Reports emerged last month that Boston College graduate and computer science major Ahmad Abousamra was allegedly using his American education to head the Islamic State’s social media propaganda operation from an undisclosed location inside Syria. Abusamra, a dual American-Syrian citizen, has been evading a massive FBI manhunt since 2009 and is alleged to have attended the Islamic Society of Boston in Cambridge.
The Islamic Society of Boston is the same mosque that alleged Boston Marathon bombers Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his deceased brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, attended in the past. Though the mosque has said it has no record of Abousamra attending services there, it has had a long history of allegations tying it to terrorism.
The mosque has been the focus of media attention since it was discovered that its founder, Abdulrahman Alamoudi — who was an open supporter of the Palestinian Islamic terrorist group Hamas — was also connected with an assassination plot against then-Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, now the king of Saudi Arabia. Other imams and mosque leaders have come under scrutiny for their alleged ties to terror organizations overseas.
These are just some examples of a growing jihadi movement in Boston that one moderate Boston Muslim who spoke to TheBlaze TV’s For the Record and was identified only as “Khaleed” called a “disease.” Several other Muslim sources described a “criminal” growing recruitment and anti-Western sentiment being nurtured by Muslim leaders in the community. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of retribution, said the city’s law enforcement and FBI outreach is playing right into extremists’ hands.
CAMBRIDGE, MA - APRIL 26: An exterior view of the Islamic Society of Boston Mosque is seen April 26, 2013 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The mosque was attended by the alleged Boston bombers, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Credit: Getty Images
Alleged Boston bombers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev attended the Islamic Society of Boston’s Cambridge mosque. (Getty Images)
“Boston has a disease,” Khaleed told For the Record, which aired ”The Boston Blueprint” Wednesday on TheBlaze TV.
“The [Boston] bombing points to a disease that has been growing for 20 years. Maybe now America is coming close to understanding it and how widespread it is. … To think that the majority of Muslims want one caliphate is wrong, it is not true. The people who say they want a caliphate is a very small minority, and that minority is disconnected from most Muslims. The minority is a fascist, criminal organization which poses itself as an Islamic institution,” the source said.
On Wednesday, a gunman killed a Canadian soldier guarding a hallowed war memorial in Ottawa before storming into Parliament, where he was fatally shot by the House of Commons sergeant-at-arms. Police identified the shooter as Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, a recent convert to Islam. Canada had raised its domestic terror threat level the day before in response to increased chatter from radical groups, and after another recent radicalized convert to Islam, Martin Rouleau, drove over two Canadian soldiers, killing one. Rouleau was fatally shot by police.
These acts of violence exemplify why the moderate Boston Muslim sources who spoke to TheBlaze said they fear for their safety if their identities were revealed. They said extremist leaders within their community also would ostracize them. The problem is coupled by their own perception of law enforcement: they don’t trust the police.
Source: Radical Islam Disease Sweeping One of Americas Oldest Cities
An Ottawa police officer stands guard after a shooting at the National War Memorial near the Canadian Parliament, Oct. 22, 2014. (Mike Carroccetto/Getty Images)
Kieran Ramsey, an assistant special agent in charge at the FBI’s Boston office, said he understands the horror of a city under siege by terror. The FBI’s Boston office led the manhunt with local law enforcement for the Tsarnev brothers after the marathon bombing, though the agency was criticized for failing to heed warnings from Russian officials that Tamerlan was believed to be an Islamic radical.
Ramsey told TheBlaze that if members of the community feel there is a threat from within, they need to share it with federal law enforcement.
“We absolutely need to have that community engagement.”