The Canadian Voice of Islamic State

"[He had been the one to] translate and read the productions and news reports of the Islamic State in the English language."
"This hero did not surrender, did not flee, and did not deliver himself to the [Kurdish] militias, nor did he search for a way out to return to Canada."
"Instead he remained, fought, and waged jihad with his voice and weapon until the last moment."
Al Muhajireen Foundation, ISIL-linked

A man caught fighting with the Islamic State during a firefight with the Kurdish forces in eastern Syria says he's a Canadian from Toronto named Mohammad Abdullah Mohammad.   Kurdish forces video

The Middle East Media Research Institute also known by its acronym, MEMRI, is well known for its surveys of the Internet to capture video events and statements by Islamists all over the world, translating their speeches and comments and interviews into English which the monitor later makes available to a wider, English-speaking audience to familiarize them with terrorist communications, alerting authorities to risks and occurrences and the public to an ongoing threat.

MEMRI recently picked up a statement issued in Arabic praising a Canadian of Ethiopian extraction who had joined Islamic State and whose voice became familiar to the world at large as he narrated various Islamic State videos which were triumphantly released for propaganda purposes to an audience all over the world, fascinated and at the same time horrified by the atrocities mounted by the terrorist group, extolling their degraded enthusiasm over torturing and slaughtering their opponents.

MEMRI had picked up a poster in praise of an Islamic State "hero", published on Sunday by the Al-Muhajireen Foundation, linked to ISIL. A photograph was featured on the poster bearing a strong resemblance to a man who had identified himself, during interrogation by his Kurdish captors a short while ago, as Mohammad Abdullah Mohammad, from Toronto, captured January 13 during a gunfight with the Syrian Democratic Forces, a coalition of militias supported by the U.S. and dominated by Kurdish fighters.

MEMRI had also translated this complaint, following its posting of the above:

"In their folly they publish publications which serve the Crusaders and the enemies of the (Islamic) State."
"We see what the dogs and donkeys, the (Islamic) State’s enemies, publish regarding the martyrs, the prisoners and their families, whether via photos or video clips."
"Since publishing these kinds of photos serves the interests of the media, they publish for you things which would make children’s hair turn gray. However, there is no benefit in publishing these things. On the contrary, their harm vastly exceeds their benefit."
"The fact that it diminishes the brothers’ morale is enough (to deem these publications harmful). Therefore, we ask these foundations to focus on that which raises morale, and on what benefits media activities, rather than the opposite."
Qadih, a prominent voice in pro-ISIL Telegram groups, likely connected to the ISIL central media department

The Canadian man in question, known as the fighter Abu Ridwan Al-Kanadi has been identified as the masked host and gunman in the notorious ISIL execution video where a group of men identified as captured Syrian soldiers were surrounded by ISIL fighters who ordered them to dig what appeared to be a trench, but which became their graves as the ISIL fighters, including the narrator, gunned the victims down, and they fell into the graves they had themselves dug under duress.

That same masked narrator appeared in a number of other videos, some of which were meant to claim responsibility for a variety of deadly terror attacks in the West, including the November 13, 2015 attacks on the Bataclan Concert Hall and sport arena in Paris.That same voice is heard on multiple video claims for additional ISIL-inspired terrorist attacks.

A frame grabs from a notorious ISIL propaganda video distributed in 2014 which features an English-speaking, masked ISIL soldier narrating and apparently participating in a mass execution of prisoners in Syria. A terrorism expert alleges the man is Mohammed Abdullah Mohammed, a Toronto man captured Sunday by Kurdish forces.

The man behind the voice spoke in a video released by the Kurds who had taken him prisoner: "I was captured by them [Kurdish forces] after attacking one of t heir points and entering into a gun battle with them. After they called me to surender, I surrendered myself", he states. It was in the shrinking areas that remain under ISIL controlin the Middle Euphrates Valley of eastern Syria, close to the Iraq border where this man was taken prisoner.

He joined the jihadi group Jaysh Al Muhajireen Wal-Ansar after he left Canada in 2013, travelling through Turkey to Syria. The group, he said, led by Chechen jihadi Abu Omar Al-Shishani which had sworn allegiance to Islamic State, later moved to Raqqa, the 'capital' of the Islamic State where they remained for a few years before retreating east in response to the presence of coalition forces closing in on Raqqa to liberate it from the terrorist group.

A frame grab from a notorious ISIL propaganda video distributed in 2014 which features an English-speaking, masked ISIL soldier narrating and apparently participating in a mass execution of prisoners in Syria. A terrorism expert alleges the man is Mohammed Abdullah Mohammed, a Toronto man captured Sunday by Kurdish forces.