AN ENDURING THREAT: EUROPE’S ISLAMIST TERROR NETWORKS THEN AND NOW 2.5 NATO Airbase Plot Network MOHAMMED AMOR SLITI Role: 922 Tried as part of the NATO airbase plot network, and convicted of “recruiting militants and trafficking false passports” in connection with the assassination of Ahmad Shah Massoud.923 Bio: 924 925 ABelgian citizen of unclear origin, Sliti has been described as both Tunisian and Algerian, and as an alleged founder of the Tunisian Combatant Group (TCG) is most likely to be Tunisian. Sliti was living in Belgium in late 1998 when his cousin, Hisham Bin Amor Sliti, moved in with him. He is alleged to have travelled to Afghanistan in early 2000 and to have been present when the TCG was founded in 926 927 Jalalabad in June 2000. He is also alleged to have trained new recruits. Sliti was arrested in Iran after 928 fleeing Afghanistan and was extradited to the Netherlands, where he was arrested in February 2002 929 before being extradited to Belgium to stand trial. Convicted of “recruiting militants and trafficking false passports” in connection with the assassination of Ahmad Shah Massoud, he was sentenced to five years 930 in prison in September 2003. Foreign training/combat: 931 Travelled to Afghanistan and was involved in training militants. 932 Movements: Belgium (1990s); Afghanistan (2000); Iran (2002). Criminal history: 933 Convicted of “recruiting militants and trafficking false passports” in September 2003. Known to the authorities: Sliti was wanted in Belgium in connection with the supply of false documents 934 to the killers of Ahmad Shah Massoud. Networks and associates: -! NATO Airbase Plot Network: Nizar Trabelsi [Sliti met Trabelsi in Brussels and maintained 935 contact while both men were in Afghanistan in 1999. He was convicted alongside Trabelsi in 936 937 September 2003]; Tarek Ben Habib Maaroufi [Convicted alongside Sliti in September 2003]. ! ! 922 ‘Major terror trial due in Belgium’, CNN International, 21 May 2003, available at: http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/05/21/belgium.terror/, last visited: 9 August 2016. 923 ‘Men jailed over Al Qaeda anti-NATO plot’, ABC News, 30 September 2003. 924 ‘Between: The Secretary of State for the home department –and- E’, England and Wales High Court (Administrative Court) Decisions, 16 February 2007, available at: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2007/233.html#back2, last visited: 9 August 2016. 925 ‘Major terror trial due in Belgium’, CNN International, 21 May 2003. 926 ‘JTF-GTMO Detainee Assessment’, United States Department of Defense, 1 October 2008, available at: https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/82798/isn- 174-hisham-bin-ali-bin-amor-sliti-jtf-gtmo.pdf, last visited: 9 August 2016. 927 Escobar, P., ‘The Roving Eye: Part 4: Tracking al-Qaeda in Europe’, Asia Times Online, 13 July 2002, available at: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/DG13Ak02.html, last visited: 9 August 2016. 928 ‘Between: The Secretary of State for the home department –and- E’, England and Wales High Court (Administrative Court) Decisions, 16 February 2007. 929 ‘Massoud Assassination Suspect Arraigned in Belgium’, Voice of America, 1 March 2002, available at: http://www.darivoa.com/a/a-48-a-2002-03-01-7-1- 94055494/1420213.html, last visited: 9 August 2016. 930 ‘Men jailed over Al-Qaeda anti-NATO plot’, ABC News, 30 September 2003. 931 Escobar, P., ‘The Roving Eye: Part 4: Tracking al-Qaeda in Europe’, Asia Times Online, 13 July 2002. 932 ‘JTF-GTMO Detainee Assessment’, United States Department of Defense, 1 October 2008; and ‘Between: The Secretary of State for the home department – and- E’, England and Wales High Court (Administrative Court) Decisions, 16 February 2007. 933 ‘Men jailed over Al Qaeda anti-NATO plot’, ABC News, 30 September 2003 934 ‘Massoud Assassination Suspect Arraigned in Belgium’, Voice of America, 1 March 2002. 935 Shishkin, P., ‘Belgian Trial Provides Look at Terror Logistics’, The Wall Street Journal, 9 July 2003. 936 ‘Men jailed over Al Qaeda anti-NATO plot’, ABC News, 30 September 2003. 937 ibid. ! ! 74 !