The Islamist website http://www.al-farooq.net (currently hosted by SoftLayer Technologies Inc., Dallas, TX, USA) claimed in a message to its subscribers posted February 27, 2008, that U.S. authorities had contacted both the website administrator and its U.S. host to pressure them to remove jihad content, saying that if they do not, the site will be shut down. The authenticity of the message could not be validated by MEMRI.
The following is a translation of the message and a follow-up report.
"Elimination [of Jihad Material] from the Site Cannot Eliminate [Jihad] from Our Hearts"
The message from the website administrator to its subscribers read: "We decided to remove the jihad sections because the [site] administration and its hosting company... received a letter from the American intelligence [agency indicating that] the site contains topics which, as usual, worry the American intelligence [agency]. The letter gave the site administration two options: [Either the agency] takes the site off the main host, 'Data Center' (i.e. SoftLayer), which is located in the USA, and reports it to the intelligence agency in our city, or we eliminate those jihad topics and close the [jihad] sections [on the website]. We had no choice but to accept the second option, to ensure the continuation of our communication with you... [You should know, however,] that eliminating [jihad content] from the website's sections cannot eliminate [jihad] from our hearts..." [1]
Jihad Material Remains On Website; Changes Are Cosmetic
However, a review of the content of http://www.al-farooq.net after the supposed removal of jihad content shows that the changes made by the site administration are merely cosmetic. While the site no longer includes designated jihad sections, it is still saturated with jihad-promoting material.
For example, communiqués by jihad groups remain in supposedly non-jihad sections, such as the communiqué by the Al-Fath Al-Islami Brigades (the military wing of Hamas Al-Iraq) announcing that attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq would be stepped up in solidarity with the Palestinians. The communiqué is now posted in the "General Islamic Subjects and Stories" section on www.al-farooq.net. In addition, a lecture by Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi praising jihad has been posted in a forum section called "Islamic Audios & Videos," [2] while a biography of and lectures by Abdallah Azzam have been incorporated into the "General Audios & Videos" section. [3]
