Imprisoned Palestinian jihadist urges Muslims to embrace jihad

In an audio message released by the Ibn Taymiyyah Media Center (ITMC), a jihadist media unit tied to the Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem (MSC), imprisoned jihadist Yusri bin Attiya al Saleh, also known as Abu Hajer al Filistini, urged Muslims to engage in jihad and martyrdom in the battlefield.

“The mujahid is better than others, and the guard in the cause of Allah does not see hell,” al Saleh said in the message released to jihadist forums on Nov. 12. “The grace of the mujahid has no competition,” he added.

In the message, translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, al Saleh called on Muslims to “race to jihad as individuals, and know that without it our path will not be restored.” He boasted that “we are purified in the blood of the Jews and the disbelievers from the sinners.”

Al Saleh, who has been imprisoned by Israel since 2003, praised those who are fighting for Islam rather than those “in our religion … who love to do nothing.”

The latest message from al Saleh comes after the ITMC’s release of a statement, posters, and tweets in support of al Saleh, who reportedly has cancer.

A number of releases from al Saleh have been issued to jihadist forums since his imprisonment in 2003. For example, in December 2010, Ansar al Sunnah, which is now part of the MSC, released a message from al Saleh. In the message, al Saleh called on Muslims to work towards releasing imprisoned Muslims.

More recently, following the targeted killing by Israel in October 2012 of Abu al Walid al Maqdisi and Ashraf al Sabah, two leaders of the MSC, he issued a eulogy.

Multiple reports on the website of Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s al Quds Brigades claim that al Saleh was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment on charges of belonging to the al Quds Brigades. According to a biography provided by Ansar al Sunnah in 2010, al Saleh “took part in direct jihadi work from the beginning” of the Second Intifada.

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Tags: Ibn Taymiyyah Media Center