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On August 4, 2022, the Syria-based pro-jihadi On the Ground News (OGN) outlet posted to its YouTube channel an interview with Canadian Islamic scholar Sheikh Tariq Abdelhaleem. Sheikh Abdelhaleem praised the Somalia-based Al-Shabab militia and its "good intentions," dismissing criticisms about its human rights abuses and saying that it must continue to fight those who oppose "freedom and shari'a rule" in Somalia. For more about Sheikh Tariq Abdelhaleem, see MEMRI TV Clip No. 9071.
Tariq Abdelhaleem: "I think Harakat al-Shabaab has good intentions, and they are trying to fight for the right of the Somalians to live according to shari'a, and they are opposing the regular, the normal puppets that are being supported by the West in Muslim countries and those who adopt secular life over Islamic life.
"They are at least sincere. Nobody, no Islamic movement does not do some mistakes here and there, but the main goal, whatever they are trying to do, whatever they stand for is good. They should keep trying to stand for their goals, as long as they don't exceed any barriers of Islamic rulings like killing innocents or something like that. As long as they don't do that, then they have to go and fight those who are opposing the freedom and the shari'a rule in Somalia."
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Interviewer: "Good religious people that love Islam and want their country to be ruled by the shari'a, but have an issue with how careless Al-Shabab have been with spilling Muslim blood, torturing people, detaining people unjustly..."
Abdelhaleem: "I never heard about something like that with Al-Shabab. Maybe I don't know, but I didn't hear any of the claims from those who are considered scholars in that area, in the Islamic jihad around the world. I didn't hear any sort of this criticism."
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