APPREHENDED
- Full name: N/a
- Pseudonym: “Darra”, “Mohmad”, “Abdulaziz”, “Omar”
- Alternatives: Magomed Saidov
- Location: Belgium, fmr Turkey, fmr Syria
- Affiliation: Chalil Man Network [CMN], fmr Army of Emigrants and Partisans [JMA]
Chalil Man (°1964) is a very shadowy Chechen jihadi. Even his real name is unclear. Very little information is available on his activities before he came to Belgium. Man is known to have traveled to Pakistan for jihadi-related activities at one point.1
In Belgium, Man served as an informal imam to a community of radical Islamists from the Caucasus in the Flemish city of Ostend.2 At the beginning of the Syrian civil war, he traveled to the country and developed relationships with senior members of the Army of Emigrants and Partisans [JMA; Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar].3 After some time, Man returned to Ostend where he established a network of Chechen Islamists interested in jihad. Man recruited fighters and collected funds for the JMA.4 He actively facilitated the logistics of Chechen jihadis traveling from Europe to Syria via Turkey.5 Man used his apartment in Turkey as a safehouse.6 He frequently traveled between Turkey and Belgium.7
Man was arrested on Jun. 08, 2015, when Belgian police raided more than a dozen houses affiliated with the CMN in and around Ostend.8 In December 2016, court in Bruges sentenced Man to ten years in prison for his role in the network.9 His prison sentence was increased to twelve years by an appeals court in June 2017.10
References