“The man began receiving Swiss disability benefits for these psychiatric problems when he turned 18 and continued to receive those benefits after he moved to Morocco in 2015.”
His mother “said that after living in a youth centre and being introduced to the Koran, her son had “started going to the mosque a lot.”
Authorities will dismiss this jihadi as another manifestation of the global outbreak of mental illness. However, it is not at all outside the realm of possibility that he could have genuine psychiatric problems, and also have opted to turn to jihad violence because of his devout commitment to Islam. He may have thought that his psychiatric problems were a manifestation of demons or jinn working in his life, and decided to do something great in order to get into the deity’s good graces. And Islam teaches that there is no deed greater than jihad: a hadith has a man asking Muhammad, “Instruct me as to such a deed as equals Jihad (in reward).” Muhammad replied, “I do not find such a deed.” (Bukhari 56.4.2785)
“Swiss suspect in murder of Scandinavian hikers ‘had psychiatric problems,'” The Local, January 9, 2019:
A dual Swiss-Spanish national arrested in connection with the murder of two Danish and Norwegian hikers in Morocco’s Atlas Mountains in December was receiving Swiss disability benefits for psychiatric problems, a Spanish newspaper reported on Tuesday.
The 25-year-old who grew up in Geneva believed “he had demons in his head who were telling them what to do” and that “thanks to the Koran he had managed finally learned to control them”, Spain’s El Mundo newspaper reported a Geneva-based friend of the suspect as saying.
The man began receiving Swiss disability benefits for these psychiatric problems when he turned 18 and continued to receive those benefits after he moved to Morocco in 2015, the man’s friend added in a report that has not been officially confirmed.
The Swiss-Spanish man was arrested on December 28th for alleged links to the murders of Danish student Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, 24, and 28-year-old Norwegian Maren Ueland who were found dead in the High Atlas, south of Marrakesh on December 17th.
He is not suspected of personally having taken part in the murders, which are believed to have been carried out by four men belonging to a cell inspired by Islamic State (Isis) group ideology, according to Moroccan counter-terrorism authorities.
However, the Swiss-Spanish dual national is “suspected of teaching some of those arrested in this case about communication tools involving new technology and of training them in marksmanship,” according to Moroccan authorities.
He also subscribes to “extremist ideology” and has been involved in the “recruitment of Moroccans and sub-Saharans to carry out terrorist plans in Morocco”, Morocco’s central office for judicial investigations has stated.
Mother says suspect was in Geneva at time of murders
Spain’s El Mundo newspaper also spoke to the mother of the Swiss-Spanish dual national who said everything being said about her son was “lies”.
The woman, who lives in Madrid, said that her son had been in Geneva with family when the murders occurred on December 17th.
She admitted her son had had a tough adolescence after losing his father at the age of 15, and that he had “smoked a lot of joints, burned cars and had committed a number of robberies.”
She also said that after living in a youth centre and being introduced to the Koran, her son had “started going to the mosque a lot” but that she had “not noticed anything unusual”.
She said her son had never had Muslim friends and suspicions that he planned to rob a jewellery store in Switzerland and give the proceeds to so-called Islamic State (Isis) didn’t add up….