No Scruples
These terrorist clowns engage in criminal activity of all sorts and claim that it is “Islamic”. They operate on Machiavellian principles. In this case, the Al Qaeda criminals in Philippines are engaging in film piracy - and they are calling it “Islamic”. Keep in mind that the 9/11 hijackers also engaged in credit card fraud and other kinds of financial terror in the name of their ideology.
And we still should not denounce these creeps who are saying that these actions are from Islam? These are not “noble freedom fighters” but perverted gangsters.
Al-QAEDA linked Islamic militants are suspected of rampant intellectual piracy in the Philippines, particularly of Hollywood films, to raise funds, a senior media industry official said on Wednesday.
The Abu Sayyaf, blamed for the worst terrorist attacks in the Southeast Asian country, were likely behind the illegal copying of movies onto DVDS, which are then peddled at Manila shops by migrant Muslim traders, Optical Media Board chairman Edu Manzano said.
The government agency has been cracking down on the trade, but he said in an interview over ABS-CBN television that this has not stemmed the tide of counterfeits.
Mr Manzano said many armed groups around the world traffic in counterfeits to raise funds, and the Abu Sayyaf would be no exception.
‘In the same way that the Yakuza (crime gangs) are behind them in Japan and the Hezbollah are involved in (counterfeiting) the Middle East, they are suspected of this,’ he said, referring to Abu Sayyaf.
Although the government lacked ‘documentary evidence’ linking the Abu Sayyaf to the trade, he said recent government raids on suspected intellectual pirates in Manila’s Muslim communities have turned up counterfeit DVDs and fake luxury goods packaged with illegal drugs, grenades and even mercury.
Mr Manzano said the highly regulated metal was a vital component in the manufacture of ‘priming devices for explosives.’
The Abu Sayyaf was allegedly set up with seed funds provided by Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden.
It has been blamed for bombings and kidnappings in the Philippines.
Filed under: The Culture of Denial and Pretense
There is a young man in North Carolina that is promoting this group’s filth
Even though the article states that there has been no evidence linking the trade to the group, however it would not surprise me if Abu Sayyaf were known to engage in these acts.
This is a group that takes pride in kidnapping foreigners in exchange for ransom, and if their demands are not met, they slice random fingers off and send them to the negotiators. They even kidnapped an American Muslm named Jeffrey Schilling (who was himself married to a Filipino Muslimah) in 2000 and threatened to behead him. The group engages in disgusting acts yet naive Muslims stlll believe that this group is pious and fighting the good fight.
Then again, you have idiot Muslims who still think the Taliban were great because they claimed to uphold the will of the Almighty, since that all it takes to fool Muslims these days. Nevermind the ethnic cleansing committed against Shi’a Hazaras or their treatment of women, they will make as many excuses as possible to express their love for the group.
So this is really not much different.
As Salaam Alaikum,
This is really sad, really pathetic. I think that this goes to show that there are many Muslims who just turn a blind eye to bad behavior once someone labels something as “islamic”. I don’t mean to say that I’ve myself witness terrorist-level behavior, but just simple negative stuff that people ignored because someone put a “Alhumdulilah” and “Insha’Allah” behind it.
Film piracy or credit card fraud is “financial terror”? I think that’s a little bit strong, Tariq.
I am of course totally against such activity. Of course there are infinitely more Muslims all around the world who do dirt just because they’re hustling to get money like a lot of people of all religions more so than people who do it because they think it’s “Islamic.”
There is a reality in the community of many people who have some issues about intellectual property though and don’t believe buying (or selling) a bootleg dvd is necessarily haram. I express no opinion on the subject.
Wait, so Al-Qaeda is bootlegging Spiderman in order to fund their war against the US?
Hhhmmm…
Salaams Brother:
Intellectual piracy is a huge problem in the Muslim world period. Some Muslims have no problem violating the copyright of the works of others, especially when the “other” is another Muslim. I have even seen fatwaas, Allah help us, stating that it is OK to pirate when the material is Islamic in nature because Islam belongs to no one. They even have the nerve to steal a Muslim’s work, make money on it, and then copyright it thereself! They call it dawah. I have written articles, copyrighted, and had them published online. I occasionally Google myself and find my work has been pirated everywhere.
I say get all those Abu Sayyaf guys and round em up with all the financial terrorists downloading music off the internet and throw them all in Guantanamo.
Those perverted financial terrorist bastards how dare these guys usurp the hard earned money of these poor defenseless multi billion dollar corperations.
I think your rightous indignation is a little overboard here Tariq.
Rasheed, why are you defending Abu Sayyaf? Do you believe kidnapping children and foreigners and beheading them when their demands are met is grounds on defense?
I think you’re going a bit overboard when excusing the acts of a notorious gang who uses Islam as a cover for their brutality.
Danial,
I am well known to Tariq for my antagonistic stance to pretty much any position he takes. Needless to say we are good friends.
But to clarify it was Tariq’s overreaction to Abu Sayyaf’s boot legging that I was chidding.
Got’cha Rasheed, I apologize for the misunderstanding and thank you for your clarification.
Abu Noor
I think you missed the point. What is highlighted here is the criminal underpinning of these extremist groups which includes their reliance on stolen counterfeiting, stealing, drug trafficking, fraud and other forms of crime. Yes people of all religions engage in this, but only they call it “jihad”.
Abu Hamza (the hook guy) son was recently arrested for burglary. It is known that Abu Hamza taught that it is permissible to steal the property of non-muslims and his son is probably acting on this