Death of Canadian jihadis likely won't deter the most determined, experts say

News this week that several young Canadian men have died recently while fighting for Islamic State in Iraq and Syria ought to dim the attraction of going overseas to wage violent jihad, but odds are it won't.

According to media reports, three Somali-Canadian cousins died for Islamic State (aka ISIS) sometime last fall. And John Maguire of Ottawa, a convert to Islam featured prominently in Islamic State recruitment videos, reportedly was killed in the last few days.

It's one thing to harbour romantic notions of fighting for a cause to change the world. It's another to realize there's a good chance you will end up in a dusty hole in the ground somewhere in Syria, Iraq or Somalia.

But experts say while the news might chill the prospect for some flirting with joining up with ISIS, most who've already become committed won't be deterred. The possibility of martyrdom may even make it more attractive.

“If you’re generally interested in the idea of going to fight and you bought into the broader narrative of jihad and martyrdom and those kinds of things, I don’t think it really has any effect on your decision to go or stay," says Amarnath Amarasingam, a post-doctoral fellow who manages a project on combating radicalization at the Resilience Research Centre, based at Dalhousie University.

"But if you’re just kind of interested in it and your disposition is not so much as a risk-taker or something like that, you’re more likely to be deterred by these kinds of announcements."

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Amarasingam, whose network of contacts extends into ISIS itself, said he heard some weeks ago that Mahad Hirsi, and Hamsa and Hersi Kariye, who left Canada in 2013, had been killed in mid-November or early December, along with a cousin from Minnesota.

Neither their deaths nor Maguire's have been confirmed officially, though a tweet from a purported ISIS member said he had been "martyred." That's probably accurate, said Amarasingam.

“Enough pro-ISIS accounts are talking about it and I’ve had it confirmed to me by someone in Syria as well who’s with ISIS," he told Yahoo Canada News.

Those reports might trigger second thoughts in some would-be jihadis with no deep commitment to Islam but who see the conflict as a way to right grievances in the world, said Hussein Hamdani.

“When you hear about four people being killed in the span of 48 hours, that really does take the sexiness away," said Hamdani, a Hamilton, Ont., lawyer who works with Muslim youth to demystify the extremist movement.

'Professional rebels' less willing to die for the cause

They're often professional rebels who previously might have been drawn to anarchism or white supremacy, he said.

"You want to do something that’s different than anybody else," he said. "[But] I didn’t sign up for being killed, that’s what they say to themselves. This is more than I kind of bargained for.

“That’s a category of people I think would be dissuaded from going over.”

Just how people will react depends on their level of commitment, agrees Prof. Tony Lemieux, who studies trans-cultural conflict and violence at Georgia State University.

For those who're deeply committed, images of harm and the possibility of death become less relevant  “because part of the goal is to go do something that’s really important, possibly even making that ultimate sacrifice," he said in an interview.

“So in some sense, if a person is really moved towards that level of commitment it seems like it’s an understood potential outcome, maybe even a desired outcome that one would die for the cause if it’s that important of a cause," said Lemieux, who's lectured before a number of U.S. agencies, including Homeland Security and the Central Intelligence.

There's an element of celebrity status, too, in a martyr's death, he added, with their exploits featured in propaganda videos.

"So for many of them it ends up being a one-way trip but they live on afterwards in terms of that kind of notoriety," Lemieux said.

The promise of heightened stature in the afterlife for martyrs is built right into the jihadi narrative, said Amarasingam.

"If you look at social media it’s littered with that kind of discussion," he said. "So I think if you’ve bought into it, it [death] really won’t really serve as deterrence.”

Interest in violent jihad may be plateauing in Canada

But Amarasingam, who also works on a second project looking at the foreign fighter phenomenon from his base at the University of Waterloo, said his work with Muslim communities in Canada suggests interest in violent jihad may be leveling off.

"It does seem like the trend is kind of plateauing a little bit, partly because the community itself has started talking about this quite openly and debating it quite openly," he said.

"And we’ve had the international Islamic scholarly community write several open letters to ISIS. They’ve inserted the critique of ISIS into the broader conversation and it’s happening a lot more now."

The RCMP estimate about 130 Canadians left the country in recent years to fight in Islamist conflicts, including Syria, Iraq and Somalia. They're reportedly tracking dozens more still in Canada and recently arrested three young Ottawa men thought to be preparing to head overseas to fight.

Hamdani said it's hard to say yet whether the pull of radical Islamist ideas is diminishing but he's seeing more co-operation between Canadian Muslim leaders and the authorities. For instance, he's helping organize a conference in Toronto next month involving a council of imams, the RCMP and the federal Department of Public Safety.

“This is the first time that an association of imams is partnering up with Public Safety and the RCMP and planning something," he said. "We’re all united in this battle against ISIS and Al-Qaeda. This is something that I haven’t seen before.

"There is now going to be far more consistent messaging to the congregations, just denouncing. This is not at all consistent with Islam. You are doing something that contravenes the religion, you’re doing something that embarrasses your family and yourself."

Muslim converts often harder to reach

But Amarasingam noted it's harder to get that message through to recent converts to Islam. Many have bought into the strict tenets of Salafi Islam, which sees itself as purer form of the faith and tolerates no deviation.

“I think converts sometimes have it tough in the west because not every mosque is equipped to deal with them or integrate them into the broader Muslim community," he said. "So there’s a lot of isolation felt by some converts."

That's often true, added Hamdani. While a congregation will welcome a convert, creating "a certain amount of euphoria," with that initial embrace, people then get on with their lives. It often leaves a convert in limbo, perhaps rejected by their families but not necessarily getting the necessary guidance and support within their new faith.

"They just want to belong, they just want to have meaning," he said. "They want to prove something to themselves and to the community and they want to catch up for lost time."

It leaves them vulnerable to extremist influences, which Hamdani tries to counter with a dose of reality.

His strategy has been successful with young Somali-Canadians considering returning to join the Islamist al-Shabaab group. They see themselves as heroic liberators ridding foreign invaders (a pan-African peacekeeping force propping up Somalia's government).

"Here’s what it’s really like," said Hamdani. "You’re going to be living in ditches with other men. You’re probably going to get sexually molested by another man at some point in your life.

"There is no good cooked food. There is no momma’s cooking over here. You’re more likely to eat road kill than you are going to eat tandoori chicken.”

Hamdani said he's started using a similar approach with those interested in joining ISIS but it's been tougher going with them. The message is the same: It's not the cool adventure you think it is.

“Don’t you get it? You’re recruited to be fodder," he said. "Why do you think so many Canadians have died. It’s because they send you out in the front line to test the enemy’s defences. That’s why you get killed so easily.

"You’re not desired, you’re not wanted. You’re just being used by those people.”