´In the Skin of a Jihadist´

By using a fake Facebook account, journalist Anna Erelle (for security and safety reasons, a pseudonym) tried the traps of the digital Jihadist propaganda. In the Skin of a Jihadist is her encounter as a pretender Islam convert based in France, a girl called Melodie, as she was flirting online with Bilel, the right hand of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Daesh leader.

The initial aim was trying to understand the roots of digital Jihad, how young, often Western, girls and boys from the West are falling into the traps of the propaganda. How they cannot be horrified by the violent videos shared generously all over the social media channels? The distorted religious interpretations they are fed with do appeal a certain need of respect and balance for a loneliness and lack of belonging. 

´Melodie´ was easily caught into the net of macho pride and religious self-rightneousness. The fighter, who happen to have at least another wife, was at ease sharing information about the latest fights, as well as about the smuggling networks operating at the border between Turkey and Syria. 

What in my opinion, although the book has interesting testimonies about the psychology of the people involved in designing the Islamic state, it lacks details regarding the operations of the Jihad 2.0. Although it is hilarious to be shared details about how such a high profile Daesh fighter was longing for the fine lingerie distributed in the corrupt West, and the naive hurry of getting married online with a woman he hardly knew - despite the complex counter-spionage like teams Daesh used to have - I had the feeling that the author went way too much involved in the so-called romance. She haven´t fell in love, Gd forbid, but there is way too much space dedicated to the story instead of exploring a bit more the modus operandi, the agents and tools.

From the journalistic point of view, the book may also raise questions regarding the use of such methods in order to obtain information. We may be happy to read about such relevant details, but is this the real way to get it? Was it not possible to obtain them any other way?

In the Skin of a Jihadist by Anna Erelle - against whom there is a fatwa decision issued online - despite its shortcomings, is an important source of information about the mix between extreme movements and sophisticated online strategies, compromised by the very human feelings, such as longing for love, belonging and maybe some fine capitalist lingerie.