È forse la prima jihadista americana, una donna minuta di 46 anni dai capelli biondi e dagli occhi azzurri che reclutava terroristi in Europa e – si sospetta - era stata incaricata da Al Qaeda di assassinare il vignettista svedese Lars Vilks, l’autore delle sacrileghe effigi di Maometto del 2007. Il suo nome di guerra è «Jihad Jane», o anche «Fatima LaRose» quello vero Colleen Renee LaRose. (Corriere e Guardian)
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Bella storia di terrorista islamica della porta accanto, ma anche per l'acume investigativo con cui è stata utilizzata questa "preda": preziosa per i terroristi islamici almeno quanto lo fosse per l'FBI.
http://www.corriere.it/esteri/10_marzo_10/arrestata-jihdista-usa-caretto_8111e9a0-2c5d-11df-b239-00144f02aabe.shtml
Incaricata di assassinare lo svedese autore delle vignette su Maometto
Arrestata la prima jihadista americana
Una donna minuta di 46 anni dai capelli biondi e dagli occhi azzurri che reclutava terroristi in Europa
WASHINGTON - È forse la prima jihadista americana, una donna minuta di 46 anni dai capelli biondi e dagli occhi azzurri che reclutava terroristi in Europa e – si sospetta - era stata incaricata da Al Qaeda di assassinare il vignettista svedese Lars Vilks, l’autore delle sacrileghe effigi di Maometto del 2007. Il suo nome di guerra è «Jihad Jane», o anche «Fatima LaRose» quello vero Colleen Renee LaRose. La Procura di Filadelfia ha rivelato di averla arrestata lo scorso ottobre, al ritorno dalla Svezia dove era riuscita a rintracciare Vilks. In una sua email, ha precisato, Jihad Jane definì «un onore e piacere uccidere» il vignettista, aggiungendo: «Adesso che sono così vicina al bersaglio solo la morte mi fermerà».
QUINTA COLONNA - La rivelazione ha scosso l’America, che si è trovata con una quinta colonna nemica in casa. LaRose, che pesa meno di 50 chili ed è alta circa 1 metro e mezzo, avrebbe reclutato uomini e donne con passaporto americano o europeo per la Jihad islamica, muovendosi insospettata da un continente all’altro. Il Washington Post s’è impadronito di un’altra sua email del giugno 2008: «Voglio aiutare i musulmani», dice. Il giornale ha anche accertato che lo scorso agosto si recò in Svezia «per vivere e addestrarsi con una cellula jihadista», portando con sé il passaporto americano del compagno, identificato solo come K. G, da consegnare ai «fratelli» terroristi.
«MINACCIA GRAVE» - Jihad Jane ha trascorsi da balorda. Negli anni Ottanta fu ripetutamente arrestata per emissioni di assegni falsi e guida di un’automobile in stato di ubriachezza, si sposò e divorziò due volte. Ma per la Procura di Filadelfia «è una minaccia grave». Un funzionario, David Kris, ha spiegato che raccolse fondi per i terroristi islamici, e si disse pronta a sposarne uno per farlo entrare negli Stati Uniti. In una delle tante email, LaRose si sarebbe vantata di sapere mescolarsi tra la folla per passare inosservata, in un’altra avrebbe citato alcuni «fratelli» irlandesi (la polizia li ha arrestati martedì). Stando alla Procura, Jihad Jane fu subito incriminata, ma il caso fu tenuto segreto per consentire a Fbi e Cia di indagare sui suoi possibili legami con Al Qaeda e su altri jihadisti negli Stati Uniti.
SOSPETTI - Il suo avvocato, Mark Wilson, ha rifiutato qualsiasi commento. Secondo Kris il caso è indicativo di «come stia cambiando il volto del terrorismo». LaRose sembrava al di sopra di ogni sospetto, ha asserito, conduceva in apparenza un’esistenza normale in un sobborgo di Filadelfia, era una cittadina qualunque. La sua attività rimase nascosta per anni, incominciò al più tardi nel 2007.
Ennio Caretto
10 marzo 2010(ultima modifica: 11 marzo 2010)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/10/colleen-la-rose-jihad-jane-terrorism-arrest
She lived in Main Street, Pennsburg, which in hindsight is about as rich a paradox as could be. Her apartment on the second floor of a block of flats in the Pennsylvania town was nondescript, except for some wind chimes and a star hanging from the balcony.
But today the world learned of Colleen LaRose's alleged second life, one quite out of keeping with the low-key figure she presented. She was blonde, blue-eyed, 5ft 2ins tall and wholly unassuming, according to a former boyfriend, Kurt Gorman. "She seemed normal to me. She was a good person," he told the Philadelphia Daily News.
But to the FBI agents who had been tracking her every move from at least as early as July last year, she was potentially a dangerous would-be terrorist intent on martyrdom and using the aliases Jihad Jane and Fatima LaRose.
Today, an indictment was unsealed accusing her of plotting to murder a Swedish man in order to frighten "the whole Kufar (nonbeliever) world".
Although the indictment does not name him, her intended victim is reported to have been Lars Vilks, a cartoonist who drew a satirical picture of the head of the prophet Muhammad on top of a dog's body.
US media have reported that LaRose's case is linked to the arrest in Ireland on Tuesday of seven suspected plotters from Algeria, Croatia, Palestine, Libya and the US. Al-Qaida had placed a $100,000 (£67,000) bounty on Vilks's head.
The arrest of LaRose, 46, has been seized on by US national security officials as a warning that terrorist groups want to recruit white Americans to circumvent tight travel controls.
David Kris of the justice department said the allegation "that a woman from suburban America agreed to carry out murder overseas ... underscores the evolving nature of the threat we face".
The US prosecutor for Pennsylvania, Michael Levy, said: "The case demonstrates that terrorists are looking for Americans to join them in their cause, and it shatters any lingering thought that we can spot a terrorist based on appearance."
LaRose was arrested on 15 October as she returned to the US from a trip to Europe, but details have only now been released to allow international agents to track her contacts. She is being held at a federal prison in Philadelphia.
She grew up in Texas but moved to Philadelphia in 2004. Neighbours in Pennsburg told the Los Angeles Times she had a reputation for eccentricity. "She was the weird, weird, weird lady who lived across the hall. We always called her the crazy lady," said Eric Newell, adding that despite that he never thought she was dangerous. His wife, Kristy, said LaRose used to talk a lot to her cats.
Why and when LaRose converted to Islam is not known, but the indictment pinpoints her involvement in jihadist conspiracy to June 2008, when she allegedly posted a comment on YouTube under the alias Jihad Jane, saying she was "desperate to do something somehow to help" the suffering Muslim people.
The charges detail how over the next few months she came into contact through the internet with five separate unnamed but known jihadists in Europe and south Asia. The first connection was allegedly in December 2008 with a south Asian resident who wanted to "wage jihad and become a 'shaheed' (martyr)".
LaRose replied she too wanted to martyr herself, the indictment says. On 20 February last year she sent an email saying that her physical appearance would allow her to "blend in with many people", which "may be a way to achieve what is in my heart", the indictment says.
The following month one of her contacts suggests she "can get access to many places due to ur nationality". LaRose is also alleged to have used the internet to recruit women with passports and easy travel access around Europe in support of violent jihad.
The FBI questioned her about soliciting funds for terrorism and posting on terrorist websites under the username Jihad Jane in July last year. But LaRose showed considerable naivety.
On 23 August she suddenly disappeared from her apartment, to her boyfriend's amazement. "I came home and she's gone," he said, adding that she stole his passport, for which she has also been charged.
That day she travelled to Europe and by September, the indictment says, she was actively searching for her Swedish target, becoming a "citizen" of the artist's cyber community. On 30 September she sent an email saying it was "an honour & great pleasure to die or kill" and pledging that "only death will stop me here that i am so close to the target!"
It is not clear why, but she did not go through with the attack and returned to the US on 15 October, when she was arrested.
If convicted she faces life in prison and fines of up to $1m.
Homegrown terrorism
News of the existence of "Jihad Jane" comes at a time of mounting anxiety in the US about the incidence of American citizens engaging in jihadist activities. It is a phenomenon of homegrown terrorism that has previously been considered rare in the country.
In December last year FBI agents and their Pakistani colleagues interrogated five young American Muslims who were suspected of being on their way to Afghanistan to fight with the Taliban, against US-led forces. The five, aged 19 to 25, had formed a close-knit social group in the Alexandria area of Virginia. They had all disappeared from their family homes in late November, reportedly leaving behind a video featuring war scenes and statements about the defence of Muslims.
Earlier in December, another US citizen, David Headley, was charged with helping to plan the Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people in 2008. Headley, 49, who lived in Chicago, is accused of conspiracy to bomb public places in India, to murder and maim people, and to provide material support to a foreign terrorist group. Headley was born in Washington DC to a Pakistani diplomat based at the country's embassy and an American mother. He adopted his mother's surname in 2006, which investigators claim allowed him to move more easily across borders.