Terror in Camp Moria

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Some weeks ago we posted a Bulgarian news video about the situation in the Moria refugee camp on the island of Lesbos off the coast of Greece. The following video from Deutsche Welle reports on the infiltration of the Moria camp by devotees of the Islamic State, who now control the place in true Mafia fashion.

The reporter is obviously desperate to discover that these aren’t real ISIS fighters, using, for example, the following tendentious descriptive phrases:

  • “posing as followers of the so-called Islamic State”
  • “supposed group of ISIS fighters”
  • “they label themselves as ISIS members”
  • “supposed ISIS group”
  • “supposedly controlled by ISIS”
  • “supposed ISIS group”

She evidently believes, like many of her fellow Westerners, that unless a murderous jihad fighter carries a membership card for the Islamic State, complete with the embossed seal of Caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, he
isn’t anything to worry about and poses no danger to Western Civilization.

Many thanks to MissPiggy for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:

Video transcript:

00:06   A horrifying suspicion shocks Camp Moria, one of the largest refugee camps of Europe.
00:11   A group of Syrians posing as followers of the so-called Islamic State spread fear and
00:18   terror through out the camp. Camp Moria is located on the Greek island of Lesbos, and
00:24   since the refugee crisis began in 2015, tens of thousands of people have been
00:28   stranded on their way to Europe. The supposed group of ISIS fighters,
00:32   according to victims, force others to adhere to their religious moral standards.
00:36   At the same time, they also direct a large part of criminality in the camp.
00:44   Has ISIS taken over Camp Moria?
00:48   We want to find out what truth lies in the allegations about camp Moria.
00:59   A report from Marial Müller and Bachir Amroune
01:06   Camp Moria is sealed off like a high-security prison, and violence is part of the daily
01:11   routine. The Greek police are called here regularly.
01:16   Here on the left is where we journalists are not permitted to film, and here on the right
01:20   are the tents for residents who cannot be accommodated in the official camp.
01:24   Were allowed to film here, and want to find out if the rumors are true that we’ve heard.
01:31   In Moria a violent gang has formed that claims to belong to the Islamic state. They
01:38   are said to come from the Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor, one of the last ISIS strongholds.
01:43   We meet Ahmad, who he says he lived right next door the group for two months.
01:49   Then he left the camp out of fear. —There are many ISIS members inside the camp.
01:58   They sell prohibited substances like drugs, and they hoard money. They trade with
02:05   everything. For example, with cell phones. They steal and rob.
02:10   A criminal gang can apparently do business undisturbed in the refugee camp.
02:15   That’s bad enough, but when they label themselves as ISIS members, do they want
02:19   to intimidate people with that? Or is it religious conviction?
02:25   One thing is clear, their methods are brutal.
02:30   When they attack someone, they do it with 20 people. The use metal rods
02:36   and strike mercilessly. While they do, they scream the same slogans as ISIS
02:41   They say “Allahu Akhbar” and “ISIS will survive and spread out”.
02:50   Achmed shows us mobile phone videos of an incident from the end of May when
02:54   violence escalated. The supposed ISIS group was the driving force behind an
02:59   attack on other camp residents. And their weapons were iron bars and knives.
03:07   The result was several seriously injured and some arrests. Why the fight
03:13   broke out remains unclear. The refugee camp Moria is notorious. There are 8,000
03:19   refugees living here instead of the 2,500 originally planned, in inhumane conditions,
03:25   according to relief organisations.
03:28   After his visit there, Pope Francis compared the camp with Nazi concentration camps.
03:32   The Greek government even thought about closing the camp.
03:39   We meet Jafar from Iraq. Right after his arrival in Moria, the alleged ISIS members
03:43   tried to recruit him. —One ISIS member brought me to their barracks. After I spent
03:51   five days there, listening to them, I understood they have a bad ideology.
03:58   —What does that mean, exactly? —They are too fanatic. They kill, rape and steal.
04:05   The most important was the raping. They say when you aren’t Muslim, then they are
04:09   allowed to rape you. They had raped in Mosul and in Nawa. I know one of them.
04:15   He is very dangerous. He told me, if you say anything to the police, I will kill you.
04:22   And I believe him. He’s got a knife. They have spies everywhere.
04:32   Spies. That sounds like a network. German security circles confirmed to us that
04:36   according to their information, there are ISIS members in Camp Moria.
04:40   Are they really that well organized?
04:45   We want to know what is going on in the camp, but because we are not allowed
04:50   to enter, two former residents to go back into the camp with a hidden camera.
05:01   The first destination, the café, from Abu F. He is regarded as one of the camp bosses.
05:08   Our informants tell us that it is an open secret that drugs are available to buy here.
05:13   Hash, crystal meth, tablets — everything. The man behind the coffee machine is one
05:18   of the henchmen of Abu F. One of our informers named Rida was there at the
05:23   end of May when the violence broke out. He witnessed when
05:27   the ISIS members threw an unconscious victim into one of these rubbish bins.
05:36   They entered level 3 of the camp. Supposedly controlled by ISIS.
05:43   It is a group of at least 50 men. This was also confirmed to us by other sources.
05:47   So 50 from a camp of 8,000. We walk by traces of the battle. We recognize the
05:53   broken window from the cell phone video.
06:00   On the way in, we see the graffiti of the supposed ISIS group.
06:04   An open demonstration of power. —This means, “There is only us, and the power
06:10   belongs only to us.” They chose symbolically the camp’s administrative unit.
06:16   In another graffito we read “Allahu Akhbar”, or god is great.
06:21   Beneath it “Waqf” —an inalienable charitable endowment under Islamic law.
06:25   This means that Kurds lived here. ISIS freed this place from them, so to speak,
06:29   And now it belongs to them. It seems the ISIS group feels powerful enough
06:35   that they take claim to large portions of the camp for themselves.
06:42   This is where Rida thought his life was about to end. His roommate at the time
06:47   remembers… —They were looking for Kurds in order to kill them. This guy
06:52   here, he is an Arab from Raqqa. They put a knife to his throat and wanted to cut
06:56   his throat, but we boys said “No, no, don’t kill him he isn’t a Kurd.”
07:02   —He held me by the throat, picked me up and then threw me over there.
07:10   Now Rida has his own apartment.
07:15   He choked me and held the knife at my throat. Then he called his companion to
07:21   hold me down so he could cut my throat. I left Syria because of ISIS.
07:28   After I arrived in Greece, it became clear to me that the same ISIS laws are
07:33   enforced here. From there I fled for my life and here I have to fear for my life.
07:40   Rida also tells us about spies that are active all over the camp.
07:45   Our opinion begins to solidify. In Camp Moria there appears to be a well-organised
07:49   group that terrorises the rest and goes by the name ISIS.
07:56   Do they want to spread their terror from the camp into all of Europe?
08:01   The fact that they so openly confess to being ISIS members makes it unlikely.
08:05   Still, we know that the intelligence agencies have them on their radar.
08:13   One thing is for sure, the Islamic State is targeting the Kurds.
08:18   After the massive outbreak of violence, hundreds of Kurds rashly fled the camp.
08:24   We want to know if Greek authorities and the police are doing to stop the violence.
08:31   The Greek ministry of migration denied an interview, stating they were too busy at the
08:36   moment and could not provide an spokesperson.
08:40   The same for the police. No comment.
08:45   We continue our research and visit the refugee camp where many of the Kurdish
08:49   families have now found refuge. The camp Picbar is for families and those who are
08:53   especially vulnerable. We meet with Schwan; he is also a Kurd. He was the contact
09:00   person for the new arrivals. We asked him why the ISIS gang were targeting Kurds.
09:04   They ask, “You, why you are not fasting?” They ask, “Why are you listening to music
09:11   during Ramadan?” They ask the woman, “Why don’t you wear a hijab?” After
09:15   they screamed Allahu Akhbar, they hit children and pregnant women. All of them.
09:22   Not just men. All the Kurds fleeing Moria were resettled near Athens, says Schwan.
09:30   Other residents show us pictures of the escaped victims.
09:38   Even children weren’t spared by the attackers. An acquaintance even had
09:42   a cross cut into his leg, because he was wearing a crucifix around his neck.
09:46   A Greek woman named Efila Sudi works in Camp Picbar. She is demanding that the
09:53   authorities act. —The group should be brought under control and arrested.
09:58   Otherwise it looks as though the entire group of refugees is involved with ISIS,
10:03   and that’s not true. The conflict is about more than just religion. —It is definitely
10:10   connected to the war in Syria. It is the same populations that were fighting against
10:19   each other, and now they have to live side by side as refugees.
10:27   Our informants tell us that the attacks from the group haven’t stopped;
10:31   they continue to strike regularly. Achmed, our first spokesperson, takes us to meet
10:35   another victim. —Hello, thank God you are doing better. —Two weeks ago Armin was
10:42   stabbed 14 times with a knife. He nearly died. —I am only living here until my papers
10:51   are ready. Then I will move to Athens. My life is in danger here.
10:56   Like Armin, there are many other victims who want to move to Athens for safety.
11:05   Back in Berlin. We contact the young man that had the cross cut in his leg.
11:10   He was able to make it to Athens. We ask him does he feel safe now?
11:16   I’m still afraid and I only go out with friends. I heard that a few of the men who
11:20   attacked me will be coming here soon. I am afraid of anyone who even looks
11:26   like the men that attacked me.
11:32   Indeed, we heard multiple times that some ISIS group leaders were already in Athens.
11:39   If the refugee camp on Lesbos were to close, it is unclear where the refugees will be placed
11:45   or where the ISIS group will take their violence to in Europe.
 

5 thoughts on “Terror in Camp Moria”

  2. But if a grown man with a full beard self-identifies as a 14 year old girl, well, then he’s a 14 year old girl, because self-identification is reality and you must respect that.

    A long time ago I learned that trying to make sense of insanity will only drive you crazy and I gave it up.

  3. And this savages want to go to Western Europe ( Germany) like the refugees right ???, it’s absolutely horrific, what this traitors politicians preparing for Us and our daughters and wife’s , , I’m speechless…

  4. The “ISIS” label may or may not indicate an actual link to the ISIS still in Syria. The actions by the criminal gang has lots in common with the actions of similar gangs in similar circumstances, that is prison camps or refugee camps. A tangible ISIS connection would mean that the inmates were plotting to not only line their own pockets and assert their own authority, but would be organizing for acts of sabotage and terror against the host society.

    One would do well to remember that the entire rebellion and instability in Syria was initiated, financed, and shepherded by the CIA and allied Western agencies. We know very will that ISIS was a Western creation, minimally because we destroyed the agencies that could resist and suppress ISIS: the Iraqi, Syrian, and Libyan governments.

    Why did the US conspire to topple the Syrian government? I don’t believe the rationale that it was non-democratic. I think that the US government considered itself the guarantor for the stability of the region, and they feared that if an open conflict with Iran broke out, the Syrian government would provide a coherent army and territorial support for Iran. Therefore, taking out the Syrian government was viewed as preventive maintenance.

    The video confirms my own opinion that refugee admissions should be extremely restricted. If the Kurds were being systematically persecuted in Deir ez-Zor, they should either have organized and fought there, or migrated to a Kurdish stronghold in Syria. Of course, that would cause problems with Turkey. Turkey is weirdly, a member of NATO and the US is therefore pledged to protect Turkey in case of attack or conflict. By staying and fighting, the Kurds would be subjecting themselves to attack and possible annihilation, but they’re living in constant fear right now, with no hope of relief from anything like the Western police. Perhaps they’d be better off making a stand, win or lose.

    So, I pretty much lay the credit for the fighting and refugee problems at the foot of the CIA and the US government. Greece insists on consistently spending more than they take in, so they’re in thrall to the EU finances and not able to refuse EU mandates. This is a lesson for any country: the first requirement for independence is to not employ deficit spending.

  5. They flee from Syria to lesbos because they fear for their lives. They flee from lesbos to Athens for the same reason. Next they flee where exactly? The problems flee with them wherever they go.

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