New Video Celebrates German "Martyr" from Ranks of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan
The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) has released a new 16-minute video commemorating Abu Safiyya, a German IMU member who, according to the video, was killed on October 17, 2009. The video gives Abu Safiyya's real name as Djavad Sediqi, and says that he left Germany with his wife and daughter in early 2009 to join the jihad. It was posted on Furqon, an IMU-affiliated website, as well as on the major jihadist forums.
Djavad Sediqi, aka Abu Safiyya
Sediqi together with an Uzbek-looking IMU member
A still photograph of Sediqi
This is the first time that an IMU release has been dedicated to the death of one of its German members, but they have been featured frequently in the group's propaganda in other contexts, particularly as a means of recruitment. The ones whose names (or rather noms de guerre) are known to us from IMU videos and who can be confirmed to be German-speakers are Abu Ibrahim, Abu Adam, Abu Askar, and Abu Safiyya. The surviving members of this group all eulogize Abu Safiyya in the new video. In addition, past IMU videos have shown a number of unidentified adults and children who appear to be white Europeans.[1]
Fellow German IMU member Abu Ibrahim
Abu Askar recounting a battle in which Abu Safiyya took part against the Pakistani army
Abu Adam, another German in the IMU
The new video, which is titled "He Came, He Saw, He Conquered," also includes a recorded statement from Abu Safiyya's wife, referred to as Umm Safiyya. She says that she is filled with pride and happiness that Allah chose for her husband to become a martyr. She wholeheartedly agreed with her husband's decision to bring her and their daughter to the front lines of jihad, and encourages other women to join the mujahideen as well, saying they are good family men and that they also treat the widows well.
Sediqi's widow Umm Safiyya: happy that he was martyred
The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan was founded by Tahir Yuldashev in the Ferghana Valley shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union. It took part in the civil war in Tajikistan and used its Tajik bases to launch attacks in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. It later shifted base to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, and following 2001 moved into Waziristan, where it is currently based. The IMU enjoys a close relationship with the Pakistani Taliban; recent video has shown convivial meetings between Yuldashev and the current Emir of the Pakistani Taliban, Hakimullah Mehsud. Yuldashev was widely reported to have been killed in an August 2009 airstrike, but the IMU never confirmed this, and a recent IMU release seems to affirm that he is still alive.[2]
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November 26, 2009
