DECEASED
- Full name: Sabri Essid
- Pseudonym: Abu Dujana, “grutier”
- Alternatives: N/a
- Location: Syria, fmr France
- Affiliation: Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [DaIISh], Artigat and Toulouse Network [FAT]
Sabri Essid was a jihadi of Tunisian descent from the French city of Toulouse. He turned to Salafism when he was sixteen years old.1 Essid left home to stay with Fabien Clain around 2000.2 Clain mentored him and he was quickly accepted into the Artigat and Toulouse Network [FAT; Filière d’Artigat et Toulouse]. Essid was given religious instruction by Olivier Corel at his Islamic center in Artigat.3 Before long, Essid began spreading the radical religious views of his mentors among alienated youths and petty criminals in the Izards suburb of Toulouse.4 Despite his youth, he acted as a mentor to them. His close friend and relative Mohammed Merah was among those whom he guided.5 Within a few years, the young Essid had grown into an important member of the FAT.6
In 2005, Essid was rumored to have made plans to attack two supermarkets in Toulouse and the American consulate in Lyon.7 Police arrested him after a French diplomat had received an anonymous tip.8 Essid was later released after no concrete evidence of a plot was uncovered. He spent some time in Brussels the following year.9
Inspired by Clain and Corel, Essid took an interest in helping the jihadis who were fighting against America and its allies in Iraq.10 In November 2006, Essid settled his debts and traveled to Syria in an attempt to reach Iraq.11 He linked up with FAT companion Thomas Barnaouin in Hama where they had to wait for passers. They were given a consignment of weapons to smuggle into Iraq and were familiarized with the use of firearms.12 On Dec. 12, 2006, Syrian security forces captured them during a raid on their hideout.13 Essid was extradited to France on Feb. 13, 2007.14 In December 2009, a French court sentenced him to five years in prison.15 He was released after spending four years behind bars in July 2011.16 Essid had become even more radical in his views while in custody.17
Following his release from prison, Essid found work as a crane operator.18 He again took up preaching jihad to Muslims in France and Belgium.19 In March 2012, Essid helped organize the funeral of Merah after he had been killed in a standoff with police following the deadly attacks in Toulouse and Montauban.20 In the summer of 2013, he and his associates began preparing to wage jihad in Syria. They started fitness training, practiced boxing and acquainted themselves with battle tactics through paintball sessions.21
In mid-April 2014, Essid traveled to Syria and joined the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [DaIISh; Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] along with his spouse and their four children.22 His exact role in the organization was unclear. In March 2015, he was seen in a DaIISh propaganda video that featured footage of his twelve-year-old stepson executing a man accused of spying for Israel.23 Essid threatened attacks against the Jewish state in the video.
In October 2017, Essid was sentenced in absentia to fifteen years in prison by a French court.24 In late February 2018, rumors that he had died in a landmine blast were circulated by DaIISh operatives.25 It was later revealed that Essid had been executed by rivals within the organization.26
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