fbpx

Boston suspect’s web page venerates Islam, Chechen independence

Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev posted links to Islamic websites and others calling for Chechen independence on what appears to be his page on a Russian language social networking site.
[additional-authors]
April 19, 2013

Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev posted links to Islamic websites and others calling for Chechen independence on what appears to be his page on a Russian language social networking site.

Abusive comments in Russian and English were flooding onto Tsarnaev's page on VK, a Russian-language social media site, on Friday after he was identified as a suspect in the bombing of the Boston marathon.

Police launched a massive manhunt for Tsarnaev, 19, after killing his older brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev in a shootout overnight.

On the site, the younger Tsarnaev identifies himself as a 2011 graduate of Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, a public school in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

It says he went to primary school in Makhachkala, capital of Dagestan, a province in Russia that borders Chechnya, and lists his languages as English, Russian and Chechen.

His “World view” is listed as “Islam” and his “Personal priority” is “career and money”.

He has posted links to videos of fighters in the Syrian civil war and to Islamic web pages with titles like “Salamworld, my religion is Islam” and “There is no God but Allah, let that ring out in our hearts”.

He also has links to pages calling for independence for Chechnya, a region of Russia that lost its bid for secession after two wars in the 1990s.

The page also reveals a sense of humour, around his identity as a member of a minority from southern Russia's restive Caucasus, which includes Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia and other predominately Muslim regions that have seen two decades of unrest since the fall of the Soviet Union.

A video labelled “tormenting my brother” shows a man resembling his dead brother Tamerlan laughing and imitating the accents of different Caucasian ethnic groups.

He has posted his own joke: “A car goes by with a Chechen, a Dagestani and an Ingush inside. Question: who is driving?”

The answer: the police.

Elsewhere on the Internet, a photo essay entitled “Will box for passport” shows the older brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev practicing boxing at a gym. The captions identify him as a Chechen heavyweight boxer, in the United States for five years.

“I don't have a single American friend,” one caption quotes him as saying. “I don't understand them.”

Reporting by Peter Graff; editing by Philippa Fletcher

Did you enjoy this article?
You'll love our roundtable.

Editor's Picks

A Night of Gratitude Honoring Dennis Prager

Latest Articles

“Art Over Hate”

A two-part spotlight of Craig Dershowitz, CEO of the Art Over Hate Collective.

A Jewish Victory

In the face of growing anti-Israel and antisemitic conduct in public schools, the Los Angeles Unified School District has delivered an important victory for our community.

Unbreakable Blue Thread: Reclaiming Our Past and Our Future

I write to you, all you first and second generations, and I assure you from generations five, six and seven that if we keep doing what we need to do, if we stand together, keep our traditions, educate ourselves in our ancient wisdom, keep Hebrew spoken and sung in our midst, we will not only endure. We Jews will thrive.

Unstuck in the Middle with You

Kwall, the Raymond P. Niro Law Professor at DePaul University College of Law, argues for a center defined by enough common commitments to make communal life possible.

Sewage Without Borders

Israel’s water security depends on what flows into the sea on the other side of all of them, and our water policy should start from that reality.

Torah Portion: Vayera

The parsha ends with the binding of Isaac, the Akeida, probably the darkest chapter in the entire Torah.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.