Almir Daci appeared on an ISIS video threatening Albania and the region earlier this month
TIRANA, June 7 – The parents of an Albanian man who appeared on an ISIS propaganda video threatening his homeland and the region have made a public call to their son to abandon the extremist group and return home.
Almir Daci had been an imam in the village of Leshnica in Albania’s eastern Pogradec district before being fired for his extremists views. He then went to Syria to fight.
Daci is now in Albania’s international list of wanted people. He is also accused of recruiting others to join the war in Syria and Iraq as part of the ISIS group.
The local media hade earlier reported the death in the conflict of another farmer from the same village that had allegedly been recruited and sent to Syria by Daci.
Authorities believe Daci was the promoter or the author of a threat received last week from an Albanian journalist who covers terrorism for a local daily newspaper.
In a video interview spread through YouTube by the ISIS propaganda arm, Daci and two other Albanian-speaking militants from Kosovo and Montenegro are seen telling their compatriots they will revenge the treatment of their Muslim brethren in their countries and threatened to conduct terrorist attacks in the Balkans.
About two-thirds of Albania’s 3.2 million people are Muslims, with the vast majority being secular and moderate. However a small group has become radicalized. Dozens are believed to be fighting in Syria, despite mainstream religious leaders’ calls for them to not join rebel groups.
