In August 2013 another threatening video from Cuspert was reported on the Internet; in the meantime he is said to be in Syria with other jihadists.

In September 2013 it was reported that Cuspert was wounded in an air strike during the Syrian civil war, along with other jihadists. The jihadist group announced this in a Facebook statement on September 9th.

Since October 18, 2013, the Federal Criminal Police Office has been warning of the jihadist Denis Cuspert with posters. In November 2013, the Foreign Office issued a warning of a possible suicide attack by Cuspert on German facilities in Turkey : It “cannot be ruled out that Cuspert could use a vehicle loaded with explosives”. In a YouTube video, Denis Cuspert denied having ever had such plans or even wanting to do anything against Turkey. Germany is not his "target when it comes to attacks".

On December 8, 2013, the Islamist propaganda group Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF) published an Internet video in which Cuspert, apparently partially paralyzed on one side, denied his alleged death. He also said he was in a coma with a severe brain injury following an air raid. In addition, he urged all Muslims in Germany to leave with their families.

In a video that became known in April 2014, Cuspert called for armed struggle against Christians in Central Africa . In an Internet video from April 2014, he pledged allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State terrorist group in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi .

In July 2014, Cuspert appeared in a propaganda video about the capture of a gas production facility in the Syrian province of Homs , which shows Islamic State jihadists moving between the corpses of civilians and soldiers, mocking the victims.

In September 2014 the Berliner Kurier reported that Cuspert had led the brigade of Millatu Ibrahim, who was banned in Germany, on August 24, 2014 in Mosul .

In November 2014, Cuspert was identified in a video produced by the Deir Ezzore Is Being Slaughtered Silently group . In the video, Cuspert is shown holding a severed human head and justifying decapitation by IS.

In February 2015, at the request of the German federal government, Cuspert was added to the terrorist list of the United Nations , so that he is subject to an account blocking and an entry and transit ban worldwide. Furthermore, in February 2015 the United States Department of State classified Cuspert as a "global terrorist". He is considered to be a person who has committed an act of terrorism or poses a serious risk to national security in the USA. It follows that US citizens and companies are not allowed to do business with him.

In 2015, Cuspert married Omaima A., an IS supporter who was born in Hamburg in 1984 and whose previous husband was killed in the Battle of Kobanê . On May 4, 2020, a trial began before the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court against his widow for membership in a foreign terrorist organization .

In April 2015, another video from Cuspert appeared in which he appealed to so-called sleepers to commit attacks in Germany.

FBI surveillance

According to Bild am Sonntag , the FBI installed a secret agent on Cuspert's side who married Cuspert under Islamic law. However, after the woman was exposed to a specific threat, she is said to have fled to the USA via Turkey. In May 2017, CNN again reported that the woman was an FBI translator who married Cuspert voluntarily and without the knowledge of the US authorities. After regretting her decision and fled back to the United States in August 2014, she was arrested and sentenced to two years in prison. Details of the incident were only made public in 2017.

Multiple death reports

According to unconfirmed reports, Cuspert was allegedly killed in a suicide attack by the al-Nusra Front on April 20, 2014 in eastern Syria, but this was denied by IS : it was a mistake for a Moroccan who had the same battle name. Cuspert's death had been falsely reported several times before.

According to the US Department of Defense on October 30, 2015, Cuspert died on October 16, 2015 in Syria near ar-Raqqa when the vehicle in which he was sitting was hit by a missile during a US air strike. The death report was neither confirmed nor denied by the German Federal Ministry of the Interior , as Cuspert had already been reported dead many times (as of October 30, 2015). On the evening of October 30, 2015, information was reported on Deutschlandfunk that Cuspert was seriously injured in the attack on October 16, but not killed. Spiegel Online reported in mid-November 2015, citing "German security authorities" that they had an excerpt from a phone call that was said to have been made after October 16, in which "Cuspert was identified as the speaker".

In June 2016, the Berlin Office for the Protection of the Constitution assumed, as its head Bernd Palenda announced at the press conference on the publication of the 2015 report for the Protection of the Constitution in Berlin , that Cuspert had been injured in combat operations, but not killed. In the report for the protection of the constitution it says: "Information about the death of Cuspert that has circulated several times, most recently in October, has not yet been confirmed."

The US Department of Defense revoked his information on Cuspert's death in early August 2016 and said that he had survived the air strike after all.

The death was reported again in January 2018. Cuspert is said to have been killed on January 17 near the Syrian city of Gharaniy . The President of the Federal Intelligence Service , Bruno Kahl , said in February 2018 that there were “credible indications” for Cuspert's death, but that there was no “one hundred percent certainty”.

Discography

Albums and mixtapes

  • 2006: Murda Cocctail Volume 1 (Mixtape)
  • 2006: Black Angel
  • 2008: Geeni'z (with Jasha)
  • 2009: All eyes on me

Others

  • 2006: Welcome to my world ( Juice -Exclusive! On Juice-CD # 69)
  • 2007: Afrikana
  • 2008: Guest is king ... (feature compilation)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Frank Jansen : An ex-rapper is inciting for jihad. In: Der Tagesspiegel , September 6, 2011. Retrieved September 16, 2013.
  2. ↑ Berlin ex-rapper Deso Dogg wounded in Syria. In: Berliner Morgenpost , September 9, 2013. Retrieved September 16, 2013.
  3. ^ The Berliner Denis Cuspert - war criminal and propagandist of the IS . In: Verfassungsschutz Report Berlin 2015. Press version. Senate Department for Home Affairs and Sport, Department for the Protection of the Constitution , April 2016, p. 37 f. (PDF; 3.0 MB) .
  4. ↑ Olivia Becker: ISIS Has a Really Slick and Sophisticated Media Department. In: Vice , July 12, 2014 (English).
  5. ↑ a b c d Souad Mekhennet: German Officials Alarmed by Ex-Rapper's New Message: Jihad . In: New York Times , August 31, 2011. Retrieved September 3, 2011.
  6. ^ A b Florian Flade: Berlin Islamists move to North Rhine-Westphalia. In: Die Welt , January 31, 2012. Retrieved September 16, 2013.
  7. ↑ a b c d e Florian Flade: Islamist fighting songs put on the index . In: Die Welt , March 16, 2012. Retrieved September 16, 2013.
  8. ^ Bettina Vestring: Berlin Salafist threatens Germany . In: Frankfurter Rundschau , September 4, 2012. Retrieved September 16, 2013.
  9. ^ A b Jörg Diehl, Fidelius Schmid, Hubert Gude: BKA warns of Denis Cuspert. In: Spiegel Online , October 22, 2013.
  10. ^ A b Maria Fiedler, Frank Jansen: BND boss Bruno Kahl in an interview: "It is difficult to speak of successes in Afghanistan" . In: Der Tagesspiegel , February 16, 2018, accessed on March 15, 2018 (interview with Bruno Kahl ). “[Der Tagesspiegel:] Is it certain that the Berlin IS agitator Denis Cuspert was killed in January? [Bruno Kahl:] We have credible evidence that suggests that he is dead. The pictures of the corpse and the location details that we have agree with what was previously known of him. However, there is no such thing as one hundred percent security. "
  11. ↑ Carsten Korfmacher: "Deso Dogg": The mother of the terrorist. In: Nordkurier.de. September 9, 2019, accessed September 30, 2019 .
  12. ↑ Tobias Rapp: Killed IS fighter Denis Cuspert: From rapper to murderer . Article from October 30, 2015 in the portal spiegel.de , accessed on October 30, 2015
  13. ↑ M. Becker, O. Kröning: How unsuccessful rapper Deso Dogg became an ISIS fighter . In: image .
  14. ↑ Deso Dogg . In: laut.de . Retrieved September 16, 2013.
  15. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from June 1, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  16. ↑ - ( Memento from April 29, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  17. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20090423235710/http://www.myfest.de/img/07/myfest2007plakat.pdf
  18. ↑ German Islamist in the closer IS circle. fr-online.de, September 7, 2014.
  19. ↑ a b From Deso Dogg to Abou Maleeq ( Memento from January 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  20. ↑ Ammunition found by Islamist ex-rapper Deso Dogg. In: Yahoo News. April 17, 2011, archived from the original on April 25, 2011 ; Retrieved April 18, 2011 .
  21. ^ Indictment against Berlin rapper Deso Dogg . In: Berliner Morgenpost , April 17, 2011. Retrieved September 16, 2013.
  22. ↑ To classify a person or a group of people as a kuffar ("infidels", plural of kāfir ) is a concept known as takfirism of today predominantly Salafist groups to legitimize the militant struggle against those so designated.
  23. ↑ investigation for sedition against Berlin Islamist Denis C. . swr.de, January 24, 2012. Retrieved September 16, 2013.
  24. ^ Strike against radical Salafists: large-scale raid and club ban . RTL, June 14, 2012.
  25. ↑ Salafists are planning “settlement” with Germany . In: Die Welt , October 8, 2012. Retrieved October 9, 2012.
  26. ↑ “Germany is a war zone”: Salafist threatens attacks . n-tv , September 3, 2012.
  27. ^ Frank Jansen: European Islamists increasingly in Syria . In: Der Tagesspiegel , February 22, 2013. Retrieved September 16, 2013.
  28. ^ Jörg Diehl, Christoph Sydow: German Salafist calls for suicide attacks. In: Spiegel Online , August 1, 2013. Retrieved September 16, 2013.
  29. ^ Salafist Denis C. wounded in Syria. In: BZ , September 9, 2013. Retrieved September 16, 2013.
  30. ↑ Germany warns of attack by ex-rappers. In: Die Welt , November 7, 2013.
  31. ↑ Florian Flade: "Germany is not my attack target" In: Die Welt , November 14, 2013. Retrieved on November 24, 2013.
  32. ^ Jörg Diehl, Christoph Sydow: German jihadist calls on Muslims to fight in Syria. In: Spiegel Online , December 9, 2013.
  33. ↑ "My brain came out a bit" . In: Die Welt , December 9, 2013, accessed September 8, 2014.
  34. ↑ Andreas Kopietz: Berlin ex-rapper incites against Christians. In: Berliner Zeitung , April 3, 2014. Retrieved April 12, 2014.
  35. ↑ Christoph Sydow: Berlin ex-rapper joins terror group in Syria . In: Spiegel Online , April 12, 2014.
  36. ^ German jihadists involved in the fight over gas field. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , July 19, 2014, accessed on July 26, 2014.
  37. ↑ Claudia Wilms: Deso Dogg: "We slaughter you all!" In: Berliner Kurier , September 3, 2014.
  38. ↑ Berlin rapper in 'Islamic State' beheading video. In: Deutsche Welle . Retrieved November 5, 2014 .
  39. ↑ Video shows German jihadists engaged in IS atrocities. In: Spiegel Online. Retrieved November 5, 2014 .
  40. ↑ See IS supporters: Ex-rapper Denis Cuspert is on the UN terrorist list . In: Spiegel Online , October 5, 2014. See also: The terror lists of the United Nations and the European Union. How the listing process works . Elaboration of the Scientific Services of the German Bundestag , WD 11– 3000 - 11/11, February 2, 2011 (PDF; 106 kB). Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  41. ^ Emigration of people from the Islamist spectrum in Berlin to Syria / Iraq . Situation analysis of the Verfassungsschutz Berlin , as of June 2015, p. 17, accessed on June 15, 2016 (PDF; 1.4 MB).
  42. ↑ USA put German rappers on terrorist list. In: The time . February 10, 2015, accessed February 10, 2015 .
  43. ^ "From Hamburg to IS and back again" Spiegel.de from April 15, 2019
  44. ↑ Trial of IS terrorist Denis Cuspert's widow begins
  45. ↑ IS fighter Cuspert threatens attacks on sleepers in Germany. In: Spiegel Online , April 15, 2015.
  46. ↑ FBI used agent on German IS terrorists . In: Die Welt , February 15, 2015. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  47. ↑ Scott Glover: The FBI translator who went rogue and married an ISIS terrorist. In: CNN Politics . May 2, 2017. Retrieved May 2, 2017 .
  48. ↑ Florian Flade: Confusion about "Deso Doggs" alleged death. In: Die Welt , April 22, 2014, accessed April 24, 2014.
  49. ↑ "Deso Dogg": US government confirms death of IS terrorist Denis Cuspert. In: Spiegel Online , October 30, 2015. Accessed October 30, 2015.
  50. ↑ Reiner Burger, Christoph Ehrhardt: Al Baghdadis German helpers . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , October 30, 2015. Accessed October 30, 2015.
  51. ↑ Dennis Cuspert allegedly really dead - doubts remain ( Memento from November 19, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (audio). In: That was the day , Deutschlandfunk, October 30, 2015, 11:40 p.m.
  52. ↑ Deso Dogg: German IS terrorist Cuspert possibly still alive . In: Spiegel Online , November 18, 2015. Accessed November 19, 2015. (Pre-publication for Spiegel , No. 48/2015.)
  53. ↑ Sascha Adamek: IS terrorist Denis Cuspert is apparently still alive . ( Memento from June 15, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg , June 14, 2016, accessed on June 14, 2016.
  54. ↑ Constitutional Protection Report Berlin 2015. Press version. Senate Department for Internal Affairs and Sport, Department for the Protection of the Constitution, April 2016, p. 38 (PDF; 3.0 MB) .
  55. ^ German IS fighter Cuspert apparently still alive . In: Deutschlandfunk, August 4, 2016. Accessed August 4, 2016.
  56. ↑ IS terrorist: Pentagon withdraws report of Deso Dogg's death . In: Spiegel Online , August 4, 2016, accessed on August 4, 2016.
  57. ↑ Report: German IS terrorist Cuspert killed . In: orf.at, January 19, 2018. Retrieved January 19, 2018.
personal data
SURNAME Cuspert, Denis
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cuspert, Denis Mamadou Gerhard; Deso Dogg (stage name); Maleeq, Abou (pseudonym); Abu Talha al-Almani (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German gangsta rapper and Salafist
DATE OF BIRTH 18th October 1975
PLACE OF BIRTH West Berlin
DATE OF DEATH uncertain: January 17, 2018
Place of death near Gharanij , Syria