Fouad Bennane (Belgian-based Jihadi Militant)

• Full name: Fouad Bennane
• Pseudonym: N/a
• Alternatives: N/a
• Location: Belgium
• Affiliation: N/a

Fouad Bennane (°ca 1978) is an Islamist from the Belgian province of Liège. The former pastry maker and mixed martial arts adept turned to crime as a young man.¹ Bennane was twice sentenced to prison in the early 2000s before he robbed a Verviers night shop in December 2006.² In the mid-2010s, Bennane turned to radical Islam while serving his third prison term.³ He soon began to radicalize fellow Muslim prisoners.⁴ Some of these elements expressed interest in joining jihadi forces in Syria or carry out attacks in Belgium following their release.⁵ One of Bennane’s companions killed two policewomen and a civilian during a shooting spree in Liège on May 29, 2018.⁶

Bennane himself had been released from prison a few days before the attack after having spent yet another stint in prison for arson and assault.⁷ Following the Liège incident, he defiantly threatened further attacks in an interview with Belgian journalists.⁸ Police arrested Bennane on Jun. 06, 2018 for having violated the terms of early release.⁹ In December 2018, he was charged with participating in terrorist activities.¹⁰ On Jun. 19, 2019, Bennane was sentenced to forty months in prison for belonging to a terrorist organization and issuing threats.¹¹ An appeals court in Liège imposed a four-year prison term on him in December 2019.¹²​