Centre for Peace and Tolerance

CPT

The Profile of an arrested al Shabaab social media promoter

Profile

Name: Ismail Esse Hussein (Ismaaciil Ciise Xuseen in Somali) his father’s nickname is Ciise Geriye (aka Ismaaciil Xaaji)

Place of birth: Erigavo (Ceergaabo in Somali), Sanaag region of Somaliland

Residence: Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland

Arrested: March 2022.

Education: Sharia from East Africa University (Erigavo)

Job: School teacher

Facebook account: https://www.facebook.com/Ismaaciil.Xaaji.44

Information

Ismail was arrested in March 2022 in Hargeisa for supporting and being a member of al Shabaab. He came to the attention of the security agencies of Somaliland after he publicly and continuously supported al Shabaab through his Facebook. He has been a strong advocate for al Shabaab for several years and somehow escaped the government’s attention.

Ismail was a school teacher at a religious school owned by Gulf philanthropists linked to the Wahabi movement.

Ismail argued that democracy is apostasy and that every person who says Somaliland is democracy means Somalilanders are apostates. For the extremist, apostates must be executed. Therefore, his claims of apostasy are strong judgment.

He posted on Facebook that suicide bombs are a legitimate form of defence.

Before he was arrested, he attacked Hargeisa Cultural Centre (HCC) and other civil society organisations and asked al Shabaab supporters to write down the names and information of the people who defend HCC on social media.

Moreover, his posts included support for the Taliban in Afghanistan and other Jihadists in the world. In a post, he glorified Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan and celebrated that one day al Shabaab will do the same and will take retaliatory actions against those who are against them.

Similar to Yusuf (aka Yusuuf Shaacir), he also attacked Jews online and manifested antisemitic views. People close to intelligence sources believe that Ismail is in the network of Yuusuf Shaacir, and the two know each other. There are no charges brought against Yuusuf Shaacir.

The fact that Ismail has been supporting al Shabaab and violent extremist for many years while in Somaliland demonstrate the effectiveness of al Shabaab in its online propaganda.

See the profile of Yuusuf Shaacir.