Mauritanian indicted for role in Mali attacks in 2015

Fawaz Ould Ahmed, known as “Ibrahim 10”, is accused of having committed the March 2015 attack on the La Terrasse bar-restaurant, in which 5 people died. He is accused of having then organized the attacks against the Byblos hotel in Sévaré in August (13 dead), and the Radisson hotel (20 dead) in November. Among the victims were Europeans, UN workers and an American.

Fawaz Ould Ahmed and another jihadist had already been sentenced to death in October 2020 in Mali for the attacks on La Terrasse and the Radisson Blu. During the trial he confirmed that he had committed the first attack and organized the second. He claimed to have acted “out of revenge” after the publication of the caricatures of the prophet of Islam by the French weekly Charlie Hebdo.

In custody

The defendant arrived on US soil Friday from Mali and was detained pending trial.

“Today we made it clear that the United States stands firm in its commitment to bring to justice those who commit barbaric acts of terrorism against innocent victims,” Brooklyn federal prosecutor Breon Peace said in a statement, citing the American who died in these attacks, a humanitarian worker “killed more than 6,400 km from her home”.