Who’s Who in Tunisia’s Salafi-Jihadi Community: A Look at Key Leaders of Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia

Who’s Who in Tunisia’s Salafi-Jihadi Community: A Look at Key Leaders of Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia

Two years ago, Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia (AST) established itself as the premiere Salafi-Jihadi organization operating in the post-revolution environment. AST has become a key player not necessarily because of its size, but because of the anxiety it gives to many who worry about their growth and potential social encroachment on secular and even rival Islamist parts of society. Little is known, though, about some of the key players connected to AST beyond its amir Abu Iyad al-Tunisi (See Militant Leadership Monitor, April 2012). 

Shaykh al-Khatib al-Idrissi   

Although Shaykh al-Khatib al-Idrissi, a popular Salafi that is blind and hails from Sidi Bouzid, is not a formal member of AST, he is a key spiritual figure to the overall Salafi-Jjihadi community in Tunisia. Idrissi helped play a role in promoting AST through his media foundation al-Qayarawan when AST was first beginning to organize in late spring 2011. [1] Since then, he has taken a more behind-the-scenes approach. According to members of AST in Sousse, a town southeast of the capital Tunis, Abu Iyad mainly plays the role of intermediary now between the grassroots and activists and al-Idrissi. [2] 

Idrissi’s withdrawal is likely because he is viewed as more of a scholar than an activist, but one can piece together who he is from his official Facebook page [3]. Idrissi was born in Dhu al-Hijjah 1373 in the Islamic calendar, corresponding to August 1954. Sometime in the Islamic year 1406 (1985), Idrissi traveled to Mecca to learn more about Islam and its sciences and to study under key clerical figures of the time including, Shaykh Muhammad Sa’id al-Qahtani, Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Aziz bin Baz, Shaykh ‘Abd al-Majid al-Zindani, Shaykh Salih al-Luhaydan, and Shaykh Sa’id Shafa. He studies with these shaykhs for nines year focusing on the study of Shari’a and ethics. 

According to Idrisi, when he returned to Tunisia in 1415 (1994) he was influenced by the Saudi sahwa (awakening) movement that he wanted to apply their strategy to Tunisia. [4] Idrisi’s return to Tunisia has been viewed as a turning point where Salafism began to pick up a larger following within Tunisia, especially around universities. Following the December 2006-January 2007 showdown between Tunisian security and a jihadi cell named Jund Asad ibn al-Furat, the Tunisian state arrested Idrisi for allegedly penning a fatwa (legal pronouncement) that sanctioned jihadi activity (al-Arabiya, January 2011). He was sentenced to two years in prison and released from prison in January 2009 (Sahafa, January 2011).  

Since the revolution in 2011, Idrissi has mainly been providing guidance and advice. There have been some instances when his name has popped into the news due to controversial statements or pronouncements. Partially because he is against mainstream political Salafi parties like Jabhat al-Islah for their involvement in the democratic process and wants the return to the Caliphate, but also because he has the tendency to accuse other Muslims of apostasy (Le Figaro, May 2012). Idrissi has also been seen lecturing at the same events as AST leader Abu Iyad but this has become increasing rare since the attacks on the U.S. Embassy in September 2012 due to Abu Iyad’s security concerns. [5] 

Following the Tunisian revolution, some Tunisian jihadi figures who had been arrested in Europe on charges of terrorism returned home to Tunisia and joined up with AST after their prison sentences were served. While not paraded publicly in AST’s online propaganda campaign, two attended AST’s second annual conference in Qayrawan in 2012 and the other has been a part of organizational effort behind the scene. 

Tarek Maaroufi 

After serving a number of years in prison in Belgium, Tarek Maaroufi returned to his Tunisian homeland in March 2012. He co-founded the Tunisian Combatant Group (TCG) with Abu Iyad in Afghanistan in 2000, which was designated as a terrorist organization by the Department of the Treasury in 2002. The TCG was responsible for facilitating the assassination of the Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Messud two days prior to 9/11. Upon arriving in Tunisia, Maaroufi stated that he was “happy to [see] that jihad is in the minds of Tunisians,” which gave evidence that he still had a zeal for jihadism (ANASMed, March 2012). One of his first actions in Tunisia was attending an AST show of force on the main street avenue, Habib Bourguiba, which led to some AST members climbing the famous clock tower and waving al-Qaeda’s black flag. AST members also confronted a theater group that was staging a separate demonstration at the Municipal Theater nearby. 

It is believed that Maaroufi’s jihadi career stretches as far back as 1991 when he first made contact with Rachid Ramda. Ramda is currently serving a life sentence in France, is linked to the 1995 Paris Metro bombings and headed the European Groupe Islamique Armé (GIA) cells. While in Brussels, Maaroufi was known for being associated with the GIA and was the leader of the “Brussels cell,” a group of individuals that supported various jihadi fronts during the 1990s with money, recruitment and forgery of documentation. Maaroufi was arrested with eleven others in 1995 and sentenced to three years for planning a terror attack in Europe. He was released a year later and was put on three years’ probation. The arrest and probation, though, did not deter further activities within the jihadi movement. Soon after his release, Maaroufi began to recruit individuals for jihad in Chechnya against Russians and then in 2000, Maaroufi traveled to Afghanistan, where he formed the TCG with Abu Iyad. After returning to Belgium later in 2000, he was implicated in many terrorist plots such as the U.S. Embassy in Paris plot broken up in September 2001, the Kleine Brogel NATO Air Base plot in the fall of 2001 and the Philips Tower plot in 2002. Maaroufi was also associated with cells that were eventually arrested in Frankfort and Milan. 

Maaroufi was charged twice—first in 2003 and then later in 2004­—for his involvement in terrorism activities and sentenced six years and then five years in prison, respectively (Tunisia Live, April 2012). 

It is believed that Maaroufi now plays a non-public role within AST, possibly activities similar to those done as part of the Brussels cell for individuals attempting to fight abroad with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghrib in Mali or Algeria, or with Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria. [6] 

Sami bin Khamis Essid and Mehdi Kammoun 

Sami bin Khamis Essid and Mehdi Kammoun are both believed to be senior leaders within AST. Previously, both were key players in al-Qaeda’s network in Italy. Essid and Kammoun were arrested in Italy in April 2001 for their parts in a plot against the U.S. Embassy in Rome. Essid had training in Afghanistan for two years. Kammoun, similar to Maaroufi, had connections to Algerian jihadis having been a member of the Groupe Salafiste pour la Prédication et le Combat (GSPC), the successor group to the GIA, and the precursor to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghrib (AQIM). Both men were deported to Tunisia (Kammoun in 2005 and Essin in 2008) and put into former Tunisian president Ben Ali’s prisons (L’Espresso, October 2012). Both were released following the revolution in the general amnesty of March 2011—similar to Abu Iyad and other key figures like AST’s head of da’wa (missionary work) Hasan Brik. 

Hasan Brik 

Unlike the three individuals that returned from Europe, Hasan Brik has a much higher public profile within AST as the head of da’wa and his jihadi career does not span back to the 1990s. Brik first got a taste for jihad in 2003 when he attempted to go to Iraq to fight against U.S. forces. He did not make it Iraq, though, but became part of al-Qaeda in Iraq’s operations in Syria, mainly running safe houses for potential jihadis as well as vetting and training them to fight Iraq. As a result of this activity, the Syrian regime arrested Brik and deported him back to Tunisia where he languished in prison until the March 2011 general amnesty. Brik noted that this prison experience was where the idea for the formation of AST began [7]. 

As head of da’wa, Brik is in charge of coordinating events and social service caravans. AST has become notorious for providing food, healthcare and a variety of other basic services to villages and cities in the interior of Tunisia as well as poorer neighborhoods in the main cities on the coast. This soft power has allowed the movement to grow. 

Brik was arrested for alleged involvement in the September 14, 2012 attacks against the U.S. Embassy in Tunis, though his sentence was short and authorities had scant evidence of his alleged involvement (Shems FM, September 2012). Brik was released in early January of this year (al-Hayat, January 2013). 

Conclusion 

While AST as an organization is relatively new, key leaders within it have had experience with jihadi activism going as far back as the early to mid-1990s. Therefore, while most of their activities are related to the provision of social services, which in of itself is a good thing, AST’s ultimate aim is to establish an Islamic state within the framework of al-Qaeda’s worldview. The AST has not been shy to use violent tactics, as demonstrated by the embassy attacks, for example, and clearly key leaders of AST embrace the global jihadist vision. 

Notes 

1. The original announcement for AST’s first conference in May 2011 was posted at the al-Qayarawan Media Foundation’s blog: https://www.al-qayrawan.blogspot.com/2011/05/18-1432.html

2. Author’s interview with members of AST in Sousse, Tunisia, February 19, 2013.

3. See Idrissi’s Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/AL.Khatib.AL.Idrisi.

4. See Idrissi’s Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/AL.Khatib.AL.Idrisi.

5. See the two lectures at the conference in Sousse here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOMmtX_dd3A&feature=youtu.be and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-Xi5Z5ULWQ&feature=youtu.be

6. Author’s interview with Nabil Cherni, Manouba University’s School of Letters, Arts, and Humanities in Manouba, February 16, 2013.

7. Louisa Loveluck interview with Hasan Brik, Tunis, September 2012.