'Women of al-Qaeda' return to spotlight
Abdel Wahhab El-Saleh in Riyadh contributed to this report
For Al-Shorfa.com
2010-06-10
The "Women of al-Qaeda" returned to the media spotlight when Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) last week threatened to attack Saudi royals unless one of its operatives, Hayla Al-Qassir, was released from detention.
Al-Qassir has been in detention for three months.
The term "Women of al-Qaeda" had not been heard since 2005, when the online magazine Al-Khansa was shut down and its editor, Umm Salamah, was arrested.
The magazine was recruiting female jihadists and providing advice on how to raise child warriors.
But al-Qassir's arrest apparently had a profound effect on AQAP leader Saeed Al-Shehri, who released a fiery audio statement threatening assassinations and kidnappings against Saudi officials and royals until al-Qassir is released.
Al-Qassir, known as "Um al-Rabab", was reportedly arrested during an operation against two terrorist cells last March. Her name and the names of other women were reportedly kept out of the media by the Saudi Ministry of Interior to protect their tribal and family names.
According to media reports, Al-Qassir recruited men and women for al-Qaeda and provided funding to the group in Yemen. One report in Al-Sharq al-Awsat said that al-Qassir transferred over $180,000 in February. During the past two years, she often collected "donations" under the pretext of building mosques and orphanages in Yemen.
She is believed to have played a key role in helping Wafaa al-Shehri, the wife of Saeed al-Shehri, escape to Yemen. Al-Qassir is the widow of al-Qaeda fighter Muhammad Solaiman al-Wakeel, who was killed during clashes with security forces in 2004.
Al-Qassir is considered such a huge supporter of al-Qaeda that when a suicide bomber tried to assassinate Prince Mohammad bin Nayef in August 2009, she threw a party in honour of the bomber.
According to Al-Sharq al-Awsat, her late husband entrusted her with two guns and made her swear that she would not relinquish them. She often gave refuge to young members of al-Qaeda.
Al-Qassir, who has a five-year-old daughter, says she is avenging her husband's death. She is one of many Saudi women drawn to al-Qaeda.
"Women coming to the frontlines of al-Qaeda give the impression that the group is ready to use any method at their disposal to alleviate some of the pressures against them, particularly regarding the issues of funding and recruitment," political analyst Nasser Al-Sarami said.
Many of those women are drawn to al-Qaeda for emotional reasons or after reading internet propaganda, said Abdul Moneim Al-Mushawwah, the head of the Al-Sakina campaign. The campaign is sponsored by the Saudi Ministry for Islamic Affairs and is devoted to engaging extremists in dialogue over the internet.
Al-Mushawwah said the internet is a huge factor in causing women to sympathise with "deviant" views.
"During the seven years of the campaign, we have seen that the rate of renunciation among men was less than among women, with 25-30% of men and 45-50% of women who renounced their views after the dialogue," he said, suggesting that women are more likely to being influenced by internet views.
Mohammed Al-Hirz, a researcher of political Islam, told Al-Shorfa that "the particularities of the woman, and her ability to hide, and the ambiguity surrounding her identity, all of these are characteristics that al-Qaeda members want to take advantage of when the pressure against them is tightened."
Bayyinah Fahd Al-Melhem, a terrorism expert and researcher who is the Prince Nayef Chair for Intellectual Security, said al-Qaeda exploits the social condition of Saudi women to attain their goals.
Al-Melhem said the limited independence and freethinking afforded by Saudi society to women make them more vulnerable to extremist ideology. She expressed concerns that al-Qaeda exploits the values and "customs of Saudi society, which makes it easier for it to engage in ideological infiltration through the door of religion, and the incitement of religious ideals that are favourable to the organisation, such as martyrdom."
Al-Melhem said the "amount of independence enjoyed by women in Saudi society is non-existent, and the ideological conditioning predisposes them to a system of subservience, particularly among the extremists who see women as part of their belongings."
She said the al-Qaeda environment favours the growth of extremist ideas among its members by means of new marriages that take place after any member of the organization is killed.
Al-Melhem cited the marriage of Hayla Al-Qassir to men wanted by law enforcement.
Before marrying al-Wakeel, she was married to Abdel Karim al-Hameed until he was placed under house arrest in Taef over his extremist views. She reportedly sought a divorce to marry al-Wakeel.
Wafaa Al-Shehri, the wife of the current AQAP leader, was previously married to Abdul Rahman Al-Ghamidi who was killed in clashes with Saudi security forces in 2004.
This represents a "dangerous environment", Al-Melhem said. "Al-Qaeda is starting to tighten its ranks by conserving the families of terrorists killed during clashes with the Saudi security forces."
Analysts called on authorities to counter this phenomenon.
"It is necessary to increase the amount of information, education and instruction in women's associations and gatherings and explain to them the ways to make donations and the agencies that are approved by the state to collect these donations," said activist and lawyer Souad al-Shammari.
"The larger part of the efforts in the fight against extremism is still confined to security, which have made achievements in this regard", said Al-Hirz. However, he added, there is a need for a national strategic plan that includes all government agencies that can counter dangerous ideologies. He cited the ministries of education, culture and Islamic affairs specifically.
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