VIENNA — Mohamed Mahmoud, a 26-year-old Austrian, wears a traditional white tunic and a light-brown hat and keeps his hair long, as is the tradition in the Pashtun tribal areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Only his camouflage vest and dark-blue sneakers place him in the modern world here in Europe, which he re-entered Sept. 12 after serving a four-year prison sentence for joining and actively supporting Al Qaeda and its affiliates.
Heinz S. Tesarek for The New York Times
Mohamed Mahmoud, 26, served a four-year prison term in Austria for active support of Al Qaeda and its affiliate groups.
Multimedia
It is a world that he says he could easily leave again. “I want to send the message that I am ready to die for my religion any time,” he said in an interview last month, his first since his release. “I have nothing to lose in life. Today I know that demonstrations and protests don’t help, and today I know that the West is lying about its freedom of speech and human rights.”
According to interviews with Arab, American and European intelligence officials, as well as investigative files, Mr. Mahmoud combines a gift for inspiring followers, a knack for tapping into the power of the Internet and a virtual Rolodex of Qaeda leadership connections, many made in prison or in training camps.
In short, these officials say, Mr. Mahmoud represents a wave of young heirs apparent to take over the role of Al Qaeda’s propagandist in chief from Anwar al-Awlaki, the American-born cleric turned militant leader who was killed by an American missile strike in Yemen in September.
“Mahmoud’s aggressive re-entry into the jihadi mediasphere has garnered him significant attention among German-language jihadi adherents,” said Jarret Brachman, author of “Global Jihadism: Theory and Practice” and a consultant to the United States government on terrorism. “They seem to be smitten with his fiery lectures and are responding to the street cred he gained from his time in prison.”
But Mr. Brachman, along with other American officials, cautioned against overstating Mr. Mahmoud’s influence. “The German-language jihadi landscape is already crowded and colorful,” Mr. Brachman said. “He will have to keep pushing the envelope — both in terms of the extremism of his content and the creativity with which he leverages social media — if he wants to move to the head of that pack.” Read the rest on:
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