Isis supporter calls for assassination of Barron Trump, 'son of the mule of America'

A pro-Isis channel on the chat app Telegram reportedly features a call for the assassination of US President Donald Trump's youngest son, Barron. According to The Washington Free Beacon, the message was posted by an Islamic State supporter and not directly by the terrorist group itself.

The Middle East Media Research Institute (Memri) identified the 21 November threat which was posted by an individual using the name "Dak Al-Munafiqeen", which translates from Arabic to "striking the hypocrites".

The message included a hashtag which Memri translated to "handle the son of the mule of America". The press monitoring and analysis organisation informed that the post included a photo of the 11–year-old son of Donald and Melania Trump along with the name of his school in Washington DC and its location on Google Maps.

According to Memri, the message was later shared among various other pro-Isis channels on Telegram "to widely disseminate the call for assassination".

Telegram is an encrypted chat application that has been used by Isis in the past. According to an article in The New York Times in February, one of the group's most influential recruiters issued instructions to newcomers to contact him via the app.

Despite Isis' habit of issuing threats during the festive season, there are concerns as to the legitimacy of the assassination call. Memri clarified that it was posted by a "supporter" and was not an official message from the group. Additionally, it did not include any "detailed plan".

Barron moved to the US capital in June and it was public knowledge that he was to continue his education at St. Andrews Episcopal School.

A similar seasonal threat has also been issued against Pope Francis and the Vatican by pro-Isis Wafa Media Foundation about a week ago. Memri said a post appeared on one of the Telegram channels on 14 November, calling for "Christmas blood", and depicted a masked jihadi driving towards St Peter's Basilica in a BMW with an assault rifle and explosives in the passenger seat.