Fatiha Mejjati | |
|---|---|
فتيحة المجاطي | |
| Born | Fatiha Mohamed Taher Hassani 1961 (age 64–65) Casablanca, Morocco |
| Other names | La Veuve Noire Oum Adam |
Fatiha Mohamed Taher Mejjati (née Hassani; born 1961 (1961)) is aMoroccan jihadist.[1] She is the widow ofKarim Mejjati, a co-founder of theMoroccan Islamic Combatant Group and a member ofAl-Qaeda.[2][3] Karim Mejjati is suspected of involvement in planning the2003 Casablanca bombings and the2004 Madrid train bombings.[4][5]
Mejjati is believed to be living inSyria.[6] In 2023, she was designated a terrorist by theMoroccan Ministry of Justice, and an arrest warrant was issued against her in connection with alleged terrorist activities.[7]
Fatiha Mohamed Taher Hassani was born in 1961 inDerb Sultan,Casablanca, to a father who worked as a carpenter and a mother who was a housewife.[8][9] She grew up in a middle-class family with five sisters and a brother.[1][9] Her family practiced moderate Islam during her childhood.[10]
Hassani received aBaccalauréat in Literature and Human Sciences in 1980 and earned a degree in French private law fromHassan II University of Casablanca in 1985.[9][11]
In 1990, she joined the Moroccan Institute of Management as a management assistant.[9][12] According to her own later accounts, Hassani's religious radicalization began in 1991, influenced by theGulf War. She stated that during this period, she "found happiness only in the mosque" and began wearing he hijab permanently.[13] She was not permitted to wear a hijab at her workplace, which led o tensions with her employer.[9][10][14] Students at the institute circulated a petition in her support, which was signed byKarim Mejjati.[11][15] Hassani later gave Mejjati, who reportedly had limited knowledge ofArabic at the time, a French translation of theQuran.[9][15] The two married in September 1991, less than a year later, without the knowledge of Mejjati’s parents.[9][10][13]
The couple subsequently moved to France.[13] In 1992, Mejjati traveled toBosnia to fight as a combatant associated with al-Qaeda, a decision attributed in part to his radicalization during the preceding period.[10] He later returned to France in an attempt to bring his family back to Bosnia, however, Hassani was denied a visa. When Mejjati attempted to return to Bosnia alone, he was arrested by theCroatian Army and detained for nearly a month. Following his release, he was banned from the region for five years.[13]
The Mejjatis had two sons, Adam and Ilyas. According to theMorocco World News, Mejjati was a founder of theMoroccan Islamic Combatant Group, which the outlet reported had pledged allegiance toOsama bin Laden.[16] In July 2001, the family of four moved toAfghanistan.[10][17] Hassani later stated that her time in Afghanistan underTaliban rule was "the most wonderful period" of her life.[18] The family subsequently relocated toPakistan.[10]
In 2003, Mejjati reportedly travelled toSaudi Arabia, where he was said to have served as anAl-Qaeda agent.[10] He has also been alleged to have played a role in planned the May2003 Casablanca bombings.[19]
On 25 March 2003, Hassani was arrested inRiyadh along with her son Ilyas, who was then ten years old. Both were detained and questioned by Saudi authorities regarding Mejjati’s whereabouts. Hassani acknowledged that her husband was in Riyadh, but refused a request by the authorities to write anopen letter urging him to surrender.[20] She and her son were held in Saudi Arabia until June 20 2003,[20] after which they were transferred to Morocco, where they remained in detention until March 17 2004.[1][13][18]
Mejjati was later reported to have played a planning role in the2004 Madrid train bombings[19] and the2005 London bombings.[10] In April 2005, he and his son Adam were killed during a gunfight with Saudi security forces inAr-Rass.[18][10] Adam was eleven years old at the time of his death.[20] In a May 2005 interview with the Gazette of Morocco, Hassani stated that her husband was not a terrorist, describing him instead as "a Mujahid who went to Bosnia and Afghanistan to fight the enemies of Islam and bring justice to Muslims."[20]
In 2008,France 24 interviewed Hassani and published a profile following her public warning that France could face jihadist attacks.[1] In the interview, she denied having any ties with al Qaeda and stated that she was not aware any specific plans to attack France. She explained that her warning was based on her perception that, despite France having opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq, it had subsequently adopted policies she viewed as hostile toward the Muslim world.[1]
Sometime after the death of her first husband, Hassanimarried Omar al-Omrani Hadi, aSalafi-jihadist activist who had been sentenced by the Moroccan authoritied to 14 years in prison onterrorism-related charges. The couple never met in person, and Moroccan authorities did not recognize the marriage or permit Hassani to visit him in prison, citing the absence of a civil marriage contract. Hassani protested outside the prison where al-Omrani Hadi was held, calling for his release, and also publicly advocated for the rights of other detainees in Moroccan prisons.[10]
On June 29, 2014, Hassaniposted a message on Twitter declaring her allegiance toAbu Bakr al-Baghdadi.[21] On July 5, she arrived inRaqqa, then the de facto capital of theIslamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). She later posted a photograph of herself posing in front of a court building inJarabalus, a town on the Syrian-Turkish border that was under ISIL control at the time.[10] In November 2014,Jeune Afrique reported that Hassani had married a senior ISIL figure, described as an aide to al-Baghdadi.[10][22]
Her surviving son, Ilyas Mejjat, was reported to have worked for ISIL's media apparatus.[23] He was married to a Swedish woman.[18] ISIL-affiliated social media accounts reportedly publicized Hassani's arrival in Syria, referring to her as the "mother of believers."[10]
After relocating to territory controlled byISIL Hassani assumed leadership of theAl-Khansaa Brigade, an all-woman unit responsible for enforcing ISIL's interpretation of female modesty and dress codes.[24] She also became a member of ISIL's media committee and was described by sources as one of the most influential women within the organization.[10]
Following the collapse of ISIL's self-proclaimed caliphate in 2019, Hassani's Swedish daughter-in-law and three grandchildren were captured after theBattle of Baguz Fawqani.[25] Hassani herself was subsequently detained at theAl-Hawl refugee camp. In 2020, she reportedly escaped from the camp and was believed to be sheltering inIdlib, along with more than a dozen other women who had also escaped from Al-Hawl.[18]
These wives, mothers, and sisters of alleged terrorists detained by the Moroccan government have come from across the country to show their support for one of their own, Fatiha Mejjati. Inside the courtroom, Mejjati is bringing a suit against the Moroccan government for wrongfully detaining her and her then-11-year-old son for nine months in 2003.
53 year-old Fatiha Mejjati had previously lived a normal life as a student in Casablanca. When the first Gulf war broke out in 1990, she turned to radical Islam. Soon afterwards, she met Karim Mejjati, whom she married, and they moved together to live in Afghanistan under the Taliban rule.
While Mejjati is careful to explain she has no links with al Qaeda, the 47-year-old Moroccan widow is no stranger to the Islamist threats in Europe and is believed to have had extensive contacts in hardline Islamist circles.
Un peu plus d'une semaine après son ralliement idéologique, Fatiha Mejjati posait en voile intégral devant le tribunal islamique de Jarabulus, un village syrien à la frontière avec la Turquie. Elle y a rejoint son fils Ilyas, membre de la puissante commission des médias au sein de Daesh. Reçue comme une héroïne, elle a suivi une formation militaire… et se serait mariée à un dirigeant de l'organisation.
Son apologie du jihad, son allégeance au "calife" Baghdadi, ses menaces envers la France et son voile intégral en font une personnalité relayée et, dans une certaine mesure, influente. Surnommée Oum al-Mouminine ("la mère des croyants"), elle encadre les femmes de l'EI et se serait remariée avec l'un des responsables de l'organisation terroriste.
