The Footballer Who Plotted a Terrorist Attack – Who is Nizar Trabelsi?
The True Story of Former Footballer Nizar Trabelsi
Nizar ben Abdelaziz Trabelsi, known as Nizar Trabelsi, is a footballer-turned-terrorist from Tunisia.
But how did this former football player come to plot a terror attack?
Nizar Trabelsi, the former footballer who plotted a terrorist attack
Trabelsi played for Club Sportif Sfaxien, Standard Liege, Fortuna Düsseldorf, Wuppertaler SV, FC Wülfrath, SV Wermelskirchen and VfR Neussm in the late 80s and early 90s, but he’s probably best-remembered for what he did off the pitch.
The 52-year-old was convicted as a terrorist and would spend years in jail over his association with Al-Qaida.
Trabelsi reportedly plotted to bomb an airbase and attack a US embassy while plotting with Richard Reid to blow up two US-bound airliners.
So how did Nizar go from footballer to terrorist?
Trabelsi: From Mediocre Footballer to Criminal Drug Addict
It’s hard to get much information on Trabelsi’s career as a footballer, as it was short-lived and decades ago.
However, we know from the United Nations Office of The High Commissioner that he was born in Sfax, Tunisia on July 2, 1970.
Football Database says he played for CS Sfaxien, his boyhood club, before attracting the attention of Standard Liege.
Miguel Ángel Lara wrote in 2016 that the midfielder’s professional career started after being scouted by Standard, but his stint at the Stade Maurice Dufrasne barely lasted a year so he moved East.
The 52-year-old joined Fortuna Düsseldorf but didn’t last long and became a journeyman until he retired in 1995.
Nieuwsblad claims Trabelsi had a pocket version of the Quran as a makeshift shinpad, but PBS reported that he didn’t radicalise until his retirement.
Anstrat backed up that claim, noting that Trabelsi had a problem with drink and drugs which led to him trafficking narcotics.
Radicalised After Prison Release
The 52-year-old was arrested and jailed in Germany, becoming gradually radicalised upon his release after meeting Belgian-based Tunisian jihadi Tarek Maâroufi in 1996.
Belgian authorities claim Trabelsi was recruited after leaving prison by Islamic fundamentalists at a mosque in Dostrum.
Djamel Beghal convinced Trabelsi to go to Afghanistan.
Trabelsi met with other fundamentalists in Brussels and London and became associated with the radical Islamic group Takfir wal-Hijra, which was tied to the assassination of Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh.
The FBI report says Trabelsi was living in Germany in 2000 and prepared to travel to Afghanistan to train for jihad – it’s believed he attended Al-Qa’ida-ran training camps near Jalalabad.
The midfielder met with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan a year later and wanted to carry out a suicide bomb attack - seeing a picture of a baby Palestinian girl killed in the Gaza Strip convinced him.
Trabelsi allegedly spoke with Muhammed Atef who was a high-ranking member and chief military planner of Al-Qaeda.
The indictment also states that Trabelsi met others who were to form a cell for the purpose of suicide attacks.
He trained in explosives and obtained money from Al-Qaeda in Pakistan to help him carry out his mission.
Trabelsi rented an apartment in Brussels, Belgium and bought chemicals to be used in manufacturing a 1,000-kilogram bomb.
His target was Belgian airbase Kleine Brogel and the indictment alleges that he travelled at night with conspirators to scout the area.
Trabelsi also plotted an attack on a US embassy in Paris as the designated suicide bomber.
He was to wear a business suit which concealed the strapped bomb and would walk into the embassy before the bomb was detonated.
The plot was uncovered and stopped, however, resulting in Trabelsi being arrested in an apartment near Brussels on September 13, 2001.
He was also guilty of illegal weapons possession and being a member of a private militia.
In 2003, the 52-year-old was sentenced to 10 years in a Belgium prison.
In jail, Trabelsi was known to cause trouble. He assaulted a prison guard, threatened the facility director, hatched numerous escape plots and had knives smuggled into the prison.
He would be extradited to the United States after serving his sentence and remains in Northern Neck Regional jail, awaiting trial for the plots against the US military.
Where is Nizar Trabelsi Now?
He is still incarcerated.
In 2021, his legal team attempted an appeal with the District of Colombia Circuit, complaining that Trabelsi, now known as Abu Qa'Qa, had remained in custody for eight years without his case being heard, but it was unsuccessful.
In 2022, a letter to the Special Rapporteur on torture claimed the midfielder was restricted to his cell for 23 hours a day, was prevented from communicating with others and was deprived of adequate exercise, educational and work facilities.
There was also an issue with constant artificial light in his cell that was being blamed for his chronic headaches, but the response was very flippant and dismissive.
His legal team have tried to suggest deteriorating physical and mental health to their client, but their words have fallen on deaf ears.
It remains to be seen when Abu Qa'Qa’s trial will commence and that could cause tension between Belgium and the US.
According to Politico in 2022, Belgium was ordered to pay compensation of €100k to Trabelsi for his extradition to the US.
A Brussels appeals court also said the Belgian government should ask American authorities to send him back, as the European Court of Human Rights didn’t advocate for that treatment.
It remains to be seen if they have.
How Does a Footballer Get Seduced by Terrorists?
It seems shocking that a professional footballer could get involved in terrorism, but Abu Qa'Qa’s downfall was gradual and predictable.
He had problems with drugs and alcohol for a long time, becoming isolated and eventually selling narcotics as maybe his only source of income, so he can’t have had much support after his release from prison.
The first people that came to Trabelsi were jihadists and he was predisposed to follow them due to alienation.
Johnson adds in his PSB article that Muslim immigrants are accustomed to large families and friends, so they can be isolated without them, causing them to suffer psychologically.
Discrimination felt in their adopted land can result in resentment at society for treating them poorly.
This explains what likely happened to Abu Qa'Qa, as he spent time in Belgium and Germany before opting to destroy parts of both countries.
Time will tell if he’ll ever be released from US prison.
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