ISIS crowd-funding Facebook campaign unnoticed for two years in Sweden

A crowd-funding campaign for ISIS, started by a Swedish man on Facebook has long remained visible to the public without the social media giant or the Nordic nation’s authorities responding. The total amount of money collected hasn’t been established.

In November last year, 35-year-old Ahmad Qadan from Arlöv was sentenced to six months in prison for collecting funds for the purchase of weapons for the terrorist organizations ISIS and al-Nusra Front on Facebook. Prior to being ultimately discovered by the Swedish security service Säpo, his crowd-funding campaign went undiscovered for almost two years, the Swedsish daily Expressen reported.

In May 2013, Qadan published a message that said: “Contact me to help equip your brothers at the front!” A second, more detailed message appeared a few months later, urging the public to “help us provide our brothers at the front with weapons to avenge our siblings.” Two phone numbers were provided for detailed information on the accounts where the money could be deposited. Both were known for their support for terrorist organizations, and one of the named persons is listed as terrorist financier by the UN and the EU.

The posts at the fake account under the name of Ash-Shaami As-Suwedi weren’t discovered by Säpo until March 2015.

The police requested and received from Facebook IP addresses and time stamps for this account, successfully linking it with Ahmad Qadan’s official account with the help of telecom operators. Until the account was ultimately closed in June 2015, the messages remained open for access and could be read by anyone.

The prosecution showed understanding for Facebook failing to address the illegal material on time, commenting that timely notification only happens “in an ideal world.”

Senior terrorist researcher Magnus Ranstorp of the National Defense College has argued that Facebook did a great deal to stop material that supports terrorism.

Ahmad Qadan was later sentenced to a six-month prison sentence for terrorist offenses. According to the court, he called for “violent acts directed against or disproportionately affecting civilians with the aim of creating fear among the population.”

Qadan himself denied the crimes, claiming that he took over the Facebook account of a previously unknown person and had no knowledge of the previous posts.

Qadan subsequently appealed the verdict and is currently at large waiting for a verdict from the Supreme Court.

Source: Sputnik