Denmark's Jihadi Problem Sheds Light On Copenhagen Shootings

Nearly 10 years after Denmarks Jyllands-Posten newspaper published inflammatory cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, including one with a bomb in his turban, the country is reeling from twin terror attacks, at a caf and a synagogue, that killed two civilians and injured five police officers. The Saturday attacks, purportedly carried out by a man inspired by militant Islamist propaganda, shed light on the Scandinavian country that has sent the second-highest number of foreign fighters to join the Islamic State group in parts of Syria and Iraq.

Denmarks jihadi fighters

The Muhammad cartoons [published in the daily Jyllands-Posten in 2005] have played into the increasing polarization of the Danish society, and there has also been discrimination against immigrants, Magnus Ranstorp, a leading terrorism expert at Swedens Defense College, told Newsweek in an October interview. In addition, there are radical imams, and the Islamist group Hizb-ut-Tahrir is pretty big. Young people join it or more radical offshoots and its suspected that these offshoots may be playing a role in facilitating trips for them to Syria.

Due to the estimated 100 Danes in combat in Syria and Iraq, the Danish government established a rehabilitation program in September for former fighters. Rather than punitive measures, a national hotline, mentors and an exit center were created to reform former and potential jihadis.

We cannot afford not to include them back in our society and make sure that their path of radicalization is changed, so they can be an active part of our society, Jacob Bundsgard, the Social Democrat mayor of Aarhus, told the New York Times in September after the programs launch. The countrys second-largest city has seen at least 30 Muslim residents travel to Syria since 2012.

What motivates these young people is not that far from the motivation the rest of us have: a decent life, Preben Bertelsen, a professor of psychology at the University or Aarhus, told Newsweek. For them, joining ISIS is fighting for utopia, fighting for a place where theyre wanted. In that sense theyre not that different from other young people.

Domestic threats

While some Danes are choosing to fight abroad, the country has faced numerous domestic threats, not including the deadly shootings carried out Saturday. In September 2005, the countrys Jyllands-Posten newspaper printed 12 cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. Protests were held in major cities worldwide, Danish embassies in Damascus, Beirut and Teheran were set on fire.

Kurt Westergaard, 79, the cartoonist who created one of the cartoons that depicted Muhammad with a bomb in his turban, has lived under police protection for the past decade. In 2010 he survived an assassination attempt after a man wielding an ax forced his way into Westergaard's home. He escaped to a panic room and notified police.

That same year, Danish police thwarted a terror plot against the Jyllands-Posten. Four suspects described as militant Islamists were arrested in several raids that also uncovered an armory of automatic weapons, ammunition and wrist ties.

Here is the original post:
Denmark's Jihadi Problem Sheds Light On Copenhagen Shootings