AN ENDURING THREAT: EUROPE’S ISLAMIST TERROR NETWORKS THEN AND NOW 2. Profiles: Al-Qaeda-inspired Networks ! 2.1 The Rotterdam Cell: US Embassy and Cultural Centre Plot DJAMEL BEGHAL Role: 580 Described as the “ringleader” of the plot to attack the US Embassy in Paris. Beghal was convicted in France in 2005 of involvement in the 2001 al-Qaeda plot to bomb the US Embassy and Cultural Centre 581 in Paris. Bio: 582 A former dual French-Algerian national born in Algeria in 1965,Beghal grew up in the Parisian suburb of Corbeil-Essonnes. Having worked “menial jobs”, he began to visit radical mosques and was arrested in 1994 in connection with a network of Algerian militants. Following this, he began to speak in 583 mosques and Islamic centres and “raised money for jihadists in Chechnya and Bosnia”. In 1997 he moved to Leicester, where he is thought to have recruited extremists and to have been a bridge between 584 al-Qaeda and European members of Takfir wal-Hijra. He has also been linked to the Groupe Salafiste 585 pour la Predication et le Combat (GSPC). During this time he also regularly visited Finsbury Park 586 Mosque and became involved with Abu Hamza and Abu Qatada, as well as with other extremists including Abu Walid, Zacarias Moussaoui, and Kamel Daoudi. He also travelled frequently to Europe, 587 and was arrested and questioned in France in 1999. 588 In November 2000, Beghal travelled to Jalalabad, Afghanistan. Once there, he admits to having visited Osama bin Laden to discuss the plot to bomb the US embassy, and told police in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that he was told to travel to Europe through Morocco and Spain by Abu Zubaydah, a 589 senior al-Qaeda logistics hub, though he later retracted these claims. When returning from Afghanistan 590 591 in July 2001, Beghal was arrested in Dubai carrying a false passport (or forged visa extension) provided 592 by Brahim Benmerzouga and Baghdad Meziane. He was extradited to Paris from the UAE in October 593 2001. In 2005, Beghal was sentenced to ten years in prison for his involvement in the plot. After Beghal was released from prison in 2010 he moved to Cantal, a town in Auvergne, southern France, and with Ahmedy Coulibaly and Cherif Kouachi plotted to free Smain Ali Belkacem, imprisoned for his ! ! 580 ‘Europe fears Islamic converts may give cover for extremism’, The New York Times, 19 July 2004, available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/19/world/europe-fears-islamic-converts-may-give-cover-for-extremism.html?_r=0, last visited: 9 August 2016. 581 ‘Six jailed over Paris bomb plot’, BBC News, 15 March 2005, available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4350525.stm, last visited: 9 August 2016. 582 ‘Bin Laden suspect 'recruited in UK'’, BBC News, 3 October 2001, available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1576313.stm, last visited: 9 August 2016. 583 Erlanger, S. and Chris Hedges, ‘Terror Cells Slip Through Europe's Grasp’, The New York Times, 28 December 2001, available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/28/international/europe/28EURO.html, last visited: 9 August 2016. 584 Henley, J., ‘Paris plot reveals link to terror chief’, Guardian, 3 October 2001, available at: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/oct/03/afghanistan.terrorism1, last visited: 9 August 2016. 585 Gardner, B., ‘Charlie Hebdo terror mentor's wife on benefits in Leicester’, The Telegraph, 9 January 2015, available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/11337056/Charlie-Hebdo-terror-mentors-wife-on-benefits-in-Leicester.html, last visited: 9 August 2016. 586 Halliday, J. et al., ‘Mentor of Charlie Hebdo gunmen has been UK-based’, Guardian, 11 January 2015, available at: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/11/mentor-charlie-hebdo-gunmen-uk-based-djamel-beghal, last visited: 9 August 2016. 587 Erlanger, S. and Chris Hedges, ‘Terror Cells Slip Through Europe's Grasp’, The New York Times, 28 December 2001. 588 Halliday, J. et al., ‘Mentor of Charlie Hebdo gunmen has been UK-based’, Guardian, 11 January 2015. 589 Henley, J., ‘Paris plot reveals link to terror chief’, Guardian, 3 October 2001; and Erlanger, S. and Chris Hedges, ‘Terror Cells Slip Through Europe's Grasp’, The New York Times, 28 December 2001. 590 Henley, J., ‘Paris plot reveals link to terror chief’, Guardian, 3 October 2001. 591 Erlanger, S. and Chris Hedges, ‘Terror Cells Slip Through Europe's Grasp’, The New York Times, 28 December 2001. 592 Simcox, R. et al., ‘Islamist Terrorism: The British Connections’, The Henry Jackson Society (2011), p. 363. 593 ‘Terror suspect extradited to France’, BBC News, 1 October 2001, available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1573746.stm, last visited: 9 August 2016. ! ! 50 !