News and Media

CEP today published reports on Chile, Peru, and Senegal, bringing to 59 the number of countries profiled on CEP’s interactive map. Each report includes descriptions of extremist and terrorist group incidents, radicalization and foreign fighters, and counter-extremism initiatives. The new resources complement CEP’s Terrorists and Extremists Database and reports on Extremist Groups.

Seven years ago, notorious ISIS propagandist Anwar al-Awlaki was killed in a U.S. drone strike; but even in his death, his works and lectures continue to live on in the Internet. However, after years of advocacy from CEP, in November 2017, Awlaki ’s online presence on YouTube was reduced from 70,000 results to dozens . Although Awlaki ’s content remains online, especially on other websites, many other extremists remain online too and their works also calling for radicalization, terrorism and violence are still all too accessible. Starting with Yusuf al-Qaradawi , CEP will begin spotlighting the other worst-of-the-worst online propagandists who must be removed from the public consciousness.

CEP organized a high-level meeting on January 15 in Strasbourg, France, with Commissioner for the Security Union Sir Julian King and Members of the European Parliament to discuss the pending legislative initiative designed to prevent the dissemination of terrorist content online. The participation of Commissioner Sir Julian King, file rapporteur Daniel Dalton MEP, and other MEPs is an important signal that the political will is there to ensure legislation passes in this mandate.

The arrest of Peter Cherif, one of Frances most-wanted terrorist suspects, may shed light on the planning of the deadly attacks at French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and at a kosher supermarket four years ago. Cherif, a member of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), was arrested in December in Djibouti. He had been on the run since 2011 when he escaped French custody in Syria. French authorities say Cherif was known to be good friends with brothers Chérif and Saïd Kouachi , who stormed the offices of Charlie Hebdo on January 7, 2015, eventually killing 12 people.

More than 70 years after the defeat of Nazi Germany, ethno-nationalist and white supremacist movements in Europe continue to thrive. They include far-right political parties, neo-Nazi movements, and apolitical protest groups. In its new report, European Ethno-Nationalists and White Supremacy Groups , CEP found that some groups openly espouse violent white supremacy, while others have propagated their radical stances under the guise of populism.

The United States is facing a pending, pressing counterterrorism challenge as dozens of individuals with terrorism-related convictions are set to be released from prison, Parallel Networks Co-Founders Mitch Silber and Jesse Morton found in their newly issued report, “When Terrorists Come Home: The Need for Rehabilitating and Reintegrating America’s Convicted Jihadists,” sponsored by the Counter Extremism Project.