Zachary Chesser

Virginia-born Zachary Chesser is a homegrown extremist and would-be foreign fighter who attempted to travel to Somalia to fight alongside al-Shabaab. Chesser is known—alongside U.S. citizen Jesse Curtis Morton—for urging U.S.-based extremists to attack the writers of the television show South Park. The show’s writers had produced an episode in which the Islamic prophet Muhammad was depicted wearing a bear costume.“Wife of Zachary Chesser Pleads Guilty to Making False Statement,” FBI, November 8, 2010, https://www.fbi.gov/washingtondc/press-releases/2010/wfo110810b.htm;
“Zachary Chesser: A Case Study in Online Islamist Radicalization and Its Meaning for the Threat of Homegrown Terrorism,” United States Senate, February 2012, 12, http://www.hsgac.senate.gov/download/zachary-chesser-a-case-study-in-online-radicalization-.

In April 2010, Chesser and Morton issued a threat to South Park’s writers on their website revolutionmuslim.com. The pair warned that the writers might share the fate of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh, who was murdered in 2004 for a film he directed criticizing misogyny in Islam.Edecio Martinez, “Zachary Chesser Threatened “South Park” Creators Over Muhammad, Now Charged in Terror Case,” CBS News, July 23, 2010, http://www.cbsnews.com/news/zachary-chesser-threatened-south-park-creators-over-muhammad-now-charged-in-terror-case/;
Joshua Rhett Miller, “Road to Radicalism: The Man Behind the ‘South Park’ Threats,” Fox News, April 23, 2010, http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/04/23/road-radicalism-man-south-park-threats/. In May 2010, Chesser and Morton used revolutionmuslim.com to call for the murder of an artist tied to “Everybody Draw Mohammad Day,” an event in support of artists who had been threatened for drawing the Islamic prophet. “Leader of Revolution Muslim Pleads Guilty to Using Internet to Solicit Murder and Encourage Violent Extremism,” FBI, February 9, 2012, https://www.fbi.gov/washingtondc/press-releases/2012/leader-of-revolution-muslim-pleads-guilty-to-using-internet-to-solicit-murder-and-encourage-violent-extremism.

Chesser converted to Islam in the summer of 2008 while playing on a soccer team organized by a member of the transnational Islamist organization Hizb ut-Tahrir.“Zachary Chesser: A Case Study in Online Islamist Radicalization and Its Meaning for the Threat of Homegrown Terrorism,” United States Senate, February 2012, 5, http://www.hsgac.senate.gov/download/zachary-chesser-a-case-study-in-online-radicalization-. His writing soon appeared on the blog belonging to Anwar al-Awlaki—an American-Yemeni terrorist who was killed by a U.S. drone strike in Yemen in 2011. Chesser later admitted to corresponding with al-Awlaki via email.“Zachary Chesser Timeline,” Washington Post, accessed September 21, 2015, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/metro/zac-chesser/.

In December 2009, Chesser created the blog “themujahidblog.com” to “[spread] knowledge regarding Jihad and the Mujahideen.” In June 2010, he posted his nearly 7,000-word manifesto titled “Raising Al Qaa’ida” to several jihadist websites.“Wife of Zachary Chesser Pleads Guilty to Making False Statement,” FBI, November 8, 2010, https://www.fbi.gov/washingtondc/press-releases/2010/wfo110810b.htm;
“Zachary Chesser: A Case Study in Online Islamist Radicalization and Its Meaning for the Threat of Homegrown Terrorism,” United States Senate, February 2012, 12, http://www.hsgac.senate.gov/download/zachary-chesser-a-case-study-in-online-radicalization-.


Excerpt #1 from Zachary Chesser’s 7,000-word manifesto titled “Raising Al Qaa’ida”
(Source: Washington Post)


Excerpt #2 from Zachary Chesser’s 7,000-word manifesto titled “Raising Al Qaa’ida”
(Source: Washington Post)

Approximately two weeks later, Chesser was stopped from boarding a flight with his infant son to Uganda, where he planned to continue onto Somalia to join al-Shabaab. He was arrested approximately 20 days later and pled guilty in October 2010 to charges of “communicating threats against the writers of the South Park television show, soliciting violent jihadists to desensitize law enforcement, and attempting to provide material support to al Shabaab,” according to the FBI.“Wife of Zachary Chesser Pleads Guilty to Making False Statement,” FBI, November 8, 2010, https://www.fbi.gov/washingtondc/press-releases/2010/wfo110810b.htm. Four days following Chesser’s arrest, Morton fled to Morocco. He was arrested there on U.S. charges in May 2011.“Leader of Revolution Muslim Pleads Guilty to Using Internet to Solicit Murder and Encourage Violent Extremism,” FBI, February 9, 2012, https://www.fbi.gov/washingtondc/press-releases/2012/leader-of-revolution-muslim-pleads-guilty-to-using-internet-to-solicit-murder-and-encourage-violent-extremism.

Chesser’s wife, Ugandan national Proscovia Kampire Nzabanita, had reportedly planned to meet Chesser in Somalia. In November 2010, Nzabanita pleaded guilty to making a false statement to a special agent investigating her husband. She also admitted that in 2009, she and her husband attempted to travel to Somalia so that Chesser could join al-Shabaab. Nzabanita later faced deportation and reportedly fled to Jordan.Associated Press, “‘South Park’ Terror Convict Zachary Chesser: My Mother And The FBI Violated My Rights,” Huffington Post, March 25, 2015, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/25/zachary-chesser_n_6943196.html.

In June 2014, Chesser was transferred from prison in Illinois to a Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, after he repeatedly organized unauthorized meetings with Muslim inmates.Meg Wagner, “Convict who threatened 'South Park' creators sues prison, claims it's difficult to practice Islam behind bars,” New York Daily News, January 9, 2015, http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/south-park-terrorist-sues-prison-hindering-faith-article-1.2071959. He was later transferred to United States Penitentiary Hazelton in West Virginia. Chesser is due to be released in January 2032.“Zachary Adam Chesser,” Find an Inmate – Federal Bureau of Prisons, https://www.bop.gov/inmateloc/.

Also Known As
  • Abu Talha Al-Amriki
  • Abu Talha and Then Take A Notice of War
  • Abu Talhah
  • Abu Talhah Al-Amrikee
  • Abu Talhah Al-Amrikee and Al-Quran Wa Al-Ahadeeth
  • Abu Talhah and Al-Malahim
  • Abu Talhah and ibnu farxaan alkismaayawi

Extremist entity
Al-Shabaab
Read Threat Report
Type(s) of Organization:
Insurgent, non-state actor, religious, terrorist, transnational, violent
Ideologies and Affiliations:
Al-Qaeda affiliated group, Islamist, jihadist, Qutbist, Salafist, Sunni, takfiri, Wahhabi
Position(s):
Foreign fighter, propagandist

Al-Qaeda’s Somali-based branch, al-Shabaab, seeks to establish a fundamentalist Islamic state. The group has carried out a score of violent terror attacks, including the September 2013 Westgate Mall attacks in Nairobi, Kenya.

  • Rhetoric

April 2010

In an e-mail correspondence with FoxNews.com:
“As Usama bin Laden said with regard to the cartoons of Denmark, ‘If there is no check in the freedom of your words, then let your hearts be open to the freedom of our actions.’”Joshua Rhett Miller, “Road to Radicalism: The Man Behind the ‘South Park’ Threats,” Fox News, April 23, 2010,http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/04/23/road-radicalism-man-south-park-threats/.

April 2010

In an e-mail correspondence with FoxNews.com:
“I seek to help the world understand that neither the Muslims in general nor the mujahideen [holy warriors] including Al Qaeda are abject to peace, but that this peace come with the following conditions: a complete withdrawal of non-Muslim forces from Muslim lands, an ending of the propping up of the apartheid regime of Israel, and a ceasing of the propping up of the brutal dictators we currently have who refuse to rule by divine law. I also seek to help the world understand that there will be no peace until the above conditions are met. Basically the formula works like this … if you kill us, then we kill you. If you do not kill us then we can have peace. 9/11 had nothing to with freedom or democracy. It had to do with the murder of hundreds of thousands of Muslims around the world by American and other powers.”Joshua Rhett Miller, “Road to Radicalism: The Man Behind the ‘South Park’ Threats,” Fox News, April 23, 2010,http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/04/23/road-radicalism-man-south-park-threats/.

April 2010

In an e-mail correspondence with FoxNews.com:
“[My goal for writing for Revolution Muslim is to] raise awareness of the correct understanding of key Islamic beliefs. If you kill us, then we kill you.”Joshua Rhett Miller, “Road to Radicalism: The Man Behind the ‘South Park’ Threats,” Fox News, April 23, 2010,http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/04/23/road-radicalism-man-south-park-threats/.

June 2010

Excerpt from his “Raising Al Qaa’ida” manifesto:
“Rather than fret over how to keep their children away from the worst of things (drugs, alcohol, tobacco, fornication, etc.), the parents of today are fretting over how to keep their children away from the best of things (martyrdom and jihaad in Allah’s Cause).”“Zac Chesser’s manifesto,” Washington Post, accessed September 21, 2015, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/metro/zac-chesser/docs/document-cloud-chesser-manifesto.html.

June 2010

Excerpt from his “Raising Al Qaa’ida” manifesto:
“If we can ensure that the majority of the children of the jihaadiis will be raised with a love of jihaad in their hearts, then we will have achieved the best possible success on a list of goals in the da’wah.”“Zac Chesser’s manifesto,” Washington Post, accessed September 21, 2015, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/metro/zac-chesser/docs/document-cloud-chesser-manifesto.html.

June 2010

Excerpt from his “Raising Al Qaa’ida” manifesto:
“The basics of jihaad should be taught at the home from an early age. This should include prohibitions and notions of justice, because we cannot have ourselves raising a generation of murderers and oppressors. Rather, the full message of jihaad should be emphasized so that our children do not become prone to the various deviant groups that rely on their victims not understanding the foundations of a matter.”“Zac Chesser’s manifesto,” Washington Post, accessed September 21, 2015, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/metro/zac-chesser/docs/document-cloud-chesser-manifesto.html.

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Fact:

On October 7, 2023, Hamas invaded southern Israel where, in the space of eight hours, hundreds of armed terrorists perpetrated mass crimes of brutality, rape, and torture against men, women and children. In the biggest attack on Jewish life in a single day since the Holocaust, 1,200 were killed, and 251 were taken hostage into Gaza—where 101 remain. One year on, antisemitic incidents have increased by record numbers. 

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