Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Seen on Facebook: Kidnapped Australian (Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines)


Terrorism and social media.  Facebook/You Tube are important media – for recruitment and as in this case for proof of life and communication between kidnappers for ransom, authorities and potential ransom payers.  Note also the comments about the one-armed, white horse riding ASG leader, Radullan Sahiron.
V/R
Dave

Seen on Facebook: Kidnapped Australian

BY MARIA A. RESSA
POSTED ON 12/26/2012 3:59 PM  | UPDATED 12/26/2012 6:54 PM

MANILA, Philippines - On Tuesday, December 26, accounts on Facebook and YouTube posted and shared a video of Australian Warren Rodwell, kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf from his home in the southern Philippines a little more than a year ago.

In the newest video recorded Sunday, December 16, Rodwell looks noticeably thinner than the last proof-of-life video taped exactly 9 months ago on March 26.

Rodwell holds up a copy of the Philippine Daily Inquirer from Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012. Wearing a black t-shirt, his hair is cropped short, his cheeks sunken. He speaks with a weary air.

“This video clip today is to say that I am alive,” Rodwell tells the camera. “I am waiting to be released. I have no idea what’s going on outside. I am just being held in isolation.”

Facebook now connects more than a billion accounts globally while YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine. Both have been used by members of Filipino extremist groups, including the Abu Sayyaf and the Rajah Solaiman movement to recruit and spread their ideology.

According to intelligence sources in Southeast Asia, the region’s most wanted terrorist, Malaysian Zulkifli bin Hir, also known as Marwan, led a recently killed Malaysian JI member to his hideout in the southern Philippines through a Facebook account. A leader of Jemaah Islamiyah and Kumpulan Mujaihidin Malaysia, Marwan maintains a Facebook account through which he asks like-minded friends to join his jihad.
(Continued at the link below)

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