AN ENDURING THREAT: EUROPE’S ISLAMIST TERROR NETWORKS THEN AND NOW 502 in Toulouse. Clain and his brother travelled to Egypt and the Netherlands in the early 2000s, and are believed to have become associated with Olivier Corel, who “has since been accused of radicalizing a number of young Muslims”. In 2009, Clain was jailed for recruiting fighters to send to Iraq, and on his 503 release in 2012 he moved to Normandy, living there for two years before fleeing to Syria in 2014. Clain is now believed to live in Raqqa, where he is thought to been involved with a cell producing and 504 distributing IS propaganda. He is also believed to have directed Sid Ahmed Ghlam, who failed in his efforts to target churches in the Villejuif suburb of Paris after shooting himself in the leg, communicating 505 with Ghlam online. Foreign training/ combat: Clain travelled to join IS Syria in 2014. Movements: Netherlands, Egypt (Early 2000s); Syria (2014) Criminal history: Clain was sentenced to five years in prison in 2009 for recruiting fighters to travel to 506 Iraq. He was released in 2012. Known to the authorities: Clain has been known to the authorities since at least 2009, when he was associated with a plot to attack the Bataclan507 and convicted for recruiting fighters to travel to Iraq. Networks and associates: -! Paris attacks (November 2015): Abdelhamid Abaaoud [Abaaoud is reported to have been 508 working with Clain in Raqqa to recruit French and Belgian fighters for attacks in the West]. Other: -! Sid Ahmed Ghlam [French-Algerian student who failed who failed in his efforts to target churches in the Villejuif suburb of Paris in April 2015. Clain is described as Ghlam’s “point of 509 510 contact”]; Mohammed Merah [Clain is described as a close friend of the Merah family]. 511 AMR AL-ABSI aka ‘Abu Atheer’ Role: A member of IS’s Shura Council and described as the group’s “kidnapper-in-chief” and head of 512 media. Believed to have served as the IS provincial leader in Homs from mid-2014 and governor of 513 Aleppo before being killed in March 2016. ! ! 502 Brisard, J., ‘THE PARIS ATTACKS AND THE EVOLVING ISLAMIC STATE THREAT TO FRANCE’, Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, 14 December 2015. 503 Taylor, A., ‘A French Muslim convert living in Syria is believed to play a key role in European terror’, The Washington Post, 21 November 2015. 504 O’Connor, R., ‘Paris attacks: Voice in Isis propaganda is 'probably' French jihadist Fabien Clain’, Independent, 17 November 2015, available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/paris-attacks-voice-in-isis-video-is-probably-french-jihadist-fabien-clain-a6737736.html, last visited: 9 August 2016. 505 Taylor, A., ‘A French Muslim convert living in Syria is believed to play a key role in European terror’, The Washington Post, 21 November 2015. 506 ibid. 507 Brisard, J., ‘THE PARIS ATTACKS AND THE EVOLVING ISLAMIC STATE THREAT TO FRANCE’, Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, 14 December 2015. 508 Van Vlierden, G., ‘PROFILE: PARIS ATTACK RINGLEADER ABDELHAMID ABAAOUD’, Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, 15 December 2015. 509Taylor, A., ‘A French Muslim convert living in Syria is believed to play a key role in European terror’, The Washington Post, 21 November 2015. 510 Brisard, J., ‘THE PARIS ATTACKS AND THE EVOLVING ISLAMIC STATE THREAT TO FRANCE’, Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, 14 December 2015. 511 Cruickshank, P. et al., ‘Who might lead ISIS if al-Baghdadi dies?’, CNN, 3 July 2015, available at: http://edition.cnn.com/2015/05/11/middleeast/isis-leadership/, last visited: 9 August 2016. 512 ‘Security Council Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee Adds Names of Four Individuals and Two Entities to Its Sanctions List’, UN Security Council Press Release, 29 September 2015. 513 Spencer, R., ‘Four jihadists, one prison: all released by Assad and all now dead’, The Telegraph, 11 May 2016. ! ! 44 !
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