Revolution Muslim
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Revolution Muslim was an Islamic fundamentalist and jihadist organization based in New York City. It was founded in 2007 by American Muslims Jesse Curtis Morton (a.k.a. Younes Abdullah Muhammad) and Joseph Leonard Cohen (a.k.a. Yousef Al-Khattab).[1]
The organization operated the website "RevolutionMuslim.com" and organized street preaching and protests. The site gained notoriety after Collen LaRose ("Jihad Jane"), an online follower of the site, was arrested in a plot to murder Swedish artist Lars Vilks for drawing a cartoon of Muhammed.[2] LaRose was later sentenced to ten years in prison for terrorist activities.[3]
The organization gained media attention after it implied that Trey Parker and Matt Stone, creators of the animated television show South Park, would meet the same fate as Theo van Gogh after the show aired an episode featuring Muhammed in a bear costume. (Van Gogh was a Dutch filmmaker murdered by an Islamic extremists for producing films and cartoons critical of Islam.)[2] In reaction to the site's threats, hackers took the site off-line temporarily redirecting it to images of Muhammed in a "bomb turban".[4]
The website was shut down after co-founder Morton was arrested in Morocco in 2011 for using the internet to threaten Jewish organizations. Morton pled guilty and was sentenced to over 11 years in prison.[5] In 2013, co-founder Cohen pled guilty to using the internet to threaten Jewish organizations.[1] He was sentenced to three years in prison in 2013.[6] In 2010, Zachary Adam Chesser (a.k.a. Abu Talhah Al-Amrikee), another member of the organization, was arrested for providing support to Al Shabaab, a Somalia-based terrorist organization. Chesser pled guilty and was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2011.[7]
A spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations dismissed Revolution Muslim as a Poe:
[They are] an extreme fringe group that has absolutely no credibility within the Muslim community.
In fact, most Muslims suspect they were set up only to make Muslims look bad...We just have very deep suspicions. They say such outrageous, irresponsible things that it almost seems like they’re doing it to smear Islam.[8]
Morton was released from prison in 2015, and ran the "Islam Policy" website, where he posted Islamic screeds.[9] The site has since disappeared from the internet.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Revolution Muslim Leader Who Threatened Jews Pleads Guilty. Archived from the original at blogs.adl.org, 1 November 2013.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 N.J. suspects attended protests organized by radical Islamic group. Archived from the original at cnn.com, 11 June 2010.
- ↑ John Shiffman, U.S. woman known as Jihad Jane sentenced to 10 years in plot. Reuters, 6 January 2014.
- ↑ Ravi Somaiya, South Park Fans Spoof Islamic Website (Updated). gawker.com, 23 April 2010.
- ↑ Younes Abdullah Muhammad Pleads Guilty to Threatening “South Park” Creators. adl.org, 9 February 2012.
- ↑ Matt Zapotosky, New Jersey man sentenced to prison for extremist Islamic Web posts. Archived from the original at The Washington Post, 25 April 2014.
- ↑ Abu Talhah Al-Amrikee: An Extensive Online Footprint. Archived from the original at adl.org, 20 April 2010.
- ↑ Scott Collins and Matea Gold, Threat against ‘South Park’ creators highlights dilemma for media companies. The Los Angeles Times, 23 April 2010.
- ↑ Younus Abdullah Muhammad (Jesse Morton) Announces Release from Imprisonment. Archived from the original at islampolicy.com, 23 May 2015.