Ubaydullah Hussain

Ubaydullah Hussain is a Norwegian-Pakistani national and incarcerated ISIS supporter.Agence France-Presse, “Norway sentences Isis recruiter to nine years in prison,” Local (Stockholm), April 4, 2017, https://www.thelocal.no/20170404/norway-sentences-is-recruiter-to-nine-years-in-prison. In an August 2014 interview with Norwegian newspaper VG, Hussain declared his “absolute” support for ISIS and expressed his desire to implement sharia in Norway.Brynjar Skjærli, Morten S. Hopperstad, Jonas Tjersland, Silje Ensrud, Nikolai Kleivan and Harald Henden, “Støtter IS’ halshugging,” VG Nyheter, August 16, 2014, http://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/islam-debatten/stoetter-is-halshugging/a/23275610/; Hugh Eakin, “Noway: The Two Faces of Extremism,” The New York Review of Books, March 5, 2015, http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2015/mar/05/norway-two-faces-extremism/. He is the former spokesman of the Islamist organization Profetens Ummah based in Norway.Hugh Eakin, “Noway: The Two Faces of Extremism,” The New York Review of Books, March 5, 2015, http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2015/mar/05/norway-two-faces-extremism/; Erlend Ofte Arntsen, “Ubaydullah Hussain (29) pågrepet og løslatt,” VG Nyheter, April 14, 2015, http://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/krim/ubaydullah-hussain-29-paagrepet-og-loeslatt/a/23434684/. Profetens Ummah has reportedly assisted Norwegian Muslims in traveling to ISIS-controlled territory.Julie Ryland, “Ubaydullah Hussain has been released,” Norway Post, November 28, 2012, http://www.norwaypost.com/index.php/news/latest-news/27748-ubaydullah-hussain-has-been-released-.

In October 2012, Hussain allegedly wrote threatening emails to Norwegian journalists Nina Johnsrud and Andrea Foss is response to their respective articles on Islamists in Norway. Hussain wrote that the journalists should be worried about their safety, and that if something should happen to them he would “smile all the way to the funeral.”Øyvind Strømmen, “Norwegian Islamist convicted,” Hate Speech International, February 12, 2014, https://www.hate-speech.org/norwegian-islamist-convicted/. Later in October, Norwegian police charged Hussain with threatening the journalists. The police held him in custody and released him after a month.Julie Ryland, “Ubaydullah Hussain has been released,” Norway Post, November 28, 2012, http://www.norwaypost.com/index.php/news/latest-news/27748-ubaydullah-hussain-has-been-released-.

On April 10, 2015, Hussain was arrested, interrogated, and released on the same day for allegedly issuing a death threat via SMS to an unidentified individual.Erlend Ofte Arntsen, “Ubaydullah Hussain (29) pågrepet og løslatt,” VG Nyheter, April 14, 2015, http://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/krim/ubaydullah-hussain-29-paagrepet-og-loeslatt/a/23434684/. That December, he was arrested and charged with numerous terror offenses, including recruiting foreign fighters to travel to Syria and fight with ISIS.Agence France-Presse, “Norway sentences Isis recruiter to nine years in prison,” Local (Stockholm), April 4, 2017, https://www.thelocal.no/20170404/norway-sentences-is-recruiter-to-nine-years-in-prison. A Norwegian court sentenced Hussain to nine years in prison in April 2017 for pledging allegiance to ISIS, financially supporting the group, and recruiting Norwegian foreign fighters to join its ranks.Agence France-Presse, “Norway sentences Isis recruiter to nine years in prison,” Local (Stockholm), April 4, 2017, https://www.thelocal.no/20170404/norway-sentences-is-recruiter-to-nine-years-in-prison.

Also Known As

Extremist entity
ISIS
Type(s) of Organization:
Insurgent, territory-controlling, religious, terrorist, violent
Ideologies and Affiliations:
Islamist, jihadist, pan-Islamist, Salafist, takfiri
Position(s):
Founder, leader, spokesman

ISIS is a violent jihadist group based in Iraq and Syria. The group has declared wilayas (provinces) in Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the North Caucasus. ISIS has also waged attacks in Turkey, Lebanon, France, Belgium, Iraq, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Tunisia, and Kuwait.

Type(s) of Organization:
Insurgent, territory-controlling, religious, terrorist, violent
Ideologies and Affiliations:
Islamist, jihadist, pan-Islamist, Salafist, takfiri
Position(s):
Supporter

ISIS is a violent jihadist group based in Iraq and Syria. The group has declared wilayas (provinces) in Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the North Caucasus. ISIS has also waged attacks in Turkey, Lebanon, France, Belgium, Iraq, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Tunisia, and Kuwait.

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On October 7, 2023, Hamas invaded southern Israel where, in the space of eight hours, hundreds of armed terrorists perpetrated mass crimes of brutality, rape, and torture against men, women and children. In the biggest attack on Jewish life in a single day since the Holocaust, 1,200 were killed, and 251 were taken hostage into Gaza—where 101 remain. One year on, antisemitic incidents have increased by record numbers. 

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