Radical Sudanese imam fully supports IS

A leading imam of Sudan, Mohamed El Jazouli, right after his release repeats his support for the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, which got him into prison eight months ago.

A leading imam of Sudan, Mohamed El Jazouli, has repeated his support for the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.

Two days after being released from eight months detention, the leader of the El Jereif Mosques of President Omar Al Bashir in Khartoum, repeated his support for Islamic State forces fighting the 'coalition of Arab Crusaders'.

El Jazouli had been in prison for expressing his support for Al Qaida and the Islamic State (IS – Ed Daesh in Arabic). In his Facebook posting on Friday (link): “I was honoured by God when I was arrested for 240 days for my stance, calling for the resistance of the American intervention in our Islamic region. My stances are not changed as well as my way of thinking”, he writes.

“I am not afraid of an assassination or kidnapping, for I am already a martyr, God willing. I am waiting for their [Americans] execution.”

El Jazouli is an economist, who worked at various positions within the government. He was also an executive manager of the Sheikan Insurance Company and head of the Sudan TV Islam department. Furthermore, he was a lecturer at the Omdurman Islamic University and the African International University for Muslim students.

He is the supervisor of a NGO for students coming from other countries to follow Islamic studies in Sudan, and general-secretary of the United Muslim Council.

Earlier this year, educational, and some cultural, institutes in Khartoum that helped to radicalise British-Sudanese medical students were disbanded days after this news broke. The students went to join the IS in Syria in March.