Opinion ID: 181375
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Azzam Publications' Support for Jihad

Text: London-based Azzam Publications (Azzam) was an organization that in 2001 maintained a number of websites that glorified martyrdom in the name of jihad and the violent exploits of mujahideen around the world. See United States v. Abu-Jihaad, 600 F.Supp.2d 362, 366 (D.Conn. 2009) (reviewing trial evidence in denying post-verdict motions for judgment of acquittal or new trial). [3] Its name paid tribute to Sheikh Abdullah Azzam, a leader in urging the revival of violent jihad in the twentieth century. In addition to marketing jihadist audio and video recordings on its websites, Azzam offered English translations of books written by Sheikh Azzam. It also provided access to the 1996 fatwa issued by Osama bin Laden, entitled a Declaration of War Against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places, which charged Muslims to take up arms against the United States to rid the Arabian Peninsula of infidels. Id. at 367. It solicited assistance for jihadist groups, for example, requesting that readers aid the Taliban by sending money or gas masks, or traveling to Afghanistan to provide battlefield medical services in anticipation of an offense by American and Russian forces in retaliation for the October 2000 attack on the U.S.S. Cole. Id. at 366-67. [4] One of Azzam's most popular postings instructed Muslims living in Western countries as to how they, too, could train as mujahideen.