APPREHENDED
- Full name: Tarik Jadaoun
- Pseudonym: Abu Hamza al-Belgiki, Abu Abbas al-Belgiki
- Alternatives: N/a
- Location: Syria, Belgium
- Affiliation: Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [DaIISh]
Tarik Jadaoun (°ca 1988) is a Belgian jihadi of Moroccan descent from the town of Verviers. As a young man he was involved in criminal activity and confrontations with local police. Jadaoun eventually spent time in prison for theft and a knife attack.1 During his imprisonment, he became a devout Muslim under the influence of a jailed Tunisian drugs trafficker.2 Jadaoun linked up with local Salafi extremists in Verviers following his release.3
In May 2014, Jadaoun left Belgium and traveled to Morocco.4 He eventually arrived in Syria in June 2014 and joined the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [DaIISh; Dawlat al-Islamiya fi-Iraq wal ash-Sham].5 Following a short stint at a training camp, Jadaoun was assigned to guard the border with Turkey.6 In the summer of 2014, he boasted on social media to have killed a Kurdish fighter in the town of Kobanê.7
Jadaoun ascended through the ranks of the DaIISh before he was sent to Mosul in 2015.8 He was tasked with overseeing the formation of child soldiers in the city.9 Jadaoun also served as an executioner and is known to have killed several captives in public.10 At the same time, Jadaoun was actively involved in the DaIIsh’s social media campaigns. He maintained dozens of accounts to communicate with supporters and associates.11
Over time, Jadaoun became deeply involved in the DaIISh’s campaign of terror against Europe. The organization allegedly tasked him with helping to reassemble its networks on the continent.12 Jadaoun openly threatened to launch devastating attacks in Belgium on several occasions since the fall of 2014.13 He tried to incite followers into carrying out suicide attacks in the country.14 At one point, Jadaoun plotted to have a local associate attack a shopping center in Liège with a chainsaw.15 He was also involved in the DaIISh’s operations against France. Jadaoun is known to have been in contact with the perpetrators of the June 2016 murder of a police couple in Magnanville and the July 2016 attack on a church in Normandy. He was furthermore tied to the female militants who had planned an attack on the Notre Dame cathedral of Paris in September 2016.16 Jadaoun also personally volunteered to carry out an attack in either Belgium and France.17
In May 2017, French authorities feared that Jadaoun might have traveled to Europe to coordinate new attacks.18 He never made it out of Mosul however and reportedly fought Iraqi forces during the offensive to liberate the city in the summer of 2017. In August, Jadaoun was rumored to have been captured and killed by Iraqi troops.19 Intelligence services at the time feared that these rumors might have been spread to obscure his activities.20 In reality however, Jadaoun had been unknowingly apprehended by security forces in Mosul on Jul. 12, 2017.21 His arrest was announced in September 2017.22 Jadaoun gave an interview to a Belgian journalist in December 2017. In a desperate attempt to avoid an almost certain death penalty in Iraq, he downplayed his role in the DaIISh, apologized to people affected by terrorism in Belgium and France and announced wanting to share valuable intelligence with the Belgian authorities.23 Belgium’s government rejected his offer.
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