Former Detainee A. A. Did Deliver Weapons to Jihadist Organization (Founder of Mujahedins’ Movement)
The former Belgian-Moroccan detainee A. A. was in charge of the logistical and financial support of the “Mujahedins’ Movement in Morocco”, a jihadist organization created in the early 1980s for which he did deliver weapons, assured one of the group’s founders, Abderrezak Soumah.
“It is an accusation that cannot be invented. A. A. was indeed a member of the movement since 1981 and forged direct links with the leaders of the group”, said Soumah during a program on the channel “Maghreb TV”.
In his testimony delivered “for truth and for history”, the former “emir” of the Mujahedins’ Movement confessed having met A. A. in Brussels where the latter was managing an Islamic bookstore.
“Our emir at that time, Nouamani, provided him with money in 1983 to open an Islamic bookstore in Brussels, with the aim of providing in return financial support to the movement,” he said, noting that it was A. A. himself who had the idea of the “Annour Bookstore” created in Molenbeek, in the Belgian capital.
It is a matter of ensuring financial support for the organization, but also of carrying out jihadist propaganda among young people in particular, he said.
Soumah recalled having met A. A. in the year 2000 in Tangier. “The following year, he came to my home in Berkane where he provided me with weapons: a Kalashnikov and two pistols with ammunition,” he added.
He said he met him again in 2004, but this time he refused to accept a new delivery of arms “because our movement was in decline”, in the context marked by the fight against the extremist threat.
Nevertheless, he admitted having received a sum of 7,000 euros from A. A., stressing that it was part of the profits from the activities of the Brussels bookstire “Annour” that the latter managed on behalf of the organization.
Abderrezak Soumah affirmed to have committed himself and many of his relatives to a process of reviewing their doctrine in the face of the failure of jihadist movements, especially in Afghanistan and Chechnya. “With the weapons delivered to us, we could have caused terror in Morocco,” he concluded.
