AN ENDURING THREAT: EUROPE’S ISLAMIST TERROR NETWORKS THEN AND NOW 402 403 via Turkey, and taking two of her daughters to the country and sending four of her sons to fight there, one of whom was killed in action. Aberkan was arrested and tried alongside Khalid Zerkani for her role 404 in the recruitment network, and was imprisoned in July 2015. Foreign training/combat: Unknown. Movements: Aberkan travelled to Syria at least twice in 2013 and 2014. She is also believed to have stayed 405 in Turkey facilitating travel and finances for those individuals recruited to fight in Syria. Criminal history: Convicted in July 2015 of involvement in Zerkani’s recruitment network and sentenced 406 to eight years. This was increased to 15 years by an appeal court in April 2016. Known to the authorities: In 2007, Aberkan and her friend, Malika el-Aroud, were arrested on suspicion of involvement in a plot to free Nizar Trabelsi, a convicted al-Qaeda terrorist, from prison. Aberkan was 407 released without charge. Networks and associates: -! Zerkani network: Abdelhouaid Aberkan [Brother. Convicted as a member of the Zerkani 408 network in July 2015 and in 2003 for his role in the assassination of Ahmad Shah Massoud]; 409 410 Abid Aberkan [Nephew]; Khalid Zerkani [Convicted alongside Zerkani]; See Khalid Zerkani profile for full list of other network associates Aberkan may have associated with. Other: -! Nizar Trabelsi [Aberkan provided Trabelsi with a mobile phone in prison and was 411 suspected of involvement in a plot to free him]; Malika el-Aroud [Aberkan was close friends 412 with el-Aroud and arrested alongside her in the Trabelsi case. El-Aroud was convicted of 413 recruiting fighters to send to Afghanistan in May 2010]; Moez Garsallaoui [A high ranking al- Qaeda member and husband of Malika el-Aroud, Aberkan acted as a “go-between” for the 414 415 couple]; Soufiane Alilou [Son and 22-year-old Zerkani network recruit who travelled to and 416 from Syria five times before getting caught]. ! ! 402 ‘‘Papa Noel’—the militant recruiter in Brussels who groomed young men for violence’, Los Angeles Times, 28 March 2016, available at: http://www.latimes.com/world/europe/la-fg-belgium-recruiter-20160328-story.html, last visited: 9 August 2016. 403 Van Vlierden, G., ‘The Zerkani Network: Belgium’s Most Dangerous Jihadist Group’, The Jamestown Foundation, 12 April 2016. 404 ‘‘Papa Noel’—the militant recruiter in Brussels who groomed young men for violence’, Los Angeles Times, 28 March 2016. 405 Van Vlierden, G, ‘PROFILE: PARIS ATTACK RINGLEADER ABDELHAMID ABAAOUD’, Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, 15 December 2015. 406 ‘‘Papa Noel’—the militant recruiter in Brussels who groomed young men for violence’, Los Angeles Times, 28 March 2016; and ‘Brussels jihadists: Belgian recruiter Zerkani given longer term’, BBC News, 14 April 2016. 407 Van Vlierden, G., ‘PROFILE: PARIS ATTACK RINGLEADER ABDELHAMID ABAAOUD’, Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, 15 December 2015. 408 ‘Men jailed over Al Qaeda anti-NATO plot’, ABC News, 30 September 2003, available at: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2003-09-30/men-jailed-over-al-qaeda-anti- nato-plot/1486058, last visited: 9 August 2016, Van Vlierden, G., ‘The Zerkani Network: Belgium’s Most Dangerous Jihadist Group’, The Jamestown Foundation, 12 April 2016; and ‘Country Reports on Terrorism 2004’, US State Department, April 2005, available at: https://www.state.gov/documents/organization/45321.pdf, last visited: 9 August 2016, p. 45. 409 Gartenstein-Ross, D. and Nathaniel Barr, ‘Recent Attacks Illuminate the Islamic State’s Europe Attack Network’, The Jamestown Foundation, 27 April 2016. 410 ‘‘Papa Noel’—the militant recruiter in Brussels who groomed young men for violence’, Los Angeles Times, 28 March 2016; and ‘Brussels jihadists: Belgian recruiter Zerkani given longer term’, BBC News, 14 April 2016. 411 Van Vlierden, G., ‘The Zerkani Network: Belgium’s Most Dangerous Jihadist Group’, The Jamestown Foundation, 12 April 2016. 412 ibid. 413 ‘Brussels jihadists: Belgian recruiter Zerkani given longer term’, BBC News, 14 April 2016. 414 Van Vlierden, G., ‘The Zerkani Network: Belgium’s Most Dangerous Jihadist Group’, The Jamestown Foundation, 12 April 2016. 415 Van Vlierden, G., ‘Profile: Paris Attack Ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud’, Combating Terrorism Center, 15 December 2015, available at: van Vlierden, G, ‘PROFILE: PARIS ATTACK RINGLEADER ABDELHAMID ABAAOUD’, Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, 15 December 2015. 416 Van Vlierden, G, ‘Belgium knew in 2012 already that Paris suspects were plotting attacks’, Emmejihad, 26 January 2016. ! ! 36 !