Spanish Imam Faces Trial for Alleged Jihadist Recruitment and Financing

The trial of Mohamed C. opens this Monday. He was arrested in November 2020 and is accused of a crime of jihadist indoctrination. In the indictment, the prosecutor indicates that the defendant had "a role of supervision, of leadership" which he used to recruit young people, including migrants, reports 20minutos.

In his capacity as imam and president of the ASSAFWA Islamic Cultural Association, "he had a strong influence on the Muslim faithful of the San Sebastián community," the prosecution specifies, adding that he took advantage of this hat to recruit and indoctrinate young people in jihadist radicalism. He was caught in the act, as he was trying to indoctrinate three young Moroccan migrants, taken care of by the Basque government.

To read: Spanish Police Arrest Moroccan Man Suspected of Online Jihadist Recruitment

Mohamed C. forced these young people to practice physical activities (boxing, Kick-boxing, bodybuilding) in order to train them for Jihad, the prosecution points out, recalling that the imam was also very active on his two Facebook profiles where he has been disseminating content since 2012 and had 10,000 friends. The defendant is close to Elmehdi Kacem Khoyi and Yassine EL Mehdi, convicted of attempting to commit an attack in Paris in 2016 for the former. He is also linked to another detainee in Morocco, arrested for attempting to carry out a terrorist attack during Holy Week in Seville.

The investigation opened by the police after his arrest revealed that he held 12 bank accounts. Surprisingly, notes the prosecutor, "given the low purchasing power" of the defendant. In total, he had 111,586.26 euros in these accounts. He had traveled to France and Belgium to raise funds in radical mosques, and had even launched fundraising appeals on social media to finance Jihad. He had already been arrested in 2012 for offenses of fraud, document forgery, tax evasion and money laundering.