Karim Said Atmani ( ar, كريم سعيد عثماني, also ''Abu Isham'', ''Abu Hisham'') was alleged to be a document-forger for the
Groupe islamique armé
The Armed Islamic Group (GIA, from french: Groupe Islamique Armé; ar, الجماعة الإسلامية المسلّحة, al-Jamāʿa l-ʾIslāmiyya l-Musallaḥa) was one of the two main Islamist insurgent groups that fought the Algerian gove ...
, and shared an apartment with
Ahmed Ressam
Ahmed Ressam ( ar, احمد رسام; also Benni Noris or the Millennium Bomber; born May 9, 1967) is an Algerian al-Qaeda member who lived for a time in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He received extensive terrorist training in Afghanistan.
He was c ...
.
Canadian Security Intelligence Service
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS, ; french: Service canadien du renseignement de sécurité, ''SCRS'') is Canada's primary national intelligence agency. It is responsible for collecting, analysing, reporting and disseminating int ...
, Summary of the Security Intelligence Report concerning Hassan Almrei, February 22, 2008.Baravalle, Giorgio. "Rethink: Cause and Consequences of September 11", 2004
He frequently travelled to
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 He ...
, and held both Bosnian and Moroccan passports. In Bosnia he fought in a North African brigade led by
Abdelkader Mokhtari
Abdelkader Mokhtari ( kunya: ''Abu el-Ma'ali'', ''The Gendarme'') was an Algerian commander who became a "sacred legend" for the Bosnian mujahideen in the Bosnian War.
Bosnia
Evan Kohlmann claimed that Mokhtari, an Algerian, came to Bosnia wit ...
Fateh Kamel
Fateh Kamel is an Algerian who was arrested in 1999 on charges of supporting a terrorist plot against attacks against French targets in Paris, and was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment.
He was released early for good behaviour, and returned ...
's ''"right hand man"'', and was also close to Abu el-Ma'ali. According to Kohlmann, Italian police found evidence of telephone calls between Atmani and el-Ma'ali, when they raided Milan's Islamic Cultural Institute. According to Kohlmann, during a 1995 raid of Sheikh Anwar Shaaban's office they found a fraudulent passport bearing Atmani's photo.00
A Moroccan living illegally in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
since 1995, In 1999, he was arrested by the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...
in
Niagara on the Lake
Niagara-on-the-Lake is a town in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the Niagara Peninsula at the point where the Niagara River meets Lake Ontario, across the river from New York, United States. Niagara-on-the-Lake is in the Niagara Region of ...
, along with an associate believed to be smuggling guns.
After being convicted of colluding with
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until Killing of Osama bin Laden, his death in 2011. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism ...
by a French court, he was released early for good behavior.
In 2015, Atmani was suspected of having aided attackers by supplying forged passports.