Raouf Hannachi

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Born in Tunisia, Raouf Hannachi is a Canadian citizen who served as the Muezzin at Assuna Mosque in Montreal, and was later detained by the United States government at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.[1][2] He was turned over to Tunisian officials in October 2001 and jailed.[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][8] 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][5][7]

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]
  • Held, in Canada, on a "Minister's Security Certificate".

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. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Bell, Stewart. National Post, "Dozens of Canadians join Jihad Terror Camps", October 25, 2003
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Third Montrealer on detainee list at Guantanamo, Globe and Mail, March 10, 2006
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 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, January 2006
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "U.S. v. Haquari, Examination". USDC SDNY. July 3, 2001. Retrieved February 27, 2010. 
  6. ↑ "Government's Sentencing Memorandum; U.S. v. Ressam". April 20, 2005. Retrieved 28 February 2010. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Sageman, Marc (2004). Understanding Terror Networks. University of Pennsylvania Press. Retrieved February 28, 2010. 
  8. ↑ "The Terrorist Within, Chapter 7: Joining Jihad", The Seattle Times, June 27, 2002, March 1, 2010
  9. ↑ Pither, Kerry. "Dark Days: The Story of Four Canadians Tortured in the Name of Fighting Terror", 2008.


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