APPREHENDED
- Full name: Mohamed Zine el-Abidine Megherbi
- Pseudonym: Abu Ibn Hamz, “Zine”
- Alternatives: N/a
- Location: Syria, fmr France, fmr Belgium
- Affiliation: Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [DaIISh], Artigat and Toulouse Network [FAT]
Mohamed Megherbi (°ca 1981) is a jihadi of North African descent from Toulouse. He got involved with Fabien Clain and his associates in the late 1990s or early 2000s. Megherbi married into the Clain family and grew into a key member of the so-called Arigat and Toulouse Network [FAT; Filière d’Artigat et Toulouse].1 Megherbi followed Clain to Brussels in 2003 where he reported mingled with other extremists from North Africa.2 He allegedly expressed the desire to fight American troops in Iraq.3 Later that year, Megherbi traveled to Syria under the guise of studying Islam in Damascus.4 The exact nature of his activities in Syria are unknown, but after his return to Europe in 2004, Megherbi began to facilitate the travel of Islamists from Belgium and France who wanted to go fight in Iraq via Syria.5 He made another trip to Syria in 2006.6 Following the interception of two FAT members by Syrian security forces in December 2016, French authorities started to crack down on the network.7 Police arrested him on Feb. 14, 2007 as he was preparing to leave the country to wage jihad in Iraq.8 In July 2009, Megherbi was sentenced to six years in prison for his role in the FAT’s operations.9
Megherbi’s devotion to jihad was not diminished during his incarceration. Following his release from prison, Megherbi returned to Syria in early 2014 and joined the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [DaIISh; Dawlat al-Islamiya fi-Iraq wal ash-Sham].10 He was joined by his brother. Nothing is known about his role with the DaIISh. Megherbi was caught by Kurdish forces in the Hasaka governorate in December 2017.11
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