ISIS Research Articles

Shame, dissociative seizures and their correlation among traumatised female Yazidi with experience of sexual violence.

Survivors of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) captivity are at high risk of developing mental disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This study looks at the correlation between sexual abuse, shame, somatoform or bodily distress disorders, and dissociative seizures (psychogenic non-epileptic seizures). The psychological effects of traumatic events and dissociative seizure were assessed in Yazidi women who were held captive by ISIS in Northern Iraq between 2014 and 2018. These effects were examined comparing 64 women who were held captive and sexually abused by ISIS with 60 women suffering from PTSD who were not held captive and sexually abused by ISIS. Structured clinical-psychological interviews and established psychometric questionnaires were used to assess mental disorders especially dissociative seizures and somatoform disorders, and shame related to trauma. Women who were held captive by ISIS showed a significantly higher prevalence of dissociative seizures (43.7%; P = 0.02) and somatisation disorder (38.7%; P = 0.02), as well as depressive (75.0%; P = 0.42) and anxiety disorders (62.5%; P = 0.44), than women who were not held captive and sexually abused by ISIS. Dissociative disorders were identified in 40.6% (P = 0.36) of those female Yazidi who experienced sexual violence while being held captive. Shame in connection with sexual violence seems to play an important role in negative self-perception after rape. Dissociation not only plays an important role in unprocessed childhood trauma with feelings of shame, but also in more recent trauma experiences with shame.

Reporting in Conflict Zones in Pakistan: Risks and Challenges for Fixers

As a backbone of reporting in war and conflicts, fixers offer essential assistance to the foreign correspondent in conflict zones, also in Pakistan. With valuable local knowledge and contacts, fixers can arrange travel to secure entry of foreign correspondents into conflict zones in addition to securing interviews with otherwise unattainable figures, while offering reliable translation services. Pakistani media, despite being one of the largest and most developed in South Asia, remains under the strict control of powerful military establishment and government, while seeming to mirror the overarching government sentiment with a distinct lack of research-based news. Challenging this state of affairs, local journalist fixers seek to conduct research and investigative journalism, making them an attractive asset for western correspondents travelling to Pakistan. Based on data from interviews with local fixers and journalists in Pakistan, this article reveals the many security problems for local fixers in the Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa regions in Pakistan. It also shows that the fixers’ rights and interests are not protected by media organizations or the governments. Additionally, fixers face increasing censorship from security agencies and death threats from militants. This study discusses the harsh realities fixers face in the conflict zones of Pakistan where international press lack access due to increasing restrictions imposed by the government, and the violence perpetrated against media workers by the Islamic State and other radical groups, like Taliban and Baloch separatists.

Larry M. Logue and Peter Blanck. Heavy Laden: Union Veterans, Psychological Illness, and Suicide.Diane Miller Sommerville. Aberration of Mind: Suicide and Suffering in the Civil War–Era South.

If the post-9/11 American home front has a “signature disorder” (and I’m not sure that it does), it would have to be veteran suicide. No other social pathology better reflects the deadly combination of mental anguish and communal indifference facing contemporary vets than self-murder. According to a recent White House briefing, roughly twenty U.S. veterans kill themselves every day—a rate one and a half times that of non-veteran adults. Since the start of the War on Terror, suicide has proven to be a greater threat to veterans’ long-term heath than al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) combined. Indeed, it’s become common wisdom to assert that the latest generation of American troops is especially vulnerable to suicidal behavior, their capacity for self-harm exacerbated by the chaotic nature of the wars they fight and the relative isolation they face upon homecoming. However, as a pair of remarkable new books makes clear, today’s suicide epidemic is neither novel nor unique. Larry M. Logue and Peter Blanck’s Heavy Laden: Union Veterans, Psychological Illness, and Suicide and Diane Miller Sommerville’s Aberration of Mind: Suicide and Suffering in the Civil War–Era South examine the tidal wave of psychological trauma unleashed by the American Civil War. Individually, the two books paint sympathetic portraits of vast mental suffering on both sides of the conflict. Read together, they chart a new direction in the study of warfare and mental health, one that future scholars will inevitably follow.

RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM AND RADICALISATION OF MUSLIMS IN MALAYSIA:

This study discusses the reasons behind the rise of religious extremism in Malaysia within the framework of international politics and the world order by highlighting the ties of Malay Muslims with the Mujahidin, Al Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) over the last four decades. For that purpose, a qualitative analytical approach is used, referencing secondary sources such as academic journal articles and scholarly books. In understanding the situation, online newspaper articles were also considered as secondary sources to extract the data to understand the destructive situation in Malaysia, which has gradually become a fertile ground for the sowing of radical ideas. The paper highlights that since the 1970s, religious extremism and radicalism have intensified due to the Cold War politics, the conflict between Palestine and Israel, and, later, foreign invasions of Muslim nation-states, giving rise to many local religious extremist groups with their relations to international extremist groups. Analysis of the secondary sources reveals the existence of a radical understanding of Islam by a substantial portion of the population, thus suggesting that the authorities should pay attention to extremist influences on the moderate nature of social relations in multi-ethnic and multi-religious Malaysia. At the same time, the paper argues that this negative transformation cannot be explained by external factors alone, as the internal factors have played an important role in the radicalisation of Malay society. The paper concludes with several practical recommendations such as improvisation of religious education that emphasises on peaceful cohesion, and discontinuation of foreign intervention policies and overgeneralisations. These recommendations are to regulate the escalation of extremism and radical understanding of Islam in Malaysia, which considerably threatens national security and citizens’ wellbeing.
 
 Keywords: Al Qaeda, ISIS, Islamic radicalism in Malaysia, mujahidin, religious extremism.
 
 Cite as: Jaafar, M. I., & Akhmetova, E. (2020). Religious extremism and radicalisation of Muslims in Malaysia: The Malay ties with the Mujahidin, Al Qaeda and ISIS. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 5(1), 104-123. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol5iss1pp104-123

Book review: Simon Cottee, ISIS and the Pornography of Violence

Book review: Simon Cottee, <i>ISIS and the Pornography of Violence</i>

Young Terrorists or Child Soldiers? ISIS Children, International Law and Victimhood

Abstract Since the Syrian conflict broke out, a significant number of Western citizens travelled to the warzone to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). By common definitions, some of the persons travelled as ‘children’. However, since the defeat of ISIS, Western countries are facing a conundrum on how to treat these young former fighters. The status of these children has been contentious. Among the Western countries, there does not seem to be a clear position or consistent approach on how such children should be treated. It would appear that the approaches towards the dilemma on these young persons have, predominantly, been dictated by the political whims of individual states. Generally, the children have been regarded as young ‘terrorists’ likely to pose danger to Western societies if repatriated back. However, the perceptions and actions towards these minors seem to depart from the normative approaches to children associated with armed conflict. The widely reported case of British teenager Shamima Begum shone the spotlight on the predicaments of children formerly associated with ISIS. This article makes a case for the treatment of ISIS-associated children to be considered as child soldiers. When analysed closely, these children deserve protections accorded to all children recruited for purposes of warfare. Recent case law seems to imply that such protection does not cease even after the age of 18 years. All considered, the denial of repatriation appears inimical to normative standards on children associated with armed conflict. Furthermore, the approaches of some of the Western countries could be vulnerable to criticism for violation of the rule of law. The arbitrary revocation of citizenship and barring of returns appear starkly in conflict with norms of natural justice. With this in mind, this article asserts that a consistent approach would require the Western approaches to treat ISIS-associated children as victims first and accord them protections recognised in international law.

MEMAKNAI RADIKALISME DI INDONESIA

The absence of standardization of radicalism makes people misunderstand or mistaken and often accuses others of it. This study aims to find out the meaning of radicalism so that people no longer hesitate or wrong in justifying who is radical and interpreting it. This research is a library research (library research) with a qualitative approach. Sources of data obtained in the form of journals, articles, books and relevant scientific work The results of this study explain that radicalism is the understanding or flow that requires social and political change by using violence as a stepping stone to justify their beliefs that are considered true. Forms of radicalism in Indonesia are the perpetrators of the Darul Islam (DI) movement, Hizb ut-Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Visible characteristics or categories of radicalism are as follows: First, takfiri. Second, they want to establish an Islamic state within a country. Third, replace the ideology of a country which is the basis or direction. The anti-radicalism education is carried out by the family, community and education. So that the level of radicalism in Indonesia can decline even completely finished.

Just War Theory: The International Coalition's War Against the Islamic State

Military intervention is generally and traditionally not welcomed by the international community on the grounds of state sovereignty, but is Western military intervention against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) that prevented further violations of human rights morally justifiable? Just war theory argues for military intervention if it meets five conditions. This research, by applying just war theory, concludes that the theory assumes that the Western coalition against ISIS is not a just war since there is no reasonable prospect of success and the war does not aim at a just ending. This article, however, argues that the war against ISIS has a reasonable prospect of being won and aims at a just ending, and therefore can be categorized as a just war.

Survival after Sexual Violence and Genocide: Trauma and Healing for Yazidi Women in Northern Iraq

Introduction: In August 2014, the Yazidi community of Sinjar, in the Nineveh Governorate of Northern Iraq, was brutally targeted by the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) for annihilation through murder, torture, and the systematic and premeditated use of rape and sexual slavery of Yazidi women. In 2016, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights concluded that ISIS was committing genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes against Yazidis. Methods: Using current international literature, which includes reviews, qualitative interviews of survivors, and reports from medical and humanitarian actors, this paper explores the short and potentially long-term physical and mental health consequences of the extreme physical and sexual violence and atrocities perpetrated against Yazidi women. Results: Yazidi women survivors of kidnapping, sex slavery, and rape experienced significant levels of physical ailments, chronic pain, and mental health conditions. All women reported feelings of guilt, stress, insomnia, and severe flashbacks. The incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) ranged from 42% to 90%. Sixty-seven percent suffered from a somatoform disorder, 53% had depression, 39% experienced anxiety, and 28% suffered from dissociation. Conclusions: Sexual violence against women is a common tool systematically employed during wars and genocide. In recent ISIS attacks, intentional perpetration of mass rapes of women and execution of men was a strategy to destroy an entire population. PTSD and depression are common after traumatic stress. For disaster responders and humanitarian workers, training and education to understand, try to prevent, and plan for interventions when gender-based violence and sexual exploitation occurs must become a mandatory part of emergency preparedness.

A pandémia dzsihadizmusra gyakorolt hatása

A Közel-Kelet vallási, etnikai, gazdasági válságát a Covid-19-járvány súlyosbította. Az elmélyülő konfliktusok megteremthetik az Iszlám Állam (ISIS) 2.0 újjáéledését. Az ISIS végleges legyőzésére területei elvesztése révén sem került még sor. Az ISIS célja a térségben, hogy tüzelje a lakosság bizalmatlanságát a központi kormányzatokkal szemben. Ha a kedvezőtlen folyamatok fennmaradnak, az ISIS jóval nagyobb veszélyt fog jelenteni a jövőben, és nehezebb lesz ellene küzdeni, mint amilyen nehéz lenne most felvenni velük a harcot.

United States Withdraws Troops from Syria, Leaving Kurds Vulnerable

Political instability and violence escalated in northeastern Syria in October 2019, following President Trump's decision to withdraw most U.S. troops from the country. Trump's decision left U.S.-backed Kurdish forces vulnerable to attacks by Turkey, intensifying an already dire humanitarian situation. Soon thereafter, Kurdish leaders negotiated an agreement with the Russian-backed Syrian government to fill the vacuum left by the U.S. withdrawal. By late October, the president of Turkey agreed to a ceasefire in response to diplomatic and economic pressure from the United States and to the arrival of Russian and Syrian troops into northeastern Syria. Shortly thereafter, U.S. forces carried out a raid in northwestern Syria that resulted in the death of the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)—a raid that relied in part on intelligence gathered earlier by Kurdish allies.

The Media World of ISIS

AbstractThe Islamic State group (IS) has grabbed the world's attention as one of the most dangerous and gruesome terrorist organizations in history. The group has been studied from different disciplines such as political science, history, and theology. Michael Krona and Rosemary Pennington's edited volume, The Media World of ISIS, is an attempt by media studies scholars to explore different aspects and dimensions of the IS usage of media.

Az Iszlám Állam felemelkedése és bukása(?)

The study seeks to shed light on the principal factors of the success of the Islamic State. How could the terrorist organisation risen from the ruins of Al-Qaida in Iraq become the most feared – from a different point of view, the most attractive – Jihadist organisation in a few years? Beside describing its main characteristics, the study shows who the fighters of the Islamic State were, where they were from and what motivations they had. I examine what threat the fighters surviving in Iraq and Syria, or throughout the world, mean, after the fall of the never recognised ’caliphate’ proclaimed by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. I discuss the flexible adaptability that made possible to transform the Islamic State from a terrorist group to a proto-state within a few years and made it possible to redefine its position after the fall. Despite its total defeat in territorial terms, the ideology and the ’virtual caliphate’ has not been defeated at all. First of all, the network still existing in the Levante and the continuing propaganda are the reasons why the fighters who survived, the relatives of the former fighters, or those who become attracted to the ideology afterwards, pose a serious security challenge from Western Europe through North and Sub-Saharan Africa to Southeast Asia.

The Legal Limbo of Counter-Terrorism Criminal Law and Armed Conflict Anti-Regime and Anti-IS (Foreign) Fighters Before European Courts

The Syrian conflict has reached public prosecution offices and courts in numerous European states with full force. Criminal investigations and proceedings against so-called foreign fighters returning from Syria as well as against persons who arrived as refugees or migrants and were involved in the conflict as members of non-state armed groups have rapidly increased in recent years. Most of the fighters returning or arriving from Syria to Europe are members of the so-called Islamic State or comparable jihadist groups and are being prosecuted for counter-terrorism crimes. In this contribution, however, the focus will be on those groups for which classification as “terrorist organization” is less clear. This paper takes a closer look at the criminal investigations and proceedings that are being conducted in several European states against anti-regime and anti-IS (foreign) fighters. Do members of these groups also face prosecution under counter-terrorism criminal law after their return to or their entry into the country? Or does counter-terrorism criminal law differentiate between the groups involved in the Syrian conflict? Is this differentiation a legal or a political matter? Who is responsible for the decision? What criteria apply?

Al-Qaeda’s New Orientation After the Death of Osama bin Laden

After the death of Osama Bin Laden and the declaration of the establishment of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the Al-Qaeda movement changed from being aggressive to being passive. The aggressiveness of the Al-Qaeda movement, for instance, was seen during the spectacular terror of 9/11, which was then followed by various actions carried out by followers in various parts of the world. However, Bin Laden's death and the rise of the ISIS group made Al-Qaeda look passive. This paper seeks to see the history of the Al-Qaeda movement to the dynamics that influence the movement’s choices. The author found that changing Al-Qaeda's orientation from aggressive to passive did not deny the existence of a consolidated movement that deliberately distanced itself from the anti-terrorism campaign carried out by the United States.

Military Intervention in Syria and the “Unwilling or Unable” Test: Lawful or Unlawful?

As is known, military intervention by the U.S.-led coalition was commenced in September 2014 in Syria. The justification invoked by some participants of the coalition was that the Syrian government was “unwilling or unable” to deal with Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), an international terrorist group. The “unwilling or unable” test gives rise to various debates among international scholars and practitioners. Some international publicists argue that military intervention on the basis of the “unwilling or unable” test is an emerging rule of customary international law, while others are rather opposed to it. The U.S. announced its intention to withdraw its troops from Syria on 19 December 2018. This, however, does not mean an immediate cessation of operations of the U.S.-led coalition in Syria. It is expressed in the statement made on 6 February 2019 by Mike Pompeo, the U.S. Secretary of State, in which he articulated that the arms cut in Syria is not a shift in mission but a strategic turn in essence. What can be inferred is that it seems unlikely that the military intervention of the U.S.-led coalition in Syria will be terminated in the near future. In fact, it arouses deep concern of humanity that the military intervention in Syria justified by the “unwilling or unable” test might recur in other regions or states. In this respect, the present article argues the compatibility of military intervention based on the “unwilling or unable” test proposed by some states, including the U.S., and some international publicists under universal principles of customary international law formation and international conventions.

Semiotic Analysis of Media and Visual Jihad of ISIS Group in Photos Released by Them

Jihad is a central but variable concept in the Islamic fundamentalism discourse. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) as the latest product of this discourse defined media jihad as an important aspect of this obligation by conceptual and exemplary development of jihad. In this research, by applying social semiotics method, a semiotic analysis of media jihad was conducted by emphasizing their photographic activities on some published photos of ISIS and also efforts were made to discover the intrinsic meaning of ISIS on this concept. By committing themselves to social semiotics presumptions, the authors tried to explore underlying layers of photos and reveal the social and cultural contexts, as well as power relations as the background of this semiotics. In this study, some codes such as companionship of ISIS soldiers with visual and media tools, companionship of media and visual tools with military and violent weapons and active participation of women in the jihad media, which consists of a system of signs were analyzed and such analyses were discussed in social and cultural contexts such as power, dual space, and switch from writing to image. Finally, the meaning that is generally understood of media jihad was quite different from what exists in Islam about jihad.

Je viens d’Alep, itinéraire d’un réfugié ordinaire

Je viens d’Alep, itinéraire d’un réfugié ordinaire

Islamophobia : An Attitude or a Real Threat.

There is much hue and cry in many parts of the world as to the threats of fanatic Islam practitioners and various radical terrorist outfits. What will be the outcome of such fanaticism? Perhaps …… a total collapse of humanity for the so called beliefs of one religion. Present time is under the threats and clutches of Islamophobia. ‘Islamophobia’ is defined by the British Runnymede Trust as the “dread or hatred of Islam and therefore, fear and dislike of all Muslims”. It also refers to the practice of discriminating against Muslims by excluding them from the economic, social, and public life of the nation. Muslims believe their religion to be a religion of peace and totality but many people find it to be the contrary. In order to establish their religion as a religion of the whole world and also to establish Islamic State, it has been noted that Jihadis or Religious Terrorists are distorting the tenets of Islam and also using its ideology for brain-wash the Muslim youths to meet their ends. Muslims are the fastest-growing religious group in the world. The growth and regional migration of Muslims combined with the ongoing impact of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and other extremist groups that commit acts of violence in the name of Islam, have brought Muslims and the Islamic faith to the forefront of the political debate in many countries. There is no concord among various Muslim sects as to what is and is not acceptable as lesser jihad. Richard Ostling, in his, ‘Is Islam a “Religion of Peace?” says that “Amid the general mayhem now afflicting the Muslim world, venerable understanding of Islam is defined by a rising movement that’s attractive to a subset of young Muslims. It claims divine sanction to embrace thievery, torture, mutilation, terrorism, suicide bombing, kidnapping for ransom, sexual slavery, gruesome executions without trial, killing of envoys and guest aid workers, slaughter of worshippers and Jews and Christians, and of fellow Muslims who dissent from those who hold power or belong to rival factions.” Muslims extremists attack Muslims and non-Muslims alike, committing the most atrocious and despicable acts of terrorism under the pretense of promoting what these terrorists consider being ‘pure Islam.’ The effort here is to find out the significance of the term in present context and see whether it is just a hyped word or really has some implications at present as we are witnessing the operations of radical Muslim outfits like ISIS, Boko Haram, Al-Qaida, Hizbul etc. increasing day by day and threatening humanity.

Branding the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

This article will explore three crucial parameters that have been taken into consideration to attract millennials towards the Islamic State or Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) brand: the first parameter is story creation around the historical significance of Islamic prophecies justifying the ISIS brand. Second is the symbolisms attached to the ISIS brand and its relevance (a flag, a leader, a logo, a caliphate) and, third, the actions or the sense of attachment to the ISIS brand in the form of practising ideology, gaining recognition and appeal to the millennials. The promotion of the brand has been advanced through diverse means – social media platforms, mainstream media organizations, YouTube videos, all orchestrated to gain recognition of a rising state brand on the one end and a brand of fear and intimidation on the other.