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Lavdrim Muhaxheri (pronounced /muː haˌdzːˈe ri/) (born 12 March 1989), also known by the nom de guerre Abu Abdullah al Kosova, Kosovo Albanian Islamic State (IS) leader for approximately 100–150 ethnic Albanian jihadi foreign fighters who fought in Iraq and Syria. He was a former KFOR and NATO employee. He appeared in two propaganda videos, one from the Iraqi War and one video alongside late Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) member Naman Demolli. On 24 September 2014, the U.S. Department of State (DoS) listed Muhaxheri as the fourth-most-wanted terrorist in the world. Shortly thereafter, on 2 October 2014, a statement from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry about Muhaxheri being blacklisted in the U.S. was published in the Federal Register.

Early life

Lavdrim Muhaxheri, a Kosovo Albanian Muslim, was born on 12 March 1989 in the town of Kačanik, located on the border between Kosovo and Macedonia. He was raised Muslim, living with his father and brothers in the absence of his mother. Muhaxheri grew up during the Kosovo War (1989–99) during which he and his family were affected by the persecution of ethnic Albanians conducted by the Serbian Slobodan Milošević's regime in Kosovo. He graduated from the Skanderbeg School. His education earned him a position as an English translator in the the American Kosovo Force (KFOR) camp, "Camp Bondsteel" in the city of Ferizaj in southeastern Kosovo. He worked at Camp Bondsteel until 2010, when he was promoted to a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) training camp in Afghanistan.

From NATO to Islamic State (IS)

Muhaxheri served with NATO at a training camp in Afghanistan between 2010 and 2012, then returned to Kosovo and joined a newly founded group within the Islamic Community of Kosova (ICK) organization called Islamic Youth-Kaçanik. In late 2012, he joined the al-Nusra Front (Jabhat al-Nusra). Several of Muhaxheri's relatives and former friends characterized him as not being noticeably distinguishable by his religious beliefs, nor radicalized, prior to his return from Afghanistan.

In March 2014 it became publicly known that Muhaxheri had joined the Islamic State (IS) when he was assumed, or possibly confused to appear in the IS-released propaganda film Clanging of the Swords IV in parallel with the emergence of an older video with Lavdrim Muhaxheri. In the IS propaganda film, Muhaxheri is seen in public tearing and burning his Kosovo passport while proclaiming that there are no manmade borders between Muslims in the world.

Muhaxheri's declaration of joining IS shed a new light on the ongoing revolution against the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria; that the revolutionary forces, or militias, were far from as cohesive and synchronized in the battles against the Syrian Armed Forces and other revolutionary groups in Syria as was commonly believed in the West. In the IS propaganda film, Muhaxheri and his followers, a group of 100–150 Albanians from Albania, Macedonia and across Europe swore allegiance to IS commander Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi for battling not only Assad's forces but also pro-Democracy groups, revolutionary groups such as Free Syrian Army and groups opposing the Sunni/Husseini Muslims in Syria. Muhaxheri's faction was described as one that sees Syria as a country to be ruled by the Sharia law by adherence to Shahada, and in coalition with groups close to Al-Qaeda.

In reaction to the news that Muhaxheri had joined Islamic State (IS), Kosovo's Minister of Internal Affairs, Bajram Rexhepi, called Muhaxheri and those like him "the country's shame". The publication of the footage in numerous media outlets, stirred havoc amongst citizens in Kosovo who condemned Muhaxheri's acts. Muhaxheri was repeatedly referred to as a "monster" in the Kosovo media outlets.

Activities with ISIS

On 29 July 2014, images uploaded to a Facebook page were purported to depict Muhaxheri having beheaded an unidentified young man. These photos were quickly leaked from Muhaxheri's Facebook page to the Kosovo media outlets, and the publications of these photos on the internet evoked a media frenzy in Kosovo. On 2 August 2014 an individual gave an exclusive interview about the footage to the local Tirana, Albania newspaper Gazeta Dita under the name Lavdrim Muhaxheri wherein he described the young man as a 19-year-old Shia boy, belonging to the Iraqi army loyal to Nouri al-Maliki, who had been caught spying and trespassing on the territory (presumably referring to the territory held by Muhaxheri's group). "Muhaxheri" justified his act of beheading by the following two arguments; that spying is to be punished by death according to the Qur'an, and that his act was not anything out of the ordinary compared to what the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) had done during the Kosovo War in the 90's. Muhaxheri's claim about the KLA's history was disputed by Kosovo's Minister of Justice, Xhavit Jashari.

On 29 July 2014, Muhaxheri uploaded photos to a Facebook page where he is seen beheading an unidentified young man in Syria.

In an interview with the Albanian daily "Dita", posted on 2 August 2014, Muhaxheri said that he had acted according to the Quran, and had did only what the KLA did during the Kosovo War. The young man was described as a 19-year-old Shia boy, belonging to the Iraqi army loyal to Nouri al-Maliki, who had been caught spying and trespassing on the territory (presumably referring to the territory held by Muhaxheri's group). Muhaxheri justified his act of beheading by the following two arguments; that spying is to be punished by death according to the Qur'an, and that his act was not anything out of the ordinary compared to what the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) had done during the Kosovo War. Muhaxheri's claim about the KLA's history was disputed by Kosovo's Minister of Justice, Xhavit Jashari.

On 6 September 2014 it became publicly known that a Kosova prosecutor had been granted an international warrant at the Court of Ferizaj for Muhaxheri's arrest, entailing an international warrant for Muhaxheri at Interpol, for his affiliation with terrorist organisations.. The prosecution had obtained text message conversations claimed to be sent and received between the period 12 August 2015 to 5 Oktober 2013 by Lavdrim Muhaxheri and other individuals who have traveled to Syria by crossing the border illegaly between the Hatay Province in Turkey and Syria. Muhaxheri was believed to have traveled to Syria at two(2) occasions between 2012-2013. The first time was between period 2012 to May 2013, wherefrom he returned to Kosova wounded. The second time was sometime after May 2013 and Muhaxheri left Syria to Kosova on 4 October 2013, based on a text message. According to the prosecution Muhaxheri had not engaged in fighting in Syria with the other indicted individuals.

In August 2014, Kurdish media channel KNNC reported that Muhaxheri had been killed in clashes with Kurdish Peshmerga in Iraq and published photos allegedly showing his dead body. These claims were later denounced by Kosova Press based on an image posted by one of Muhaxheri's friends on Facebook, claimed to indicate that Muhaxheri was alive, thus it couldn't be verified when or of whom the image was.

In September 2014, the United States labeled Muhaxheri as a "ringleader" for Islamic State (IS). "The designation of 10 individuals as terrorists — including two fighters involved in groups elsewhere in the world — under a special executive order, mirrors the deck of cards wanted list for Saddam Hussein's henchmen issued by the US during the War in Iraq." Also in September 2014, the U.S. State Department and Treasury Department imposed financial sanctions, freezing assets and blocking financial transactions for "Islamist fighters" including Muhaxheri.

In another video that has become public and that is often associated with Lavdrim Muhaxheri, an individual allegedly fires a rocket-propelled grenade at a captive in Syria. The video was first published by Daily Mail on 21 May 2015 who obtained it by sharing from the Syrian activist group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently, who in turn stated that they had obtained the video from a third party in ar-Raqqah. Many Kosovo media outlets presumed that the person in the video is Lavdrim Muhaxheri and this, in turn, sparked new speculation about whether Muhaxheri might be alive, especially in Balkan media. International mass media outlets have not named the man in the video as Lavdrim Muhaxheri, and have stated that the video is uncensored.

In the video, IS militants state that the captive is guilty of murdering members of the Islamic State with a rocket-propelled grenade, and that he is therefore sentenced to the same method of execution as his alleged victims, referring to an "eye for an eye" law in the Qur'an.

On 19 October 2015 Kosova Press reported that one of the militants in the RPG - video, purportedly a friend of Muhaxheri, had died a week earlier in an attack on a training camp in Syria. In the same article it's claimed that media was in disagreement with the militant regarding Lavdrim Muhaxheri's death. During 2014 Lavdrim Muhaxheri was claimed to still be alive on several occasions based on information claimed by Kosova Press to be taken from IS militants' Facebook accounts.

On 29 September 2015 Kosova Press published images from a Liveleak -post from 31 August 2015 containing an older video with Lavdrim Muhaxheri alongside KLA - member Naman Demolli, taken prior to Demolli's death which was confirmed to be no later than in August 2012.

Between 27 November 2015 - 2 December 2015 Balkan media reported claims of Lavdrim Muhaxheri hiding in various towns around Skopje in Macedonia. Some media reports claimed that Lavdrim Muhaxheri was hiding behind the name "Boban Decipi", stated in the articles to be based on information from unnamed sources in intelligence services. These claims were denounced by Macedonian police department who, in a public interview, stated that they had no information indicative of Lavdrim Muhaxheri being in Macedonia.

On 2 December 2015 Balkan media reported that Lavdrim Muhaxheri was physically paralyzed and in "a grave condition" in Syria and that the previous reports about Lavdrim Muhaxheri being in the Balkans were incorrect. This information is stated to be from unnamed sources within foreign intelligence.

On 22 December 2015 Italien media reported that Lavdrim Muhaxheri had been arrested in his hometown Kačanik by Russian secret service - agents in an anti - terror operation. The report was denounced by Kosova authorities.

On 27 December 2015 a post on an unnamed social media channel titled "Iran's Rouhani urges Muslim countries to unite" emerged with an undated video from Euronews' archive attached. One of the men in the video was, by some media outlets, assumed to be Lavdrim Muhaxheri and this sparked further medial speculation about whether Lavdrim Muhaxheri might be alive or not. The video had been added as a segment at the end of a broadcast speech by Iran's president Hassan Rouhani on Islamic State at the 29th International Islamic Unity Conference on 27 December 2015, which was published by, amongst others, Euronews.

As of May 2015, footage alleged to be of Lavdrim Muhaxheri, except for a video published by Memri TV and a video of Lavdrim Muhaxheri alongside late Kosovo Liberation Army(KLA) member Naman Demolli, remains unverified as to when it was taken, where it was taken and whether it indeed depicts Lavdrim Muhaxheri, or if another militant with a similar appearance is merely emulating Lavdrim Muhaxheri.

Muhaxheri's impact on the state of Kosovo

In August 2014 Kosovo mobilized to fight religious radicalism, also referred to as "wahhabism" and "radical Islamism", and terrorism by arresting around forty citizens who were suspected of engaging in the conflicts in Syria and Iraq.

Muhaxheri's actions prompted a new EULEX law prohibiting the teaching of wahhabism in Kosovo. This led to the arrest of several imams within Islamic Community of Kosova (ICK).

The U.S blacklisting of Muhaxheri

On 24 September 2014, the U.S. Department of State (DoS) designated Muhaxheri as a global terrorist. The listing was prompted by his affiliation with Islamic State (IS) as well as the footage of the alleged beheading he posted to Facebook July 2014. In praxis the listing means that it's an offense to provide financial support or expert advice to a person on the list.

On 2 October 2014, a statement on Muhaxheri by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry dated 17 September 2014 was published in the Federal Register wherein Muhaxheri was described as a threat to U.S. national security and, thereby, "blacklisted" from the United States.


References

  1. ^ Kerry, John F. (2 October 2014). "In the Matter of the Designation of Lavdrim Muhaxheri, also known as Ebu Abdullah el Albani, also known as Abu Abdullah al Kosova, also known as Abu Abdallah al-Kosovi, also known as Abu Abdallah al-Kosovo as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist Pursuant to Section 1(b) of Executive Order 13224, as Amended". FederalRegister.gov. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
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  3. "Nje fjalim i skurter nga Shehidi Naman Demolli para se te binte Shehid". YouTube.com. Te Shiqojm Se Bashku. 31 July 2015. Retrieved 13 September 2015. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |trans_title= (help)
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  23. ^ "Article about Basri Sylejmani commenting on media reports of Muhaxheri's death". standardi.eu. 19 August 2014.
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  31. Saul, Heather (21 May 2015). "Isis purportedly executes man with bazooka in disturbing propaganda video". The Independent. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
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  37. Xhymshiti, Vedat (9 December 2012). "Article about Naman Demolli's death".
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  39. ""Macedonia: Police searches Skopje's surrounding area for executioner from Syria"". www.independent.mk. 2 December 2015.
  40. "Exclusive: Lavdrim Muhaxheri changes name to Boban Decipi". www.tesheshi.com. 27 November 2015.
  41. ""Police dismiss reports that Jihadi Lavdrim Muhaxheri is in the region"". www.kosovapress.com. 1 December 2015.
  42. "Lavdrim Muhaxheri allegedly paralyzed in Syria". www.telegrafi.com. 2 December 2015.
  43. "Article about Lavdrim Muhaxheri being arrested in his hometown Kačanik". www.panorama.com. 22 December 2015.
  44. "Article about Euronews video". www.panorama.com. 27 December 2015.
  45. "Is Lavdrim Muhaxheri alive?". www.infokusi.com. 27 December 2015.
  46. "Iran's Rouhani urges Muslim countries to unite". www.euronews.com. 27 December 2015.
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