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- Full name: Olivier Corel
- Pseudonym: Emir Blanc, Abdallilah, Abu Qatadi
- Real Name: Abdel Ilat al-Dandachi
- Location: France
- Affiliation: Artigat and Toulouse Network [FAT]
Olivier Corel (°1946) is a Syrian-born Islamist preacher and advocate for jihad based in southern France. As a young man, he joined the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.1 Corel escaped the Assad regime’s clampdown on the movement by moving to France in 1973.2 He posed as a student, but quickly abandoned his medicine studies.3 Corel gained French citizenship in 1983 and took on a new name.4
After laying low during his first years in France, Corel started preaching austere Salafism among Muslim immigrants in the suburbs of Toulouse in the mid-1980s.5 He set up and subsequently led an Islamic studies association.6 At the time, Corel was suspected of using the organization to raise funds for the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood.7
In 1987, Corel moved to the village of Artigat, in the Ariège department where he founded a Muslim religious center that operated as an Islamic retreat.8 It provided spiritual counseling and offered horse riding and pottery baking. Over time, Corel’s center became increasingly focused on religious instruction.9 During the early 1990s, it was often visited by young converts to Islam.10 In the late 1990s, Corel’s Salafist message became very popular with the group of radicalized young Muslims that had grown around Fabien Clain in the suburbs of Toulouse. Before long, he served as their spiritual leader and the so-called Artigat and Toulouse Network [FAT; Filière d’Artigat et Toulouse] began to form.11 Corel oversaw the intermarriage of his followers, making the FAT into a tight-knit entity. He constantly implored associates to act on behalf of oppressed Muslims.12 His message concerned French intelligence services which put him under surveillance.13
Following the Sep. 11, 2001 al-Qa’ida attacks on America, Corel’s associates celebrated on the streets of Artigat.14 In early 2003, some of his closest companions moved to Brussels where they linked up with Islamist radicals of North African descent.15 In the Belgian capital city, Corel’s associates built deep ties with people that would serve as fellow travelers for the FAT. His followers also went to the Dutch city of Utrecht to spread their message and seek allies.16 Many of them eventually returned to southern France in late 2004. Over the next years, associates of Corel made trips to Egypt where they attended Salafi seminaries.17 Some became increasingly drawn to militancy. In April 2005, French security services received notice that one of them was even plotting to carry out attacks in Toulouse.18 Police intervention put a quick stop to the plan. Other members of the FAT were drawn to the cause of the jihadi forces in Iraq. In late 2006, several of them had traveled to Syria where they linked up with operatives of the Iraqi branch of al-Qa’ida. Syrian security forces caught them before they could cross into Iraq in December 2006.19 Their interception forced French authorities to start cracking down on Corel’s network.
As police rolled up part of the FAT in February 2007, Corel had his house searched.20 He was investigated for his role in inciting followers to join jihadi forces in Iraq and helping them travel there, but investigators were unable to produce concrete evidence.21 During the 2009 trial, Corel avoided conviction although some of his associates were sent to prison.22 He refused to condemn the actions of his followers. With the FAT’s most active members in prison, the activities of Corel’s network scaled down.
Certain followers of Corel remained deeply devoted to jihad. One of his students, Mohammed Merah, traveled to Pakistan in 2011 and linked up with local al-Qa’ida forces.23 Merah later returned to France and carried out the March 2012 series of attacks in and around Toulouse that left seven people dead.24 Corel came under renewed scrutiny following these incidents. In November 2014, police briefly arrested him.25 Corel was released shortly afterwards and again escaped conviction in the trial against Merah’s accomplices.26 He nevertheless stubbornly refused to condemn his disciple.
In the mid-2010s, up to two dozen of Corel’s associates traveled to Syria and joined the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [DaIISh; Dawlat al-Islamiya fi-Iraq wal ash-Sham]. Some of them, like Fabien Clain, were able to attain significant positions within the organization. In November 2015, French security forces again searched the Artigat home of Corel after Clain had claimed responsibility for the devastating attacks in Paris.27 Police found an unlicensed rifle at his house and arrested him.28 He was handed a suspended six-month prison term for his weapon infraction a few days later.29 In recent years, Corel has kept a low profile. In 2017, he was falsely said to have gone to Syria, but in reality, Corel rarely leaves his commune in Artigat.30 He remains a free man despite his key role in inspiring and instigating jihadism in southern France.
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