Forestill deg en konvertitt til islam som gir seg hen til
sin nye religion med åpent sinn og from forventning. Så, på ett eller annet
vis, får vedkommende plutselig den idé at koranen og Muhammed gir befaling om å
bekjempe de vantro, med vold om nødvendig. Man skulle tro at slike folk raskt
ville bli korrigert av mer erfarne trosbrødre, ikke sant? Men slik er det ikke.
I mange islamistiske nettverk blir konvertittene faktisk gitt lederroller blant
jihadistene; det skriver i hvert fall Craig Whitlock i Washington
Post:
Religious converts are playing an increasingly
influential role in Islamic militant networks, having transformed themselves in
recent years from curiosities to key players in terrorist cells in Europe, according to counterterrorism
officials and analysts.
The
arrests this month of two German converts to Islam — Fritz Gelowicz and Daniel
Schneider — on suspicions that they were plotting to bomb American targets are
just one example of terrorism cases in Europe in which converts to Islam have figured
prominently.
In Copenhagen, a convert is among four defendants
who went on trial this month for plotting to blow up political targets. In Sweden, a webmaster who changed his name
from Ralf Wadman to Abu Usama el-Swede was arrested last year on suspicion of
recruiting fighters on the Internet. In Britain, three converts — including the
son of a British politician — are awaiting trial on charges of participating
in last year’s transatlantic airline plot.
«The
number of converts, it seems, is definitely on the rise,» said Michael
Taarnby, a terrorism researcher at the Danish Institute for International
Studies. «We’ve reached a point where I think al-Qaeda and other groups
recognize the value of converts, not just from an operational viewpoint but
from a cultural one as well.»
Religious
converts are sometimes more prone to radicalization because of their zeal to
prove their newfound faith, analysts said. They are also less likely to attract
police scrutiny in Europe, where investigators often rely on outdated demographic profiles in
terrorism cases.