Mohamed Yassin Amrani's jihadist dream lasted two months and has cost him three years in prison. He has just agreed with the Prosecutor's Office to serve three years in prison for a crime of self-training and thus avoid an initial sentence of twelve and a half years. This Moroccan based in Barcelona lost his job as a waiter in the Catalan capital as a result of the closure of the premises due to the confinement due to the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020.
Locked up, jobless, living poorly, unable to pay the rent, it was a perfect breeding ground to cling to DAESH's postulates. Years before, he had flirted with radical postulates, but it was not until March 2020 that he embraced DAESH's propaganda.
He opened several profiles on Facebook and other platforms, began to inform himself through radicalized websites, and accessed the jihadist propaganda that he in turn spread. In less than a month, the Civil Guard had already detected his movements on the Internet and they were monitoring him until his arrest in May, where his dream of becoming a martyr ended, of committing an attack to kill infidels in the name of Allah or of going to fight alongside his brothers in Syria.
The Prosecutor's Office speaks of a process of "rapid evolution" as a result of the confinement of the pandemic, which prompted him to become "a member of DAESH, an organization to which he has sworn allegiance and to obey everything his leader commands."
Until the state of alarm was decreed on March 14, 2020, Yassin Amranin led a westernized life regarding customs and prayed occasionally, not following any of the other precepts of Islam.
As the Prosecutor's Office recalls in its indictment, it is in the month of March 2020 when the transformation of the accused takes place, "changing his way of behaving and becoming an authoritarian and intransigent person."
He stopped consuming alcohol and other substances and dedicated himself to prayer, as he himself was recounting on his Facebook profiles. However, with the change of life was not enough. He had to redeem his past sins and thought what better way to purify his life and go to paradise than by committing an attack. This was agreed with his link to the terrorist organization. He explained that the terrorist action would consist of using a drone with an explosive charge attached to it. This technique has been shown on occasion by Daesh propaganda.
The drone would be elevated over the Camp Nou football stadium when a football match was played between Real Madrid and Barcelona, and once inside the sports venue it would be detonated.
This action had to be planned. The first step was to reduce his exposure on social networks, as he did. Afterwards, he had to swear allegiance to the leader of the organization. The moment was ideal for its leaders, who had initiated a strategy based on “lone actors” to act taking advantage of the social destabilization produced as a consequence of the possible economic and financial disaster or security caused by the pandemic.
Daesh gave free rein so that during the celebration of Ramadan in the midst of the global health crisis caused by Covid-19, its sympathizers could commit terrorist attacks with any means at their disposal. “The profuse reiteration of propaganda messages continues in this sense, but pointing out more and more strongly the situation created by the epidemic as an ideal framework to act within the context of the holy month of Ramadan,” indicates the public ministry in an analysis of the context of that time.
After two months of monitoring, the Information Headquarters of the Civil Guard took action on the matter and proceeded to arrest him. They had detected among his messages hatred and criticism of the West, manifestations of his ideological adherence to DAESH, calls for jihad and martyrdom, preaching with keys to the Salafist-jihadist methodology and criticism of the Security Forces and Bodies.
At his home they found a series of documents that indicated that after his oath of loyalty, his liaison with the organization had sent him manuals with the ideological doctrine of Daesh. The next step after being indoctrinated was his training in drone management to proceed with his plan and achieve paradise. And in addition to the Camp Nou idea, he had also thought of using poison to kill Westerners.
No material was found at his home, but manuals for making explosives and poisonous substances were found. She wanted to become a "mincher of human beings", to be a "hero of my religion and leave my mark". But she couldn't be. The plan was aborted after her arrest.
