Menad Benchellali

❧

Wikipedia

Menad Benchellali is a convicted terrorist arrested in France in December 2002,[1] and the reported brains behind the so-called Chechen Network, a group of Islamists who plotted a number of abortive terrorist attacks on French soil. [2]

Benchellali was arrested as part of an investigation into efforts by French Islamists to send volunteers to fight Russian forces as part of the Second Chechen War.[1] In January 2004, a number of Benchellali's associates were arrested by French police, who claimed to have thwarted chemical or biological weapons attacks.[1]

Benchellali himself is reported to have been a chemical weapons specialist, and was known to his associates as The Chemist.[3] French investigators assert that, when Benchellali returned to France, from Afghanistan, he built a home lab in his bedroom, where he manufactured ricin.

Benchellali is reported to have sent his younger brother and a friend, Nizar Sassi, to Afghanistan.[4] Mourad and Sassi were captured and detained in Guantanamo.

Benchellali, was convicted, along with 24 others, on June 14, 2006 for their roles in planning a terrorist attack that was to have taken place in France to support Chechen independence.[5] Benchellali was described as the group's leader, and received a 10-year sentence. Benchellali's father, a younger brother, and his mother were also convicted for their roles.

Mourad Benchellali published a book about his experiences, and on June 14, 2006 the New York Times published an op-ed by Mourad, in which he blamed Menad for tricking him into attending a military training camp on what he thought would be a kind of vacation.[6][7] Mourad said he was looking forward to his day in court, for attending that training camp, after spending years in detention, without charge, in Guantanamo.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Henley, Jon (January 12, 2004). "Al-Qaida terror plot foiled, say French police". The Guardian. Guardian News & Media Limited. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  2. ↑ Hafez, Mohammed M. (2007). Suicide Bombers in Iraq: the Strategy and Ideology of Martyrdom. Washington DC: United States Institute of Peace. p. 172. Retrieved 25 March 2025.
  3. ↑ Warrick, Jo (May 4, 2004). "An Al Qaeda 'Chemist' and the Quest for Ricin". Washington Post. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  4. ↑ Chang, Alice. "Nizar Sassi: A French Detainee Waiting to Return Home". Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism. Archived from the original on 14 September 2005. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  5. ↑ "French court convicts 25 for planning attack". The Globe and Mail. June 14, 2006. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  6. ↑ Smith, Craig S. (June 14, 2006). "French Court Sentences 25 Islamic Extremists". New York Times. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  7. ↑ Smith, Craig S. (14 June 2006). "French court sentences 25 Islamic extremists - Europe - International Herald Tribune". The International Herald Tribune. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 18 December 2019 – via NY Times.