Malika El Aroud (aka Oum Obeyda), born in 1959/1960 in Tangier, is a Moroccan ^[1] woman who lives in Brussels, Belgium. She is the widow of Dahmane Abd al-Sattar, one of the men who killed anti-Taliban resistance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud two days before the September 11, 2001 attacks.^[2] In 2003 she was cleared by a Belgian court of charges of complicity in Massoud's murder.

On February 2005 she was detained along with her Tunisian husband Moez Garsalloui in an anti-terror raid. She was accused of operating a Jihadi website which incited to criminal acts and racial violence.

On June 2007 she was found guilty by a Swiss court for supporting radical Islamist organizations via internet sites. ^[3]

According to journalists Elaine Sciolino and Souad Mekhennet, "writing in French under the name `Oum Obeyda,` [El Aroud] has transformed herself into one of the most prominent Internet jihadists in Europe," by bullying "Muslim men to go and fight" and rallying "women to join the cause." In an interview she told the journalists “I have a weapon. It’s to write. It’s to speak out. That’s my jihad. You can do many things with words. Writing is also a bomb.”^[4]

She is quoted as telling Western audiences “Vietnam is nothing compared to what awaits you on our lands, ... Ask your mothers, your wives to order your coffins.” and telling her followers: “Victory is appearing on the horizon my brothers and sisters. Let’s intensify our prayers.”^[4]

On December 11th, 2008, she was arrested by the Belgian police with a group of people suspected of terrorist links.^[5]

In February 2009, CNN presented an interview with Malika El Aroud, as well as various people familiar with her activities or involved with her court proceedings, as part of CNN's regular program, "World's Untold Stories"^[6].

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Alqaeda Warrior Uses Internet to Rally Women NYTimes May 28, 2008
• Belgian woman wages war for Al Qaeda on the Web International Herald Tribune May 28, 2008
• El Aroud Wikio
• Official website profile

v • d • e Alleged militants in the War on Terror who have lived in Belgium Iraqi insurgency Muriel Degauque Held in Guantanamo Bay Mesut Sen, Mosa Zi Zemmori Others Malika El Aroud, Nizar Trabelsi