- Local Name: N/a
- Transliteration: N/a
- Alternatives: N/a
- Status: 2010 – 2013 (Merged)
- Conflicts: Syrian Civil War, Islamist Militancy in France
The Mraoui and Assani Network [MAN] was an informal group of jihadis that emerged in 2010 when part-time Islamist preacher Mustapha Mraoui began leading prayers at a Salafi mosque in the Val-de-Marne department near Paris and got acquainted with Karim Assani. The two men attracted a small following and fueled the radicalization of their companions.1 Mraoui was seen as the leader of the group, while Assani served as its spiritual guide.2 They organized theological instruction for their associates and prepared them for action through fitness and martial arts practice in the forests and woods surrounding the French capital city.3 The MAN came in touch with the infamous Artigat and Toulouse Network [FAT; Filière d’Artigat et Toulouse] through Kévin Gonot.4
Seven persons affiliated with the MAN, including Mraui and Assani, traveled to Syria via Turkey and linked up with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [DaIISh; Dawlat al-Islamiya fi-Iraq wal ash-Sham].5 One of the men, Mickaël Dos Santos, gained some notoriety by reporting on his exploits through social media.6 He also implored Muslims in France to launch attacks in the country. Other MAN members operated far more anonymously in Syria. It is thought that they spent time with Fabien Clain and his associates.7 Assani and another element of the network were reportedly killed in an air strike in Kobane somewhere in the mid-2010s.8
The MAN presented one of the first known cases of French Muslims joining the DaIISh in Syria and therefore got some attention in the press. The authorities put the network’s members on trial. Only five people affiliated with the MAN were able to attend proceedings, the rest had either been killed or was still in Syria. On Apr. 12, 2016, judges rendered their verdicts and handed prison sentences to all key members of the MAN.9 An appeals court confirmed the rulings and pronounced longer prison terms for some of the defendants in February 2017.10 Dos Santos was allegedly killed during the Battle of Raqqa in 2018.11 Since his death was unconfirmed, a court sentenced him in absentia to thirty years in prison on Dec. 13, 2019.12 The status and whereabouts of the other MAN elements remains unclear.
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