APPREHENDED
- Full name: Karim Mohammed Aggad
- Pseudonym: N/a
- Alternatives: N/a
- Location: France, fmr Syria
- Affiliation: Strasbourg-Meinau Jihadi Network [FJSM], fmr Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant [DaIISh]
Karim Aggad (°1990) is an Islamist of North African descent from the Alsatian town of Wissembourg. As a young man, he worked at a fuel station and had a clean criminal record.1 In the early 2010s, Aggad turned to radical Islam and went on to become a key figure in the informal Strasbourg-Meinau Jihadi Network [FJSM; Filière Jihadiste de Strasbourg-Meinau] that was made up of most of his companions.2 He apparently maintained the network’s contact with French-based jihadi recruiter Mourad Farès.3 Aggad was also a supporter of Omar Diaby. By the end of the summer of 2013, he began to openly advocate jihad on social media.4
In mid-December 2013, Aggad, his younger brother and eight other FJSM associates traveled to Syria. After failing to link up with Farès, they joined the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [DaIISh; Dawlat al-Islamiya fi-Iraq wal ash-Sham], underwent training and were assigned to a unit that patrolled areas under the group’s control.5 Aggad and his companions refused attempts by their mentors Farès and Diaby to defect to the Support Front for the People of the Levant [JaNS; Jabhat al-Nusra li-Ahl al-Sham].6
In April 2014, Aggad returned to France.7 His brother remained in Syria. Aggad was apprehended by police on May 13, 2014.8 His brother went on the become one of the members of the DaIISh team which carried out the November 2015 attacks in Paris that killed 130 people.9 On Jul. 06, 2016, Aggad was sentenced to nine years in prison.10 His conviction and sentence were confirmed on appeal in May 2017.11
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