An online magazine published by people allegedly associated with al-Qaeda has presented a hitlist which mentions Dutch MP Geert Wilders and Islam critic Ayaan Hirsi Ali. The English-language Inspire magazine appears to be targeting radical Muslims in Europe and North America.
Analysts agree that the Inspire magazine was published under the auspices of AQAP, al-Qaeda's branch in the Arabian Peninsula. The brains behind the sleekly designed online magazine is assumed to be Anwar al-Awlaki, an al-Qaeda chief in Yemen. He was also held responsible for the failed bomb attack on an Amsterdam-Detroit flight in 2009.
Mr Wilders said he is shocked by the death threat. "Being on an al-Qaeda leaflet pointing a gun at you is not something you can shrug off lightly. This is terrible." The magazine's hitlist also mentions Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard and the author Salman Rushdie.
Messages from Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri are also included in the pages of Inspire. Their authenticity could not be verified.
The picture below is taken from the pdf file of the magazine. Earlier versions were riddled with computer viruses and unreadable because of character errors.
In the picture, Geert Wilders' given name is misspelt as "Girt".
© Radio Netherlands Worldwide
Email this Bulletin
Printer-friendly version
Definitely believe that which you stated. Your favorite reason seemed to be on the internet the simplest thing to be aware of. I say to you, I certainly get irked while people consider worries that they plainly don't know about. You managed to hit the nail upon the top and also defined out the whole thing without having side effect , people could take a signal. Will probably be back to get more. Thanks
i just have to say good on you , i love your stand and agree with you all the way . IT IS NOT A RELIGION IT IS MORE LIKE A SATANIC COLT, and they have no right to put our people at risk by letting them into our country i believe we have the right to live in peace without threat in our lives , no one should have to worry about when they will bomb or what they will do next it is already a bad enough world without making it worse , i pray that you get into power an your party becomes worldwide as the majority im sure agree with you so where has democracy gone so many died in wars for it and it seems we all have lost it and are living under a dictatorship run by minority groups all wanting to do what ever makes them a buck and never listening to majority ,,, if this keeps happening it will mean all anzacs world war 1 and 2 will have died for nothing so good luck and you have my support Geert.
Other analysts agree that Inspire is a hoax.
Max Fisher of the Atlantic gives five good reasons to doubt the authenticity. The language used in the webzine is genuine American English.
The original file was not riddled by a computer virus but corrupted during the upload. This often happens when you upload large pdf files. It just requires Adobe Acrobat to discover that the pdf-file was created on top of a dump of Ellen Degeneres "How to make a Cupcake".
The gun used on the page wth the hitlist is most likely a golden Magnum Desert Eagle, produced by Magnum Research and refined by Israeli Military Industries. Why would al-qaeda use an Israeli weapon?
It is sad to read how Dutch media without any questions asked simply copy the message that Wilders is on a hitlist of a fake webzine and receives life threats. Wilders only welcomes these alleged threats since they are the foundation of his political success.