France Expels Islamic State-Linked Bangladeshi Extremist: Saif al-Rahman

France Expels Islamic State-Linked Bangladeshi Extremist: Saif al-Rahman

In late 2020, French authorities detained Saif Rahman (a.k.a. Totan) a 24-year-old Bangladeshi national, who was attempting to travel to Islamic State (IS)-controlled territory in Syria. During his interrogation, the French authorities uncovered his extremist beliefs and intention to join IS in the Middle East. His social media communications with people involved with the IS group came to light, and French officials concluded that Saif al-Rahman’s presence posed a threat to the country, given that he could carry out terrorist attacks on French soil, especially after failing in his attempt to travel to IS strongholds. After a few months in detention, Saif Rahman was deported back to his home country on January 14, 2021. He was arrested on his arrival at Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (Daily Star, February 5).

The Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) received documentation from the French authorities on Rahman’s deportation. According to the CTTC’s deputy commissioner, the translated French document confirmed that Rahman had begun planning to join an extremist group in 2019, and in 2020 had attempted to go to Syria and Iraq to join IS. The document also underscored recent jihadist attacks in France, especially the October 16, 2020 knife attack in the northern Paris suburb of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine and the October 29, 2020 attack in Nice (Prathom Alo, February 14). French police feared that Rahman’s failed attempt to travel to reach IS in the Middle East could prompt him to act on IS’ calls for lone wolf attacks in France.

Interestingly, Rahman’s confession during his interrogation in Dhaka did not match with what his deportation document suggested. He claimed to have contacted IS members in Syria to assist the French government’s investigations. Yet French police have verified his independent online activities and found evidence of his links to multiple jihadist groups (Dainik Amader Shomoy, February 3). CTTC officials overseeing the case believed that Rahman is a self-radicalized individual, influenced by online extremist content while in France.

The deportation document did not have any information that he was actually part of any violent conspiracy or planned a violent attack in France. Police are currently conducting a forensic investigation of his electronic devices (cell phone and laptop) and social media handles (e.g. Facebook) to learn more about his contacts with IS. At the same time, Bangladeshi police are trying to find members of IS or any other jihadist groups he may have been associated with—such as the homegrown IS-linked faction Neo- Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (Neo-JMB)—from his devices’ contacts lists (Desh Rupantar, January 18).

Saif Rahman is a resident of the Dohar-Nawabganj suburb near the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka and belongs to an educated and well-off family. In February 2015, when Rahman was in his early 20s, he and his mother, Jinat Rahman, moved to France. His father, Lutfar Rahman, has worked at a French university since 2001, and his uncle, Mostafa Rahman, lives in neighboring Italy. After graduating from Dhaka’s elite European Standard School and Oxford International School in 2014, Rahman attended the University of Cergy-Pontoise in France and, after graduating, got a part-time administrative job at the University of the Pantheon (Assas) in Paris (Bangla Tribune, January 18).

CTTC Deputy Commissioner Saiful Islam stated that Saif Rahman tarnished the image of Bangladesh by planning terrorist attacks and trying to join an international terrorist group like IS. Since he intended to disrupt France’s security and engaged in jihadist propaganda, his offences are punishable under French anti-terrorism laws. However, despite French investigators’ evidence of his jihadist connections, his mother Jinat Rahman (some media sources have given her first name as Jerin) denied that her son held extremist beliefs and said he is a victim of the situation in France and Bangladesh (Bangladesh Post, February 16).

While Jinat Rahman has eluded interrogation from Bangladesh police thus far, she has openly shared her telephone number for interviews (Benar News, February 12). She claims that the French authorities’ suspicions started during her and Saif’s visa renewal process. Both had applied for 10-year visas. Around that time, new laws were passed in France to “protect secular values,” and, following the twin jihadist attacks in October 2020, widespread arrests of suspected extremists began. She told Bengali media that during the visa interview, her son was asked about burning an effigy of Emmanuel Macron during a protest in Dhaka.

In late October 2020, Bangladesh erupted with anti-French and anti-Macron protests. Thousands of Islamists went to the streets, denouncing the display of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in France. The protesters, led by  Islami Andolon Bangladesh (IAB)—a religious/political group that advocates for a caliphate in accordance with Islamic law—carried banners and placards reading “All Muslims of the world, unite” and “Boycott France,” burning an effigy of Emmanuel Macron (New Age, October 27, 2020, Dhaka Tribune, October 31, 2020).

Saif Rahman’s elite educational background and extremist tendencies are similar to those of the young people who attacked the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka in July 2016. The attackers were Bangladeshi citizens aged 18 to 25. Three of the Holey Artisan attackers — Nibras Islam, Rohan Imtiaz and Meer Saameh Mubasheer – had affluent social and educational backgrounds, challenging the notions widely in South Asia that “jihadists or extremists always come from poor backgrounds” and “only madrassas breed terrorism and radicalization.” These three attackers attended Bangladesh’s best English middle schools and expensive private universities with mainstream education curriculums. They seemingly studied the Quran or hadiths in depth (Daily Star, July 3, 2016). Like Saif Rahman, a few of them intended to travel to IS strongholds before they were chosen for the deadly Holey Artisan café violence. This background likely affected French authorities’ fear of possible violence by young extremists such as Saif Rahman, resulting in his expulsion from France.

Conclusion

French authorities likely averted a terrorist event by sending Saif Rahman back to Bangladesh. As Bangladeshi authorities now attempt to fathom the extent of Saif Rahman’s involvement with IS or the homegrown Neo-JMB organization, this worrying trend of young, educated and motivated individuals choosing the path of extremism will continue to pose a serious policy problem for Dhaka for years to come.