Guardia Civil arrest two Imams in Ibiza on terrorism charges

THE Guardia Civil have arrested two Moroccan born Imams from the Masllid al Fath mosque in Ibiza who are suspected of using their positions to promote support for Daesh and jihadism.

Officers working in combination with the General Directorate of Territorial Surveillance (DGST) of the Kingdom of Morocco have been analysing a great deal of information that appears on social media with regards to support of Daesh.

The two men, AEM and JR, aged 31 and 35 respectively, began to increase their activity on the Internet and social networks in 2012, coinciding with the phenomenon of the Arab Spring and the mass exodus of foreign fighters to ranks of the terrorist group in Syria and Iraq. 

According to investigations, the detainee, AEM, used his personal profile on Facebook as a platform to spread propaganda and support for the terrorist group, which included offering access to Daesh videos and links to various publications.

As part of the operation, it became clear that the pair had considerable influence on the members of the Islamic community in Ibiza, especially with children attending classes taught by them in the mosque.

With these two taken into custody, the security forces have arrested 156 alleged jihadists since 2015.