Raouf Hannachi

Raouf Hannachi is a Tunisian born Canadian citizen who served as the Muezzin at Assuna Mosque in Montreal. He was captured by the United States government and turned over to Tunisian officials in October 2001 and jailed.[1][2][3]

Hannachi became a Canadian citizen in 1986, and lived in Montreal with his wife.[4]

Hannachi was an active al-Qaeda member.[5][6][7] Hannachi returned from Afghanistan towards the end of the summer of 1997, where he had trained for jihad at Khalden Camp. He told Ahmed Ressam about the experience and jihad, encouraged him to train as well, and ultimately arranged a trip to the camp for Ressam and his roommate Mustapha Labsi.[1][6][8]

When Abu Zubaydah was waterboarded by American intelligence officers, he offered up Hannachi's name among the hundreds of others he listed as conspirators.[1]

Individuals alleged to have been recruited by Hannachi include:
Djamel Ameziane[2]
Ahmed Ressam[1]
Adil Charkaoui[3]

His Montreal apartment was wiretapped by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), who dubbed his circle of friends BOG, Bunch of Guys, and joked that they were like "terrorist tupperware parties" in their boastful talk and lack of any true threat.[9] One of them, however, was Ahmed Ressam, the al-Qaeda member known as the Millennium bomber who attempted to blow up the Los Angeles International Airport.[1]

See also

References
  1. Bell, Stewart (October 25, 2003). "Dozens of Canadians join Jihad Terror Camps". National Post. Retrieved May 2, 2015.
  2. Third Montrealer on detainee list at Guantanamo, The Globe and Mail, March 10, 2006
  3. The Charkaoui Case, Communist Party of Canada, Marxist-Leninist
  4. Amnesty International, Raouf Hannachi: un citoyen canadien emprisonné en Tunisie depuis plus de 2 ans et 4 mois Archived 2008-04-05 at the Wayback Machine, January 2006
  5. "Government's Sentencing Memorandum; U.S. v. Ressam" (PDF). April 20, 2005. Retrieved 28 February 2010.
  6. Sageman, Marc (2004). Understanding Terror Networks. University of Pennsylvania Press. Retrieved February 28, 2010.
  7. "The Terrorist Within, Chapter 7: Joining Jihad", The Seattle Times, June 27, 2002, March 1, 2010
  8. "U.S. v. Haquari, Examination" (PDF). USDC SDNY. July 3, 2001. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-06-15. Retrieved February 27, 2010.
  9. Pither, Kerry. "Dark Days: The Story of Four Canadians Tortured in the Name of Fighting Terror", 2008.


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