Known by the pseudonym “Abou Oussama Al Sénégal,” Ismaila Diallo was formally charged and remanded in custody by the senior investigating judge earlier this week following a judicial inquiry opened by the Dakar prosecutor’s office.
According to the daily newspaper Libération, the suspect is accused of serious offences including “criminal conspiracy related to a terrorist organisation, conspiracy to commit terrorist acts, participation in an armed group with the aim of committing terrorist acts, and advocating terrorism”.
An examination of his two cell phones revealed disturbing information. Under the pseudonym “Abou Oussama Al Sénégal,” Ismaila Diallo was a member of a WhatsApp group whose members used aliases. According to the newspaper, one of them, Assane Diène, was part of the wave of Senegalese who joined the fighting in Libya and Nigeria around 2014-2015. He was killed in the fighting.
Even more serious, investigators have traced the network back to sustained exchanges between Ismaila Diallo and French national Fabien Clain. Nicknamed the “Voice of ISIS”, Clain claimed responsibility from Syria for the deadly attacks that struck Paris in 2015. He is presumed dead in bombings.
Diallo, apprehended by the Saint-Louis Research Brigade for suspected terrorism, has been transferred to Dakar.
Leral
