Christian Ganczarski (born 1966, in Gliwice,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

) is a German citizen of Polish ancestry who converted to a radical Islamic group. Nicolas Sarkozy, then French Interior Minister, alleged Ganczarski was a top

Al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...

leader who had been in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bord ...

and

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

. Early on the morning of April 11, 2002

Niser bin Muhammad Nasar Nawar Nizar bin Muhammad Nasar Nawar (1978-2002), an alleged member of the Tunisian Combat Group, was accused of carrying out the 2002 Ghriba synagogue bombing, after planning its execution while living in Montreal, Canada. Life Raised by his mother ...

and a colleague drove a truck loaded with

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbon ...

canisters behind a German tourist bus near the El Ghriba synagogue on Djerba island, Tunisia. Nawar then used a cell phone belonging to his brother to phone

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (sometimes also spelled Shaikh; also known by at least 50 pseudonyms; born March 1, 1964 or April 14, 1965) is a Pakistani Islamist militant held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp under terrorism-r ...

and Ganczarski. After his colleague fled the scene on foot, Nawar detonated the explosives, killing 14 German tourists, three Tunisians and two French nationals. The Alliance Base captured Ganczarski at Charles de Gaulle Airport in June 2003. In February 2009, a French court sentenced Ganczarski to 18 years in prison for the Djerba bombing. Ganczarski is said to have given Nawar the green light to carry out the attack during the phone call before the bombing. In January 2018, after hearing he may face extradition to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

in connection with investigations of

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...

, he injured three French prison guards with a blade in Vendin-le-Vieil prison. Prosecutors announced on 17 January 2018 that he was charged with conspiring to kill Americans, supporting terrorists as well as other crimes in Southern District of New York.Man Said to Have Ties to Al Qaeda Is Charged With Conspiring to Kill Americans

References

Further reading