MADRID – Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, a British-Egyptian man accused of fighting for Islamic State (IS), has been found dead in his cell at El Puerto de Santa Maria prison in Cadiz, Spain.
As reported by UK newspaper, The Guardian, the 32-year-old former rapper, who was stripped of his British nationality over his links to the terrorist group, was on trial in Madrid for various terrorist offenses and online fraud to raise funds for the Islamic State (IS).
Terrorist
As stated by Arab News, Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, also known by his rapper alias “Jinn,” had gained notoriety as one of Daesh’s “most wanted foreign terrorist fighters” when a photograph emerged in 2014 showing him holding the severed head of a Syrian regime soldier in Raqqa. The disturbing image was posted on social media with the caption, “Chillin’ with my homie or what’s left of him.”
After leaving London in 2013, Bary joined an al-Qaida faction in Syria before becoming associated with IS militias. He was believed to have been “Jihadi John,” a notorious British Daesh member responsible for the murder of several Western captives, later identified as Mohammed Emwazi.
In 2020, Bary was arrested in Almeria, Spain, following his departure from Syria in 2015. He was accused of leading a jihadist terror cell alongside two Algerians, Abderrezak Siddiki and Kossaila Cholluah. Their intentions were to carry out militant actions. According to El Independiente, the “cell”, seemingly fincanced by bank scams sought to “consolidate” the Islamic caliphate in Spain. The Public Ministry asked the three defendants for sentences ranging from 7 to 9 years. This was for the alleged crime of integration into a terrorist organisation that was financed by bank fraud.
However, before the verdict was delivered, he was found dead in his prison cell. The cause of death remains unconfirmed, and authorities are investigating. Although seemingly his body showed no signs of violence, further examinations are being conducted at the request of his family. They have sought a second independent autopsy in addition to the one to be performed by Spanish authorities.
Father
Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary’s father, Adel Abdel Bari, was sentenced to a 25-year sentence in the US for his involvement in the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which resulted in the deaths of 224 people and left nearly 5,000 others wounded. However, it seems he was released in 2020 and returned to London.
Also read: Guardia Civil arrest 2 people with links to terrorist organisation DAESH