Sudanese security releases 4 ISIS sympathizers

January 22, 2016 (KHARTOUM) – The general coordinator of the One Nation Movement group and the openly supporter of the Islamic State (ISIS), Mohamed Ali al-Gizouli, Thursday said the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) has released four members of his group after five hours of detention.

He said in a post on his Facebook page the four members were conducting a video survey at the Sudan University of Science and Technology on the “ aspiration of young people towards the future and unity of the nation in light of the current divisions”, stressing the survey was approved by the students union.

“We call for the unity of all [Islamic] schools of thoughts and Fiqh [jurisprudence] and all movements including the Salafist Jihadist and the Islamic Movement”, he said.

“We seek to direct all those efforts to [the outside] to fight against the enemies of the nation instead of directing it [inside the nation] to destroy each other”, he added.

Last year, NISS launched an arrest campaign against Salafist Jihadist preachers and ISIS sympathizers following the large flow of Sudanese youngsters- both males and females- to join ISIS.

The Sudanese authorities accuse those preachers of recruiting the young people to join the extremist group.

Al-Gizouli was detained two times last year. He spent eleven months in detention against the backdrop of accusations pertaining to his support for ISIS.

He recently warned the Sudanese government against consequences of normalization with Israel following statements by senior officials including the minister of foreign affairs Ibrahim Ghandour that the government is willing to look into the possibilities for normalizing ties with Israel.

ISIS infiltration into Sudan among the youths has become known last March after British media outlets confirmed that nine medical students from Sudanese origins entered Syria via Turkey to work in hospitals under the control of ISIS.

In October 2015, the ministry of interior in Khartoum announced that about 70 Sudanese both males and females have went on to join the ISIS franchises both in Libya and Syria.

(ST)