Hassan Jandoubi was a French national (born 1 March 1966,

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

- 21 September 2001, Toulouse) of

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

n parents, who died on 21 September 2001, in the AZF chemical factory explosion in

in south-western France. He was subsequently investigated by French anti-terrorist authorities as the prime suspect in the blast. An official enquiry later determined the blast was accidental, and not a result of Jandoubi's actions.

Early life

Jandoubi had been known to French police as the suspected ringleader of a gang trafficking stolen cars between France and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. He became an active member of a

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

in the

suburbs where he was "initiated to fundamentalism". He was known by locals and police to be part of a gang seen celebrating the September 11 terror attacks, however, at the time of his death his name wasn't included on lists of fundamental terrorist suspects maintained by

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...

, the French intelligence service or the counter-espionage agency DST. Jandoubi was hired to unload

ammonium nitrate Ammonium nitrate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is a white crystalline salt consisting of ions of ammonium and nitrate. It is highly soluble in water and hygroscopic as a solid, although it does not form hydrates. It is ...

at the AZF plant by a subcontractor five days before the explosion. He was already known to local police for possible Islamic fundamentalist sympathies and was involved in several angry altercations before the blast with co-workers who were displaying the

U.S. 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 Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

flag in sympathy with victims of the

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 commercia ...

Blast

At 10:17 on 21 September 2001, ten days after the

9/11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated Suicide attack, suicide List of terrorist incidents, terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, ...

, a massive explosion destroyed the entire AZF facility in Toulouse, killing 29 people, injuring over 3,000 people and damaging 10,000 buildings, including nearby schools, hospitals, businesses and homes. The explosion measured 3.5 on the

Richter scale The Richter scale —also called the Richter magnitude scale, Richter's magnitude scale, and the Gutenberg–Richter scale—is a measure of the strength of earthquakes, developed by Charles Francis Richter and presented in his landmark 1935 ...

and windows were blown out over five kilometres away from the epicenter. 1,400 families were left homeless. The blast released an ammonia cloud that eventually settled on nearby suburbs sending many more to hospital. On the day of the blast, Jandoubi was working in hangar 10, 30 metres from hangar 221 whose stock of 200-300 tonnes of

exploded.

Investigation

French Police and investigators were initially intrigued by the fact that Jandoubi was found with a mobile phone fitted with a stolen SIM card. Media interest was further aroused by the results of his autopsy, which was carried out by a doctor who had worked in the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

for the international aid organisation

Médecins du Monde ''Médecins du monde'' (MdM; ), or Doctors of the World, is an international humanitarian organization which provides emergency and long-term medical care to the world's most vulnerable people. It also advocates to end health inequities. It was f ...

. The medical examiner noted that Jandoubi was wearing two pairs of trousers and four pairs of underpants, which reminded her ''"of the apparel worn by some Islamic militants going into battle or on suicide missions"''. Media reports in France heavily reported the fact he was dressed in several layers of garments, and described how they were arranged ''"in the manner of kamikaze fundamentalists."'' The chief prosecutor, Michel Breard, barred police and investigators from searching Jandoubi's apartment for five days after the explosion. When the apartment was finally entered, it was found cleaned out of his clothes, personal effects and photos. His girlfriend living in the apartment stated she had destroyed his belongings in order to better overcome the tragedy. Ten seconds before the major explosion, witnesses reported a primary explosion and many personnel electrocutions in the AZF facility. Jandoubi's body was found deeply burnt but not his clothes. Furthermore, the colour of his eyes was blue instead of their natural black colour. An alternative hypothesis concerning Jandoubi's death could be electrocution and not a suicide attack. The current flowing through his body but not through his clothes burnt him internally and his blue eyes could be an electric cataract.Anti-Terror probe into French blast

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

Oct 4 2001Explosion in France may have been Terrorism
The Michigan Daily Oct 5 2001
The Guardian Oct 5 2001Paul Seabrigh

London Review of Books Nov 1 2001

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jandoubi, Hassan French Muslims French people of Tunisian descent 1966 births 2001 deaths People from Toulouse Deaths from explosion