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Ex-rapper, Accused of Heading Militant Cell, is Found Dead in Spanish Prison

Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary was found dead in a Spanish prison Wednesday. File photo
Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary was found dead in a Spanish prison Wednesday. File photo
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Ex-rapper, Accused of Heading Militant Cell, is Found Dead in Spanish Prison

Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary was found dead in a Spanish prison Wednesday. File photo
Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary was found dead in a Spanish prison Wednesday. File photo

A former British rap artist and militant has died in custody in Spain, the Interior Ministry said Thursday.

Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary was found dead in a Spanish prison Wednesday, the ministry said. The cause of death is yet to be confirmed.

Abdel Bary was arrested in 2020, accused of heading a militant terror cell. He was facing up to 9 years in prison. A trial was set for sentencing July 14 and he was awaiting verdict.

Abdel Bary, 32, left London in 2013 to join an Al Qaeda faction and later ISIS militias in Syria. He made a name for himself on social media sites by showing himself clutching the severed head of one of his alleged victims.

Before joining the group, Abdel Bary performed as rapper lyricist under the name Jinn.

He was the son of an Egyptian operative of al-Qaeda who was convicted for events related to the 1998 bombings at US embassies in Africa that killed 224 people. Abdel Bary stopped making music not long after his father’s extradition to the US on terror charges.

Spanish police arrested Abdel Bary and two other men in April 2020, shortly after they crossed the Strait of Gibraltar on a skiff from Algeria.

He was accused of leading a militant terror cell formed by him and the two other men, dedicated to committing internet banking scams and trafficking in cryptocurrencies to “finance their terrorist activities.”

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Tesla Cybertruck Explodes Outside Trump Las Vegas Hotel, Killing Driver

The remains of a Tesla Cybertruck that burned at the entrance of Trump Tower, are inspected in Las Vegas, Nevada, US January 1, 2025. REUTERS/Ronda Churchill
The remains of a Tesla Cybertruck that burned at the entrance of Trump Tower, are inspected in Las Vegas, Nevada, US January 1, 2025. REUTERS/Ronda Churchill
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Tesla Cybertruck Explodes Outside Trump Las Vegas Hotel, Killing Driver

The remains of a Tesla Cybertruck that burned at the entrance of Trump Tower, are inspected in Las Vegas, Nevada, US January 1, 2025. REUTERS/Ronda Churchill
The remains of a Tesla Cybertruck that burned at the entrance of Trump Tower, are inspected in Las Vegas, Nevada, US January 1, 2025. REUTERS/Ronda Churchill

A Tesla Cybertruck exploded in flames outside the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas on Wednesday, killing the driver and injuring seven others, and the FBI was investigating whether the blast was an act of terrorism, officials said.
Videos taken by witnesses inside and outside the hotel showed the vehicle exploding and flames pouring out of it, as it sat outside the hotel, Reuters reported.
The incident occurred just hours after a man drove a truck into crowds of New Year's Day revelers in New Orleans, killing 15.
The Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas is part of the Trump Organization, the company of President-elect Donald Trump, who will return to the White House on Jan. 20. Tesla CEO Elon Musk was a key backer of Trump in his 2024 presidential campaign and is also an adviser to the incoming president.
"Obviously a Cybertruck, the Trump hotel - there's lots of questions that we have to answer," Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at an afternoon press conference.
FBI special agent in charge Jeremy Schwartz later told reporters that it was not yet clear whether the blast was an act of terrorism.
"I know everybody's interested in that word, and trying to see if we can say, 'Hey, this is a terrorist attack.' That is our goal, and that's what we're trying to do," Schwartz said.
He added that the FBI had identified the person driving the vehicle, which had been rented in Colorado, but was not yet ready to publicly identify the driver.
Musk said the blast was unrelated to the Cybertruck itself.
"We have now confirmed that the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck and is unrelated to the vehicle itself," Musk said in a post on X. "All vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the explosion."
Telemetry involves the automatic collection of data from remote sources, transmitting it back to a central source so it can later be analyzed.
A person was found dead inside the 2024 model-year Cybertruck and seven people sustained minor injuries from the explosion, McMahill said. He added that both the Cybertruck and the vehicle used in the New Orleans attack had been rented through car-sharing service Turo.
A Turo spokesperson said the company did not believe either of the renters of the vehicles involved in the Las Vegas and New Orleans attacks had a criminal background that would have identified them as a security threat.
"We are actively partnering with law enforcement authorities as they investigate both incidents," the spokesperson added.
McMahill said the Cybertruck pulled up to the Trump building at 8:40 a.m. local time (1640 GMT). He said police were mindful of the New Orleans attack that occurred earlier on Wednesday. The FBI said a potential explosive device was found in the vehicle used in the New Orleans attack.
Las Vegas firefighters responded four minutes after the vehicle fire was reported and extinguished it. Two of the injured people were transported to hospitals with minor injuries. The Trump Hotel was evacuated after the incident and most of the visitors were moved to another hotel.
Eric Trump, executive vice president of the Trump Organization and a son of President-elect Trump, posted about the incident on X. "Earlier today, a reported electric vehicle fire occurred in the porte cochère of Trump Las Vegas," he wrote, referring to the building's covered entrance area.