APPREHENDED
- Full name: Abdelouahed el-Baghdadi
- Pseudonym: N/a
- Alternatives: N/a
- Location: France, fmr Syria, fmr Egypt
- Affiliation: Artigat and Toulouse Network [FAT], Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [DaIISh]
Abdelouahed el-Baghdadi (°ca 1984) is a little-known Islamist extremist of Moroccan descent from the French city of Toulouse. He has been involved with the so-called Artigat and Toulouse Network [FAT; Filière d’Artigat et Toulouse] since at least the late 2000s. In 2010, Baghdadi attended a Salafi seminary in Cairo.1 He married Souad Merah around 2011.2 Baghdadi had his house searched following the 2012 attacks by his brother-in-law Mohammed Merah that left seven people dead in and around Toulouse.3 Jihadi literature was found during the sweep.
Over the next years, Baghdadi attained a position of influence in the FAT.4 Like others in the network, he became a supporter of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [DaIISh; Dawlat al-Islamiya fi-Iraq wal ash-Sham] and allegedly rallied support for the organization among his acquaintances in the mid-2010s. In April 2014, Baghdadi traveled to Syria and spent some time in the DaIISh-controlled town of Jarabulus.5 He reportedly tried to have his wife and their children come over at one point.6 No further information is known about his stay in Syria.
Baghdadi and other jihadis from France were taken into Turkish custody after having crossed into the country on Aug. 25, 2014.7 About a month later, they were extradited to France, but Turkish miscommunication prevented their arrest upon arrival.8 Baghdadi surrendered to police a day after arriving in France. A Parisian court sentenced him to nine years in prison on Oct. 20, 2017.9 In April 2021, he received a two-month extension to his prison term after an improvised sharp weapon and other forbidden items were found during a search of his cell.10
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