RT | A German rapper who joined the Islamic State in Syria is overseeing
the extremist group’s effort to recruit Britons. Denis Cuspert, from
Berlin, has become the jihadist group’s main propagandist, managing its
sophisticated media operation.
Cuspert is reportedly
responsible for recruiting Britons by using English-speaking
jihadists as poster children, the Daily Mail reports.
He is said to be the mastermind of a campaign to attract
foreigners, including German Salafists and other impressionable,
radicalized youths.
Cuspert is now fighting under the name Abu Talha al-Almani. The
former rapper is also reportedly the leader of a combat unit of
German-speaking Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) jihadists
called the German Brigade of Millatu Ibrahim.
The 39-year-old was born in Berlin to a German mother and a
Ghanaian father. He became a rapper under the artist name Deso
Dogg.
The would-be propagandist converted to Islam in 2007 following
nine years imprisonment for manslaughter.
He is thought to have travelled to Syria in early 2013, swearing
his allegiance to the self-proclaimed IS caliph Abu Bakr
al-Baghdadi.
Last week, Cuspert appeared in a video alongside other fighters,
in which at least three opponents were executed.
“That's why they've received the death sentence,”
Cuspert says in German in the video, while another fighter
explains in Arabic that the victims belonged to the Syrian Al
Sheitaat tribe.
Although Cuspert is not shown killing any of the men, the German
jihadist poses with the severed head of one of the victims. The
video contradicts earlier reports that Cuspert was killed in
Syria.
According to the German security agency Verfassungsschutz,
Cuspert is part of a “terrorist establishment” and is
said to have become a member of the IS inner circle. The jihadist
was reportedly seen beating a corpse with a stone in a video from
July, filmed near Homs in Syria.
