Farid Boukhouch (Jihadi Militant, France)

• Full name: Farid Boukhouch
• Pseudonym: Abu Aïssa, “Koolups”
• Alternatives: N/a
• Location: France
• Affiliation: Bouhouch and Lamrini Group [BLG]

Farid Boukhouch (°1977) is a jihadi of North African descent from France. He grew up in Amiens and later moved to Strasbourg. He is an air soft enthusiast and fervent martial arts practitioner. Boukhouch was also a proficient hip-hop dancer until he turned to radical Islam along with his fiancée in 2012.¹ Boukhouch quickly became a supporter of the jihadi cause and went on to lead an informal group of radicals whom he had recruited at local mosques.² Boukhouch provided them with fitness and martial arts training at public parks in the Strasbourg metropolitan area. He also introduced followers to weapons handling using dummy firearms. Boukhouch and his associates pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [DaIISh; Dawlat al-Islamiya fi-Iraq wal ash-Sham] and used the training sessions to prepare themselves for joining the organization in Syria.³

Boukhouch and his associates attracted the attention of French security services which broke up a training session in the Cronenbourg suburb of Strasbourg on Oct. 13, 2014.⁴ The radicals resisted police and threatened officers during the intervention. Police found swords, other weapons and tactical gear in a subsequent search of Boukhouch’s apartment.⁵ The following day, French authorities opened investigations into him and several of his associates for terrorist activities.⁶ They were brought to trial and Boukhouch was eventually sentenced to a six-year prison term on Apr. 21, 2017.⁷ His sentence was confirmed on appeal in May 2018.⁸ Boukhouch was conditionally freed in April 2020 but rearrested on the day of his release after he had failed to respect the terms of his parole.⁹