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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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Turkish Parliament Approves 2-Year Military Deployment to Somalia

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met on Saturday with his Somalian counterpart Hassan Sheikh Mohamud (Turkish presidency)
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met on Saturday with his Somalian counterpart Hassan Sheikh Mohamud (Turkish presidency)
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Turkish Parliament Approves 2-Year Military Deployment to Somalia

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met on Saturday with his Somalian counterpart Hassan Sheikh Mohamud (Turkish presidency)
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met on Saturday with his Somalian counterpart Hassan Sheikh Mohamud (Turkish presidency)

The Turkish parliament approved a presidential motion to deploy elements of the Turkish Armed Forces to Somalia, including to its territorial waters.
The Turkish forces will be stationed in Somalia for two years under a defense and economic cooperation agreement signed between the two countries in February to assist with security efforts against terrorism and other threats.
The motion, which was sent to Parliament last week, said Türkiye has been providing training, assistance and advisory support in Somalia to ensure security and stability within the scope of bilateral agreements.
The Somali-Turkish agreements will see Ankara build the Somali defense and security forces and ensure they gain the capabilities to counter terrorism, piracy, and all types of smuggling and other threats.
According to the motion, the Defense and Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement signed between Türkiye and Somalia on February 8, 2024 aims to expand cooperation, especially in the fields of maritime security, military training, and economic collaboration and to enhance Somalia's capacity to fight against illegal and unregulated activities, and use the economic resources for the development of the Somali Navy.
Under the deal, Türkiye will protect Somalia’s 3,000-kilometer coastline, bordering Kenya and Ethiopia to the west and Djibouti to the northwest.
It is still unclear whether such protection will include the Gulf of Aden and Somaliland, which declared its independence in 1991 but is still recognized internationally as part of Somalia.
The motion noted that the Somali government has asked Türkiye’s assistance to enhance Somalia's capacity and capabilities to combat illegal and irregular activities in its territorial waters, such as all forms of terrorism, piracy, illegal fishing, toxic waste dumping and any external intrusion or threat to the country's coastline.
The Turkish naval forces have been actively supporting international efforts to combat piracy in the Gulf of Aden, Somali territorial waters and the Arabian Sea.
The presidential motion was sent to Parliament one day after the Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Ministry announced it will send an exploration vessel off the coast of Somalia next September to search for oil and gas as part of a hydrocarbon cooperation deal between two countries.
Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said his country plans to search for oil and gas in three blocks off the Somali coast.
At the signing ceremony for the Hydrocarbon Exploration And Production Agreement held in Istanbul, along with Somalia's Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Abdirizak Omar Mohamed, Bayraktar said Ankara is sending the Oruc Reis ship to this region at the end of September, to start exploration activities.